5 comments about Simply the Best Classical Anthems.

1. We were concerned after reading some other reviews that this version of Pomp and Circumstance wouldn't be the correct movement or the full length version. This selection has the song for graduation AND the extended length, so it gives plenty of time for processionals. If this is what you need, this is the CD to get.



2. "Simply the Best Classicial Anthems" is exactly what the title indicates. This is a collection of what the CD says are "36 of the most powerful classics on Earth". My review of this CD comes from someone who is a Classical Music Novice. I'm familiar with some of the composers, musical styles, musical periods, and some of the terminology that is key to understanding Classical Music. By no means am I an expert. I have basically popped in this two CD collection into my player and have enjoyed the sounds it produces. If you are in the same category as I am or maybe just wanting to be introduced to Classical Music - this is going to be a very good CD to have in your collection. For the more seasoned Classical Music fan, this could be either enjoyable or overkill.
   
   The CD contains 36 songs composed by the legends of Classical Music Composers from the past. The bulk of the works come from Composers in the the 19th and 20th century, but there are works from the Romantic and Classical eras of the late 18th and early 19th century (such as Beethoven and Mozart). In general you will find most of the major names of Composers you would expect to find - names such as Tchiakovsky, Handel, Verdi, Strauss, Elgar, and Bach are all there. The only major composer who I would have expected to see on this CD that I don't see is Frederic Chopin. The composers of the late 20th century are not included on this collection - so you won't see Leonard Bernstein or John Williams on this set. While these Composers are excellent, I do think style of the tracks on this collection pre-date their style.
   
   The recordings themselves are done by the great Orchestras around the world. For the most part, European Orchestras were used to deliver the tracks. There are a few exceptions: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra delivers "The Ride of the Valkyries"; The Toronto Symphony Orchestra delivers "Dance of the Knights"; and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra delivers Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture". Some of the European Orchestras that are well known include: BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, Choeur Philhamonique de Strasbourg, and more. Also included are performances by well known names in the Classical space such as Marie-Claire Alain (Bach's "Toccate and Fogue in D Minor" and Saint-Saens' "Symphony for Organ No 3"), Piero Toso (Vivaldi's "Allegro From Spring - Four Seasons"), and Placido Domingo appears on Puccini's "Nessun Dorma".
   
   The 2 Disc collection contains a total of over 2 hours and 6 minutes of music. The selections that are included in the set will sound very familiar to you when you play them. You probably have both heard and seen the names of tracks such as: Oref's "O Fortuna"; Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man"; Beethoven's "First Movement from Symphony Number 5" and "Ode To Joy"; Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance", and Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture". Many of the other tracks will also sound familiar, but maybe not so much by name - such as Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries", Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathoustra"; Grieg's "Piano Concerto", and "Dies Irae" (versions included by Mozart and Verdi - you can compare the two and judge for yourself). As for the Discs themselves, I think most of the casual fans will like the selections on Disc Two better, but Disc One is still very good. On a sidebar, the Israel Philharmonic's version of "1812 Overture" is by far the best you will hear - particularly at the end, the booming drums create almost a 3 dimensional vision of fireworks being launched into the air.
   
   There one big negative on this collection is some of the recording quality. The clarity of the recording is there, but some of the recording levels leave a lot to be desired. On some of the softer parts, it is barely audible without significantly turning up your volume. This is very evident on "O Fortuna" where you will hear almost dead silence during from the 30 second to 1:30 mark of the track unless you crank your volume up. Same with the first few seconds of Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathoustra" and Tchiakovsky's "1812 Overture". When the volume is cranked up you will hear them - but then the other sections will be way too loud. I'm surprised with modern technology that this couldn't be addressed better.
   
   The liner notes are pretty thin. You do get the Composers, Performers/Orchestras, and recording dates. There isn't any more details than that and you won't learn anymore insight on the tracks than this information. Despite some of the shortcomings of the liner notes and recording volume, I still think this is an excellent place to start and do recommend this CD if you are a novice to Classical Music and are looking for a great place to start listening to what the Classics have to offer.



3. Simply The Best Classical Anthems

   Simply The Best Classical Anthems is a compilation album of `36 of the most powerful Anthems on Earth'. But, it is also said to be something else. It is said to be a gateway. A gateway to another world. A world where our imagination can run free without being shackled down by any borders or boundaries or rules or limits. A world that we have all seen or perhaps more accurately have all heard of but for many of us a world that we have never dared to enter. Never dared to enter because of fear. The fear of being ostracised and shunned by our community.

   THE MYTH
   `Classical Music!', I can hear some of you cry. `That isn't another world. That's just music for the upperclass, the high-brow, and the pompous.' Surprisingly, I too felt this way for a long time until I accepted the invitation made to me by Simply The Best Classical Anthems. I always felt that Classical Music was nice to listen to as background music for a Levis ad or a Car ad but I would consider people strange if they chose to hear it on its own. However, after having listened to this album I realised how wrong I was in my assumptions.

   THE TRUTH
   Music as with all forms of amusement helps to take you away from where you are now. It helps to relax you when you are stressed with anger; it helps to give you strength when you are vulnerable; it helps to keep your spirits up when you have faced tragedy or loss. It helps. And, for me the type of music that best conjures up the most passionate emotions (love, hate, courage and anger) at our most testing times is Classical Music.
   How? I don't know.
   Why? I don't know.
   I can only promise you that in my experience it does.

   THE CHEST
   The album, in visual terms, is very difficult to overlook amongst the plethora of records that may surround it. This is because the album has a very distinct purple sleeve cover. Not any kind of purple mind you but the Cadbury's kind of purple. The kind of purple that carries with it an invitation. An invitation that if accepted promises you a treasure inside.
   And since, I have always enjoyed the treasure within the purple Cadbury's Dairy Milk wrapper, I asked myself why would an album carrying the same invitation promise to be anything different? Thus, I parted with my tuppence worth and went back home to open this purple chest of promised treasures.

   THE PROMISED TREASURE
   As you may have guessed, the contents of the album are somewhat different to the contents of a Cadbury's bar. When I opened the album, I was presented with two compact discs. At first glance, there did not seem to be anything special about them. They were just your average, everyday, run of the mill compact discs. To tell you the truth, I was a bit disappointed because I suppose I had hoped for something more.
   However, looks can be deceptive. (Afterall, a Cadbury's Dairy Milk does not seem very appetising until you taste it!) And, also come November each year, I am always bemused and surprised at how the shabby contents of a cardboard box can both light up the sky and light up the faces of the neighbourhood. Thus, I pushed aside my assumptions and I ignited the discs (not literally of course, I just pressed the play button on the CD player). And, I let the fireworks begin.

   THE KEY
   From the very beginning, you will feel like you have unlocked the doorway to something special. And, after a full two hours of listening to both discs, you will feel like you have been taken out of this world and transported to another. Welcome to the world of Classical Music.

   GUIDANCE
   In the beginning, continue to listen to both discs in one go (i.e. one after the other). After a while, you will know which tracks you enjoy listening to the most. For those tracks you enjoyed the most make a promise to yourself that you will listen to the whole of the piece from which that track came from.
   Good Luck on your quest if you choose to accept it.
   Ride amongst the Valkyries, listen to the Flight of the Bumblebees, and use The Planets to keep you on the path.

   I am not a good reviewer because as with all of my reviews I refuse to comment too much about what is inside the product but rather more about what effect the product has had on me. (Me, me, me. Vain & Egotistic, I know, so my friends and family keep telling me). But, I just want to cause a raucous about the product, enough not to spoil but enough of a raucous to let you experience it for yourself.

   So my final words are:
   Simply The Best Classical Anthems is an invitation. An invitation to the world of classical music. A world where you can begin a never-ending quest of curiosity. A curiosity that will always be rewarded with fulfilment.

   Do you accept such an invitation?

   Hope you found this review helpful.




4. The samples are too short and the quality leaves a lot to be desired. Having said that the choices are wonderful and the price is great. If you're looking for a overview of the best of classical music then this is for you. However if it's quality you're looking for then spent the extra money and look at other choices.



5. This is a good sampler, since it covers what you would want in a classical music CD. Looking at the tracks, it has the classic hits, such as "Ride of the Valkyries," "Toccata and Fugue," "Fanfare for the Common Man," "'Jupiter' from `The Planets,'" "Eine Klein Nachtmusik," and "Hallelujah Chorus."

   There are also some new pieces that I have fallen in love with, such as "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," "'Promenade' from Pictures at an Exhibition." The compilers did an interesting double take by including both Verdi's and Mozart's "Dies Ire." I'm not sure which is better.

   This music is good for the brain and good for the soul. There is a power and passion that the blaring and glaring music that makes up most of the FM band. I'm reminded of the religious man who said that there is no music in hell. Probably because they wouldn't appreciate it there.

   These CDs has a good transfer from the analogue tapes; there is no hiss or fuzziness. The packaging hearkens back to 2001: A Space Odyssey, with the black monolith. And appropriately, "Also Sprach Zarathustra" is the opening track on Disk 2.

2 comments about An American Oktoberfest.

1. I bought 4 Oktoberfest CD's for my upcoming Oktoberfest. This was hands-down the worst one of the bunch. Now, I am sure the female singer is a nice person, but her singing is...how can I say this nicely...I can't, it is painful to listen to! Sorry, but it really is. Especially on Edelweiss and Du, Du, liegst mir im Herzen where she solos a bit. The whole recording has an overall Karaoke sound. The gentleman singer's voice is marginal. The songs lyrics sung in German are so overenunciated, again especially by the female singer, that one gets the feeling of someone reading the lyrics for the first time. I was so disappointed because I thought this Cd was just what I was looking for. Oktoberfest music sung with English lyrics. Now I understand why you cannot sample their songs before you buy. To boot, this was one of the more expensive CD's. My favorite of the 4 I did buy was, "Oktoberfest in Germany," for $5.49. I don't even have the heart to resell this to an unsuspecting buyer. This goes right into the trash! Oh well, you live and learn.



2. As the manager of "The Oktoberfest Webring," I thoroughly enjoyed this album. Geared for American audiences, all of the songs were tuneful, and most of them are familiar to Americans. Some were sung in German, some in English, and some were bilingual. The voices were pleasant, the sound quality was excellent, and each rendition was lively, colorful, and entertaining. The whole presentation was quite professional, done in good taste, and definitely NOT a brawl scene. I highly recommend it.

2 comments about Andre Rieu in Wonderland.

1. This is classical Andre Rieu --- If you love the other Andre Rieu items you will enjoy Wonderland. His classical adaptations are excellent and he is an extremely musician. If you get a chance to go to a concert do it, but if that's not an option obtaining this item will given you the concert experience.



2. The CD of Andre Rieu in Wonderland and the Vienna I love are both excellent music. I love the selections on each one of them and they help me to release a LOT of stress. Thank you for making them available.

5 comments about The Vienna I Love, Waltzes From My Heart.

1. I was going to review this on New Year's Eve, since it has the right kind of brio for the occasion. But sloth overcame me. Now, I need a shot of brio, so here we go.
   
   The CD begins with a potpourri, including The Radetzky March (by Strauss pere), William Tell Overture, Light Cavalry Overture, and other chestnuts that still excite). The pace is up tempo. In short, a lot of fun. If you want cerebral works and conducting, this isn't it. If you just want to enjoy, good stuff!
   
   Another cut is "The Skaters," by Waldteufel. Animated and enjoyable. This is, to be honest, a trifle, but a very pleasant trifle. The Johann Strauss Orchestra, led by Andre Rieu, provides an enjoyable version.
   
   Offenbach's "Barcarole" is another musical bon bon. Rieu and the Orchestra produce another listenable version. The tempo of the work is nice, although, to my ears, a bit slow; the rhythm is captivating.
   
   Then there is Strauss fils' "Emperor Waltz," one of his best compositions in this genre. The stately introductory segment sets the stage nicely and is played well by the Strauss Orchestra. Then, into the heart of the waltz itself. One of Johann Strauss Junior's best! This is a toe tapper.
   
   And so on. Not a heavy duty classical album, but one that is an enjoyable change of pace. Great for the New Year's celebration. . . .



2. Every CD and DVD I have had of Andreau Rieu have all been excellent. You can waltz around the house doing the housework!



3. The title of this CD was misleading. I wanted an entire CD of Viennese waltzes to play at a party, and was disappointed that there were marches, etc. on the CD. A better title would've been "The Vienna I Love, Music From My Heart".



4. The music is so upbeat and you are automatically in a good mood. It is a real pleasure listening to this CD and it is done frequently.



5. I am really a rock music fan but I enjoy this version of light classical music. It may not be for the serious classical music enthusiast, but it is still considered excellent light entertainment. What a way to introduce classical music to a wider audience!

1 comments about Antill: Corroboree.

1. I first encountered John Antill's ballet Corroboree in 1958 when a suite of excerpts from the complete score had been recorded by Sir Eugene Goosens and the London Symphony Orchestra. That famous Everest Recording (SDBR-3003) was not only a spectacular sonic event in and of itself, but gave exposure to one of Australia's major composers to US and European audiences. Written during the years 1936-1944, the ballet was given its first full production by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and National Theater Ballet on 3 July 1950 conducted by the composer. The score of the work was published by the Australian branch of the British publisher Boosey and Hawkes in 1953.
   
   Antill's score was available for sale then and in 1963 I acquired a copy of it and spent much time happily going through its 209 pages in minute detail. As of this writing (August, 2008) it is no longer in print. The Everest recording presented about 25 minutes of the score which, according to Antill's own careful notations of durations, takes about 44 minutes in total performance time. Some of the interior sections of the score (in Goosens' version) were played complete, others, like the opening "Welcome Ceremony" and the final "Procession of the Totems" were horribly cut. Others were cut out altogether or abridged.
   
   The score of Corroboree has frequently been called the "Australian Sacre du Printemps" - a comparison that is both inaccurate as it is inappropriate. Stravinsky and Antill have little in common, least of all their connections to definable if stylized ethnomusical primitivism. Stravinsky's scenario for his ballet is as wholly imaginary as his music has absolutely nothing to do with an imagined "ancient" music. Indeed, its rhythmic and harmonic complexities put it squarely in the 20th century even if some of its melodies derive more spiritually from Russian folksong and Russian Orthodox liturgical chant, something he would have learned directly from his teacher Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Antill, however, was a first hand witness and life long student (so to say) of the aboriginal ceremonies he used as a basis for his ballet - and there are those who have stated that the work is a remarkably accurate stylized representation of the Corroboree ceremony. The liner notes which talk of Stravinskian rhythmic complexity are way off the mark. True enough there are whole sections in 7/8 meter, or in 5/4 or other "non-western" units- but Antill's many layered and syncopated ostinatos are in no way related to Stravinsky's use of either. Stravinsky revels in constantly shifting meters whereas Antill sticks doggedly to his 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 beat meters using them for their more ethnomusically accurate representations of real, live aboriginal music.
   
   And so, having waited 50 years for a complete recording of the score, and after having pleaded, unsuccessfully, with the Australian Broadcasting System and the Australian Music Center to release what was probably then the only complete recording of the score, it was joyful indeed to hear Naxos' new recording of the work complete and uncut.
   
   The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra must earn kudos for its spectacular playing which is utterly hair raising in places. Edward Judd should also be congratulated for having finally brought this score to a sonically superior rendering. The recorded values are crystal clear. The orchestra is miked exactly as it should be - clean and without tubbiness and detail killing "resonance" or "big hall ambient reverberation."
   
   Given the importance of this recording, there are a handful of nits that have to be picked precisely because of its importance. Some some of these are quite serious indeed. First, the pauses between the various sections of the work are interminably long - thus destroying the continuity of the music. Granted, in a fully staged performance, there might well be sections choreographed in silence - but in a recorded performance of the music, such pauses are unnecessary. Second, although comparing the timings of the recording to Antill's directions in the score, the impression might be made that the recording is spot on accurate. The truth, however, is that Judd's tempos are often way too fast - thus adding an element of hyperventilation that the score does not need. There are places where marked increases in tempo are actually slower than preceding tempos, which has the effect of making a hash out of the composer's carefully worked out directions. The added length of the trailing silences subtracted from the actual performance time of the individual sections tells the tale. One of the two places of relative relaxtion (i.e. The Morning Star) comes off sounding like an unintentional scherzo. The bass clarinet plays with very marked staccato when nothing of the kind is indicated - and this together with the wrong tempo completely destroys the effect intended. The finale is at least a full three minutes shorter than Antill's marking due to its inaccurate tempo. Three minutes in a faster than indicated tempo significantly alters the cumulative effect rendering the music breathless when it should be overpowering. Third, whatever happened to the VIBRATO (i.e. tremolo) in the VIBRAPHONE? This instrument is featured prominently in #3 (A Rain Dance), and the dead flat sound makes the instrument sound like nothing more than a bass glockenspiel on steroids. The characteristic amplitude modulation is completely absent. There are also fistfuls of wrong notes in the piano, especially in #5 (The Rising Sun) which could easily have been avoided with a more reasonable tempo overall.
   
   The liner notes to the recording are decent insofar as biographical and historical matters are concerned. Stop reading them, however, when it comes to descriptions of the music since they are wrong. Even Naxos's blurb, which is slavishly reproduced by all the various record retail outlets, quite misses the mark, especially in describing Antill's Outback Overture which is anything BUT Stravinskian or Coplandesque or British for that matter. If Antill is spiritually close to any other composer, it would have to be Charles Ives. Antill's pastiche-like assemblage of bits and pieces has all the earmarks of an Ivesian mentality and intent absent Ives' often unfathomably complex metrical elements. And if British in any way, it is closer to the Malcolm Arnold of the Tam O'Shanter Overture written in 1955, a year after Antill's piece.
   
   All in all, however, overlooking some serious interpretive problems and flat out inaccuracies, this is an important recording of a major work by one of Australia's major composers. In listening to this score, it would be a good idea to have Goosen's 1958 recording handy for comparison.

No comments about Rossini: Greatest Hits.

5 comments about Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics.

1. The reviewers who complain of "naive" and "weak" orchestration should read the liner notes. The orchestrations are not Gottschalk's, mostly, but those of Richard Rosenberg, artistic director of the Hot Springs Music Festival. And while it may seem easy to blast Rosenberg, Gottschalk was no master of orchestration himself. I played in the Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra this summer, including recording more Gottschalk (as well as Nazareth and Bares) for Naxos, and I promise that Gottschalk's treatment of Mehul's "Grande Chasse de Jeune Henri," which will soon be released on Naxos, will leave no doubt in your mind that Gottschalk was right to restrict most of his activity to the piano. (More proof that Gottschalk was indeed the the "Chopin of the Creoles")
   At any rate, this series of recordings seems to me a worthwhile historical project. There is some really beautiful music on these discs, in addition to some music that really need never have been revived. In any case, the listener to this disc will find some enjoyment, little offense, and much food for thought about the development of American musical culture.



2. I'm not sure how other reviewers could have found this music weak and naive--too much Schönberg, maybe? Or maybe they were trying to delve its musical profundity, when in fact this music isn't profound and doesn't claim to be. It's just energetic, fun music from a composer who wasn't content to color within the Classical-era lines. If you can imagine "Creole Classical," in fact, that's a good description of this CD. Although the bulk of the album consists of rollicking showtunes (most of which feature the piano as the dominant instrument, since most of the songs are orchestral arrangements of piano pieces), there are some surprisingly tender, lyrical moments as well. The whole album is imbued with an intriguingly pre-Jazz flavor that combines with the classical structure to create some of the best moments in American music: catchy, energetic and always entertaining. For those moments when Beethoven (or Schönberg) is too much depth for one day, this CD is the perfect alternative... particularly at this price.



3. Every once in a while, I like to buy a CD of a composer I'm not familiar with (and with NAXOS's low prices, why not?). When I got home and listened to this one, once wasn't enough. I listened twice through. This CD is real fun!!

   In his day, Gottschalk was called "the Chopin of Creoles." Most of his writing was for the piano and this CD is generally short piano pieces arranged for orchestra. The music mixes strong folk melodies and New Orleans Creole inspired syncopation with the European Classical tradition- the result being a distinctly american divertimenti.

   The music as a whole is very motif oriented with a touch of variation and some interesting arrangement twists. While and orchestral CD, the piano gets a lot of attention, giving us some nice interplay between the two.

   The only complaint I have is that the CD was recorded at a music festival where professional musicians are playing side by side with selected 'pre-professionals.' I'm not a snob and normally it wouldn't bother me, but Gottschalk's unusual syncopation tends to be unprofessionally slopppy at times. Fortunately, any mistakes are in the supporting insturments. No star shall be subtracted because NAXOS has done such a great job giving us a quality CD at a good price.




4. Upon listening to this CD I understand why Gottschalk is noted mainly for his piano compositions. I found the whole CD weak musically and the orchestration naïve. It seems as if these pieces are piano works that want to be orchestral compositions when they grow up.

   I have several other CDs by this conductor, not sure of his credentials, who seems on a mission to champion the music of the unknown composers. While I applaud his work in bring the music of composers of color to the public's attention I must say that there are many more notable Black and Hispanic composers who deserve to have their music played before we go dipping into this well of musical obscurity.

   I think that this conductor needs to ask himself something that many musicologist ask before wasting time on second rate composer: why is a composer's music not known in the first place?




5. this CD is one of the best in the "american classics" series i have heard. the playing is warm, playful and full of energy.

   these delightful compositions for orchestra and piano seem almost timeless. again thanks to naxos for bringing this largely unknown composer's talent to a modern audience at a steal!

4 comments about Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake.

1. I have seen many times The Swan Lake, at the Bolshoi Theatre and in URSS in Leningrad before and S.Petersbourg later ,and abroad, this ballet, but the role danced by Uliana lopatkina, so mature and controlling her movements so perfectly , i have never seen before!!



2. The last Swan Lake on video to come from the Kirov Ballet dated from 1990 (Now available on DVD as well). Among its assets were the intriguing, beautifully talented Yulia Makhalina, the young and brilliant Igor Zelensky, still on his way to become one of the greatest Russian dancers of his generation; it had magnificently pure soloists like Larissa Lezhnina and Veronika Ivanova in the supporting cast; it also had the incomparable Viktor Fedotov playing the score with authority and understanding like only he could; and the whole production was offered with a genuine sense of artistic direction.
   
   Now, the Kirov is long since called the Mariinsky again, and the new Swan Lake released by Decca and filmed by the BBC in St Petersburg in 2006 is a very different affair. The production (now with different sets) is still the same old one by Konstantin Sergeyev from 1950, based on the definitive 1895 Petipa/Ivanov staging, and remains one of the most exemplary, straightforward readings of the ballet around.
   
   The current leads are danced by Uliana Lopatkina and Danila Korsuntsev. Lopatkina is adulated in Russia and abroad, and her many fans will undoubtedly welcome this release featuring the ballerina in one of her few signature roles. For my money, the filming came too late and might have been a treasurable addition to any ballet collection some ten years earlier, when Lopatkina's performances still had freshness and spontaneity. In this recording she takes the role of Odette-Odile in her now characteristic uncompromising, towering manner, with every inch and feather calculated and controlled. Her plastique is gorgeous but studied in the extreme. Her plight is long-winded and frozen, hard and unmoving by its insistence on a certain spiritual quality which unfortunately doesn't stick to film. This is an Odette locked in her own world, relating to nobody else on stage, least of all the cardboard prince of Danila Korsuntsev. Her Odile is more attractive but again very measured and lacking in excitement as well as in seductive power.
   
   In such presence Danila Korsuntsev doesn't stand a chance. He may be an adequate porteur with great physical qualities but his prince is a cipher who dances his few bits in the Black Swan pas de deux without any distinction or interest. That the Mariinsky considers a weak performance like this sufficient to be preserved for posterity, is a only sad reminder of the current lack of artistic direction.
   
   The pas de trois as danced by Irina Golub, Ekaterina Osmolkina and Anton Korsakov is clean and very lightweight. Here too, there isn't a personality in sight, and everything is delivered without much purpose or concern. Andrei Ivanov's jester is obnoxious and anything but virtuosic. The only one who stands out is Ilya Kuznetsov portraying the evil Rothbart with panache and a genuine sense of drama.
   
   The true star of this DVD remains the Mariinsky corps de ballet, immaculate in its lines and turning the lakeside scenes, beautifully rendered in this film into a miracle of plastical beauty, stylistic coherence and spatial grandeur. Likewise, the national dances in the ballroom Act still look totally right.
   
   Curiously, this might be the first ballet DVD release which bills the conductor higher than any of the dancers. Decca doesn't leave any opportunity unused to remind us that this performance of Swan Lake is conducted by "the great Russian maestro Valery Gergiev" (it's always wonderful that the labels emphasize how brilliant their artists are). A great conductor he may be, but it's still a fact that accompanying a ballet performance is far from his defining moment. The characteristic Gergiev mannerisms can be found here aplenty (the attention to orchestral detail, if sometimes at the expense of the overall line, the unnecessary long final chords etc), yet, worse, his reading lacks all sense of theatricality and spirit, which is with Gergiev's opera background rather surprising. Even Tchaikovsky's big finale sounds rather understated. As could be expected, the booklet features a full-page portrait photo of Gergiev (except for the cover shot of the DVD-case and some thumbnail-shots in the booklet there is nothing comparable of Lopatkina or Korsuntsev) and again in the otherwise learned liner notes by Giannandrea Poesio about the genesis of the ballet we are reminded of how well Gergiev is supposed to understand Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Some words about the dancers might have been appropriate, although Decca clearly doesn't consider them important enough. Be that is it may, Gergiev might have been better served with a studio recording of the full-length Tchaikovsky score, without the constrictions of accompanying a live performance. (And let the Decca marketing not fool you, the double-CD release of Gergiev's Swan Lake is exactly the same live recording as on the DVD).
   
   The image quality (16:9 anamorphic widescreen) is excellent, although as a film of a ballet performance this will never go down as a model. There are too many cameras angles slicing up movements and bodies, too many close-ups and frames from the waist up, the central camera providing the overall stage view cuts off the feet, while the crane shots sweeping during the lakeside scenes among the swans are more annoying than revealing. The sound quality (PCM Stereo or DTS 5.1 surround) is first-rate although balance-wise the timpani and percussion should ideally have been more forward. Unfortunately, the editing has been too hasty (Irina Golub tripping in the Dance of the Little Swans, some wobbly endings of solos, Lopatkina floating in all directions during the fouettés, the model swans appearing a second time while in fact only the swan queen is appearing etc. could easily have been edited.)
   
   Admirers of Lopatkina needn't hesitate, but to see a better focused Mariinsky Ballet and Swan Lake the older performance with Makhalina and Zelensky remains a clear first choice.



3. Uliana Lopatkina was one of the last proteges of legendary Kirov ballerina (and, later, pedagogue) Natalia Dudinskaya. Lopatkina is so loyal to the memory of her teacher that she refuses to dance in the "new-old" reconstructions of Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere, as she considers the reconstructions a betrayal of Dudinskaya's husband, Konstantin Sergeyev, whose stagings of Swan Lake, the Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere and Raymonda were considered the standard stagings in the old Soviet Union.
   This Swan Lake is the third full video version of Sergeyev's Swan Lake from the Mariinsky in twenty years. I think that, all things considered, it is also the best, although the film with Yulia Makhalina and Zelensky is also very fine. The reason I give this film the slight edge is that it was filmed in front of a live audience, and thus has a frission and excitement missing from the Makhalina/Zelensky video, which was a "canned" performance. Also, Makhalina in 1990 was a lovely dancer, but very young, and her O/O in my opinion was beautiful but not a fully developed portrayal. Lopatkina also handles the technical challenges of the ballet better than Makhalina.
   Sergeyev's Swan Lake, despite employing a jarring happy ending and an annoying jester, remains one of the most elegant versions of the ballet anywhere. The Mariinsky corps de ballet dances Swan Lake as if it were in their blood, making Ivanov's famous "white" acts a hypnotically beautiful experience. The national dances in Act 3 are danced with an impeccable vigor and sense of character. This is Russian ballet at its best.
   As for the leads, I admit I find Danila Korsuntsev good-looking but a bit vapid. I wonder if he was chosen because he's one of the few dancers tall enough to partner the 5'10" Lopatkina.
   Indeed, from the minute we see her bourree onto the stage, with her long arms flapping slowly like a swan, it is the Lopatkina Show. She is so tall and long-limbed that she makes Syvlie Guillem look petite and stubby. She is the most regal Swan Queen I have ever seen, with strong emphasis on the Queen part. Her Odette has an air of remoteness and inscrutability. You have the feeling that Odette has been a swan for a long, long time, and this is not her first heartbreak. Lopatkina's ultra-thin arms give her the illusion of absolute weightlessness. On the one hand, this is incredibly beautiful, with each hand gesture seemingly designed to accompany a note of the score. On the other hand, sometimes it can seem like a lot of "fingers stretch to the left, eyes glance to the right" posing, albeit beautiful posing. There's little sense of spontaneity - indeed, Lopatkina's Odette at times barely seems to be aware that she is dancing *with* Siegfried. The "Love Duet" is danced so slowly Makarova would check her watch, with Lopatkina assuming a trance-like expression from the first unfolding of her arms to the last penchee. It's all a bit marbelized. I wish that there was more warmth behind the magisterial beauty, yet it's an undeniably commanding portrayal, and one that I'm happy was caught on video.
   If Lopatkina's Odette has an air of almost supernatural remoteness, her Odile is arrestingly hard, like a diamond. She does not smile seductively -- instead, she has an air of a "touch me and you die" femme fatale, much like a film noir heroine. Whereas her Odette seemed to be a showcase of adagio dancing, her Odile has traces of her teacher Dudinskaya's famed technical brilliance. Her long legs swing through the air like knives. Her Plisetskaya-like red hair seems to glow and clashes brilliantly with her shiny black tutu. Her fouettes are brilliantly executed, with several doubles thrown in. Her long bravas at the end of the act are well-deserved.
   I must admit that I really dislike the tacked-on happy ending of Sergeyev's Swan Lake, choreographed to please the Soviet era bigwigs. The beginning of the fourth act is breathtaking beautiful, with the formerly energetic swans of the second act transformed into sad, elegiac creatures. Indeed, there couldn't be a ballerina more unsuited to the happy ending Swan Lake than Lopatkina. Her remoteness works to her advantage in Act IV. Odette has become unreachable, despite Siegfried's pleas. Lopatkina has such a grand air of tragedy in the fourth act, that her sudden transformation to a smiling human is unforgivably jarring. But I suppose no version of Swan Lake is ever fully satisfying, and we should all be grateful that Lopatkina's Odette/Odile was captured on film for posterity.



4. This is an excellent rendition by the Kirov (now Mariinsky). This version is almost identical to the one by Zelensky and Makhalina in 1990, and features the jester and the happy ending.
   
   The first act is well danced, and the highlight is the pas de trois by Korsakov, Golub and Osmolkina. Korsakov has very good height to his leaps, and the 2 ladies danced with a lightness that only the Kirov seems to have.
   
   The highlight of the ballet for me is scene 2, the lake scene. The corps de ballet is practically perfect here, as they enter. At some points the dancers look like CGI replicas, they are in such good alignment. But the jewel in this production is Uliana Lopatkina. She dances very well, but her magic lies in the way she captures the remoteness and vulnerability of Odette. I have never seen any other ballerina do this so well. She is helpless maiden and royal princess at the same time. Her dancing is always on time and never rushed, her line always elegant.
   
   In Act 2 (the ball), she is sexy and seductive, but still subtle enough not to overdo the evil bit. Her dancing has dazzle and snap, and the 32 fouettes in the pdd coda are beautifully executed. Back at the lake she is entirely believable again as the depairing Odette. The way she first rejects the prince and then forgives him is very moving.
   
   The prince is also very well danced by Danila Korsuntsev. He doesn't have the same leaps and bravura as, say, Ruzimatov, but he moves well and is a good actor. His portrayal is a young man who falls in love, rather than someone who is dissatisfied with life and seeking something else. He has very good chemistry with Ms. Lopatkina; there isn't the detachment I sometimes feel exists in other productions between the main couple.
   
   The national dances are well executed, with flair and polish. The way the dancers bend their backs in the Spanish dance is amazing.
   
   The video quality and sound (dts) are excellent. The camera work is very good, with appropriate closeups where required and nothing jarring.
   
   I really find it very difficult to find any fault with this production. The music in the final scene is not the music usually heard in versions by the Royal ballet or POB, and it may come as a bit of a surprise to some viewers; I have heard this before in the Zelensky/Makhalina Kirov production, and it works ok for me.
   
   This is the best production I have ever seen, as compared to the ones by the Swedish ballet, POB, Royal Ballet with Markarova, the previous Kirov one and the Moscow ballet. You will not regret buying this.

5 comments about Vanessa-Mae The Violin Player.

1. Republicans will hate it and Democrats will love it ... just kidding, but in a way, not. The Classical purists will hate this type of album anyway and the fusion/acid jazz/avant garde will get behind it and see its relevance and appreciate it's sound effort. However, Ms Mae is not a an Itzhak Perlman or Nigel Kennedy, she is closer to a volvo mechanic than to a violin virtuoso: I have a number of her recordings both live and studio, where she is trying to be the latter; this album is closer to the former. She has had excellent training, sound finger, bow and string work, and precise mechanics, but an ear for the art in the music? Not quite. It does not "flow" out of her, as if it were a part of her, so much as she tries to master the notes, the key, the transitions, the pitch, etc. What she lacks is a creative style she can call her own. She has the skill without the warmth; the ability without the believability. That said, in this album there are hints of it in such pieces as the Toccata and Warm Air, but the rest are over-produced and so arrogantly, overtly refined that it makes it difficult to actually judge her talent, break-out as it tried to be for her. I'd much rather she focus on her erudite talents (as evidenced in her Johann Sebastian Bach work) and come back to this later. A worthy, but a back shelf, effort.



2. I have been listening to such contemporary artists as Bond, Yanni, Taleinsin Orchestra,... so I am not a new comer to contemporary fusion classical music. If I had listened to this CD when it first came out almost 10 years ago, I would probably have given it a 5. I am only giving it a four now (maybe a 3.5?) because there are simply other better albums out there - most of the songs here are more classically influenced than its purported to be. Also, while Vanessa-Mae is an accomplished violinist, she is not the most spectacular violnist. At times, she lackes the energy to propell her music to the next level. However, all in all, an enjoyable album, although nothing ground-breaking.



3. This terrible and dull album launched the career of Über-nothing violinist, Vanessa Mae.
   
   It is hard to describe the depth of the level to which this album stoops to be "popular". Low brow? You bet! Exploitative? Oh yeah! Dumbed down Classical Music? Well, that's what we've got here!
   
   Value of this album? Hard to say. I am sure that Vanessa's parents and agent are happy with this prosaic product.
   
   Very dumbed down dumb music - for the legions of philistines and musically naive of the world.
   
   
   
   
   In one word, a "dud".



4. As violin technique goes, there is not much here in evidence to get all fired up about. She is an adequete violinist who does just fine with the material she is given, but the only people who are going to think that she is a violinist for the ages are people who don't know anything about violin playing.

   That being said, this album had the potential to be interesting, except that the arrangements of Mike Batt are about as flat as one can get. This album seems to be more about Mike Batt's ego than about Vanessa Mae, as Mike perform, conducts, composes & produces practically every piece. This would be fine if the end product was remotely interesting, but of it sounds like it should be background music. The Bach arrangement, with gratuitous techno-pop flourishes thrown in at every opportunity, just bogs down in an effort to be "innovative." Most of Batt's compositions leave no impression whatsoever.

   Any lunatic who puts this crossover album in the classical category truly needs to go back to Music Appreciation 101, to be reminded of what classical music is. File this one in the Fluffy Boring Pop category and forget about it.




5. The first notes of Vanessa Mae's The Violin Player sound like a dramatic beginning to a classical composition, but it's not. This album in fact is anything but traditional classical. It's unique, creative, energetic and alive and I give Vanessa props for being brave enough to come out with it. It's hard to be different. The fact that Vanessa did make the music and did it so well says that she's a true artist, something sadly lacking in a world where technical mastery is considered more important than artistic invention. This is a fantastic, fun album that you'll want to listen to again and again, the music hitting something within you and bringing all sorts of energy you didn't know you had bubbling to the surface. If you won't buy it for that reason, then buy it for it's historical significance. It's already plain to me, Vanessa Mae with this album changed the one sided face of classical music forever.

5 comments about Copland: The Populist:.

1. Before lavishing too much praise upon these recordings, I should say that I'm one of the few who actually prefers the original pared-down (or 'pit') orchestration for Appalachian Spring. Copland was an exceedingly efficient and deliberate composer (always looking for 'the note that costs,' as his teacher Nadia Boulanger directed) and there's great beauty in Copland's ability to make such fabulous, expansive music with limited voices and resources. It's also worth having a quick read through the plot lines to these three ballets (as it's easy to forget, now, that that was their original purpose) to really get a feel for what Copland and his collaborators were going for. That said, these pieces that sounded lowbrow and reprehensibly populist to many of Copland's contemporaries have enjoyed ever-expanding fame and high regard, to the extent that they have 'grown,' in a sense, from small ballets into cultural icons--the 'music of America'--and it is this image, I think, that Tilson Thomas is working with. Expansive in every sense of the word, these are big, loud, exciting performances. Appalachian Spring emotes like the best of movie scores and 'Hoe Down' here is blazingly fast compared to others--it's clear that Tilson Thomas and the SFO were enjoying themselves. Copland might well have been pleased--it appears that he never put much stock in the idea of a 'definitive' performance, and loved a good time as much as the next guy. If you're looking for 'strict' authenticity, there's always Copland conducting Copland. But for an emotionally charged and invested (and very well played and recorded) Copland album--the type you might play in the car in the windows down--Tilson Thomas has just the ticket.



2. This is a superb recording. The music making is exciting and inspired. Thomas has insight into how this music is to be played, and he gets a wonderful, enthusiastic, splashy reading of it from the S.F. Symphony that brings out the joy, the nuance, the breadth and the full texture of Copland's splendid writing. It's a great CD and simply the best rendition of these American masterpieces that I've ever heard.



3. An excellent performance of a series of Aaron Copland's most famous works. I was most interested in Copland's work with Martha Graham, and this recording aided my class presentation on their joint endeavors.



4. Aaron Copland is a composer who seems to flow in and out of favor with the critics but remains in the bloodstream of American audiences. This recording by Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony offers three of Copland's most familiar masterpieces in performances that truly underline the genius that was Aaron Copland. Given that many conductors, not the least of which includes Leonard Bernstein, Thomas Schippers, and Marin Alsop, have given superb performances of each of these ballets, it may sound presumptuous to claim that this Tilson Thomas recording is the Gold Standard. But just listen to the energy of performances and the quality of interpretation and recording and see if you're not hearing these pieces anew.
   
   MTT draws exceptionally fine playing from his SFO and his tutelage with Leonard Bernstein is apparent. But MTT has extensively studied these scores and has his own opinions - opinions that make the works each more solid and sound. 'Billy the Kid' has all the combination of menace and danger of the tale but also manages to bounce into wildly exuberant dancing. The four episodes from 'Rodeo' are full of fire and vixen and celebration and elegant writing. But for this listener the finest achievement is in MTT's choice of recording the full ballet 'Appalachian Spring' and not for the original 'chamber (read 'pit') orchestra', but instead for the full orchestral version that allows more color, more sensitivity in sparring orchestral choirs, and in more radiant innocence and beauty of tone. This is a stunning achievement and one by which all other performances and recordings must be judged.
   
   For those whose library already holds individual recordings of these Copland works, this triad is a must. For those who have liked but have never taken Copland seriously, the experience of these performances will alter the appreciation of Aaron Copland as one of the populist masters of the last century. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, June 06



5. Featured on this CD is the entire Appalachian Spring ballet, Billy the Kid ballet suite, and four dance episodes from the Rodeo ballet. All are masterpieces presented with an entirely new interpretation by Michael Tilson Thomas.
   
   With Billy the Kid, Aaron Copland's future is written for him, a composer whose music evokes rural Americana. The opening introduction where he depicts "The Open Prairie", his sound is born, large spacings of octaves, fifths, and fourths give an expansive panoramic feeling. The other parts of the suite are represented: "Street in a Frontier Town", "Mexican Dance and Finale", "Prairie Night" (Card Game at Night), "Gun Battle", "Celebration" (after Billy's capture), "Billy's Death", and ending with "The Open Prairie". All are depicted with soaring strings, chatty woodwinds, blazing brass, and a battery of percussion. Appalachian Spring is a pioneer celebration around a newly built farmhouse and a young couple about to tie the knot. Of course, the famous Shaker Tune is in this, but split up by a dance sequence, and the entire work ends rather peacefully. Sounds of his opera "The Heartland" can be heard here, as well as Copland's great driving rhythms. The Rodeo dance episodes include Buckaroo Holiday, Corral Nocturne, Saturday Night Waltz, and the famous Hoedown. Copland's great writing of melodies (all catchy), interesting harmonies and orchestrations, and those fabulous driving rhythms are the apex of his American sound, all played in Rodeo within a relatively short amount of time.
   
   All the music is played excellently by the San Francisco Symphony. Michael Tilson Thomas gives a cerebral and intelligent interpretation, but never gives way to sentimentality or overt drama. I think that is all that is missing from these works is a little extra drama. This makes Leonard Bernstein's version of all the suites a slightly better buy. That and Billy the Kid and Appalachian Spring are on only one track (30 minute works). Not a bad CD by any accounts, it is easy to recommend after the Bernstein.