CD-Charts Position 161
Average Rating:

Shostakovich: Symphonies no 5 and 9 / Haitink

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
from: Decca

Release Date July 18, 2000
I have always regretted the way London/Decca rearranged the Haitink performances: the original pairing of this performance of the 9th was with an equally fine performance of the 1st (now paired with the intermittently interesting but ultimately unsuccessful 3rd). The performances of both symphonies on the original disc capture the mix of light and dark, playfulness and tragedy, lyricism and satire. It is unfortunate, that the current disc pairs an exemplary recording of the witty 9th with Haitink's beautifully played yet drab and soulless account of the 5th. Try to find the earlier disc.

CD-Charts Position 162
Average Rating:

Mozart's Magnificent Voyage

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
from: Children's Group

Release Date October 13, 1998
A friend of mine got this for her son about 3 years ago and he's still listening to the stories. Its calming and interesting. Its great in the car. The story goes along with the movements of the piece and really brings classical music and a great story to children. I now get this for all my friends with babies and small children.

CD-Charts Position 163
Average Rating:

Ravel: Boléro

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
from: Decca

Release Date November 09, 1999
I find Maurice Ravel's music among the most unique and wonderful of the twentieth century. It marks the sublime marriage of pensive impressionism with--and many music scholars might disagree with me on this matter--a vibrant late-romanticism. There are few collections that highlight this grandness with as much clarity as this album.

The vividness of Ravel's orchestral coloring and the complexity of his polyphony can make the performance of any of his works a sizeable challenge for the finest of orchestras--the slightest miscalculation in dynamic, timing, or articulation can result in entire voices being lost in a mass of sound, but the Montreal Symphony do a flawless job. Also, Maestro Dutoit's interpretations are well-measured, reserved, and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 164
Average Rating:

The Dvorak Album

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
from: Sony

Release Date September 07, 2004
YoYo Ma is YoTo Ma. When it comes Chello, YoYo Ma and Dvorak combo cannot be beaten if you appreciate Chello concerto. The recording sounds bit quiet but otherwise it's another success by YoYo.

CD-Charts Position 165
Average Rating:

Saint-Saëns: The Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
from: Hyperion UK

Release Date October 09, 2001
Having heard many performances of the S/S concertos, both singly and in sets -- and finding something to gripe about in each of them, except perhaps the old Entremont/Ormandy readings on Sony/Columbia -- I have to say this one is far and away the best. The details are right, there aren't any klunky edits, the sense of line and balance is point-perfect. More importantly, they're thrilling. Fast, yes, but always clean and accurate and rhythmically precise, orchestra and soloist alike.

I seriously could not want for a better recording of these pieces. They rock.

Oh, and people seem to dislike the recorded sound, but it doesn't bother me at all. It makes me feel like I'm sitting on the bench turning Hough's pages, rather than being half way ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 166
Average Rating:

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

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
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 167
Average Rating:

Vaughan Williams: Fantasies; The Lark Ascending; Five Variants

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
from: Decca

Release Date October 25, 1990
Everytime I purchase a CD through Amazon and its vendors, the service and content surprise me! When studying, the works inspire me!

CD-Charts Position 168
Average Rating:

Keeping Score: Revolutions in Music - Stravinsky's Rite of Spring

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
starring: Michael Tilson Thomas
directed by: David Kennard

Release Date November 14, 2006
Part of MTT's recent "Revolutions in Music" series, this DVD is perhaps the best of the bunch. Much of it is shot in Russia in such colorful locations as the Mariinsky Theater and Rimsky-Korsakov's apartment, both in St. Petersburg, and in the Russian countryside in a search for the roots of Stravinsky's masterpiece. One of those sources is found in the opera "Mlada" of Stravinsky's teacher Rimsky-Korsakov. MTT and the San Fransisco Sym. provide a fascinating comparison of passages from "Mlada" with Stravinsky's earlier ballet "The Firebird," making it clear where all Igor's three early masterpieces find their inspiration. Imagine what it must have been like to have been in Rimsky's classroom with three pupils of such high stature (but of different temperments!) as Stravinsky, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 169
Average Rating:

Gabrieli · Monteverdi · Vivaldi - Venetian Church Music / Taverner Consort, Choir & Players · Andrew Parrott

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
by: Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, Dario Castello, Giovanni Legrenzi, Antonio Lotti, Alessandro Grandi, Andrew Parrott, Choir & Players Taverner Consort

Release Date October 09, 2001
An excellent compilation of early church music performed beautifully by the Taverner Consort, Choir, and Players, and conducted by Andrew Parrott. The recording is clear and the sound well balanced. It is also an exceptional value - 30 tracts (2 1/2 hours of music) on 2 CDs for less that $10.

CD-Charts Position 170
Average Rating:

Chopin: Nocturnes

CD-Charts > Music > Forms and Genres
from: Nonesuch

Release Date June 25, 1991
I have owned and studied this recording for quite awhile. At first, I was taken by Moravec's gorgeous tone, his shading of melody. The real litmus test, for me, is the strange, mysterious Op. 32 B Major... The "Big" Nocturnes are much more accessible and easier, in making an impression. But Moravec, the more I listen to the Op. 32, has won me. At first, I was taken aback by his liberal rubato; more a drastic change of tempo (that phrase you will find in many of my reviews)... Chopin was a great admirer of Mozart and Bach. Many scholarly musicologists have written that the commonly-held view that Chopin's music may be rightly played with a great range of rubato are disputed by his contemporaries; that his own peformances were much more strictly held within a limited use of rubato... Who is to know? ... Read More: