No comments about Songs of Joy & Peace Deluxe Version.

5 comments about Bach: The 6 Unaccompanied Cello Suites.

1. Not exactly sure what I would do without these recordings. A world without Bach: a scary thought. My pulse slackens a bit each time I put these on. Relaxing, sure, but also tremendously moving. A perfect antidote for the trivial drone, distraction, and bustle of our post-capitalist world. No need to go buy new-age computer glitch world-music ambience; this is sonic therapy, written centuries before we needed it.



2. Yo-Yo Ma is one of the greatest cello players of all times and he's playing Bach. Is there really anything left to say? I think not :)



3. I admit that I had initial misgivings about this product in light of the widespread renown of Mstislav Rostropovich. But I did some comparison, courtesy of YouTube clips which had surprising sound quality. I came to prefer the more personal and intimate rendition consistent with Yo-yo Ma's style. I suppose, at the end of the day, there is no point arguing taste. The qualities that make Yo-yo Ma's playing uniquely his own just happen to lend themselves well to my personality and current state of mind, which does not detract from the greatness of Rostropovich on the cello.
   
   With regard to Bach's work itself, the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, I am in awe. I have heard parts of this set at one time or another. Perhaps the most famous would be the first movement prelude of suite no. 1 in G major, having been used for TV ads and such. If you are a fan of Bach, this set is further demonstration of his versatility and genius. The sound quality is excellent, having a mild reverberation, which perfectly complements the cello as an instrument, Yo-yo Ma as a performer, and the suites themselves as stunning examples of music of any age.



4. this one's for me - couldn't find in the big record stores- yay amazon. quick delivery, good price, great condition



5. YoYo Ma awoke an entire generation to Bach with this recording. Listening to Ma play these works is truly a stunning thing.
   
   Bach is THE master who demands attention and requires another master to play his work correctly and with emotion. In the hands of a technician, Bach can be all dried up and too mathematical. In the hands of a master such as Yo Yo Ma, the concept of the Master living forever through his music becomes true. Bach is all about math. But, with only the math and none of the humanity, Bach can be cold-- and that would be an appalling thing.
   
   Bach's music is about the glorification of God and humanity and only the combination of technique, mathematics, and emotion can bring it alive and make it true. Bach is very challenging for every player on every instrument. Yo Yo Ma will forever be remembered for this 2 disc set. He introduced Bach to a new generation and made Bach seem cool again. But Bach has always been cool and always will be.
   
   Yo Yo Ma's Cello Suites set the standard for every Bach cello recording before or after, for better or ill. But this is no disservice to Mr. Ma. It is rather an acknowledgment of the power of his performance, the brilliance of his technique, and his very special and rare ability to bring the master alive and off the page to enrapture new audiences.
   
   Yo Yo Ma has done the world a service and Bach would certainly concur, I think.
   
   I had a friend in Massachusetts who lived next door to Yo Yo Ma. My friend could hear him practicing the cello at all hours. I said, "Oh how lucky you are!" He replied, "Well, it gets really aggravating after a while-- he's playing all through the night."
   
   I kindly replied, "You're a f****** moron."
   
   What a brilliant set this is by Yo Yo Ma. Anything that advances Bach into the public consciousness as this recording did and still does is a service to humanity. Superb.

5 comments about Pavarotti's Greatest Hits.

1. I checked this cd many times at my local Library that I decided to buy it, it is great! I like that the lyrics are included. beautiful songs.
   Love it.



2. What can I say? BRAVO! This cd will captivate any fan or someone who just wants to get started.Its hard not to have a dry eye while listening to this great collection of hits.I love classical music!Most people don't like opera because 1 they don't understand Italian.What a story.



3. I am a new listener to opera and I can't think of any CD that could be more relevatory for people like me that have no idea where to start. I find myself listening with tears in my eyes at the sheer power and emotion in Pavarotti's beautiful voice. I especially liked the booklet that came with the CDs. The performances and individual operas were discussed with the song from the opera given context within the story. Additionally, the lyrics are given with English translations, which I found really helpful.



4. For someone who is already a student of opera, this dual set will probably be somewhat redundant. However, if you are curious about opera in general or are unfamiliar with Pavarotti's recordings, this is an excellent anthology. I bought it as two cassettes some 20 years ago and wore it out, beginning a life-long love affair with opera. Use it to familiarize yourself with the songs and arias represented here, then explore the complete operas and/or song albums that these came from.
   
   I would especially recommend:
   
   RIGOLETTO (Verdi), Milnes, Pavarotti, Sutherland, Bonynge
   La BOHEME (Puccini), Freni, Pavarotti, Karajan
   TURANDOT (Puccini), Sutherland, Pavarotti, Mehta
   O SOLE MIO/Neapolitan Songs (Various)
   
   And to the two trolls who gave this set a review of ONE STAR (FP Wright LF Barker), because a CD skipped or a CD was missing, good grief. The review is supposed to be of the recording in question! Use your head! Is the fact that you received damaged goods--which very occasionally happens to everyone, and I'm sure Amazon cheerfully fixed the problem--a reason for someone to not buy the recording? If a recording is lousy because the performer had an off day, or the recording process was sub-par (and therefore ALL discs are effected), or whatever, then by all means, give it a "1" or "2" and STATE YOUR REASONS LOGICALLY. Your "reviews" are of NO help to anyone.



5. Buy this album if for no other reason than to hear Pavarotti's high C# in A te, o cara. Breathtaking!

5 comments about 25 Mozart Favorites.

1. This CD is brand new and -- YAY -- didn't arrive with cracks in the case! Very happy with this purchase.



2. Toma una dimensión distinta de Mozart cuando escuchas sus mejores temas.
   
   ...



3. I was extraordinarely ignorant when I purchased this recording. I thought,"WOW!! Look at all the music you get in this CD set. The price cannot be beat!" When I received the CD, I discovered that you don't really get any music at all. This is a great sample CD, and should be bought by a person brand new to classical music. However, if you have any experience with classical music, you will want to pass on this CD.
   
   Each of the pieces are hacked apart to the point of it being comical. It's interesting to listen to the greatest music in the world, only to have the development cut. All of a sudden I was thrust into a new key, I thought my ears were going crazy. Perhaps an effort by a decent high school orchestra, but this music is not up to snuff with any other recording.
   
   Do yourself a favor and go out and purchase real recordings of Mozart, and not watered down stereotypes.



4. Very pleased with product, delivery, cost and service. Will use this vendor again.



5. I found this to be a nice collection of favorites, especially to keep in the car and listen to. It is a variety of well known compilations. Although not encompassing, it is perfect as a review for driving, relaxing, and enjoyment. Plus, the price is right!

5 comments about Carreras · Domingo · Pavarotti: The Three Tenors in Concert / Mehta.

1. I sit here at my computer and try to think of superlatives adequate to accurately describe this album....and there just aren't any. It is worthy to be the best selling classical album of all time....but it's more than that. It's just a must have, a collection to soothe the savage breast. For those times when I have lost hope, when I am past care.....I will sit with closed eyes and listen to this. And revive my soul.....



2. This is a most enjoyable cd. The music selection is varied, creative and powerful. I think this concert was so special. I'm not particularly classical music oriented, but I did enjoy this music and have listened to the cd many times over. It is the depth of voices, clearness of notes and the fun the 3 tenors were having that really enchanted me. These three tenors have such a gift to give and do give it most generously. Most of the songs are classic Italian so that even people like myself who aren't necessarily opera buffs will enjoy hearing these voices even if they cannot understand a word. Most likely I will order more of this type of music.



3. I respectfully agree yet disagree with Ms Barbara Eisner who wrote the review of the 3 Tenors 1990 concert. She is right that Carreras was not on par with the other 2 but that is only because at this late stage in his (Carreras) career he was not in the very fine voice he once was due to overuse of his voice and his battle with leukemia, which he valiantly won!. If you could appreciate, as I do,Carreras' 1970's richly-gorgeous and velvety voice in recordings of operas such as Lucia, La Boheme, Donizetti and liter Verdi operas you would have seen his mid 70's peak voice would have been every been as excellent as Domingo and Pavarotti were in the 3 Tenors 1990 concert. In fact, I dare to say he would have blown both men out of the water..with the possible exception of Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma. Just listen to Carreras singing with Caballe on youtube in Adriana Lecrouveur and Tosca and you'll see what I mean!!!



4. Saw this concert on TV and was so moved by their voices and the opera experience, had to order and was not disappointed. I listen to it and feel relaxed, excited and amazed. I listen to alot of different music (mostly rock) so people who know me were curious and listened too and were surprised how much they liked it.



5. Arrived in fine time. Knew what I was getting, based on several viewings and listenings on PBS. Met my expectations. Good quality of used CD.

5 comments about Romance of the Violin.

1. a trained violinist, to me he does not feel the music, therefore, his playing is not inspiring.



2. ABOUT THE ALBUM: ROMANCE OF THE VIOLIN, 13 TRACKS, JOSHUA BELL, VIOLIN, CRAIG OGDEN, PIANO, GREGORY KNOWLES, FLUTE STEPHEN ORTON, OBOE JOHN CONSTABLBE, CLARINE ACADEMY OF ST. MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS, MICHAEL STERN, CONDUCTOR, Released 2003
   
   The 13 pieces on this Joshua Bell album entitled "Romance Of The Violin" are from the 19th century's Romantic period, but the orchestra is the famed British ensemble St. Martin-in-the-Fields, better known for its Mozart repertoire when it was lead by its dynamic conductor Sir Neville Marriner in the 1980's. Here the conductor is Michael Stern and the orchestra's far from Mozartian in sound or Classical. Although it's clean, polished, and technically note-for-note accurate without any slips into romantic mush, it still somehow manages to pay homage to the Romantic Era of music, with a modern take on the romantic. And it is still very romantic. Joshua Bell is the star here, although there are other musicians supporting him with harp, oboe, flute and clarinet, and the orchestra is strings- viola, cello and violins, the prominence of Joshua Bell's violin takes the lead. It's like a very elaborate concerto of several movements in which the violin sets the mood and keeps the whole thing together. There is not as much sentimental romance as a feeling of great artistry and brilliant detail, a glimmering sort of romantic elan. The pieces are mostly nocturnal, a lot like transcriptions of Chopin's nocturnes, but they range from Baroque, Classical to Romantic periods but given a more romantic touch in the tenderness, delicacy , peacefulness and even a drowsiness. It's like a long, beautiful dream or a very elaborately done salon music piece. And perhaps not even that. It's a grand tribute to Romantic music done with the most modern improvisation and solid musicality. Piece after piece seems to want to surpass itself. This is a very ambitious album for Joshua Bell and he succeeded. It's a best-seller. Because I didn't care for the latter tracks 9-13, I'll only comment on 1-8, which are my favorite. The tracks at the end are too clinical and too slow and boring for my tastes. It's romantic but it's too much like a sleep-inducing pill that makes you want to dream romantic dreams, rather than recreating romance on the violin. I don't wish to fall asleep listening to any classical music, so when some music really does make me drowsy, I see it as being badly played.
   
   1: O Mio Babbino Caro from Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi: This Puccini aria "O My Beloved Father" from his comic opera "Gianni" is a soprano's song. The harp at the beginning is a nice touch, and from then on, the violin sings, taking the soprano voice, with all the right notes, both in the middle and high range. The flexibility of the violin, with its deep resonant lower register and sharp high notes, seems to be like a woman's voice. This is a great accompaniment to the aria, even better than the piano and on Joshua Bell's skilled hands, becomes very exciting. Puccini's music transfers well to violin and orchestra and this is an example of the sheer romanticism of the opera. This is and "Casta Diva" are two examples of romantic opera being used to magnificent effect on this album.
   
   2: "The Girl With The Flaxen Hair", Claude Debussy. This late 19th century work of Debussy's was an Impressionistic piece and it has been a popular piece for violin over the years. Apparently Joshua Bell wanted histurn. Far from falling into the deeply sentimental, nostalgic or dream-like, it's a straight-forward but lovely account, not without the appropriate hazy and melancholic "silent film" type of sound that the piece seems to have. Debussy would be proud although there are better renditions.
   
   3: Nocturne No.20 in C Sharp Minor, Frederic Chopin: Chopin's nocturnes are treated well on the violin. Bell is no stranger to works like this one and he employs rubato, tenderness, mystery and produces the most nocturnal and romantic sounds so evocative of Chopin's piano music which graced the salons of Paris. This rendition however, is a little too tame to have any lasting impression. With the numerous nocturnes in Chopin's catalog, the twentieth wasn't, for me, a good choice for this album. There are other nocturnes with a more memorable melody and a more enjoyable and elegant feeling. Perhaps the other nocturnes were tooc challenging for Bell. This one is too bland.
   
   4 "The Swan" from Carnival of the Animals, Camille Saint-Saens: This one really works. It's a classic of violin music, interpreted by former violin masters like Jascha Heifetz and Itzak Pearlman. Bell is again far too technical in his performance, but it's accomplished with grace and balletic elegance, discipline and the results are glorious, as if we're watching a dance in progress, a prima ballerina's solo set to Joshua Bell's violin.
   
   5 Swan Song, Franz Schubert: Schubert's famous Lieder, or songs, were renowned for their poetic beauty and it's a repertoire of song and piano that is very rarely done today. The music is gorgeous, budding with romantic sensitivity and it was the toast of Vienna salons. Schubert's emotional music is perfectly transferred to the violin, which can also, if played right, can appear emotional. This one is a plain song, with wistful rubato and lingering lyricism. For a modern album of a modern violinist like Bell, this is an ambitious and yet very satisfying selection.
   
   6 "Casta Diva" from Bellini's opera Norma: Another ambitious piece. The aria from Bellini's romantic opera "Norma" is a bel canto masterpiece. It received transcriptions for piano in the 19th century by Franz Liszt, who also did various other opera-to-piano transcriptions, a commercially brilliant venture because it offered the rich and middle-class with music sheets for piano so that opera could be heard from inside the home, or for entertaining guests or for a singer to practice singing. "Casta Diva" is no easy song. It's long, lyrical, with sustained, ethereal melody and a strong climax in the middle that is repeated. Few sopranos take on the difficult part of Norma today although Casta Diva is still sung by most lyric and dramatic sopranos. Again, like in the Puccini aria "O Mio Babbino Caro", the violin once again sings, and it is a gorgeous soprano aria, with wistful pianissimi and an ecstatic climax and lovely conclusion. It's why I bought this album. There is no such thing as too many versions of this jewel of the opera.
   
   7: Piano Concerto 21 in C Major, 2nd Movement, Andante, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: This one really stood out because the Academy of St Martin-in-the Fields are experts at the works of Mozart. The Piano Concerto Number 21 has long been admired for its elegance and its romantic charm, and because the 2nd movement was used as the love theme for the 1968 Swedish film "Elvira Madigan", a tragic love story, it has been dubbed the "Elvira Madigan" concerto. The real pleasure here is that it's not done at a slow and dull pace. Many pianists who perform this make the mistake of doing it too slow. It's measured to be performed at a walking or moderate pace "andante", and here, the beat is just right, the pace is perfect, leisurely and elegant but not dull and slow. It's a brilliant violin version of what has to be Mozart's greatest andante piece. It's sunshine, it's tea, it's innocence, it's childhood, it's romantic, it's a magnificent tribute to Mozart's artistry as done on violin. It even seems to one-up the piano version!
   
   8: Dance Of The Blessed Spirits from the opera "Orfeo Ed Euridice", Christoph Willibald Gluck. I would have never guessed that this could turn out so well on violin. It's no surprise. Gluck, a Reconstructionist composer, is said to be responsible for changing the face of Baroque opera to what later became the Classical Opera of Haydn, Salieri and Mozart's time. Gluck made works of brilliant musical qualities, with a majestic Baroque like spirit but with an appeal to the more balanced and classical structure used by composers that followed him. Gluck's Orfeo was a very beautiful and romantic opera and revival productions are still done today. "The Dance of the Blessed Spirits" is all strings and it can appear like some long-forgotten ballet at the cout of King Louis the 14th watching at Versailles. The music is eerie, haunting and ghost-like, but there is a definate dance rhythm, as if ghosts were floating about and waltzing. The harspichord keeps the beat, and provides a most haunting effect but on the violin, the music takes on a better flavor, more romantic, more grandiose. It's a piece that ought to be performed more. It's really stunning and Joshua Bell steps up to the challennge of the Baroque material which is not always easily accomplished on a single violin.
   
   The album shows off Joshua Bell's versatility as a violinist. One could argue that he's really taking on too much too soon, and that he is just doing his razzle-dazzle Mozart-type genius. But when you really listen, it's not at all a one-man show. The orchestra is very prominent and has a terrific resonance of its own. The St. Martin In The Fields orchestra is a major orchestra and does not take second place here. It's more like a very sophisticated support to Joshua Bell's virtuoso violin, which itself takes on the formula, technical artistry and wholeness of a solo performance. It's really a miraculous album. I wonder just how they got away with it. It's possibly Joshua Bell's best album and a glorious tribute album to the music of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic Era. All true classical music enthusiasts should own this and listen to the lustre and beauty of a very well played concert!



3. I have several of Mr Bells CD's and enjoy all of them. This is the best CD I own. The music is very relaxing and the sound of the strad is awesome. We listen to it nightly (kids) as a bedtime routine and I never tire of it. You would not regret this purchase.



4. I played this during my dinner party this week and several of my guests commented on how beautiful the music was! It is a lovely collection and has not one single track that I want to skip when it plays!



5. This comment is from my husband, enraptured as he listens (again) to "Romance of the Violin":
   
   "It's just heart-wrenchingly good. I don't know how else to describe how it makes me feel! (Joshua Bell's) abilities...he's amazing--it's just unfathomable what he can do with the music.
   It's like there is no human playing the violin; it's like he IS the violin."
   
   Highly recommended. Among our very favorites.

5 comments about The Most Soothing Lullabies In The Universe.

1. I was very pleased with this collection. It is simply just beautiful classical music that hasn't been dumbed down for babies, like so many other albums seem to be. It also does NOT have any 'new age' like adaptions, which was a big plus for me personally. My daughter has not had any problems drifting to sleep while it's playing. I would definitely recommend this as a great first CD for your baby!



2. This is a nice CD full of classics. Not all of the tracks will lull baby to sleep (try Mozart for Mothers-to-be), but, for the price, it's well worth adding to your collection.



3. very soothing for the unborn baby (decreases in-utero kicking) and the newborn baby (increases between-feedings time at night). highly recommended for any newly minted parents out there.



4. These lullabies are infact very soothing. I have filled an MP3 player for my princess w/ lullabies, classical music and the Nutcracker and it helps w/ keeping her asleep all night by shadowing all other noises in the house until morning. I would recomend anyone to get this cd not only for a small child but for anyone who has trouble sleeping. These beautiful classical mastepieces help anyone fall peacefully asleep*



5. A double CD with 20 really soothing classics played by real orchestras. Music not only for the unborn baby or child but but to relax mom and dad as well. Beautiful pieces!

No comments about The Piano Sonatas: Vol. VIII.

5 comments about Martha Argerich, Evening Talks.

1. If you are a Martha Argerich fan like me, you'll likely greatly enjoy this video. Ms. Argerich has been said to be reclusive, impulsive, often haunted by stage fright, and generally shy of the limelight. Coupled with her impassioned, outside-the-envelope playing, Martha engenders enduring admiration and curiosity among her fans. In this approximately 70 minute video, Martha indulges us with a glimpse of her artistic traits, passions, and motivations.
   
   The video includes a number of performance excerpts from throughout her career; and particularly, Ms. Argerich describes her special reverence for a favorite teacher from her teenage years, the late Friedrich Gulda. She also describes how she learned the Prokofiev 3rd piano concerto, subliminally.
   
   For anyone who would enjoy seeing and hearing this artist's personal insight into her life as an esteemed pianist and as a hair-raising musical genius, buy this video.



2. Fascinating conversation with a musical genius. Fabulous insider look at a rehearsal of the Schumann Piano Concerto. I treasure this DVD about an artist that heretofore has been very inaccessible.
   
   John McD. Wolff, MD



3. I did, of course, know of Martha Argerich. I have a copy of her debut recording, when she was a teenager of growing international renown. This movie goes back and forth in her career, beginning in medias res, working with a young violinist. The film contains clips of her earlier performances, interspersed with her "evening talks" with associates and the film maker. Her perspectives on her career, her professional relationships, and her relationships with music/composers is beyond enlightening. It is amazing to watch her work. This film will repay both your purchase and your study.



4. I watched this in awe. Martha Argerich, as most of us know, is an iconic wonder of the art of piano. She knows the instrument so intimately. The instrument gives to her what most of us dream it could give to us.
   
   This DVD takes you into her lounge, sits you in front of the fireplace and serves you a cup of tea. What an amazingly filmed interview. The relaxed nature of it is so enticing, and makes you feel rude to stand up and leave the room for a toilet break. I just watched it in awe.
   
   There are recordings of her playing some of the most amazing and characterised pieces ever written with such ownership that it would make you, if you are a pianist, want to give up your instrument completely and become a milk man (either that, or inspire you to the greatest degree of musicality). It's impossible to hear a false note by Martha. In this video, there is a section where you are sitting in a rehearsal of Schumann's Piano Concerto...and not once does she look troubled, and not once is there a notational error.
   
   Im ranting now, so Ill simply say this: Buy this DVD to get an interview with Martha Argerich that will make you inspired, jealous, lustful (for music), defeated, happy, awe-filled, warm and satisfied...all at the same time.



5. Guchot's documentary is about Martha Argerich's oneness with the music she plays. We knew it existed already from hearing her performances. Here she articulates it in ways that are candid, joyful, earthy, and most eloquent in her charming manner. She is never pedantic. These conversations reveal the deeply personal and dynamic relationship with her art and the composers who make it happen. Only such humility and integrity, and perhaps a fundamentally iron will, can make her transcendental technique soar in interpretations which have been prodigious and unsurpassed in my concert-going life. Perhaps film gives us a glimpse about a way of being one wish one could achieve. Most tellingly, it is not about the applause, which seems immaterial and irrelevant when dealing with an artist of this caliber (indeed, it is more a release for the audience than a nutrient for a performer in this class..... though they all probably love it). The joy is in the playing. It is all about living the music.
   
   This is a unique dvd. Not quite an interview, rather she talks about her music, playing with others, the personal way she has of relating to the composers she performs...... when performing Lizst and Chopin in the same evening she must make sure to play them equally as true to themselves so one won't be jealous of the other. I truly understand her respect and love for Schumann as I totally identify with it. In her casual conversation, these ideas make music a living thing and one gets a glimpse of Argerich's total dedication to her art. This is indeed Martha Argerich conversing about how and why she is a pianist and one gets the information not from a script but from seemingly extemporaneous comments, from body language, indeed from aptly inserted performance footage, including youngster Argerich. Very little biographical information is included, only what surfaces in context of discussions of her music making. This is fine, perhaps even welcomed. The only regret I have is that the documentary goes by too quickly. We are getting glimpses of this dear and revered lady's musical soul and one wants to hold on.
   
   There are some wonderful performances attached as bonus. Particularly beautiful and exciting are her encores from a concert in Switzerland (Scarlatti, Chopin, Bach), and the 2 piano version of Lutoslawski Paganini Variations performed by Argerich and the wonderful Mauricio Vallina.
   
   Interspersed at convenient intervals throughout the film, there are scenes of Buenos Aires and the Argentine country side that without taking the narrative anywhere, nonetheless add dimension to the discussion. Conversation seemlessly flows back and forth from mostly French, to English with some German and a little Spanish thrown in. The film is well subtitled.
   
   Argerich as an artist has always brought me great pleasure and solace. She has nurtured up-and-coming talent like no other. There is no pianist like her and I feel lucky to have been living in her time. One is always waiting for the opportunity to say "Thank you," so let this, even if far removed, be one such.
   
   Strongly recommended, indispensible for all lovers of music for the piano.

5 comments about Revolutionary [Includes Bonus DVD].

1. It was a pleasure hearing and watching this brilliant artist with his innovative and creative style. While this CD/DVD is saturated with hunger and ambition, it's also confident and sophisticated. It is a work of effortless symphonic grandeur, beautifully excessive and ornamented with dazzling arrangements.
   
   I can understand why the "purists" give this CD a substandard review - they tend not to think outside of the box.



2. Cameron Carpenter is a very talented musician with brilliant technique and a wonderful creativity. The problem is that performances (or recordings, in this case) of this nature are not about the music or the medium; rather, they are solely about the performer - musical narcissism at an illogical extreme. Need evidence? Just look at the cover. Or consider that Mr. Carpenter plays the left-hand bravura of Chopin's Revolutionary Etude in the Pedal, an unnecessary display of virtuosity affording the performance little (or no) musical advantage or gain. (The display is precisely the reason it's on the DVD.)
   
   Am I a purist? Maybe. Do I want intelligent performances where the artist asks "Does this make sense?" You bet. I also want to hear a real organ - ie. with pipes, not this computer. Would you pay to see or hear Horowitz or Richter play a Clavinova? If this makes me a purist, then sure.
   
   Be wowed by the spectacle and entertained by the quirky imagination. But don't expect profundity or insight
   
   As a final note, it would be appreciated if those who leave comments refrain from name-calling insults leveled at others who hold opposing views. It is unnecessary and impolite as well as only enervates your arguments.



3. A few days after this CD was released there were around four 1 star reviews. Now they're gone. I wonder why the honest criticism was removed?
   
   In my opinion the only thing amazing about this CD is how the "artist" can have such a profound technical ability and have so little musical taste. It is very easy to be taken in by the shear technical brilliance of this musician, and it's easy to understand why such a gifted musician would easily become board with playing music as it was intended to be performed. Often child prodigies become very frustrated because they think playing notes is all there is when in reality there is so much more. However, the result of Mr. Carpenters boredom of his view of the status quo does not make for good listening if one is at all familiar the music contained in this CD. Imagine a cranky child banging on a keyboard because he's frustrated with his piano lesson... now imagine that same child performing feats of technical brilliance because of the same frustration, and that is what the listener may expect to here in this CD.
   
   Lots of brilliant technique, but very poor understanding of the music. Take away the technique, and all that's left is banging on a keyboard. Sadly, great technique does not an artist make.



4. Cameron takes the organ, an instrument that has rarely been recognized in any other setting other than church, and brings it out into a performance realm. Cameron is a prodigy and he will bring a lot more interest and respect to the organ world. Whether you love classical music or are a person who dabbles in a little of everything. this is a record to check out!



5. The reviews are mixed as I expected. There is so much to consider with the CD/DVD. The purists will hate it. The novice will be blown away.
   I have been learning as much as I can about Cameron from the web. As a former/retired teacher I see Cameron as a true genius- not for his technical ability, but the way he is put together mentally. He is so far beyond what the average person can grasp or comprehend, that he is completely misunderstood.
   Can he play tradition organ music in a tradition fashion- musically? Of course he can. So can many fine talented organists. Will those performances reach the common public? Perhaps not. Will his performances reach the common public? Probably. And in this day when youth demands over-stimulation to catch their attention, this will do it. Contrary to what the purists say, he IS very musical. The performances are just so different in their renderings, that the purists don't see/hear it- or can't accept it. Probably the latter.
   Cameron is another Virgil Fox or Jean Gilliou. Both were/are misunderstood, both were/are controversial, both were/are very musical and talented. Different does NOT mean BAD!!! Different is JUST different.
   If you can grasp what Cameron is trying to say on his recent Pipedreams {www.pipedreams.org} program #0837, he tells what he is trying to do. He has the purpose to reach a new generation and let them know that the organ is still the greatest instrument of all time and not just something found in a church for Sunday worship services.
   I hope to see more of Cameron Carpenter, not just hear more. Visually, he is captivating in his technical ability. I hope he will do more improvisations done on the spot and not written previously for performance. He is so good at them.
   Keep an open mind. Know that you are watching/hearing a genius. We have so few among us today.
   Good Luck, Cameron!