4 comments about L.A. Guitar Quartet: Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker.

1. I initially purchased this disk for the Christmas season but quickly it became one of my favorites year-round. The arrangements are perfect and provide a harmonic experience beyond comparison. Classical guitar with a fresh approach to some old favorites.



2. If you are a music teacher this CD is a must. If you aren't, it STILL is a must. This CD is full of light but amazing classical guitar. I can hardly wait to pop it in at Christmas. Even if you aren't a huge fan of classical guitar I bet this will amaze you so much you'll want to keep listening. LAGQ flawlessly performs countless dances you'll wonder how they do it. The music classroom can use the Renaissance music for medieval topics and dances. A great CD to have for some high quality back ground music - relaxing music.



3. It just doesn't get better than this. If you want to hear Tchaikovsky played by super classical guitarists, this is the CD for you. Its the BEST!



4. The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet's Nutcracker Suite is a triumph for guitar arrangement. This selection is an excellent choice for one's holiday listening enjoyment. In the Renaissance dance suites included here, the L.A.G.Q. masterfully utilize a number of the percussive timbres available on the body of the classical guitar to complete the instrumentation and invoke the spirit of the pieces. Though the recording is not as loud as most of the other L.A.G.Q. recordings, the quality of the performances more than makes up for it.

3 comments about Ravel: Complete Works for Solo Piano.

1. Maurice Ravel's (1875 -- 1937)compositions for solo piano are not extensive, but almost all his works have become part of the standard repertoire. Ravel's piano music fits comfortably on a two-CD compilation. There are many available recordings, but I found this budget-priced reissue by Jean-Philippe Collard is an excellent way to get to know Ravel's piano music. Collard (b. 1948) is a French pianist who is known for his interpretations of French music, especially Saint-Saens and Faure. This CD of Ravel was initially released in 1978 and rereleased in 2005. A review of this CD on answers.com upon its reissue aptly stated that "the playing of Jean-Philippe Collard has a lot to recommend it, particularly in the way it is so naturally expressive. ...Collard's use of dynamics and pedal to color the mood and character of each piece never sounds forced or artificial, nor does he ever sacrifice momentum or expression."
   
   Ravel's piano music is often compared to that of Debussy, but it has its own character. Ravel's piano works are almost always descriptive and programmatic. It has an elegance and a distinct rigor. Ravel drew inspiration from many composers, including his French predecessors Faure and Chabrier and the French baroque clavecinists. Much of his music is notoriously difficult to play. Ravel's harmonies are distinctive and the music often shimmers.
   
   Collard plays this music expressively indeed, capturing the many glissandos, arpeggions, soft moving passages, and intricate pedalling that characterize Ravel's scores. The CD begins with Ravel's youthful short piece, "Serenade grotesque" (1895) and proceeds through "Le Tombeau de Couperin" (1917).
   
   Collard does especially well with Ravel's collection of eight waltzes, "Valses nobles et sentimentales" which owes its inspiration to Schubert's short waltzes but with harmonies that are Ravel's own. This collection begins with a vigorous opening waltz, but the remainder of the collection is largely delicate and restrained. The final waltz called "Epilogue" recapitulates some or the earlier musical material.
   
   My favorite work on this CD was "La Tombeau de Couperin" which Ravel composed as a tribute to his beloved French clavecinists, who frequently wrote "Tombeaux" as elegies. Ravel's work includes three classical dance movements, marked "forlane", "Rigaudon" and "Menuet", a fugue, a prelude, and a famously difficult concluding tocatta. In this music, Ravel celebrates nostalgically the elegance and lightness of a world that is no more -- both the world of the French baroque and the world of six of his friends who died in WW I.
   
   Ravel's "Miroirs" is a harbinger of Twentieth Century music. This piece includes five deeply idiosyncratic and elusive movements describing a flight of night moths, sad birds in a forest, a ship sailing on the ocean and a valley of softly tolling bells. The famous fourth movement, "Alborado de gracioso" is of a different character as Ravel portrays energetically a jester. The movement is in the form of a Spanish dance.
   
   Gaspard de la nuit is another programmatic work, virtuosic and often performed. Ravel set three poems by Aloysius Bertrand which portray a water sprite, a criminal hanging from the gallows -- with a piano part that captures the swing -- and, in a virtuosic movement, the antics of a dwarf named Scarbo.
   
   The short three movement "sonatine" consists of three interrelated movements with Ravel's distinctive harmonies, and a light, elegant texture. This work is Ravel at his most classical.
   
   Those listeners who love Ravel will have their own choice performers of his music. For those listeners without much detailed exposure to this composer, Collard's recording is an excellent place to start.
   
   Robin Friedman



2. I think M. Collar is doing a really good job in this complete set of Ravel piano solo music (missing "La valse") The sound is very good for my taste ; clear and pearly. Very clean in the technically difficulties as well. I can feel his music very well. These are sensitive interpretations. I love them. I recommend this disc highly. Usually, I find out that pianists have too much the same sound for Debussy and Ravel. But here, we cannot mixed up! This is real Ravel sound.



3. to see which other pianists I prefer. Avoid the cd.
   As I listen to ravel's incredible breath-taking mezmerising genius of poetic beauty and dazzling skills at composition, I understand why ravel and Debussy did not care much for the geramn romantic tradition. Ravel could not stand anything from Beethoven. In my 30 yrs, the only thing i liked by Beethoven was his 4th sym(only Walter/Columbia), but even that work has faded to a lost memory.
   Its amazing how few folk know the genius of Ravel, and even less appreciate the timeless beauty of his creations.
   ravel is the flowering and culmination of the romantic period , which is why i feel no desire to hear Chopin.

4 comments about English and Italian Renaissance Madrigals.

1. The Italian madrigals on this CD don't do much for me. I don't know if it's because I don't know most of them, or because I don't care for the male ensemble performing them. I do like the English CD, though. It's a good reference for many standard madrigals found in the Oxford Book of English Madrigals. The pieces using mixed voices have the clear, light sound with impeccable tuning that one would expect with the Hilliard Ensemble. The pieces using all male voices aren't as good to my ear, with the upper voice sounding a bit strident. As noted in other reviews I've written, I'm a big fan of historical pronunciation which is used in this recording. It adds a nice touch and is well done. I wish more early music ensembles would give attention to this oft-ignored but very important facet of performance. Far from turning the music into a museum piece, it actually has the opposite effect by bringing it back to life.



2. So I was on a Renaissance kick for a while and picked this up, first of all, great value. I enjoy listening to a few of these every now and then but can't take too much at once, check out the previews and if you interested, go for it!



3. My idea of stilted is to sing these madrigals in the phony, glee-club RP style endured for so many years, that made precious, quaint curiosities of them. The Elizabethan pronunciation on this CD is an eye and ear-opener. We may appreciate how much of that speech actually endures in regional accents in both the US and UK. More importantly, this CD brings us the sounds of the long-forgotten English human beings of the Renaissance, people who drank, fought and screwed, who brought us Shakespeare and the King James Bible. I love this recording.



4. A stilted style and even more stilted attempts at Renaissance-English pronunciation make the English Madrigal disk a terrible disappointment. All emotional content -- the mellow, lumimous melancholy with flashes of fire that characterizes English music at its best -- has been drained in this attempt to kill, skin, and stuff these madrigals in order to present them as museum pieces. The pronunciation problem is particularly galling -- if these songs are going to be made incomprehensible to modern English speakers, where, then, is their cultural home?

   The Italian pieces are presentable, enjoyable, and sung with delicacy and a fine sense of the artifice of the Italian madrigal. Although this recording can be moving, these pieces are performed more with reverence than with love. These are well worth hearing, but the French ensembles sing these with a bit more feeling. Try, say, Ensemble Clément Janequin.

5 comments about Adolphe Adam: Music from Giselle.

1. This CD done by the London Symphony Orchestra is the best available of the music from Giselle. It's superb. It's better than the music at any performance I have attended or watched on DVD, and it's better than the Giselle CD available by a Russian orchestra. The English always add that extra touch, the subtle nuisances that set this recording apart. It brings alive the enchantment of Giselle.



2. You must like ballet and classical music, if you do this is a great product.



3. Adam's ever popular "Giselle" has been well served on disc, and this recording from 1986 by the London Symphony Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas is arguably one of the finest. Tilson Thomas, with a representative and well-recorded selection of the score (running for almost 77 minutes), proves this ballet music can stand on its own. Recommended.



4. Having seen Giselle many times and listened to the music many more, I've discovered that there are good versions of the music-and then there are bad. This one is certainly one of the good versions. The tempo is fast where it needs to be and slow where it is appropriate. The orchestra is simply wonderful. Plus, it's all on one CD-a rare find.



5. Adolphe Adam wrote several quite pleasant ballet scores and one genuine masterpiece: Giselle. Giselle was the first great ballet, setting a standard later followed by the the ballets of Delibes and Tchaikovsky. While Giselle -- as the earliest great ballet -- is somewhat less sophisticated musically than the later ballets of Delibes and Tchaikovsky, it is charming, very beautiful, and very moving emotionally. In fact, it is quite simply unique. In my opinion, no one who loves classical music -- or simply great music in any genre -- should be without a recording of this uniquely beautiful work.

5 comments about Greatest Hits: Trumpet.

1. I listened to the samples before buying this for my trumpet-playing son. If you like the samples, you'll enjoy the full recordings. "Birthday Ode For Queen Anne: Eternal Source Of Light Divine" is my favorite from the album - it's quite breath-takingly beautiful.



2. I returned this to New Castle. Box 15550. I have heard nothing. The date of the return was 15/05/07 from my Throop postoffice in Dorset. I sent it recorded delivery. Over to you. There was nothing on the return screen to explain the fault. ie faulty track. So after many attempts to get intouch I sent it to the address on the paper inside the parcel. Please help.
   I am a Grandmother so I am over 13 ???



3. As a young boy I would play my trumpet from my father's old Arban's method book. My private trumpet teacher (Mr. Bonfield) would love to play duets with me from the Merchant of Venice. One day I heard Wynoton Marsailas play a a flawless rendition of The Merchant of Venice on my local clasical radio station. It was flawless and brought back many fond memories of studiying the trumpet as a youngster with my beloved teacher. This collection contains that rendition and a wide selecton of clasical trumpet pieces. You may not recognize every song, but you will enjoy the high quality of the music and artists on this CD. Anyone looking for an introduction to quality, classical, trumpet music should buy this CD. The price also makes this an affordable must for any true trumpet fan.



4. This is a splendid anthology of music. Traditional Baroque and orchestral pieces up front, and a few surprises nearer the end. A splendid work. The price makes it a steal. Add it to your cart. You will not be sorry. There is technical excellence - peace in some of the songs and real energy in others.



5. Trumpet fans should all own this album, that is if they don't already own all of the pieces on here on separate recordings (it would take a while to obtain them all). This recording features a bunch of great classical trumpeters and innovators such as Armando Ghitalla, Phil Smith, Wynton Marsalis, Mark Gould, H.L. Clarke, Ron Romm, Charles Schleuter, William Vacchiano, and more. Great performances of Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2", the Haydn and Hummel Concertos, Wynton's excellent performance of J.B. Arban's "The Carnival Of Venice", the New England Brass Ensemble performing "Trumpet Voluntary", a very good job done by a Baroque Orchestra of the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Trumpets, "The Three Aces" played by H.L. Clarke, and Leroy Anderson's classic "A Bugler's Holiday".

   Overall this is a great listen to some of the best trumpet players of all-time in this idiom. All of the pieces are impeccably played by some of the best. I didn't discover this tape in my collection until recently, and boy I'm glad I did.

5 comments about Chopin: Waltzes Nos. 1-14.

1. I try not to comment when there are this many reviews unless I feel I have something to add that hasn't already been pointed out. I know that I am extremely critical of pianists, especially when it comes to Chopin. So that readers understand my personal tastes and where I set the bar, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli playing Chopin: recital, is by far my very favorite Chopin recording and I am most partial to Horowitz and Richter as pianists in general.
   
   But a year ago, I discovered this CD after reading Amazon reviews and decided to try these waltzes since I didn't have the complete set in my classical library. From the first time I listened to Lipatti play these, I knew that there was a moment of magic captured in time when he recorded this (just as Michelangeli did with that one recording).
   
   Perhaps one of the most difficult things to achieve, particularly with Chopin, is a balance between expression and technique. Reviewers often criticize one or the other; saying the pianist took too much liberty and over romanticized the piece or played it to technical perfection but made it too dry by leaving out expression. Having listened and even played some Chopin, I recognize how difficult it is to find this balance.
   
   In my mind, Dinu Lipatti found the perfect balance in this recording. Every note is clear and present. He expresses enough emotion without making it schmaltzy. Hearing him play these waltzes makes me think that there was a lot more brilliance in him to contribute to piano music. It is a real loss and shame that he died so young with so few recordings.
   
   No matter who you prefer to listen to playing Chopin, this recording is well worth owning even if it's not your favorite. Just to compare. I think I can safely say that at some points throughout these pieces while listening you will shake your head in utter dismay and say, "God! How does he do it?!"



2. Listening to Lipatti is like watching a car race. He plays so fast, I can't really hear the music. He is technically brilliant - no doubt about it, but I don't hear any soul when I listen to him play these waltzes. When I listen to Rubinstein, I seldom notice his technique (which is also amazing) because I am so captivated by the music.



3. These extraordinary recordings by Dinu Lipatti are widely regarded as the benchmark against which all other performances of Chopin's waltzes should be measured. Frankly, Lipatti is in a category all his own and these performances render any comparisons pointless.
   
   Lipatti had such a supreme gift as a musician that listening to him play is a unique revelation every time. Even if Chopin is not your cup of tea, hearing this is like stumbling upon a box of priceless, shimmering jewels that never seem to fade. It is not far off the mark to assert, as Karajan did, that when hearing Lipatti play the piano, you do not hear the piano but you hear something close to music in its purest form.
   
   The Barcorolle, Nocturne and Mazurka are played just as exquisitely.
   
   If you are only going to buy one recording of Chopin's Waltzes, this is the one to go for by a million miles.



4. I am a latecomer to the works of Chopin, unqualified to comment on Dinu Lipatti's technique and interpretation, but this recording gives an interesting framework to explore the waltzes. They are numbered 1 through 14 in order of opus publication, but on this disc Lipatti shuffles them to form a cycle of his own devising. There are four waltzes in the key of A flat and it seems one challenge was to space them across the recital. Contrast this to Alexandre Thaurad's CD where he clumps like-key waltzes into groups. (He also adds five more posthumous works.)
   
   Most of Chopin's waltzes start on the dominant, meaning either the fifth note of the home key (the tonic, the I), or a dominant seventh chord (V7) that leads to the tonic. Lipatti uses this feature to string together his cycle. If, for instance, there were a waltz that ended on a C natural it could easily bring us to Waltz No 4, which starts on an insistent C7 chord before rising to the home key of F major. I will use this as the starting point for tracing the harmonic relationships of the tracks on this disc.
   
   Track 1: Waltz No 4 in F, "Grande Valse brillante" - as noted starts on the V7 and finishes on F in octaves.
   
   Track 2: No 5 in A flat - begins on a trilling dominant Eb, but the note it trills up to is an F (which ended the previous track). Finishes with a parting shot, a turn in the bass ending on Ab.
   
   Track 3: No 6 in D flat, "Minute Waltz" - starts on Ab; the contour of the opening phrase echoes the gesture of the previous parting shot as well. Ends in Db.
   
   Track 4: No 9 in A flat - has two pickup notes then hits a Db on the downbeat of the first measure. The right hand ends on the Ab above middle C.
   
   Track 5: No 7 in C sharp minor - starts on a G sharp above middle C, which is the same black key (enharmonic equivalent) of the previous Ab. Ends in C# minor.
   
   Track 6: No 11 in G flat - starts with a pick-up turn then hits the downbeat with a Db (enharmonic C#). Ends on a Gb in the treble clef.
   
   Track 7: No 10 in B minor - starts quietly on the same note, an F# (enharmonic Gb). Ends with a soft B in the bass clef.
   
   Track 8: No 14 in E minor - first note is the exact same B in the bass. Ends in E minor.
   
   Track 9: No 3 in A minor - starts on an E in the bass melody. Ends in A minor; keep in mind that the minor third of this key is a C natural -- you can hear it in the melody of the third to last measure.
   
   Track 10: No 8 in A flat - this is a side-stepping change of keys, but there is an harmonic link to the previous waltz. Instead of starting on the dominant, this one begins on the major third -- C natural.
   
   Track 11: No 12 in F minor - starts on the dominant -- C again. Toggle back and forth between tracks 10 and 11 and you will hear that these two waltzes start on the exact same pitch. Instead of ending in F minor this waltz closes in the relative major, Ab. The last three notes are a rise and fall: Bb-C-Ab.
   
   Track 12: No 13 in D flat - there is a leading note before the dominant. The first three notes (Bb-Ab-F) fall and rise in a mirroring gesture to the final phrase of the previous. Ends quietly in Db.
   
   Track 13: No 1 in E flat, "Valse brillante" - another side-stepping key change but there is a connection. If you toggle between tracks 12 and 13 you will hear the same initial note, a Bb -- quietly in the former, boldly here. Finishes resoundingly in the tonic Eb.
   
   Track 14: No 2 in A flat, "Grande Valse brillante" - introduction in the dominant chord, Eb7. Closes in Ab. From here you could loop around to the beginning of the cycle again, linking the major third (C natural) to the V7 that starts the F major waltz.



5. Having heard fawning comments about the Rumanian's perfection, as well as nasty ones about his reputation being "overblown" by an early death (as if it weren't the other way around), I decided to listen to the man himself.
   
   After considering so many interpretations of Chopin's Waltzes, including that of Rubinstein and Ashkenazy, Lipatti's still remains in a class of its own. His interpretations are the most integrated, logical, and impressionistic, framed by swirls of pianistic colour (no wonder he was hailed by Poulenc in his French debut for "divine spirituality"!) that convey a breathtaking virtuosity. But his pieces are never "pious" or weighty -- nothing is overstated, and there is an element of charm and flamboyance (witness Waltz No. 13) in which he communicates refined emotion from a rich, tonal palette. A beautifully balanced and proportioned sense of structure permeates every piece.
   
   It is difficult to categorize Lipatti. Overall, his style represents a perfect balance between the Classical restraint (Fischer, Schnabel) and Romantic sentiment (Moiseiwitsch, Horowitz) of his time.

3 comments about Lully: Les Divertissements de Versailles.

1. I only would like to say that this is a first class disc. I love classical music since the barroque century to our days. Thank you very much.



2. Great music, wonderfully performed, historically accurrate,
   what else could we ask for.



3. Considering his historical importance as the founder of French Baroque opera, it is perhaps surprising that Jean-Baptiste Lully has not received the same degree of attention on disc as his rivals and followers. The revival of French Baroque music which has been such a phenomenon over the last two or three decades has only rarely paid him much attention. Listeners seem to find the harmonic daring of Marc-Antoine Charpentier or the incredible colour and imagination of Jean-Philippe Rameau far more to their taste. Lully's suave, well-crafted music is often dismissed as bland beside the music of these figures and that of Lully's English follower, Purcell. But as this well-filled (78 minutes) disc of extracts from the whole range of his stage music demonstrates, Lully was a considerable and innovative composer in his own right. If you are new to Lully, this is the ideal place to start.

   The new recording tells the story of how this ambitious, and frequently ruthless, young Florentine transformed himself into a French citizen and friend of "Le Roi Soleil", just as he transformed the Italian opera of the mid-seventeenth century into something uniquely Gallic. Lully began by catering to the young King Louis XIV's mania for dance with a series of comedies-ballets written in collaboration with Moliere. Extracts from two of them, "Georges Dandin" and "L'Amour Medecin" are included here, where the Italian influence is still strong with plenty of lively comedy. This phase of Lully's career culminated with the amazing five-hour extravaganza, "Psyche", in 1671. Two powerful choruses from this divertissement start the disc.

   It was while he was working on "Psyche" that Lully met the librettist Philippe Quinault who was to be his partner in forging a distinctively French form of opera, the 'tragedie lyrique'. Quinault's contribution was vitally important since Lully saw opera as an equal marriage of words and music. The key would be expressive recitative rather than the show arias that dominated the Italian 'opera seria' of the time. The chorus and ballet would also play a major part in the divertissements which ended each act, offering a chance for Lully to show off his musical imagination. Some of the best examples of this come in the extracts from the opera "Isis" (1677) included here. In fact the first audience found the music rather too imaginative and it soon acquired the reputation as a work for connoisseurs only, 'the musicians' opera'. One of the connoisseurs who appreciated it was Henry Purcell. The "Scene de Froid" inspired him to write the wonderfully atmospheric Frost Scene in his "King Arthur" (1691). You can hear immediately what appealed to the Englishman's imagination - the chattering chorus and shivering violins conjure up a vivid impression of extreme cold. It is quickly followed by a scene depicting blazing heat - the smithy of the Chalybes, where the ringing percussion suggests the music of Wagner's Nibelheim two hundred years later. But the most haunting music is a lament by the god Pan for the nymph Syrinx, after her transformation into a reed. It is touchingly accompanied by woodwind and an organ. The characteristic Lullian blend of words and music (which is possibly one reason why many non-French speaking Baroque enthusiasts find a whole Lully opera hard to listen to) is illustrated by scenes from "Armide" and "Roland". In the latter, the hero Roland searches for his lost love Angelique. Lully's music conjures up a beautiful pastoral scene using only smoothly sliding strings, becoming more and more troubled as Roland learns from the names carved into the trees that his beloved has married his rival, Medor. Finally, Roland explodes into rage, his anguish turns to madness and the music rages too. In "Armide", the eponymous heroine, a pagan sorceress, has lulled the Christian hero Renaud asleep so she can stab him to death. However, when she sees him lying defenceless, she falls in love with him and cannot bring herself to commit the murder. Armide's monologue included here, where she hesitates between hatred and love, has always been rightly regarded as one of the high points of the entire French repertoire with its masterly psychological depiction of the tortured enchantress. The disc ends with a love duet between Armide and Renaud from the final act of the opera, followed by another dance, the massive 'grande passecaille'. Its interweaving musical lines have an extraordinary, hypnotic beauty.

   Christie's staging and recording of the opera "Atys" is widely considered one of the landmarks in the revival of Lully and this new disc is generally very well performed. My one quibble is with Rinat Shaham who takes the part of Armide - her voice is not really powerful enough to suggest the mighty sorceress, especially when compared with Guillemette Laurens who took the role in the complete recording under Philippe Herreweghe. But otherwise, highly recommended, especially to those who have yet to appreciate Lully's considerable musical gifts. (Brys)

5 comments about Baby Dance:Toddler's Jump on the Classics.

1. I bought this for my 5-year old daughter who loves litening to my classical music. She did not like it. It failed to grab her attention.



2. I've bought many CDs for my son (who is now 2), including various classical compilations for babies. However, most of them seem to comprise of the same two dozen or so "favourites" from the Baroque and Classical periods. Also, most of the selections are usually in slow tempo (in order to pass as "lullabies") whereas I find that babies respond better to rhythmic, upbeat tunes. I like this CD because it includes beautiful selections that are less overused, come from different epochs and styles, and are very suitible for small kids. The pieces are brief (babies have a short attention span)and upbeat. They won't put your child or yourself to sleep, but you can listen to them repeatedly without getting tired.



3. My kids love this cd. We kept checking it out from the library, so we finally decided to buy it. The kids like the picture of the baby running on the piano and they pretend they are doing the same thing while we listen to it. I love the music, so much of it is familiar and well loved.



4. As a music educator, preschool teacher, and mother of three young children, I have reviewed many recordings for children. When evaluating a product, I do not necessarily look for songs I like to listen to, but selections that are well received by children. The producers of "Baby dance" did a wonderful job in choosing beautiful pieces with a fast tempo that encourage toddlers as young as 13 months to march, hop, and dance. Not all songs are from the typical classical music sampler tapes, introducing adults to other, lesser-known beautiful masterpieces. Most selections are less then 2 minutes long, wich proved the perfect time span for the attention of a 2-year old. I videotaped my youngest son when he was dancing to this tape as a 2-year old. He interpreted the feelings the music conveyed and moved his body according to these emotions - from wiggling to standing still and tuning in to crawling on all fours. I give workshops to early childhood educators and always recommend this title.



5. We first purchased this CD when my son was 18 months old, and he's really enjoyed it ever since. He's now 3 years old, and still asks for it to be played. The selections are short, but high energy and and lots of fun. This is a GREAT CD to have handy on those rainy days when you can't get out of the house! Incidentally, it's also recommended for preschoolers by Ed Hirsh, of the Core Knowledge series (What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know, What Your First Grader Needs to Know, etc), on his coreknowledge.org site.

3 comments about A Very Classical Christmas.

1. Whoever doesn't like this CD is crazy! Yes, there is a lot of flute (thank goodness). This flutist is the most talented I have ever heard in real life or in recordings. I actually met him, and his playing is even more captivating live! This CD (the only album he would let be recorded of himself) is worth ten times as much as the listed price.



2. Having played the flute, i appreciate it. However, i did NOT buy a selection of music advertized as Hand Bell Ringing to be INUNDATED and OVERPOWERED by flute playing !!! Yes, it is classical, yes it is Seasonal, but in my opinion it crossed the line. It should have been titled Seasonal Flute Music with Hand Bells Every-So-Often in the Background, until you get to cut 17 of the 18 total !!!



3. After a long wait, The Sonos Handbell Ensembles new album is finaly out, and it was worth waiting for. "A Very Classical Christmas" is all I have come to expect from Sonos, and then some. One again recorded in 24 bit HD digital @ Skywalker Sounds' Scoring stage, their incredible sound is captured for our holiday pleasure. Timothy Day's flute blends harmoniously and effortlessly with the bells. What more could you ask for, for your Handbell &/or Christmas collections than Tchaikovsky, Bach, Vivaldi, Motzart & Handel on one CD. You start to feel as if the bells were the instrument they originally wrote for.
   Don't miss this rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus! If you think Handbells aren't musical, you haven't heard this!!!

4 comments about Howard Hanson Conducts Barber, Piston, Griffes, McCauley, Kennan, Bergsma.

1. Six different compositions, so there's something for everyone on this CD. Like another one of the reviewers here, I bought this for the Piston and the Griffes works, but also enjoy most of the others as well. This performance of the Piston Incredible Flutist ballet is the best one available, with incisive playing by the orchestra and lots of excitement. Hanson's was the first one recorded in stereo, and it still outshines later renditions conducted by Gerard Schwarz, Lawrence Leighton Smith and others. Arthur Fiedler also recorded this work -- twice (first around 1940 as the world premiere, and again in the mid-1950s) and those are quite decent, but in mono sound. If you can get your hands on the Akira Endo/Louisville Orchestra performance of the complete ballet, you'll get some additional music, but most of Piston's best material is included in this suite.
   
   This CD also contains the best performance of the Griffes Poem for Flute & Orchestra I've ever heard, showcasing the great flautist Joseph Mariano in a stunning reading (he's also the "star" in the Incredible Flutist ballet). Recently deceased (in his 90s), Mr. Mariano was a fixture at the Rochester Orchestra for years and years, in addition to being on the Eastman faculty. You'll also hear him here in the McCauley Miniatures -- another flawless performance. The remainder of the CD contains rather obscure works by two well-known Americans (Barber and Bergsma), as well as the miniaturist Kent Kennan. In all, a very satisfying program of 20th Century music I'd classify as "middle of the road." At minimum, you simply can't go wrong with the Piston and Griffes works -- or in reveling in the sumptuous playing of Joseph Mariano.



2. In the 1950s I used to work for one of the firms mentioned in the CD notes. Westrex made the film sound recording equipment for Mercury - we prided ourselves on the quality of our sound recording products. My Vinyl collection of Mercury recordings sounded great but the quality of this CD is totally magnificent. Great depth and clarity in the recording (which we older sound engineers still think is due to the use of vacuum tube (aka 'valve') technology). Good sound needs very little fiddling with - which is where Mercury recordings have always scored over the products of companies who use flight decks of mixers and faders. A great pleasure to listen to and heartily recommended for its inclusion of less well known American composers than Barber and Piston. The conductor was a fine composer as well!



3. I knew what I wanted in this CD, The work by Piston. My great amazement was discovering that short pieces by completely unknown composers were so really very good. This is a real GEM of a CD and I highly recommend it for the obscure works as well as the Piston and Griffes. I felt the sound of the orchestra was a little thin, strings were not lush but the rythmic intensity and commitment of the musicians was clearly there and Hanson certainly knows his way around this stuff. Grab it while you can still get it. Thanks Amazon!



4. When I first started collecting classical CDs, I only had a few Mercury Living Presence (MLP) titles. In my quest to get the absolute best, or at least a definitive recording, of the major works of the standard repertoire, MLP discs rarely topped the critics' lists. In fact, only three MLP recordings have been earmarked as "Essential Recordings" by Amazon.com -- Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Byron Janis performing Rachmaninov's 2nd & 3rd Piano Concertos, and Yehudi Menuhin performing Bartok's 2nd Violin Concerto, all three with Antal Dorati as conductor. It is also safe to say that three other titles are equally essential for their historical value alone. They are Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake by Dorati (the first recording of the complete ballet), Janis performing Liszt's Piano Concertos (the first recordings made in the Soviet Union by American technicians, musical staff and equipment), and Kubelik's Chicago Symphony performance of Pictures at an Exhibition (one of, if not the single best mono recording ever, and the one that led the New York Times critic to coin the phrase "Living Presence," from which the label named its series). But how does a CD line go from having a half-dozen must have recordings, to being this reviewer's all-time favorite classical label?

   The answer: consistently magical performances, captured in brilliant golden-age stereo sound, that offer a slightly different take on your typical interpretation of the great works. Of course, MLP also went to great lengths to feature music by more obscure composers, particularly contemporary Americans. While Dorati, and to a lesser extent Paray, recorded these lesser known works, Howard Hanson was their champion. On this set, Hanson and the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra showcase compositions by Barber, Piston (names I had heard prior to getting this disc), Griffes, Keenan, McCauley, and Bergsma (names I had never heard of before or since). While these are all virtually unknown compositions, Hanson performs them like they were from the classical canon. Maybe that is why collectors prize these recordings, because they are a breath of fresh air in a homogenized world of listening. Of course, collectors love a challenge too, and MLP CDs are becoming increasingly hard to find. It has taken years for me to finally find all of the MLP CDs released to date, and unfortunately I don't think there will be any new releases forthcoming. So collectors, and even those who aspire to be, should pick up as many Mercury Living Presence discs as possible now, before they all die.