CD-Charts Position 141
Average Rating:

A Festival of Carols in Brass

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Sony

Release Date July 16, 1991
This is a terrific collection of Christmas music with the twist of a brass ensemble. I have used it to mix up a collection, and it really adds variety to the mix. Very well done.

CD-Charts Position 142
Average Rating:

Voice of the Violin

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
by: Joshua Bell

Release Date September 05, 2006
"Choosing the works for this album was a delightful journey, a wonderful excuse to immerse myself in the rich treasury of music written for the voice....I hope many listeners will appreciate this tribute to the voice and get a kick out of hearing my take on these timeless classics." ~ Joshua Bell ~

At the Opening Night for Concert Season at Hollywood Bowl a few years back, Joshua Bell was one of the featured guests where he performed a piece from the soundtrack of Ladies in Lavender where he is the featured violinist, and another performance where he shared the spotlight with Josh Groban. I was in awe and it was great seeing them perform before a live audience. My first exposure to Mr. Bell's artistry is his Grammy-nominated tribute ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 143
Average Rating:

The Time-Life Treasury of Christmas

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Time Life Records

Release Date September 11, 2001
When we play this Christmas CD, we suddenly find ourselves back in time when we were kids listening to the stereo at home on Chrismtas Day. It's a perfect way to create or recall Christmas memories.

CD-Charts Position 144
Average Rating:

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale [Hybrid SACD]

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: RCA

Release Date January 25, 2005
Scheherazade is performed a LOT. Fritz Reiner was well-aware of this fact in 1960 when he conceived this historic recording. As a consequence, he fostered no desire to yield just another run-of-the-mill performance. Here's a blurp from the notes which explains his subsequent efforts more fully:

"Some weeks before the actual recording was made, most of the existing recordings of the music were studied, re-studied, judged and re-judged. The best were very good, but short of that perfection for which all mortals strive. One version reveled in buttery sound and not always accurate execution; another proferred razor-sharp execution and equally ear-rending decibel content; still a third beckoned you from afar with a 'concert-hall' pickup, and so it ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 145
Average Rating:

Requiem & Magnificat/Rutter, Cambridge Singers

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Collegium

Release Date February 29, 2000
This is a wonderfully nuanced & beautiful recording of this work. I don't understand why no one mentions the Lux Aeterna -- Donna Deam's rendering of the solo sounds purely angelic.

CD-Charts Position 146
Average Rating:

Telemann:Tafelmusik (Complete) [Box Set]

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Brilliant Classics

Release Date June 29, 2004
For those of you who like or, as I do, love Baroque music it doesn't get better than this. If you have not gotten past the three giants of Baroque---Bach, Handel and Vivaldi---it is time you discovered the magic of the most prolific of them all---Telemann. I have a great deal of Telemann's music, up until now only vocal music, many cantatas and a couple of delightful operas. Now I am into Telemann's instrumental music and have acquired quite a few CDs. I think his Tafelmusik is the best. But truly I don't think he ever wrote a bad note. Everything he wrote has a certain spirit, a joie de vivre. This set is ridiculously cheap and I heartily recommend it.

CD-Charts Position 147
Average Rating:

Classic Williams: Romance of the Guitar

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Sony

Release Date May 02, 2000
Having listened to this CD I though it was outstanding. As a John William fan myself, I always find his technique absulutely brilliant and some of the tracks on there I haven't heard before, which is a bonus. I have quite a few CD's of him playing solo and together with Julian Bream. Also the group Sky he was with back in the early 1980's. This CD I have to say has got to be the best one yet in my collection of John Williams CD's.

I would recommend this CD to all John Williams fans. All so, this CD is genuine and is not a copy from the real thing, which is nice to know. So at least you know what you are buying is worth it's value for money.

It's a good CD for background soft music to enhance the atmosphere of the evening of romance. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 148
Average Rating:

Baroque Guitar

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: RCA

Release Date June 21, 1991
Great listening when you want to relax or even when you're working. Anyone into classic guitar and of course, the wonderful period of Baroque music, I highly recommend this.

CD-Charts Position 149
Average Rating:

Glassworks

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Sony

Release Date September 30, 2003
I've long been a fan of Phillip Glass and his repetitive musical style, and find this CD to be a good example for people who don't know his music. I believe that if you like this, you'll like his other stuff. If not, then you probably won't. I'm a big fan and have this music in my play list and find it a nice change from some of the other rock, jazz, folk, and world music i enjoy.

CD-Charts Position 150
Average Rating:

Romantic Arias

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
by: Jonas Kaufmann

Release Date March 11, 2008
I've just received this highly vaulted recital album, which is more-or-less my introduction to Kaufmann and his voice. My first thought was that the voice is as baritonal as they say -- like listening to Robert Merrill try tenor roles, though Kaufmann is fully comfortable in the range. I found this particularly distracting in the Traviata excerpt, when I couldn't stop wondering why Germont is singing his son's lines. Some tenors (Del Monoco?) do also come to mind, but rarely his (and my) idol Fritz Wunderlich; the sound is often cloudy and unclear, and rarely strings out cleanly and prettily (a notable fault in the Bizet aria, a bit better in Faust); it seems most open in the Wagner excerpt (and does sound a bit like Wunderlich there). In some cases like the concluding Werther, ... Read More: