1 comments about One Christmas Eve.

1. I've had this album in my collection for a few years now. I pull it out every Christmas and listen to it a few times.
   
   I find the recording a pleasant mix of traditional songs and originals. The Angels Medley is fun and a nice turn on the traditional arrangements. The remainder of the traditional songs have a contemporary feel to them. The work is tasteful without sounding either too upbeat or too much like existing arrangements.
   
   While not extraordinary, Wayne Watson has a pleasant voice that wears easy on the ears. He executes well. I have no reservations about his musicianship.
   
   If you like Wayne Watson and are looking for holiday music that is not what you'll hear in the shops and on the radio during the season, this is not a bad buy. You could do far worse.

5 comments about Raffi's Christmas Album.

1. Our children listen to the classic CD over and over during the holidays, and it never seems to get old. It has a nice blend of traditional children's songs and new Raffi christmas songs. This is a great CD.

   I grew up with Raffi, and this CD brings backs pleasant memories of the holidays.

   This CD is available at Amazon.com in a new REMASTERED version.

   I highly Raffi's Christmas album or almost any other CD by Raffi. Raffi is the most important children's musician in modern history.




2. This is a good cd. It has some traditional christmas music, and a few cute little songs but stays with the reasonable realm. It is typical of Raffi's style and the kids love it.



3. This is one of the best Christmas albums of all time by anyone. Adults can enjoy it just as much as children. It is a pleasant, engaging, simple album of Christmas songs, well sung, well played, without the excesses and unlistenable portions which mar almost every album of Christmas music by other artists. It is a masterpiece of holiday music, timeless, for the ages.



4. I enjoy this CD so much, it's become a holiday tradition in my family to play it during the christmas season. One occasion is when we do all of our Christmas baking singing along while baking cookies with my mother and sister. Or on Christmas morning while opening up presents. The CD has been at our Christmas celebrations since we were children and i can't imagine going without it when i have children of my own.



5. Raffi has a calming, melodic voice and is one of the few children's entertainers who also appeals to adults. All of his albums are well balanced so that there are upbeat moments and times when the kiddies need to calm down.

No comments about Alessandro Scarlatti: Cinque Profeti - Weinachtskantate (Christmas Cantata).

5 comments about Samuel Barber: Piano Concerto; Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance.

1. Marin Alsop and the Royal National Scottish Orchestra appear to be continuing their complete traversal of Samuel Barber's orchestral works with the fourth volume of the set. There have been some quibbles about tempi in the earlier volumes, particularly of the School for Scandal overture, but there is no such problem here.

   The centerpiece of this CD is the Piano Concerto. This concerto was written for John Browning and he has played it literally hundreds of times over the past four decades; he has recorded it several times. I listened to his most recent recording with Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony in order to compare it with the present recording, and I have to say that Stephen Prutsman, the pianist on this disc, has nothing to apologize for. Whereas Browning's treatment seems a bit more settled, a bit more sedate, Prutsman's playing is more brilliant, somewhat more percussive, and equally satisfying. The piano is recorded rather more forward on this Naxos disc. I would have to give Browning the edge in the poetic second movement, but in the more vigorous sections Prutsman seems more energized.

   The Die Natali is a Christmas piece, written at about the same time as the Piano Concerto. It treats such familiar Christmas carols as O come, O come, Emmanuel; Lo, how a rose e'er blooming; God rest ye merry, Gentlemen; We three kings; Good King Wenceslas. There is even a section where O come, O come, Emmanuel is played over an ostinato taken from Adeste fideles. The biggest climax is based on Joy to the world, and then Silent Night closes the piece quietly. Do not mistakenly believe that this is simply a medley of Christmas tunes--far from it; it is an extremely skillful piece that utilizes all manner of contrapuntal and harmonic devices to create a satisfying symphonic whole.

   Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance had a classic recording by Leonard Bernstein and this performance does not compete very well with it, but it must be said that no one has ever come close to Bernstein's incandescent reading. This performance is certainly more than adequate.

   The collection ends with Barber's delightful Commando March, originally written for military band in 1943, and later orchestrated; this is the version we hear. It is all one could ask of a stirring military march.

   The performances here are quite good. The sound is also very clear and lifelike, although in the Concerto the piano, as mentioned, seems a bit spotlighted, which may not be all bad.

   Recommended to those who do not have these particular pieces in their collections or who want several versions of, say, the Concerto or the Medea.




2. This disc is another installment in the Naxos Barber series, conducted by Marin Alsop. It has some interesting, little-heard music: Die Natalie, variations on Christmas carols, and the Commando March. Both show Barber's versatility and Die Natalie contains some deft counterpoint as Barber creates some remarkable music on those themes.

   The Piano concerto is well played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the soloist, Stephan Prutsman. Mr. Prutsman is a very gifted pianist and has an interesting, more aggressive approach to the concerto. This recording is comparable to those by John Browning, the dedicatee of the concerto, but this recording is not quite as lyrical as Browning and has a harder edge to the playing.

   Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, part of a longer ballet written for Martha Graham, is well played but cannot match the recording by Thomas Schippers for its intensity and atmosphere of fear. So although these are not among the best recording they are of interest and are appealing. The reasonable price for this disc and the overall quality recommend it highly.




3. The dynamic range, both pianist and orchestra is from loud to noise, there's no piano and nothing in between. Pianist is harsh and I was amazed to see that the orchestra tries to follow him in that pathetic noise making.
   Barber's music is killed in this "performance", the rhythmical figures are completely disstorted and there's clear that pianist and orchestra are almost never together, they're both guessing.
   I think that Naxos in general in order to make those cheap recordings, ended up making really CHEAP recordings. I thought that they wanted all these masterpieces to be accessible to music fans, but this way, it will be no music fans pretty soon. I hate the way that Barber sounds here, and if I didn't know who is Barber and what he wrote, I will never want to hear his music again.
   In my case, please, give me my money back! NOW!



4. The forthright attack of pianist Stephan Prutsman announces from the first bar that this installment in Marin Alsop's Bcomplete arber survey will be wide awake. Generlaly that hasn't held true elsewhere; Alsop's conducting tends to be soft-grained and not very rhythmic. Here the soloist inspires her to put some guts into Barber's orchestral part. The finale is suitably brash and propulsive. The second movement Canzone is a protracted song, almost like romantic movie music, and Prutsman's touch is lovely. In general he doesn't try to sound commanding in the mode of John Browning, for whom the work was written, but chooses a lean, alert style that I like very much.
   
   Die Natali is a 17 min. Christmas suite based on familiar carols like O Come, Emmanuel and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, gently but slyly arranged in ways that tickle the imagination. It lights up with belly-dancing Orientalism when we get to We Three Kings. Alsop's reading is suitably jolly, and the serene solo for French horn in Silent Night casts a spell.
   
   Medea's Meditation and Dance of Death wasn't included in the suite from the ballet in Alsop's Vol. 2. It's the best part of the whole work, and Alsop does justice to its meditative side. One could ask for more mystery and ferocity in the vengeful parts, though. As another reviewer points out, Schippers' classic recording on Sony finds more depth in this music. The final piece here, entitled Commando March, sounds a bit like macho drag from this unmilitaristic gay composer--or is this a pardoy? I chuckled.
   
   In sum, this CD would be a good place for any listener to start collecting Alsop's Barber since it contains such a variety of styles and shows off her condcuting at its best.



5. This CD pretty much exemplifies the rest of the Naxos set under Alsop -- decent, competent performances, even if they're not authoritative. Even with the Pulitzer prize, Barber's Piano Concerto is my least favorite of his major works -- his earlier works from the early 1940's (Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, 2nd Symphony) I think are much more appealing. While the Concerto recording here isn't bad, it puts dramatic gestures over proper musical phrasing. I definitely prefer John Browning's recording with Slatkin over this one, even if Alsop presents a different approach; I just don't think it's well executed and it comes off sounding a little sloppy and unpolished.
   
   Die Natalie is a really marginal work. The "Orientalism" that one of the other reviewer refers to is just a cheap and tacky sound effect meant to dress up a work that is overall pretty weak and uninteresting.
   
   Medea's Dance of Vengeance comes up very flat here. I definitely agree with other reviewers that point out that Alsop and the Scottish Orchestra don't push the momentum through to the end. It brings just enough to the table for me to think how much better it would have been if they brought up the tempo a little in the last few pages of the score.
   
   And maybe I'm just a cornball and a sucker for big melodies, but I really like the Commando March. "Don't-ask-don't-tell" policies aside, I think it's a fun work that posesses a unequivocal heroism that isn't common in Barber's output. It's an interesting (but brief) counterpoint to his more ambivalent and tragic wartime 2nd Symphony that was written at the same time.
   
   I recommend the disc for the completists and the Commando March, but I would also be on the lookout for other versions of some of these works.

No comments about Recuerdos Navideños Con los Mejores Artistas.

1 comments about Impressions.

1. My grandfather gave me a tape of this album way back a few years after it first came out, which was in 1983. I can't describe the music - French Impressionistic New Age instrumental? Regardless, it's absolutely gorgeous. I recommend listening to it when you just want to get the heck away from it all.

1 comments about Living Room Sessions: Christmas.

1. I'm not usually a fan of instrumental albums, but I have enjoyed both of the releases in Chris Rice's Living Room Sessions series.

   This CD features Chris playing his own arrangements of 12 classic Christmas carols. His piano solos are truly a pleasure to listen to. Also included is an arrangement of his soon to be classic "Welcome to Our World." If you aren't familiar with this song, check out his first release ("Deep Enough to Dream"), Michael W. Smith's "Christmastime," or Amy Grant's "A Christmas to Remember" for the words. It's an incredible reminder of Jesus' sacrifice to come and die for us and belongs in this collection of Spiritual Christmas music.

   This CD is the perfect background music for an office or Christmas party or to play anytime during the season. I will be mixing it into my Christmas music for years to come.

4 comments about Pittsburgh Symphony Brass: A Christmas Concert.

1. You can get an idea of the sound by listing to the samples here. Too bad the track listing on the website doesn't include the times. I specifically bought this hoping to find a long version of "Master in this Hall". Fortunately I read the lable before opening the CD, that cut is only 53 seconds! Most of the cuts on this CD are under 2 minutes in length, and several are less than one minute. ("Patapan" is only 42 seconds) You basically get enough music for one verse. OK for background music (at low volume) but I find little use for it otherwise.



2. Superb playing from the brass section of one of our finest orchestras. Yes, the tracks are short, but there are 29 of them!



3. This group put a show on last winter at a local church in Pittsburgh, and I have to say that it is one of the best sounding brass groups I have listened to. I agree, some of the songs are short, but the quality and talent that goes into the pieces is excellent. I would also recommend Empire Brass Quartet and some of their recordings if you like what you hear on this CD.



4. If you intend to only have one Christmas Brass album, make sure this is it! Virtuouso playing, clever arrangements (The Twelve Days of Christmas especially)and wonderful acoustics.
   
   Two thumbs up!!

No comments about Goza Las Posadas Con Mariachi Fiesta Mexicana.

1 comments about A Latin American Baroque Christmas.

1. Takes the listener back to the cathedrals of Spain. A must for any collection of baroque music.