No comments about Schoenberg: Violin Concerto; A Survivor from Warsaw.

No comments about Telemann: Complete Overtures, Vol. 2.

4 comments about Olivier Messiaen: Des Canyons aux Etoiles; Oiseaux Exotiques; Couleurs de la Cité Celeste.

1. Valuable compilation, with Messiaen's late(well, later) masterpiece, the longest piece for piano and orchestra in the orchestral repertoire the main work, and the shorter, but no less excellent OISEAUX EXOTIQUES and COULEURS DE LA CITE CELESTE. CANYONS is one of the composers most unusual scores (and that's saying a lot!) with its part for wind machine, its piano part of rushes of birdsong, and the weird effects on the cellos in movement no.5 jst some of the highlights. OISEAUX is one of Messiaen's most succesful 'birdsong pieces', in which he invented an almost entirely new musical language, alternating blocks of transcribed birdsong. COULEURS is all glittering colours, with the virtuosic tinklings of piano, xylophones and percussion contrasted or should that be complemented with rich brass chords and the sound of 3 clarinets.

   The performance comes out as just a little too clinical and polished, bringing out the percussive twang to the music better than the richly contemplative moments, but it is still very good.

   PS-This excellent release has recently been re-issued as part of Sony's Essential Classics series at a bargain price. The presentation is completely adequarte, with Paul Crossley's marvellous notes, and at £9.99 for 2 CDs, it's a must buy.




2. Des Canyons is a beautiful & transcendently absorbing score, one which is emerging as the archetype in Messiaen's canon -- his best & best-loved. Leave the notoriously difficult score on the shelf and listen. This, its only available recording until recently, is wonderfully recorded and lovingly executed. May not appeal to all sensibilities, but I can't help believing that anyone with affinity for the beauties of nature will feel rewarded tuning their ears towards Messiaen's landscapes.



3. I'm a recent convert to classical music, and when a glowing article about for Olivier Messiaen appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, I decided to give it a whirl. I feel I'm out the money I paid. The notes seem randomly thrown together, and the "exotic birds" sound like no kind of bird I've heard. The clamor of notes is disconcerting and unharmonious, and the audio effects (some kind of wind machine used to simulate canyon breezes comes to mind) seem contrived and only more distracting. Nor am I alone in this position: my girlfriend Sarah, a classical flutist and pianist, agrees that the "music" is unmusical and the supposed birds aren't there to be heard. Perhaps she and I just don't get it. And perhaps it's just not there to be gotten.



4. If you are buying this cd set to study Exotic Birds, save your money!! The xylophone player is off for a good 15 measures in the middle section. This makes it very difficult to listen to with a score!

1 comments about The Most Relaxing Chamber Music Album in the World ... Ever!.

1. We live in a very hectic world and we as humans need to take time to relax. The soothing sounds of Chamber Music is just what the doctor ordered. Coupled with a good book, or just before bed, and the hours kind of just drift away.
   
   Sample the sounds online, if this is your kind of music, or even if you are a novis, this CD may be the one that gives you your first dip into "Long Haired" music. I cannot think of a better place to start.

1 comments about Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich: Piano Concertos.

1. In my very first review I mentioned that in my own database I rate all my CDs on a scale of from 1-11 for both sound and performance. So, I'm tailoring my reviews to Amazon's "one track mind scale of from 1-5". By my scale it gets an 11 for both sound and performance. So, it gets a "5" by Amazon'e standards. I need to make a point about Sound: it's for Soundstaging (width & depth of performances in the recording venue), Imaging (can you picture where everyone is along with their instruments or voices within the soundstage) and Tone (do the instruments, whether voical or instrumental sound right or is there a haze or some other impurity to the sound; the worse the sound the worse the performance may seem even if it is very good, as you may not be able to make heads or tails of everything you hear in the performance).
   
   So, here we have wonderfully rich sound; a great soundstage and I love that both the pianist and orchestra can be heard so clearly within the soundstage which makes hearing the performance that much more enjoyable. At first I had some hesitations about this disc as I was more used to some older recordings with a slightly different perspective. But, now that I can hear everything and clearly I can say that both Sound and Performance are a delight. Temirkanov, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and pianist Denis Matsuev all aquit themselves admirably. And, RCA is to be congragulated on their fine effort in recording these magnificent works. Although I've heard the Tchaikovsky many times on WFMT FM classical radio here in Chicago, I must say that this is probably the finest sound on any Tchaikovsky 1st I've ever heard. I now have two versions of the Shostakovich 1st and both are equally fine, although I admit that since I'd had the Rosenberger on Delos for a long time and loved it, it did take awhile to chip away at my prejudices on its behalf, but this group of fine musicians did just that. So, if you want a feast of great sound and music making then by all means get this cd.
   
   Mark Zimmerman

2 comments about Prokofiev: Greatest Hits.

1. I love Prokofiev. But I hate Yank crap. It has spoiled a great compilation. It was beautiful, up until 'Peter and the Wolf', one of my favourite adventures. But then along came an American narrator explaining the story. Why is there this 'Disney' crap amidst some beautiful music? (All respects to Walt).
   'Lieutenant Kije' is one of the best stories produced by humanity of a man who did not exist throughout his birth, marriage and death. Don't let this piece of brilliance be swamped by crap.
   A good compilation, but I strongly suggest you go for untainted versions of Prokofiev.
   P.S. The Daleks will eventually conquer staircases. Be warned. Three oranges are not enough.



2. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed there was nothing from Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, which is what the Amy Irving character played in the film, "The Competition." I also think it is one of the iconoclastic composer's finest works. What you will find on this collection are a lot of excerpts from his score for the film "Lieutenant Kije" and symphonic fairy tale "Peter and the Wolf." Again, I am surprised there is nothing here from his film scores for "Alexander Nevsky" or "Ivan the Terrible." My favorite "new" piece that I discovered on this CD would be the March from "The Love for Three Oranges," although I also like the excerpt from Prokofiev's Classical Symphony in D Major. Despite my personal preferences, I have to admit this collection is a very nice introduction to the music of Sergei Sergeivich Prokofiev.

1 comments about Daniel Hope Plays Mendelssohn.

1. As the product description says, this is a very different Mendelssohn Violin Cto., taken from the composer's origianl intentions, or Urtext. The solo line and accompaniment toss surprises our way almost evry bar--as a scientist would say, the differences are non-trivial. Although much less finished on the surface, and less graciously written for the instrument, the original version isn't inferior. As masterful as the final version turned out to be, Mendelssohn had equally fresh and more forceful ideas at the outset, mostly in the punchy, raw orchestral part. Hope, who plays wtih urgency here, has unearthed a treaure that every lover of this music will be delighted by.
   
   The Octet is given a similarly quick, raw treatment, very much outside the salon and into the open air. I heard Hope in chamber music in Santa Fe last summer, and Hope like his mentor Yehudi Menuhin, shnes in a group. He's a remarkable combinaiton of thinker and virtuoso. As a member of the Beaux Art Trio for five years, he's also well versed in how to balance chaamber music. There's a marked lack of vibrato, nodding toward period style, which helps clarify the separate strands of all eight voices. My only reservation is that the playing gets so aggressive and nervy that some of the work's fairy charm is muffled. The CD is filled out with three song arrangement for violin that Hope uses to showcase his dramatic abilty to imitate the human voice.
   
   DG's engineering is bright and detailed to the point of seeming like a x-ray, which is in keeping with the forcefulness of the musicmaking. Even with a few quibbles, Hope's debut on DG is pretty breathtaking.

5 comments about Barber's Adagio / Munch, Galway, Boston SO Strings.

1. I have loved this piece of music for ages and one day heard that the Trinity Choir did it...I wanted to collect all the different Arrangements but they wud have to been bought in big collections and sets of sonatas/etc... So this CD is perfect...it combines the best settings of this wonderful piece together on one CD...quality is flawless and its a major contribution to my classical repetoire...



2. If there is a single composition by which American composer Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981) is universally known, it is the Adagio for Strings, arranged, at Toscanini's request, in 1938, two years after it was originally written as the slow movement of Barber's only String Quartet Op. 11. Here are no less than five "authorized" versions by Barber himself -- the original, for Quartet; the Adagio, for String Orchestra; the version for Organ; the version for Chamber Orchestra; and Agnus Dei, a 1967 setting of the last part of the Latin Mass for a cappella choir to the music of the Adagio -- as well as three other arrangements, for Clarinet choir, for Brass choir and for Flute and Synthesizer. Eminently satisfying and one only wishes there were notes to explain which version (aside from the Quartet movment, 1936; the Adagio, 1938; and the Agnus Dei, 1967) came just when. Charles Munch and the Strings of the Boston Symphony Orchestra give a classic performance of the Adagio in its most familiar form while the Tokyo String Quartet unveils the seldom-heard original version that was responsible for all the rest.
   
   In a little under three years' time (March 9, 2010) we will be celebrating the centennial of Barber's birth and, since March 1999, Naxos has been recording the music of this pre-eminent American composer. So far, all the orchestral works (including works for soloist and orchestra, works orchestrated from another medium, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and the chamber opera A Hand of Bridge), the published works for piano, choral works, and the opera Vanessa have been committed to disc. Chamber works, songs, works for band, other keyboard works etc. are hopefully soon to follow. Although this disc, featuring the Adagio in its varied forms, is not part of this collection, hopefully hearing it will encourage those unfamiliar with Barber to explore more of his music.



3. If you only listen to one classical song in your life hark Adagio for Strings.



4. LOVE this music. It moves me. Plucks strings I did not know ran through my soul. Makes me feel the sadness of loss but keeps alive the hope of new doors to be opened, more life to experience.
   We buried my Uncle, a fine kind-hearted man this Wednesday, they played the ubitquitous "Amazing Grace" when had they asked me, I would have had them hear this and pull them from the path they know so well. Open their eyes and spirit. Feel all the emotions of that day. Buy this for the quiet time when you need to think not what to do, but who you are and whence come.



5. This is the very same "song" done about ten diffent ways, and every one of them is fantastic. If you like ANYTHING about classical music, you should buy this CD.

1 comments about Advent at St. Paul's.

1. Not much to say, fine performances and a nice balance of traditional liturgical music styles. I particularly enjoyed the thrilling choral arrangement of Veni Veni Emmanuel. Be warned that, while they probably did their best with the miking and recording, it will sound muddy and overly reverberant to some ears.

2 comments about Previn: From Ordinary Things: Cello Sonata, Four Songs, Two Remembrances, Vocalise.

1. This is such a special recording. Even though it's almost ten years old now, it continues to amaze. Andre has matured into a master composer. He seems to habitate a 20 or 30-year slow explosion of musical ideas; so much so that he can discard whole compositions and restart from scratch with seeming impunity. See the liner notes in which he describes his experience with the Vocalise. A vocalise by definition "tells its story" without verbage, and the present example is textbook. A simple sonata form ABA structure, the harmonies nevertheless devolve into dark, slightly threatening crunches of sound behind Sylvia McNair, to then emerge back into the light. Andre, in a subsequest recording with Barbara Bonney, treats the music to a full orchestration. Don't ask me which I prefer - I would hate to make such a choice.
   
   The song settings for some of Toni Morrison's poems in Four Songs are the masterpieces of the album. Many think Ms. Morrison is the greatest living writer in the English language today. The partnership with Andre's music has to be one of the happiest synergies ever heard. Stones, and especially Mercy, are perfect marriages of words and music. Similarly, Sylvia captures the attitude of Stones, the reassurance of Shelter, and the catharsis of Mercy (Mercy like a shore) with seemingly effortless grace and power.
   
   Finally Yo Yo Ma!!!!!!!!!! I think he's at his very best in these intimate, collaborative settings. The Sonata for Cello and Piano has an organic feel, an aura and intensity of improvisation. You KNOW you will never hear it quite this way again.



2. Mr. Previn has created some extraordinary pieces here. The Cello Sonata is in turns haunting and uplifting. The Four Songs are quite simply divine. Previn's sensitive settings of Morrison's wonderful texts are sublime. McNair, Ma and Previn make a stunning collaborative team! The Vocalise is just gorgeous and performed beautifully. What a treasure.