CD-Charts Position 171
Average Rating:

Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
by: Gian Carlo Menotti, Thomas Schippers, Rosemary Kuhlmann Chet Allen, Andrew McKinley, David Aiken Leon Lishner

Release Date October 25, 1990
This was a holiday staple in our house when I was growing up, and dated though it may be, this CD sounds better than the LP we had. It's an exquisite work of art.

CD-Charts Position 172
Average Rating:

Beethoven's Wig 3: Many More Sing-Along Symphonies

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Rounder / Umgd

Release Date May 02, 2006
We had been enjoying Beethoven's Wig, Volumes 1 & 2, and so when I saw Volume 3, I ordered it for my son. While volumes 1 & 2 were clever, funny, & some songs even educational, we found that volume 3 lacked in those regards. It seemed that many of the songs are less than a minute in length. Not enough time to really get a developed musical theme in your mind. We did only hear it once, so we may find more about it that we like in the future, but it didn't leave us wanting to hear it again like the first 2 volumes.

CD-Charts Position 173
Average Rating:

Vincenzo Bellini - I Puritani

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date December 18, 2007
I loved this film, and enjoyed it very much. Netrebko is a most excellent Elvira, and the rest of the cast completely lived up to her. Recommend this DVD highly for anyone who loves opera on film.

CD-Charts Position 174
Average Rating:

Verdi: Requiem; Quattro pezzi sacri

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

Release Date October 10, 2006
This is an excellent recording of an excellent performance of the famous REQUIEM by Verdi. The Dies Irae section is especially thrilling. Highly recommended.The "Four Sacred Pieces" is a fine added bonus, especially the "Te Deum".

CD-Charts Position 175
Average Rating:

Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem [A German Requiem]

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

Release Date January 12, 1999
Sound quality might be lacking, however the soul of the performance is what counts. There is a great feel to the opening track. Each time I hear it, it completely changes any mood I'm in. The orchestra and chorus breathes together, and Klemperer did a fine job on these tracks. If your not nuts about this, try Karajan's earlier recordings.
*It seems ridiculous that people will write reviews to argue like children with each other on this website.

CD-Charts Position 176
Average Rating:

Godowsky: Strauss Transcriptions and Other Waltzes

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
by: Hamelin

Release Date August 12, 2008
Hearing items from this recording on radio recently, it was clear that Godowsky's imaginative approach to transcription and his virtuosic pianistic skills were equally matched by Marc-Andre Hamelin's artistry. Indeed, while I have heard some of these pieces dismissed by others as mere 'salon music', under Hamelin's care they emerged as works of substantial merit, as appropriate to the concert platform as any major work. And what often sounds like a physical struggle in the hands of some pianists, emerged here as part of Hamelin's bread and butter diet. Not a negative comment about his playing skills, I hasten to say; but an indication that he makes it possible for the listener to move beyond the momentary illusion of finger fireworks and enjoy the mood and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 177
Average Rating:

Twilight of the Gods: The Essential Wagner Collection

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date August 11, 1998
I am so tired of hearing people complain about how this isn't true opera and how it is so out of context. This is a greatest hits and hardly what I would consider in the same context as taking pages from great novels and putting them together. Music does not fall to the same boundries of context as do novels. I think of this like i think of a pink floyd greatest hits. in modern terms i would have to say that they do offer complete thoughts in their albums, and any song from the wall would lose something in context to the rest of the piece, but how often does one have time to listen to music for hours on end. i own many of the operas that this album takes from, and the best use that i can get of them is background and mood music, which i of course enjoy ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 178
Average Rating:

Ludwig van Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies - Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
by: Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Arturo Toscanini (Conductor), NBC Symphony Orchestra

Release Date December 09, 2003
Stated simply, this is the grandest cycle of Beethoven symphonies available.Don't let other reviewers make you think that the sound is terrible.It is not.I am very picky about what I listen to,and the minor imperfections in this set cannot come close to comparing with the positive aspects.This set has (in my opinion the best version of the 1st and 8th I have ever heard).I hope all that purchase this set get one tenth of the enjoyment out of it that I have.

CD-Charts Position 179
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 180
Average Rating:

Red Violin Concerto

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

Release Date September 04, 2007

Forty years passed between the composition of Corigliano's "Sonata for violin and Piano" (1963) and the Red Violin Concerto premiere in 2003. The two works are very different in scope and scale, but to my ears they have a lot in common. I don't guarantee that I could recognize a previously unheard piece of music instantly as Corigliano's, but I'd be willing to try. In his notes for this CD, Corigliano says: the sonata is "for the most part a tonal work, although it incorporates non-tonal and poly-tonal sections within it, as well as other 20th-century harmonic, rhythmic and construction techniques. The listener will recognize the work as the product of an American writer, although this is more the result of an American writing music than writing 'American' muisc ... Read More: