CD-Charts Position 161
Average Rating:

Puccini - La Bohème / Freni, Pavarotti, Harwood, Ghiaurov, Karajan

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Giacomo Puccini, Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan, Elizabeth Harwood, Rolando Panerai, Nicolai Ghiaurov

Release Date October 25, 1990
When you compare Freni with the light roles that she used to sing in the 60s and this Freni, you will think they are two different singers. But what is truly amazed is the fact that not only her voice changed, but she became bar none to one the hardest heavy lyric soprano roles ever: Mimi. And when she has Pavarotti next to her, it is like heaven. But, wait... Who is conducting is Karajan, unarguably one of the best puccinian ever. This is a record to listen, re-listen, re-listen, re-listen until I don't know when...

CD-Charts Position 162
Average Rating:

Greatest Hits: Broadway

CD-Charts > Music > General
from: Sony

Release Date October 29, 1996
A nice sampler. I bought it primarily for "Together, Forever" from Gypsy, though its nice to have the Broadway version of "Send in the Clowns (I believe by Glynis Johns). But it is just a sampler, and fans of Broadway music are probably better served buying the full original cast recordings.

CD-Charts Position 163
Average Rating:

Mozart: Violin Concertos

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Raymond Leppard, Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Arrigo Pelliccia, Arthur Grumiaux

Release Date August 10, 1993
This album is absolutely flooring. THIS is Mozart. Grumiaux's playing is neither cutesy and fanciful nor forced, as so many renditions of these concertos are. In fact, it falls nowhere on that spectrum at all - these recordings draw from someplace different altogether. They are organic but not harsh, intense but not overwrought, powerful but not bombastic. This music is the kind that reaches down, uncovers your soul a little, and says, "Listen." And you do - it is that instinctual.

And as someone who tends to insist on the equal merit of various interpretations of a work, I have to say that, a little to my surprise, Grumiaux has become my definitive Mozart man. His music makes me smile involuntarily because it is so full of life.

CD-Charts Position 164
Average Rating:

Andrea Bocelli: Under the Desert Sky [DVD Included]

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Andrea Bocelli

Release Date November 07, 2006
If I need to listen to something to relax and enjoy, this is the best. The most beautiful songs you will ever listen to.

CD-Charts Position 165
Average Rating:

Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Bach, Brahms: Alexis Weissenberg - Classic Archive

CD-Charts > Music > General
starring: Brahms, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Chopin

Release Date June 24, 2008
My title applies primarily to the 1965 black & white film of Alexis Weissenberg playing Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka, amazingly creatively filmed in Stockholm by Åke Falck. I remember seeing this film on TV almost forty years ago and the memory of it has stayed with me ever since. I am so pleased finally to have a copy of that marvelous film. Weissenberg was in his early thirties at the time and at the very height of his considerable form. The views provided by Falck are highly unusual but each has a clear intention of adding to our enjoyment of the music by showing us in closeup both the hands of Weissenberg and the movements of the mechanism of the piano; the camera actually almost climbs inside the piano. The whole thing is filmed ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 166
Average Rating:

Gilbert & Sullivan - Pirates of Penzance / Anthony Warlow, David Hobson, Australian Opera

CD-Charts > Music > General
starring: Anthony Warlow
directed by: Stuart Maunder

Release Date August 26, 2008
I am resigned to the fact there will be nothing significantly new done to a treatment of "Pirates" since Joseph Papp. This production, with some promising innovations, took to itself many of Papp's "Shakespeare in the Park" contrivances with uneven results. On the whole, for those who have never seen "Pirates" before, you will be delighted. For those who groan at the mindless pastiches on the 1980's show, toss this one on the heap. Elements from Papp's production found here: the "intimate" staging, with lightbulbs adorning the periphery; abridged overture; the costumes in general; the "matter" patter trio translated from "Ruddigore;" and the "New York" finale. Unlike the Papp show, however, we are not subjected to synthesizers, even though there are some ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 167
Average Rating:

Schumann: Complete Piano Trios

CD-Charts > Music > General
from: Philips

Release Date November 11, 1997
now i'm just a big dummy. i really am. but somehow classical music got through my thick skull and into my heart. so glad that it did. these recordings from 1975 by the beaux arts trio are spectacular works of chamber music. mr schumann's compositions are given a vibrantly intense and dramatic going over by these great musicians. soul-stirring stuff in every way. this is the sound of a musical springtime, all green invention and sunshine for the spirit. the violin, cello, and piano tunnel through the music, unearthing and displaying its potential and grace. i listened to the entire two hours and twenty minutes of glorious music that's on these discs this morning, and it was a great experience indeed. i highly highly recommend this set to any and all music lovers. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 168
Average Rating:

Alina - Arvo Pärt

CD-Charts > Music > General
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 169
Average Rating:

Debussy for Daydreaming

CD-Charts > Music > General
from: Philips

Release Date April 11, 1995
Definitely for daydreaming, or for putting the little one down at bedtime. Good start to those wanting to see if they like Debussy. Includes many of his most famous works (Clair de lune, etc.)

CD-Charts Position 170
Average Rating:

Mozart: Piano Sonatas

CD-Charts > Music > General
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.