5 comments about Christmas with Conniff.

1. As I'd hoped, a CD version of the LP I had many years ago. Arrived as promised and a great price



2. Has anyone else noticed that the CD track order begins with side two on=f the LP version?
   Don't mess with tradition!



3. Great CD, it brought back many childhood Christmas memories. I got this CD along with another Ray Coniff Singers CD for my parents as well as for myself. They loved it, too. Unlike my father's album and cassette tape he made in the 70's, it was crystal clear CD quality audio.



4. This is one of the best mix of Christmas songs for all ages. Sung by the Ray Conniff singers, it brings back memories of earlier happy times of Christmas. The cut "Christmas Bride" is superb.



5. I just lvoe the sound and the old fashioned feel of the way the holiday music was done and done exceptionally well by a great orchestra and singers.

5 comments about Music of Christmas.

1. I grew up listening to this album on vinyl every Christmas. It was a staple in our family and I'm happy to have it on CD now to share for years to come.



2. Percy Faith and his orchestra was a delightful sound during my youthful Christmas and New Year's celebration. The music is flawless and timeless. No crashing mess of noise. All delightful, youthful music and voices. I missed having this album playing around the holidays. I'm glad it is now on compact disc and on my MP3 player. I can listen to this anytime. Do you remember hearing music like this on the radio after halloween pass (October 31st)?



3. It's a masterpiece Christmas album, a reference!
   If you listen to other orchestrated Christmas albuns you will find many of their arrangements are based on this Percy Faith's one.



4. 
   I had this music on an LP and have been hoping to find it on CD for a long time. I was so pleased when I did. The CD is excellent - all I hoped for!



5. I've been looking for this album for years, we used to listen to it when I was gorwing during the Christmas season, so finding it has been quite a wonderful surprise. I purchased it first so I could check the sound quality and it was awesome. Then i purchased it for mom and grandma and they love it too!

5 comments about Christmas and the Beads of Sweat.

1. A word that is overused and cheapened is "Genius." If you look in the dictionary for a definition of that word, you may find a picture of Laura Nyro with a link to her best music. This album was one of her very best. As late as 1991 Rolling Stone defined this album as the "worst" of her career. Doesn't take a genius to understand the quality of that review. Listen to this CD in the dark. Be alone with "Christmas and the Beads of Sweat." After it has seeped into your soul, invite a friend to join you in the darkness and listen again. Close your eyes and bathe in the luminescence of Ms. Nyro. Genius.



2. I remember it well: my big sister and I went to Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. the day after Christmas 1980 to buy Laura Nyro's "Christmas and the Beads of Sweat." And who was there in the store but Peter Bogdonavich and Cybill Shepherd! I was very young at the time but I still rememeber that day well. And it wasn't because of Peter and Cybill. It's because this music is still so vibrant, vulnerable and magical. "Freeport," "Blackpatch," "Brown earth," "Up on the Roof" and on and on...songs of love, songs of despair, songs of protest.
   What people don't know is that Laura Nyro was the consummate musician: she wrote, she played piano, she sang, of course, she produced most of her albums and she wrote the arrangements.
   To appreciate Laura is to appreciate New York, Spanish Harlem and the music of the streets. It has been rumored that when Laura was directing back up orchestras at her recording sessions, she would say things like: "play it bluer," "play it like you are sad and crying..." If you really really listen to her albums...you know that this is true.
   She is gone now but she is certainly not forgotten. Rest in peace, Laura.
   When is someone at Columbia/Sony going to realize how important an artist Laura Nyro was and digitally re-master complete versions of "Christmas" and "Smile." It is long over do.



3. In 1974 I hung out in dingy smoke filled bistros absorbing atmosphere and jazz. I bought a record for the title! Christmas and the Beads of Sweat.
   My friends loved it too! We created our own bistro in my flat with Laura's haunting presence of voice and words transporting us to heights of relief. Rhubarb pie was the climax with "Christmas in my Soul".
   A timeless escape from beginning to end, "Christmas and the Beads of Sweat" is a must-have for anyone who wanted to climb up on the roof!
   
   The CD cover unfolds and there in beautiful handwriting are all the words.
   What a fantastic bonus!



4. I got this CD to replace my original vinyl album, for which I no longer have a turntable. I had forgotten how beautiful this album is... Between the haunting poetic lyrics and Laura Nyro's truly incredible soprano (which frequently soars so high in this collection that your dog may be the only one who will be able to make out some of the lyrics), you may feel as though you're listening to an angel--and you are! If you like Joni Mitchell, you're going to love Laura! Be sure to read the lyrics in the liner notes. She's not just an accomplished singer--this girl can WRITE.



5. I first heard Laura Nyro when I was in my second year of high school. I was listening to an AM station and they were playing Laura's single "Up On The Roof." I thought it was wonderful. I knew of her for a couple of years as a songwriter for selections of the 5th Dimension and other artists but this was the first time that I had heard her sing.
   Someone that I knew told me that she had this album so I borrowed it. I loved it from the first time I listened to it. It also became the first of Laura's albums that I would buy.
   My favorite selections are "Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp" and "Map to the Treasure." The lyric to "Upstairs" give you such detail of what is going on and it makes you feel as if you are right in the scene. The vocals are perfect for the song and the instrumentation flows beautifully throughout the song. The wondrous moment comes when Alice Coltrane comes in with the harp and you are now transformed into the song "Map to the Treasure." It is not something you can stop. You have to stay for "Map" and hear it out. It starts slowly with two short verses and then Laura's piano work begins to take you on a journey as it starts slowly and begins to pick up the tempo as it goes until the crescendo where she starts singing again and you are totally hooked to it. The tempo has become very fast as you feel as though she is singing to you saying "Take my hand now." You can't let go and then the tempo slows and she repeats the first verse and close with the fading piano. You think you hear the last note and then there a few addtional short notes that close the song.
   "Up on The Roof" is a fresh version from the faster paced versions of the early Sixties. Carole King did a slower version on her album "Writer" and maybe Laura heard this version and used it as a basis for the slower tempo. This was the only Laura Nyro song that I ever heard on AM radio at the time and I never have heard it on FM stations.
   The song "Christmas in My Soul" is a beautiful tribute to some of the troubles of the time. Unfortunately it also dates the album but it is a strong testament of the times.
   "Brown Earth" is a great opener and then "Freeport" and "Blackpatch" come in followed by the haunting "Been on a Train." "Train" was also a testament of the times as deaths from heroin use were becoming epidemic.
   "Beads of Sweat" is a rocket paced tune not unlike "Eli's Comin'" from her earlier album. Like "Eli" it starts off slowly and then picks up a very fast pace with a great electric guitar along with Laura's piano playing.
   I highly recommend this recording to any fan of Laura Nyro. Laura has stood the test of time and never received the recognition that she deserved but maybe her songs by other artists that were played on the radio then and now gave her enough satsisfaction since recording a song written by someone else is a great reward in itself.
   Thank you Laura, you were a great writer and you are missed.

5 comments about Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words.

1. In contrast to many other musicians, Mendelssohn had an evident, fruitful and fortunate association with the visual arts. Keeping in mind his education was conceived as part of the Renascence man, so we should not ignore his classical-humanistic education, so that explains why his Symphonies maybe basically, considered such arresting visual landscapes: the Scottish, Italian and Reform would seem confirm it.
   
   The Songs without words conform ostensibly, a great stylistic and conceptual unity. It could not be other way, noticing the fact John Field was essentially the grandfather of the nocturnes for piano and Chopin the most expressive and intimate explorer of the human soul, Mendelssohn had all those variables in mind and decided to create a portrait album. As other artists as Liszt and Goethe the exerted fascination after being in Venice would work out as febrile inspiration. Every little page of this kaleidoscopic reflects different state anima; they are structured and interweaved similarly respect Robert Schumann with his Carnival or Childhood scenes; with profound lyric and evocative accent, destined to recreate the tourist memory. He achieved then to make a voluminous album of feelings but without that marked introspective mood of Frederic Chopin, for instance.
   
   Daniel Barenboim decided to record these ebb tide piano pieces with personal conviction and lyric imagination. The result was simply refulgent and deeply inspiring.



2. Bach's 48 preludes and fugues seem to me to be to some extent a diary of the composer's feelings, and I get much the same impression from Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, which are also 48 in number. To me, they are beautiful and touching minor masterpieces and when I hear them I am not disturbed, or even visited, by the thought that they are not masterpieces to rank with Bach's. However I am not as exacting in evaluating a performance of them as I would be with Bach either, and when I willingly award this set 5 stars I know that I'm setting the bar lower. There are limits to what any interpreter, even the greatest, of the Songs Without Words can find in them, but for all that some interpreters are greater than others, and I happen to know even better accounts of some of these pieces than you will find on these two discs from Barenboim.
   
   It was high time in any case that I had a complete set of these lovely works. My collection up to now had only stretched to 14 of them, but - I have to say it again - those 14 are enough to teach me the difference between fine performances and great ones. Barenboim's accounts should be easily good enough for most of us most of the time, and in addition to the Songs he throws in the Children's Pieces plus a few other short numbers that Mendelssohn, for reasons known principally to himself, chose not to publish. With one solitary exception, Barenboim's touch is affectionate, warm and beautiful, and is well served by the 1974 recording. Speeds adopted sound about right to me in general, and the interpretations offered are full of insight and loving care, and free from eccentricity or egotism. Barenboim can be powerful when he needs to be, but the requirement for power is very limited in what we have here, and the overall impression that the set leaves is rightly one of tact, sympathy and enthusiasm. My single regret concerns my own favourite of all the Songs - the Duetto op 38/6. Something goes quite unaccountably wrong here. I'd call the speed too fast in the first place, and I would have liked the pseudo-voices brought out more strongly against the arpeggio accompaniment, but the real affront to my sensibilities comes when the two voices sing forte in octaves, and Barenboim bangs out the melody in a bad-tempered and cacophonous way that reminds me of one of Kissin's off-days.
   
   One botched effort out of 58 is not a bad ratio nevertheless. I can play the Duetto to my own satisfaction anyway, or I can listen to it on my old Turnabout LP played by Guiomar Novaes. Novaes seems to be all but forgotten these days, but she was a great player, recognised as such by no less than Debussy when she was a teenager. Her idea of the Duetto is slower than mine, indeed for an amateur like me the piece, which lies beautifully and naturally under the hands, seems practically to dictate its own speed. However it's not the tempo that makes the impression. In this piece as in many others starting with the very first of all the Songs, what transfixes me is the haughty and highlighted clarity of Novaes's melodic line and the magnificence of her left-hand tone. It also happens that in the disc that accompanies the biography of Serkin by Stephen Lehmann and Marion Faber there are two of the Songs in Novaes's selection - a solemn and gripping op 62/1 and a coruscating Spinning Song worthy of Horowitz or Cziffra for virtuosity. The point is simply this - there is an aura of greatness that surrounds the playing of Serkin and Novaes in practically anything they do. Admirable as he is, Barenboim is not quite in that league, although I don't consider the balance of advantage to be totally one-sided, and it may be that Barenboim actually makes a more appealing job of the Spring Song.
   
   Nevertheless I have only 14 of the Songs from Novaes, and all of two from Serkin, in somewhat antiquated sound at that. Barenboim gives me all 48 plus some bonus extras, played with love and appreciation of the soul of this beautiful and affecting music. This is a set I am going to be returning to for solace and balm to the spirit, I can tell already. The recorded sound is not wondrous, but it's good 1974 quality. The liner note is from the distinguished pen of Joan Chissell, but I can't say it seems to me to amount to much. Moreover she nails her colours to the mast with the ringing challenge `No 19th-century composer exceeded Mendelssohn in respect for Classical tradition, and such ordered modes of expression as fugue...' I dispute this strenuously. Not only are Mendelssohn's fugues not his best or most professional work, as Tovey makes very clear, they are inferior in respect for classical precedent and thoroughness of workmanship to Schumann's, as the same sage also points out. Besides which Brahms was a musical scholar of minute and profound learning, particularly steeped in the great German musical tradition, to an extent that Mendelssohn never rivalled. What Mendelssohn can claim is to be sui generis, what he does best he does better than anyone, and some of his most intimate musical thoughts are to be found in the Songs Without Words. For the pleasure and comfort they bring me I thank Mendelssohn's shade and the loving and expert guidance of Barenboim.



3. Until I purchased this bargain (two discs for the price of one), recording of Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words" that are played exquisitely by Daniel Barenboim, I, in the past, have listened mainly to Mendelssohn's chamber music, Concertos and/or Symphonies kind of forgetting about these most beautiful compositions, What a real pleasure this recording has been for me. I believe that Mendelssohn composed these" Songs without Words" (also included are Mendelssohn's "Kinderstucke", op 72, "Albumblatt", op. 117 and 2 short pieces) through out his short life. Daniel indeed plays all of the works including the "demanding" ones (there are surprisingly for me some very demanding ones) most beautifully never forgetting that the compositions are above all else "Songs". Daniel Barenboim always lets the melodies be heard above all else and there are some very beautiful melodies to hear.
   
   This recording was made in the early 1970s; however, DGG has done a wonderful job of transferring them to the CD format--the sound is rich, lush and clear.
   
   If you want to hear some beautiful compositions that are played most beautifully, buy this recording.



4. One of the most and romantic compositions ever written, "Songs without Words", interpreted by an excelent pianist. Enjoy it.



5. Beautifully interpreted, Barenbolm plays delicately and skillfully. This music is perhaps the epitome of the romantic classical era of piano music. Mendelssohn composed piece after piece of melodic and engaging piano music that eventually became this complete cycle. Some pieces may grab you more than others but overall, everyone of them expresses emotion. It surprises me that these pieces are not better known to anyone who loves classical piano music.

No comments about Ultimate Halloween Party.

5 comments about Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors.

1. Having seen the original TV production of Amahl as a kid, I have very fond and tender memories of this story, and I find the music to be absolutely delightful - profound but in a very accessible and somewhat playful way. This recording brings back the spirit of Christmas to me instantly!



2. VIBRANT VOICES-WHIMSICAL WOODWINDS-TUNEFUL MELODIES AND A MIRACLE TOO!!!
   
   From the first reedy sound of the oboe mimicking the shepherd pipes to the first vocal notes by Rosemary Kuhlman (Amahl's mother) calling for Amahl to come inside, to Amahl's crystal clear boy soprano (Chet Allen)response, we are drawn into the musical story of a little crippled boy and his own personal miracle.
   
   If no one had heard of Gian Carol Menotti prior to this work, as of Christmas Eve, 1951, most of the country became aware of him. He had, in fact written several successful operas before this one, but the medium of television really was a great boost to the success of Amahl.
   
   I have mentioned already the two main leads, but the other four singers fulfilled their specific roles in a very skillful manner. I particularly liked the voice of Andrew McKinley, tenor, who really projected the part of a rather silly and far-out slightly deaf Kaspar wonderfully well! The Chorus of Shepherds and Villagers sang the very attractive choral music in an up-beat manner and the Orchestra handled the accompaniment, which for the woodwinds was rather difficult, perfecto! While Menotti supervised all of the proceedings, Thomas Schippers pulled it all gloriously together. This is a landmark recording, and certainly a collectible.



3. Nothing else puts me in the Christmas spirit like listening to Menotti's tale of Amahl and the Night Visitors. The music is absolutely enchanting.



4. the cd has a very good audio quality, and for people that want to here the opera for practicing, this is a good product to buy.



5. 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.

4 comments about The Monster Mash Rock 'n' Roll Party.

1. This is a fun cd and the songs are good, but don't be fooled like I was into thinking these songs will be the originals that we've all heard on the radio all these years. One of them is,"Haunted House". The others come very close and this is a very good album despite that flaw the songs come very close.



2. Monster Mash Rock and Roll Party is a very good and fun Halloween CD. It will really get you in the Halloween party mood. I took it to work and played it at our Halloween party, and it really set the tone. Everyone really enjoyed it. The songs are classics that we've enjoyed for years, even though some of them are not by the original artists. And they're fun, light-hearted Halloween songs, not eery or spooky. I would recommend this CD to anyone who likes to cut loose and have fun.



3. I was surprised at how good musically most of the songs on this CD are, since most could stand up on their own even if you ignored the Halloween theme. A couple of the songs I could live without, but overall it's quite enjoyable, and fun rather than spooky. I agree with everything my fellow Tennessean below had to say in her good review, so I'll just add that this music is quite mellow too - all soft rock and R & B. A few of the songs have some Halloweeny sound effects or voices added in, but more of that would have added to the fun. I've been collecting Halloween classical music for years (such as "Night On Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky, "Totentanz" by Liszt, "Dance Macabre" by Saint-Saens, "Isle of the Dead" by Rachmaninov, "Dance Symphony" by Copland, etc.), so I'm glad to have this CD of popular music to add variety to my collection. Most of it has very good sound quality too. And although the CD cover doesn't affect the music, I love the funny spoof of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album.



4. Let me tell ya, this is a CD for any halloween parties what so ever. This is by far the best halloween CD ever made, especially with notable singers such as Ben E. King, Martha Reeves, Jan and Dean and others.

5 comments about A Charlie Brown Christmas.

1. This CD is excellent and you'll want to play it all throughout the season. We didn't get tired of hearing it and it brings back all kinds of memories from childhood (I'm a child of the 70's).
   
   Must have!



2. What a break from Elvis' Christmas and the muppets!! Parents and kids alike are thrilled. I don't want to put this one away after the holiday!!!



3. I had a copy that disappeared from my house so I ordered another just in time for Christmas. Nothing puts me in the Christmas spirit better than A Charlie Brown Christmas, even in July & August.



4. I was very excited to hear the Charlie Brown Christmas classics I grew up with. The music and lyrics are just as fun to sing along with as they were when I was a little girl watching Charlie and the gang on TV. A CD well worth the minute cost!!!



5. This is a CD I have always wanted and desired the soundtrack from day one as a young child. I totally love it and every track on it. Glad to have the original CD as part of my collection. I am very satisfied and pleased with this purchase. Love it and it is definitely a 5 star purchase and a Keeper...great CD. Great sound.

No comments about A Midwinter Night's Dream.

5 comments about Shadow of the Raven.

1. I personally think this is Nox Arcana's best work, topping CARNIVAL OF LOST SOULS. They take you inside the tortured mind of Edgar Allen Poe and not only musically represent his personal demons but nearly a dozen of his most famous works including "The Pit And The Pendulum, "Murders In The Rue Morgue" and "Fall Of The House Of Usher." In fact, several tracks deal with the latter story. I kind of wish Nox Arcana had musically adapted one or two more of Poe's stories and done less with representing Poe's mindset. Don't get me wrong; all the tracks here are very moody and some rather pretty, but the tracks in the middle ("Legacy Of Sorrow", "Mysteries Of The Night", "Morbid Reminiscence" and "A Dream Within A Dream") all kind of ran together for me and made the CD drag just a bit. Anyway, I found the tracks focusing on Poe's stories to be the strongest on the CD. "The Black Cat" will creep you out. "The Tell-Tale Heart" will have your heart pounding. "The Cask Of Amontillado" builds just like a vengeful man laying brick to seal you in your doom. "Murders In the Rue Morgue" has a great sense of dread and use of tympani...although I'm not sure it makes me think of a gorilla with a razor blade...but it's quite good. There are also 2 hidden tracks after the final track "Nevermore". One is a partial recitation of "The Raven" which I personally entitled "Quoth The Raven" and put it bewteen "Masque Of The Red Death" and Nevermore". The other track is "The Premature Burial" which I end the CD with. A CD should always go out with a bang...or in this case a man buried alive and banging on the inside of his casket to be let out. All in all this is a very creepy and well produced CD.



2. In a word, Brilliant. The work of Nox Arcana keeps getting better. As a professional Magician, I not only enjoy this music at my leisure, it serves as inspiration in my work. I am especially moved with Annabel Lee, Lenore and of course, the Raven. When this album was released, I did not hesitate to purchase it because I have enjoyed their past works. Carnival of Lost Souls and Darklore Manor to name two. Edgar Allan Poe himself would seem proud, in his own melancholy way, to have a soundtrack to accompany his immortal works.



3. You know you're holding something spectacular when you get chills just reading the track listing. Such was my response upon holding the latest gem from Nox Arcana, Shadow of the Raven, in my hands. A tribute to one of the greatest Gothic writers of all time, Edgar Allan Poe, this cd is a masterpiece of art; flawlessly capturing in musical notes what Poe set down in ink.
   
   Based upon some of his greatest stories and most famous poems, this disc is their finest work to date.
   
   Starting with the vocal track "Darkest Hour" you enter the despair and sorrow that was Poe's life. This feeling never really leaves you as you move onto the other songs. Some of the best are "Descent Into Madness" which will leave you with the feeling of growing dread, "Madeline's Lament" holds a gentle touch of sadness and "Haunted Memories" lives up to its' name with a haunting quality lying within each note. "Annabel Lee" is soft and poignant. "Mysteries of the Night" is simply beautiful while "The Raven" is heartbreakingly so. "A Dream Within A Dream" has an almost ethereal quality to it while "The Tell-Tale Heart" will have your own pounding with terror. "Murders in the Rue Morgue" is pure suspense and "The Pit and the Pendulum" is absolutely disturbing.
   
   This album is definitely a must have for fans of both Poe and Nox Arcana. To be without this album? Well....quothe the Raven "Nevermore!".



4. There are almost no words to describe this amazing album. Every track has its own macabre beauty. my favorite pieces on this disk are The House of Usher, Madeline's Lament, Annabel Lee, Legacy of Sorrow, Mysteries of the Night, The Raven, Morbid Reminesence, and Lenore. I hope you enjoyed this album as much as I did.



5. What else can be said about Nox Arcana that has not been yet. I think this may be my new favorite cd by the Kings of Haunting Soundtracks.
   
   This tribute to Poe hits the mark in every way, and should be a part of every Halloween buffs collection.
   
   Nox Arcana manages to mix spooky, romantic and entertaining whilst staying on target with the subject. The tracks with the haunting violins absolutely create the perfect imagery.
   
   Bravo Nox Arcana you have outdone yourselves!