CD-Charts Position 71
Average Rating:

Mozart - Requiem / Augér, Bartoli, Cole, Pape, Wiener Phil., Solti

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

Release Date March 10, 1992
To my great surprise, in the last two decades of his life Solti turned into a marvelous Mozart interpreter. His '80's Figaro, and '90's Magic Flute and Cosi fan Tutte are among my favorite versions, Sir Georg's sometimes abrasive nervous energy (and scholarly use of reduced orchestral forces) makes for fantastically dramatic, anti-romantic readings. This requiem, recorded on the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death in St Stephen's cathedral in Vienna benefits from an awesome reverberant acoustic, a quartet of fabluous operatic singers (and let's face it, this is an opera manque, religiose, not religious, "the sickly sweets of operatic sin" as Stravinsky called it, and a good thing too I say). Excerpts of the actual Mass ceremony are interspersed, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 72
Average Rating:

Ode to Freedom: Bernstein Conducts Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Berlin

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

Release Date March 01, 1990
I know who let him conduct it! Those greedy DG music executives, that's who, hoping to make a quick killing with the release of this sludge of a performance. The fall of the Berlin Wall was an event of great significance and to commemorate the occasion, DG gets the most famous living conductor in the world to conduct one of the greatest and most famous works of music in history, Beethoven's 9th Symphony! They even changed the word joy to the word freedom in the finale! This had the makings of something truly special but unfortunately it falls short of even the most mediocre expectations.

Herbert von Karajan died not too long before the Berlin Wall fell and if he was still alive, it would undoubtedly be Karajan conducting on this recording, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 73
Average Rating:

Faure Requiem Op.48 / Durufle Requiem Op.9

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
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 74
Average Rating:

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies no 4, 5, & 6 / Karajan, Berlin PO

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

Release Date July 15, 1997
I was very impressed when I heard this CD. I really could not believe that the Berlin Phil. sounded so solid. The brass play consistently throughout and they actually sound like the CSO at times. The strings/woodwinds are well balanced, lush, and simply play extremely well.

These symphonies are among the best I've ever heard, technically, that is, of course everyone has different tastes in interpretations, but for me, this one does it. I'm very happy that throughout the album, all 3 symphonies are played consistently and with a solidity that amazes me. As a musician, one always looks forward, first, to a solid performance, then can one enjoy it.

As for the sonics, I'm won't go into that, some say the textures are shrill and that the digital ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 75
Average Rating:

Rossini - La Cenerentola / Frederica von Stade, Francisco Araiza, Paolo Montarsolo, Claudio Desderi, Laura Zannini, Claudio Abbado

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
starring: Frederica von Stade, Paolo Montarsolo, Francisco Araiza, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Claudio Abbado

Release Date January 10, 2006

Despite the fairy tale title, this particular opera is fun for all ages. We think it is the best Rossini opera, and Von Stade is the perfect Cinderella.
Our only objection is that the the voices are synched to the singers, but this is a necessay thing for 'movie' format staging.
We would put this production on a 'must see' list.

CD-Charts Position 76
Average Rating:

Divenire

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
from: Ponderosa Italy

Release Date June 10, 2008
One of the most beautiful compilations of piano music I have ever heard. Mesmerizing! I'll leave the more technical reviews to the music professionals. As a piano music lover I can only say that I've listened to this CD for so many hours that I hear it in my dreams. And that's not a bad thing!

CD-Charts Position 77
Average Rating:

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (complete ballet); Wolfgang Sawallisch; Philadelphia Orchestra

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Philadelphia Orchestra

Release Date June 01, 2004
"Swan Lake" has great meaning for me. I used to rent LPs and would play them in the basement of Fine Arts on the University of Georgia campus. This was in the '50s. There is nothing as soothing as "Swan Lake."

CD-Charts Position 78
Average Rating:

Debussy for Daydreaming

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
from: Philips

Release Date April 11, 1995
Claude Debussy had been one of my favorite composers even before I knew how to write and behave like a big kid. Growing up my mother would play his tunes on the piano and flute and later I got to follow her footsteps and enjoy his dream like compositions. The French composer has been called the Impressionist and no surprised here, along with another favorite of mine, Ravel, dominated the turn into the twentieth century with his ethereal and magnificent creations. His unusual, radical harmonies have influenced artists that shape the world of music to this day.

This album has all of my favorite pieces, the melancholy Syrinx, bright and almost as if from a magical movie - Maiden with Flaxen hair, silky and soothing Reverie, Clair de Lune -something that sounds like ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 79
Average Rating:

The Most Relaxing Classical Album In the World Ever, Volume II

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Gabriel Faure, Frederic Chopin, Antonio Vivaldi, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Sir Neville Marriner, Maris Jansons, Lorin Maazel, Sir Adrian Boult, Miklos Rozsa, Riccardo Muti, Stephen Cleobury, Sir John Barbirolli, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Berlin Philharmonic

Release Date March 11, 2003
The selections chosen are, for the most part, to my taste, but the volume is comprised of fewer supurb selections, such as those masterpieces by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart that were found in Vol. I.

CD-Charts Position 80
Average Rating:

Vivaldi's Cello

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

Release Date March 30, 2004
Look, this cd has its bright spots, but there is so much that just didn't work out with it. Firstly, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra plays with its usual energy and authentic approach, but Yo Yo plays in a modern style. The two just don't mix. I keep expecting to hear some decorations to the cello line but there just aren't any. Some of the music is just played too fast such as the slow movement of the double cello concerto. It was almost as if playing baroque style for Yo Yo Ma just meant playing it faster. The slow movement of the winter concerto was completely empty of any kind of decoration or originality. It was just straight and flat.
And the transcriptions! Oh gosh, why transcribe music that is not suited to the cello? Vivaldi fans will miss the viola d'amore ... Read More: