No comments about Christmas Vespers - Choir of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

2 comments about Christmas with the London Brass.

1. Great, fantastic recording. I have played this CD every Christmas for the last 5 years. Highly recommended for background music at Christmas celebrations & parties!
   The technical performance, especially on Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Winter is superb and will wow you. Don't miss out on a festive Christmas celebration.



2. Excellent playing combined with wonderful arrangements make this a "must-have" Christmas album. A great companion to this CD is the Pittsburgh Symphony Brass' "A Christmas Concert."

3 comments about A Hanukka Celebration [Milken Archive of American Jewish Music].

1. The Milken Archive series is quite remarkable, but this album is misbegotten. The research is extensive and impressive, but it matters little to even the learned listener. The disc has 22 cues in 73 minutes, but that information is nowhere found in the plethora of microprint. As a rabbi familiar with the material, I was unable to match the selections with titles or the other data, in various columns that are not co-ordinated. The TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS have only the latter; no Semitic originals. There is no indication of Israeli or the dominant European (Ashkenazi) pronunciation. To add insult to injury, the town near the infamous death camp known as Auschwitz is also written in Polish (p. 11) but the diacritics are wrong so the name is misspelled.
   The real problem is that the music falls between the cracks. The florid arrangements and the poor information booklet make it useless as a family or Hebrew school resource, and the material does not warrant consideration as classical music.



2. I have been nothing but impressed by not only the sheer volume of things recorded by the Milken foundation, but the quality of their recordings. This collection of Hanukkah music is no exception. Dr. Adler brings the best out of his choirs, the performances are all very solid, and the recording quality is something rarely heard in the Jewish world. It is a pleasure to hear an arrangement by the very talented Raymond Goldstein, who should have his work recorded more often, imho. I don't think this album was intended to be a resource as much as a collection of works that deserved to be brought to the public's attention. Oh, and Isaacson's works are so much better when orchestrated!



3. This album comprises a very disparate collection of Chanukah music. The selections include settings of liturgical texts, settings of non-liturgical holiday poems, skillful arrangements of popular holiday songs, and original holiday pops. The program notes are comprehensive but somewhat challenging to read. They are divided into 4 sections, dealing with Chanukah, the composers, the compositions, and the performers. Some diligence is required to make the correct connections, but if you take the time you'll be rewarded by some insights into how arrangers re-hear familiar material while musicologists discover the original essence that we recognize.
   Samuel Adler's "To Celebrate a Miracle" is a brilliantly orchestrated suite of well-known tunes. With interesting and unexpected harmonies, counter melodies, bridge material, and a stunning command of wind sonorities, it is a ear-opening treat if you already know the songs, and stands alone as a concert work if you don't. "The Flames of Freedom," also by Adler, mixes original material, liturgical texts and popular melodies in a deliberate homage to Britten's Ceremony of Carols.
   Michael Isaacson's "Aspects of a Great Miracle" strikes me as a rather slick pops piece. The speaking chorus in the 2nd movement owes more to Meredith Willson's Music Man than Ernst Toch's Geographical Fugue.
   Leo Low and and Zavel Zilberts provide alternate settings of the same Yiddish poem, and Herbert Fromm presents a brilliant madrigal based on Mi y'mallel. I would love to hear the other 5 madrigals in the set.
   Liturgical music is represented by Goldstein's lovely setting of the Chanuka candle-lighting blessings, Adler's Hanerot Hallelu, Miller's refreshingly up-beat Ma'oz Tzur, a Hallel piece by Olshanetsky, and a work for the Shabbat that falls within Chanuka in the best men's choir tradition by Ancis.
   The performances range from quite good to excellent. There's a lot to learn and enjoy here.

No comments about Classic Rock Christmas.

No comments about The Ultimate Classical Christmas.

1 comments about In The Mood For Christmas.

1. If you enjoy classic Swing bands like Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey or Glenn Miller, you will love this CD.

No comments about Drew's Famous Halloween Dance Party Favorites.

No comments about Enduring Light: 60 Inspirational Favorites.

4 comments about Trav'ling Home - American Spirituals 1770-1870.

1. The outstanding Boston Camerata introduces the listener to early american religous music, which is quite different and much more exciting than the bland, uninvloving tunes in the hymnals that are sitting in church pews these days. Anyone interested in American cultural and/or musical history needs this!



2. This CD is absolutely amazing; the first time I listened to it, I was lukewarm and contemplated returning it. However, the second time around, I was crying throughout. The first song is a jewel, and my heart breaks upon each listen. The women vocalists are angels, and the male voices are earthy, yet just as sweet (and Anne Azema, I need hardly mention, is a goddess, as always). The acoustics are also delightful: the sound is just as if they're singing in a little church out in the middle of "nowhere," much like the church on the cover (I adore that cover photograph).

   Some CDs are good "homework" music; this one is not. You cannot listen to it without paying rapt attention. I am in the habit of putting on headphones and turning it on sometimes when I go to bed, and just lying there in the dark with the exquisite harmonies and poignant lyrics wafting through my ears. Buy this now, and try it. It will bring tears to your eyes.




3. When I mention shaped-note singing to most people, they think of the most raucus form of gospel, which may be fun, but which has little beauty to it. Far from it, true shaped-note is an American, energized form of the medieval and renaisance music of Europe, and the Boston Camarata's background in early music does so well to bring out its madrigal qualities. In addition, the recording itself is of such clarity, that the nearly three-dimensional effect of its antiphonal singing is better represented than on any other early american album I've heard



4. This very enjoyable CD is an anthology of notable American religous music from the end of the 18th century to approximately the end of the Civil War. It concentrates on the so-called shape note and related traditions. Drawn heavily from old hymnals and song books, this CD features a number of lovely pieces, including some by the remarkable Boston composer William Billings. Some pieces are presented in parallel with the secular songs and music used to develop the sacred music. Beautifully performed.

1 comments about Sounds of Halloween Night.

1. If you already have "Wolfmanjack's Halloween Special" cd and "Fright Night Scary Sounds" cd, don't buy this one. It's the exact same cd only with a different cover and title. What a ripoff. The worst part is that one is unable to listen to a sample of "Sounds of Halloween Night" therefore making you buy the cd only to find out it is a duplication of others out there. I thought it was againt the law to duplicate or copy other cds? .. and yet companies are doing it and selling them.

   On a brighter note, I do like this cd. I've had the original for 2 years. It's fun for haunting halloweeners. But I do need a new halloween cd and I've already spent approx. $30.00 plus and have been disappointed.