CD-Charts Position 221
Average Rating:

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, A Night on Bald Mountain, and Other Russian Showpieces [Hybrid SACD]

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
by: Modest Mussorgsky, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Mikhail Glinka, Fritz Reiner

Release Date September 14, 2004
Conductor Fritz Reiner is unbelievably precise with the baton with just enough emotional fervor, energy, and commitment to rouse the phenomenal Chicago players of the late 1950's to one of the greatest compilations of a colorful Russian showcase. The Pictures is one of the finest I have ever heard and the Colas Breugnon and Borodin pieces are exceptionally delightful treats. The mastering is spectacular in all three specialized CD formats and the compatibility is extraordinary.

CD-Charts Position 222
Average Rating:

Telemann: The Six Paris Quartets

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
from: Virgin Veritas

Release Date October 10, 2000
This is a very good pair of CDs, probably very faithful to the intent of the composer, and extremely well played except... The quartet goes into a bit of a funk during Quartet Four and most of Five. For example, Movement 1 of quartet 5 is titled "Vivement": "Lively". It is played, however, barely faster than the "Modere" movements, and without any more life.

By the time they get to the second "Modere" movement of Quartet 5, and especially the "Pas Vite" (movement 5) though, they're back in gear. I think that these two Quartets must have been played at the end of a long day, or a long week. Or maybe it's just that any team has a hard time being completely "on" 100% of the time.


But that barely distracts from an otherwise superbly ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 223
Average Rating:

Mozart: Piano Sonatas

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date November 09, 1999
Mozart's piano sonatas are like listening to ice cream. They are just music. And I mean this in the most positive sense. Mozart's good artistic taste manifests itself in being profoundly unpretentious and self-effacing. As Raymond Chandler said, "There is no great and important art; there is only art... and precious little of that."
Mozart's music is inconsequential as music so rarely is. It asks very little of the listener and provides so much. It is for this reason that it is perfect background or atmospheric music. It GOES with things in the way that Schubert (e.g.) does not. I recommend eating vanilla ice cream while listening to Mozart piano sonatas. This will afford you an experience of synesthesia that blows the mind.

CD-Charts Position 224
Average Rating:

Alina - Arvo Pärt

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
by: Vladimir Spivakov, Sergej Bezrodny, Dietmar Schwalke, Alexander Malter

Release Date February 01, 2000
This review will be in fragments, as this is how thoughts come to me when listening to this remarkable CD. As I type this, I am listening to it on my iPod, where you can hear the breathing of the musicians, the gentle scratch of the bow on the strings. It is an intimate experience.

The deeply impactful movie "Wit" uses parts of Mirror in Mirror in the soundtrack, and that was our introduction to this music. The search ensued, the CD purchased, and it is one of the gems in our large music collection. It transcends genre, and time.

My dad passed away early last year from a stroke - when he was in hospice, we played this music for him on his last day. It seemed like the most peaceful, soothing, spiritual music that we owned. I hope that he ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 225
Average Rating:

Leoncavallo - I Pagliacci / Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana / Domingo, Stratas, Pons, Bruson, Obraztsova, Pretre

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
starring: Teresa Stratas, Plácido Domingo, Juan Pons, Alberto Rinaldi (III), Florindo Andreolli
directed by: Franco Zeffirelli

Release Date June 14, 2005
I rented this opera and loved it so much that had to purchase it. The singing and acting is wonderful and I wasn't that familar with this opera before I saw it, but have watched it three times since. The music is haunting. Absolutly loved it.

CD-Charts Position 226
Average Rating:

Great Recordings Of The Century - Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Brahms: Double Concerto / Oistrakh, Rostropovich, Richter

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
by: David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sviatoslav Richter, Herbert von Karajan, George Szell

Release Date March 09, 1999
This disc is proof that EMI's venerable Great Recordings of the Century has become just another mid-priced re-issue line.

EMI went all out to celebrate the return of Karajan to the fold by engaging the three outstanding Russian soloists of their era for the Beethoven Triple. Unfortunately, it is one of those occasions when all the notes are in place but it means nothing. Oistrakh and Richter felt for Karajan's plush accompaniments out of place - Richter later going so far as to pronounce the recording "dreadful". Rostropovich was not, apparently, in sympathy with those feelings and sided with the conductor. The soloists, lacking conviction in one another, show no sense of musical teamwork whatever. Karajan turns in another slick, autopilot performance. In short, the notes ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 227
Average Rating:

Verdi - Rigoletto / Luciano Pavarotti, Ingvar Wixell, Edita Gruberova, Victoria Vergara, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Riccardo Chailly

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
starring: G. Verdi, Wiener Opera Philharmoniker, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Release Date July 04, 2006
Pavarotti is in his element. Wixell is OK. I do not see any special qualities in his performance. Gruberova looks and sounds mediocre. Enjoy Pavarotti! R.K.

CD-Charts Position 228
Average Rating:

Faure Requiem Op.48 / Durufle Requiem Op.9

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
by: Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé, Judith Blegen, James Morris

Release Date October 25, 1990
A very professional performance.I used it to prepare for the performance of this number by our oratorial society. I wish we could do as well.

CD-Charts Position 229
Average Rating:

Verdi - Macbeth (The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series)

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
starring: Zeljko Lucic, Maria Guleghina, John Relyea, Dimitri Pittas, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
directed by: James Levine (Conductor)

Release Date September 16, 2008
For the record, I'm writing this review without having watched the actual DVD, which hasn't been released yet and which I don't plan to buy, I'm basing it solely on having seen the HDTV broadcast at a local cineplex several months ago. Under those circumstances, perhaps I have no right to write a review in the first place, and I'm sure some readers will write comments telling me this. So be it. I'm not reviewing the DVD, I'm reviewing the production and the opera, which are the same as what I saw in the theater. Even though I am a huge fan of Verdi, and the Met, and James Levine, I found this performance to be nonessential viewing.

I admit, Macbeth is far from being my favorite Verdi opera. The main reason, Verdi wrote this during his early period, while he was still adhering to many ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 230
Average Rating:

A to Z of Classical Music

CD-Charts > Music > Classical
from: Naxos

Release Date October 17, 2000
It's only natural we sometimes hit the high seas....make that Cs. This is one box set about which we sing praises. This set features more than two hours of the finest music from across the centuries by such composers as Schubert, Chopin, Mozart, Handel, Stravinsky and Glass. The set also comes with a 562-page illustrated book, detailing the lives of hundreds of composers, a
glossary of musical terms and a unique guide to the classical music used in 360 top films.