1 comments about The Baroque Christmas Album.

1. There are not many things in life that I would describe as just Gorgeous -- but this album is definitely one of them. The selections, the arrangements, the production quality, all are clean, yet lush -- simultaneously light and rich. The effect is wonderful.
   
   This may not appeal to hardest-core periodists, but for beautiful music lovingly performed, the album is very hard to beat. Not only rocketted to the top of my favorite holiday album list - it is already high on my favorite all-time list. It will NOT be getting put away with the rest of the Christmas albums. Year-round keeper!

5 comments about A Christmas Fiesta.

1. Jon's incredible voice will have you dancing to all of your holiday favorites well into the new year- I finally will have a CD for my Christmas party that will keep everyone moving!! This is by far my favorite Christmas album ever! (P.S. after listening to this CD you may have an uncontrollable urge to go on a cruise for Christmas!)



2. This Christmas CD is absolutely amazing! You can't help but dance around to all of your christmas favorites when you put this CD in. The Latin influences really add a great spice to the traditional songs. I'd say it's one of the best christmas cds I've heard to date!



3. I am crazy about this CD. It is so upbeat, I find myself humming the songs. Jon Secada's voice is great to listen to as well. I really highly recommend this to everyone who enjoys holiday music and wants to feel good.



4. Also, don't miss his PHENOMENAL duet with Olivia Newton-John, "Everytime it Snows," on her "Christmas Wish" CD



5. My 19 month old Daughter loves this cd, great Holiday music! Love the way JS took the old songs and shook them up, leaving them with great rhythm and very festive! He seems to have put new life into these songs...This music will not only get you in the holiday spirit, it will get you into a partying mood! LOVE IT!!!

1 comments about 27 Christmas Classics.

1. Just a note. This was a gift for a blind sister. Igave it to her for the hollidays. The joy in hearing such beautiful christmas music made her very happy. Thanks to Amazon for this service.Joe

5 comments about A Sesame Street Christmas.

1. Unlike some of the reviewers who are looking for more nostalgic reasons, I'm happy to hear Elmo, Zoe, and the likes because it's what gets my 21-month old's attention. Even better, I like the music as well. It has many classic Christmas songs that I can sing along to with my kids. It's good family fun.



2. I really enjoy this product with my kids. It wasn't the full length thing like my record, but enough to bring back some memories.



3. This was my first Christmas albumn 30 years ago and now my 4 year old daughter and I can enjoy it together. She loves it so much that we listen to it year round. Sesame Street never goes out of style.



4. I bought this for my 2-year-old daughter this year for Christmas. It has a few cute songs, and a few that she asked for by name, but others we skipped like Oscar's "I Hate Christmas," not because we are those freak type of parents, but because of our toddler's tendency to repeat words she hears repeatedly and I didn't want the word "hate" on her shortlist, even though she has no idea what it means.
   
   Maybe next year they'll come out with a new collection of holiday songs with more traditional songs for little ones just learning the words.



5. I saw the titles of the songs on this recording and was hoping to hear the original stuff from 1975, but was disheartened to find out that the CD has been sabotaged by Elmo! Yikes! Elmo is not in every song, but does sing in many of them. Sorry, we're just not an Elmo fan here.

5 comments about A Carnegie Hall Christmas Concert.

1. December 8, 1991 must have been a great night in New York City, especially at Carnegie Hall. On this evening, three outstanding performers backed by a great orchestra and two different choirs joined forces for a Christmas concert. The fruit of this effort is the recording A CARNEGIE HALL CHRISTMAS CONCERT.

   When Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, and Wynton Marsalis collaborate in a concert, how can it be anything but an event? This disc shows just how phenomenal event this concert must have been. Each performer had ample opportunity to demonstrate the performer's individual talents, but there are also many duets with Battle and von Stade as well as works where all three perform together. The Orchestra of St. Luke's is conducted by Andre Previn and has a sumptuous sound. The American Boychoir and the Christmas Concert Chorus add backups that enhance so many of the arrangements. Battle and Von Stade's rendition of "Gesu Bambino" is probably one of the best recordings of this beautiful carol. The "Evening Prayer" from HANSEL AND GRETEL is a highlight as well. Winton Marsalis and his septet display their talents in jazz versions of "Winter Wonderland" and "We Three Kings." There is a great Christmas medley that concludes the disc that is simply vocal and orchestral fireworks at their best.

   My only critique, or pet peeve might be the better way of expressing it, would be "The Twelve Days of Christmas." This particular arrangement has the gifts in a different order than the standard version, but since this could be open to dispute, and in the spirit of the Christmas holiday, I won't consider this a strike against the album.

   I'll say it again: December 8, 1991 must have been a great night in New York City, especially at Carnegie Hall.




2. this was an okay cd. it had some good songs i liked, but it was not the best christmas cd i've heard.



3. I saw this broadcast in 1991 or 1992 and have it on video. My only regret is that the concert is not available as a DVD, because the wonder is as much in the impassioned and dramatic 'conversations' between the three stars as in the sounds they produce. Still, until then, this is unforgettable stuff.



4. Oh my, this is just one of my absolute favorite Christmas CDs. It has a wonderful variety of music on it, with excellent musicians. Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, and Winton Marsalis just shine on this CD. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves music, especially classical.



5. In my opinion, this is one of the best classical Christmas albums. It's not only for classical music fans. It features familiar classical songs as well as hymns and secular Christmas songs. In other words, it's easy on the ear for those who are not usual fans of high pitched soprano sounds.

5 comments about Christmas with George Shearing Quintet.

1. This album is a delight. Especially suitable for background music a Christmas dinner party. It's a nice departure from the tired yule favorites in that Shearing delightfully reintroduces us to the holiday chestnuts but does so with new arrangements and wonderful pairings of instruments. This is a must for your holiday music collection.



2. This holiday CD showcases Shearing's light touch. These songs definitely put you in a nice, mellow holiday mood. I really enjoyed the first track, " . . . Merrily on High," as well as "Donkey Carol" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (which smoothly incorporates Brubeck's famous "Take Five" intro). "Noel Nouvelet" is a serene, but melancholy tune, a la Guaraldi's take on "Greensleeves." If you like holiday music and nice jazz, you'll get both from this LP.



3. It seems off key in many places. Not what one wants in Christmas
   music. Not one of Shearing's better recordings in my opinion.



4. I particularly enjoyed the Latin rhythms in "Ding Dong Merrily on High", the 5/4 "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" (although I'm very surprised Shearing's liner notes don't acknowledge the debt to Brubeck's "Take Five"), the reflective "Away in a Manger", and the casually swinging "Winter Wonderland". It's just good, solid jazz -- despite the seasonal tunes, it's worth listening to year round.



5. One of my favorite jazz Christmas tracks this year has been "Ding Dong Merrily on High" from this album. I haven't been able to listen to it just once without playing it again! I would agree with the previous reviewer in that the album is "not uniformly great," but definitely worth owning. Personally, I prefer Oscar Peterson Christmas to this one.

3 comments about Charpentier - In Nativitatem Domini Canticum · Messe de Minuit / Les Arts Florissants · Christie.

1. Well, at the time of writing this review the CD is not available, so I can't say anything about the recording. If its anything like the other wonderful Les Arts performances you won't be disappointed. Last night I went a Les Arts concert when they performed these great pieces. It was by far the best performance that I have been to. It was beautiful and touching and my only regret is that I didn't share the expirience with more family and friends than I did. This is wonderful music, and a great introduction to the French baroque. You must buy this record, it will change the way you listen to music. What a wonderful Advent expirience!



2. This is a terrific CD. The music is glorious and the performance is perfect. I wouldn't trade this CD for anything. I'm a big fan of Handel's Messiah and Bach's sacred choral works. These works by Charpentier -- in particular, the "Messe de Minuit" -- are right up there with those works, in my humble estimation. The more I listen to the CD -- and I have listened to it at least 20 times since I bought it last month -- the more I enjoy it. I'm particularly impressed by the performance. The recorders and other woodwinds sound great, and the choir is superb. I highly recommend this CD!



3. I'm very appreviated that William Christie and les arts florissants they gave me a another beauiful experience and let me enjoy Charpentier's music. I must thanks Christie's contribution to the French baroque music, the more is for Charpentier. For a long time, we enjoyed the oratorio music is by Handel's. And we understand Handel's oratoria in fact was shown and transformed in the anorther face of his opera. Today we seldom had a chance to listen the music of classic italy oratoria, that successed to Carissimi tradition. Of course, Charpentier learned with Carissimi but also be influenced by Lully's Louis period music, but that's why he had his own individual character, a perfect harmony chorus. It will smoothen human spirit easily.
   In sum, we could find a perfect combination of italy and french baroque in Charpentier's music. Listen this and I believe you would be hsi fans.

5 comments about Twelve Girls of Christmas.

1. Very good CD, absolute pleasure to listen when driving, studying, or just for relaxing. Builds the holiday mood too. Best songs would be Shiroi Kobito Tachi, Christmas Eve, All I want for Christmas is You and Santa Claus is coming to town.



2. This is a lovely addition to the 12 Girls Band catalog, and a very satisfying holiday CD. A few selections will be different for the holiday listener, but some very familiar - always with the stamp of the 12 Girls Band style and talent. The Girls have shown they have staying power, and their continuation with new releases, as well as their recent US tour have proven that they have universal appeal. A welcome addition to the world music scene.



3. We've been listening to this CD each nite over dinner this Christmas season.
   These are the best renditions of traditional Christmas tunes that I've heard in my 43 years. Two included songs,"Shiroi Koibito Tachi" and "Koibito Ga Santa Claus" are so pleasant they make me wish I lived in China itself. Twelve Girls Band is great music to dine to, relax to, or even while doing work around the house.



4. This was the first time I've bought or heard about the 12 Girls Band. I love this Christmas album--unique sound! It has the traditional Christmas melodies, newer ones, and Asian ones--all of them have a great sound. And I don't usually care to listen to instrumental-only music...but this one is different. I listened to it many times--even in August! I highly recommend this for your Christmas music collection.



5. Ordered the CD from a supplier in San Fransisco. Arrived in the UK within a week. Excellent service.

5 comments about Happy Holidays to You.

1. Although I just recently purchased this CD, I am very familiar with The Whispers album entitled "Happy Holidays to You." I purchased the album back in 1979, loaned the album to someone who loaned it to someone, and the rest is history.

   I am so excited to have the opportunity to again listen to one of my favorite Christmas albums. My favorite single on the album is the title song "Happy Holidays to You," followed closely by The Whispers rendention of "This Christmas" originally recorded by Donny Hathaway.

   I promise you, if you purchase this CD, it will too become one of your favorite Christmas albums.

   Enjoy.




2. I have always loved this Album, when I was in College in 1983 someone stole it fom me while I was letting it play in the dorms common room. I tried for years o find a copy,m even trying o contact SOLAR Records (dont exist anymore, EBAY, record clubs, and you. I grew up in LA, Calif and this brings back good memories just listening to the samples.



3. Made my Christmas!!!! I would highly recommend it!
   I replace it when my old copy gets too old to play the last one was on cassett now I've got the CD!



4. THIS . . . was sent to a Loved One . . .
   
   I DON'T DO C H R I S T M A S



5. First of all, I am an avid fan of The Whispers. I absolutely love this CD. As if that were not enough, I went ahead and purchased their other Christmas CD titled "Christmas Moments", which is another superb Christmas album that is full of soul. If you are a Whispers fan, you will enjoy both of these CDs.

5 comments about Peter Pan (2005 Studio Cast) - Leonard Bernstein.

1. This recording is a valuable addition to the music of Leonard Bernstein, but rather an embarassment in the scholarship of assembling a lost show. On the plus side, the music is enchanting, Linda Eder truly stunning in a mix of musical innocence and sophistication, and it is conducted and played quite well. On the negative side, Daniel Narducci's soft baritone has neither enough menace or comedy.
   
   As to reconstructing a lost score, the scholarship is not so hot: what actually existed from the original show and orchestrations? Who orchestrated what among the new pieces? As far as that goes, what of Trude Rittmann and Hershy Kay: who orchestrated what in the original? How does the size of the orchestra on the recording compare to the original production orchestration?
   
   On the music not used in the original, what pieces exist in full and what choices were made in completing others? The recording's notes are woefully inept.
   
   Why use the lovely, but over-inflated, arrangement of "Dream With Me" from the 1977 BY BERNSTEIN revue at the Chelsea Theatre instead of newly orchestrating the extant song sheet? The song, written for ON THE TOWN, needs to fit the song style of PETER PAN's incidental music and not turn into a concert number. In the original production, there were only two Mermaids singing "Neverland." Why a women's chorus with a bad top soprano?
   
   I've always felt the Bernstein score should be available for productions of the play, but this "edition" needs some thought before it's published or made available for performance.



2. For those familiar with the earlier recording of Bernstein's Peter Pan (Arthur/Karloff), the release of an expanded recording of this neglected Bernstein work is a real excitement. The tracks include an indepth study by Frey of the music score, in its wholistic beauty, including even small segments of under a minute. Other works are resurrected, originally cut from the final score; why they would cut "Dream of Me" is beyond me.
   
   However, Eder cast as Wendy does not sit well. Timid, motherly Wendy is not synonymous with big, broadway star. What should be simple songs, as they are written as well as should be sung, are instead aggrandized broadway hits. Yes, Eder has a gorgeous voice, but here a bit misplaced. I much prefer the casting of Wendy in the original recording. However, in favor of Eder, the CD is not replicating the narrative and non-music portions as did the original CD, so the work may as well be a set of disjointed pieces, not a flowing piece of arias and spoken scenes. Therefore, her portrayal of Wendy as a whole is not as crucial had there been a script to read.
   
   The "bonus track" reinstalled an appreciation for the thematic material of the second Chichester pslam. I'm left wondering if there are other restorations to be made from the abandonded "Skin of Our Teeth" project. Here, I have no qualms with Eder's interpretation; soft, delicate, flowing.
   
   This is certainly a hallmark in Bernstein recordings. A must for any Bernstein fan.



3. A fabulous recording-beautifully sung, beautifully conducted
   This world premiere recording of Leonard Bernstein's Peter Pan should win a Grammy. With a steller cast led by Broadway superstars Linda Eder and Daniel Narducci, and fabulously conducted by Alexander Frey (who restored and brought this lost masterpiece to life), this great music sings and dances for the first time. I'm absolutely enchanted and you will be as well.



4. Please allow me to add a few comments about this recording for which Kevin Killian, Michael G. Brennan, Larry Moore and others have already written excellent reviews. I am in total agreement with most of their observations, and a say a hearty "Amen" to Mr. Moore's input regarding the lack of information in the liner notes.
   
   This is not your ordinary PETER PAN, which you will see upon removing the disc from the case. You are now staring into the gaping jaws of a crocodile. Not nearly as popular as the Jule Styne/Betty Comden/Adolph Green version, and far darker, it's easy to understand why Bernstein's version is rarely staged. In fact, it's not really a musical, but rather a play with songs and incidental music. The handful of songs are all performed by Wendy, Captain Hook, and the pirates -- "none for Peter, none for Nana, none for John and Michael." Furthermore, two of the songs included on this recording ("Captain Hook's Soliloquy" and "Dream with Me") were dropped from the original production because they were too difficult for the stars. I guess Boris Karloff just didn't have the chops to sing Hook's "aria."
   
   Bernstein's incidental music also never made it to Broadway, perhaps because of its complexity and challenge to the average Broadway pit orchestra. Instead, Alec Wilder wrote new incidental music for the play.
   
   Alexander Frey conducts what is called the Amber Orchestra, which I assume is the orchestra of the Karlin Theater in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the ensemble he conducts as his "day job." Orchestra and conductor do great honor to the original orchestrations by Trude Rittman & Hershy Kay and also to the additional orchestrations of conductor Frey and others. But, like Larry Moore, I wish the liner notes would have told us who orchestrated what. (You can find all that information on archivmusic.com.) The voices were recorded in New York and later mixed with the orchestra. Broadway goes Eastern European! Similarly, not one, but two Eastern European orchestras ar heard on the recording of SHERRY: the Czech Philharmonic Chamber & the Bratislava Radio Symphony. Pity it's too costly to record orchestras in America.
   
   When it comes to writing music for the theater, no one comes close to Leonard Bernstein. There are multiple recordings of ON THE TOWN, WONDERFUL TOWN, WEST SIDE STORY, & CANDIDE and now we have Alexander Frey and the folks at KOCH Classics to thank for resurrecting and preserving this little known Bernstein score. In addition to Bernstein's Broadway scores, I enthusiastically recommend "The White House Cantata" (assembled from the score of 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE), "The Chichester Psalms," the chamber opera "Trouble in Tahiti," and any of the fine recording of his songs.
   
   I doubt if we'll ever see another composer who will write so beautifully for the American theatre.



5. There is much to recommend about this recording of Leonard Bernstein's incidental and vocal music written for the 1950 Broadway production of "Peter Pan," which starred Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff. Most (though not all) of the vocal music has been commercially recorded before, but the incidental music hasn't been, with one partial exception: track 20 -- "Tinkerbell Sick! Tinkerbell Lives!" -- contains a bit of ballet music from "On the Town."
   
   As is often the case with incidental music for plays, many of the numbers are quite short. Some of the music is nothing special and can't be said to represent Bernstein at anything like his best, but some is quite lovely.
   
   The orchestral performance here is generally very clean and the playing is nicely expressive. Conductor Alexander Frey deserves credit for that, as well for being the person who got this music back out there.
   
   Linda Eder sings Wendy's songs. (Peter doesn't sing at all in this version, which isn't really a full musical.) She understandably eschews her usual style to try to sound like an adolescent girl, singing mostly in head voice and with little vibrato. Because of this, I find her sound rather piercing and somewhat unpleasant at times. While she's putting forth a good effort that I have to admire, I do wish that she had managed to sound less piercing. It's not as if all adolescent girls sound that way when they sing.
   
   I also wish she had managed to convey a bit more specificity in her phrasing of the lyrics. When I listen to Marcia Henderson on the recording of the 1950 production, I hear someone who wasn't much of a singer but who knew how to convey lyrics.
   
   The other major soloist, Daniel Narducci, playing Captain Hook, sings quite well, but he isn't ideal casting. Boris Karloff on the 1950 recording makes much more of the words in the music that he sings (which doesn't include "Captain Hook's Soliloquy," heard on this recording but which was not in the 1950 Broadway production). And Karloff is funny. For one thing, he doesn't have a very pleasant voice so when he sings "Eat blood! Drink blood! Think blood! Dream blood!" to Bernstein's mellifluous melody and tries to sound beautiful, it's funny because he can't manage it. When Daniel Narducci sings it, he does sound beautiful, which is pleasant but less interesting. Narducci sings very nicely and he has the right general idea most of the time, but (as with Eder) his phrasing lacks specificity and he also lacks the sense of ridiculous seriousness that would make him funny.
   
   The male chorus of pirates performs well, but the rougher chorus in the 1950 recording is funnier and more characterful.
   
   "Neverland," a lovely choral number for women, sounds very pretty, but it might sound better still with a smaller chorus that conveyed the words more clearly.
   
   I don't want to be too negative about this recording, which I'm very glad to have. It's an important document, and everyone involved is talented and accomplished and puts forth a good effort. I'm just not sure that all of them were the best choices. Still, there's some very good music here, some of which hasn't been recorded before, so if you're a Bernstein fan, you're going to want this.
   
   Now I'll explain the "don't trust everything you read" statement above: In the booklet for this recording, Alexander Frey writes that "in the original 1950 production, most of the music was actually instrumental underscoring ... that had been composed by Alec Wilder." This is not correct. No music by Alec Wilder was heard in the 1950 Broadway production.
   
   Some time after this recording was issued, Garth Edwin Sunderland (one of the orchestrators credited on this recording) did correct this misinformation in an article that appeared in the Bernstein Society's publication, "prelude, fugue and riffs." Sunderland wrote:
   
   "For the original cast recording, Bernstein's instrumental numbers, for reasons unknown, were replaced with new cues by Alec Wilder (which has led to the misconception that Bernstein's incidental music was not used in the Broadway production)."
   
   A number of people knew all along that only Bernstein's music was heard in the production, among them the writer on Broadway musicals Ken Mandelbaum, who mentioned it in his online review of the recording. It's odd that both Frey, who was said to have done years of research to restore the score, and the people in charge of the Bernstein estate didn't know such basic information. If such a basic part of the research wasn't done, it's a little hard to trust that the rest of the work was done correctly.
   
   Making it odder is that elsewhere in the booklet, notes by Daniel Felsenfeld quote from opening night reviews that praised Bernstein for his (as one of the critics put it) "excellent musical accompaniment for the action." Surely if Wilder had written the incidental music, the critics would have mentioned Wilder (who was hardly unknown in 1950) as well as Bernstein. So it really is a bit of a mystery why Frey and the Bernstein people didn't realize that Wilder's music wasn't heard in the production.
   
   There's also an incorrect statement in Felsenfeld's notes. He writes that "Captain Hook's Soliloquy" was one of two vocal numbers not in the Broadway production "mostly due to lack of vocal ability on the part of the actors," but the aria wasn't even written till later, specifically for Lawrence Tibbett, who played Hook in a post-Broadway tour.
   
   And it would have been nice if the history of "Dream With Me" had been addressed. As Larry Moore mentions in his Amazon customer's review of this recording, there's reason to believe that it was written for "On the Town," although it was not used in that show. Bernstein wanted to include it in "Peter Pan," but it went unused there as well. When asked about the song many years later, Adolph Green, who wrote the lyrics for "On the Town" with Betty Comden, said that he and Comden wrote the lyric, except perhaps for a few lines that Bernstein may have contributed. Yet Comden and Green receive no credit in the booklet here.
   
   Also, Trude Rittman made important contributions to the score, but they are not mentioned in the notes, though at least she gets credit as one of the original orchestrators.