5 comments about David Oistrakh: Brahms/Sibelius/Tchaikovsky.

1. I'd liked to say that I agree with Nabih Bulos' comments on this excellent release. I found the sound and the video quality to be both quite good (although it's all, of course, in mono sound and black and white). This is taking into consideration the source of almost all of the material, which is from the Soviet Union of the late 1920s (!) till the mid to late 1960s. I was amazed at the good quality of the oldest material, showing us a young and trim Oistrakh playing brilliantly. The three great concertos on this disc are all very well performed by both soloist and orchestra. The Sibelius receives a passionate reading, as does the Brahms and Tchiakovsky. A nice little extra is a very brief moment showing Shostakovich in the appreciative audience of the Tchiakovsky. The only caviet is a quibble since it's about the very short extra material from Japan of a "rehearsal" of Beethoven's "Kretizer" Sonata. It's very ironic that this non-Soviet material is the only clunker in what is overall an excellent DVD of a great violinist, King David Oistrakh.



2. Every violinist needs to watch this - you can go to concerts your whole life and never hear and see these great works played so brilliantly!



3. This DVD might be said to contain definitive Oistrakh performances of the Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius violin concerti. The reason has 80 per cent to do with the sound--monophonic, but of such excellent and satisfying quality that, as music-writers would say, "stereo is hardly missed". The black-and-white images of Soviet orchestras--grainy and static though they be--serve to deepen the sound and even, in their way, to give a nostalgic glimpse of a bygone era. At such a fair price, the DVD is a "must" for admirers of Oistrakh, lovers of the violin, fans of music and adepts of history.



4. I've noticed that reviews that complain about defective DVDs usually get inundated with negative responses. Since nearly every word out of my keyboard gets that, I might as well plunge on. This DVD has something called a DVD-ROM built into it. I didn't try it. It's supposed to allow you to print out a booklet of info presumably about the music and David Oistrakh. However, the DVD itself will not play right on a computer, which is where I usually watch DVDs. When you click on play the whole program, it plays the first piece (numbered the 2nd), then shows the title of the 2nd piece, but plays a snippet of the last piece and then cuts off and goes on to the 3rd piece (the Brahms). I spent years unsuccessfully trying to correct this and gave up. However, each selection has its own title in the "menu," and by clicking on each title individually, you can hear the music okay. It just won't play the whole DVD from beginning to end. I thought the thing was defective but decided not to return it, very inexpensive and I could always adjust, then got an idea, took it home and played it on a regular DVD player and it played perfectly. My friend who is a computer tech explained to me why this happened, but it went over my head. I'll just watch it at home and be content. None of the other reviewers mentioned this, so I thought I would. And yes, the sound was fine, the picture was clear as water, the music was beautiful and Oistrakh was brilliant. His fingers flew over the strings, his slurs were perfect, his bow was straight as an arrow and (in accord with Menuhin's dictum), his thumb was just even with the fingerboard. It was wonderful.



5. Oistrakh has always been my favorite violinist, I refer to him as the voice of god because of his musicality, lush tone, expressive vibrato, and the ability to create musical drama. Emotion seems to gush out of his instrument willingly. The playing on these videos aren't always perfectly in tune and not always executed consistently without rubatos (like the chord sequence of the Brahms), but this is still an awesome display of how Mr. Oistrakh made all those gorgeous sounds. For many people like me, this video was unattainable or unknown for a long time so when it was reissued as a DVD it is sort of like finding the holy grail, a wonderful thing. So for me, this one was a must buy.
   
   I can't help but to wonder how much more footage there is out there of Oistrakh that hasn't been released yet. If they keep releasing more footage of oistrakh, I will definitely keep buying them.
   
   I have alot of emi dvds and about half of them don't work anymore not because of anything I did. I was never able to record them in case something happened because there is some kind of anti copy thing on the dvd that wont let you record. Another reason I wanted to record the dvds I buy that have the emi red label on them is because I have to keep hitting the play button at the beginning of every video clip. I don't want to have to do that, I just want to put it in and have it play without having to do anything at all.

5 comments about Terezín/Theresienstadt.

1. One could write volumes about this very special disk. Of course, considerations arise apart from the music itself. But I have other collections of music from Theresienstadt, which, though moving as a result of the context, do not stand on their own. This disk does.
   
   Von Otter is extraordinary - no trace of the diva here (actually, I have no reason she believes she is one despite her eminence in the musical world!)
   
   Musically, this is an intriguing disk, invoking a number of musical styles from cabaret to chamber music, with hints of Berg. It does lead one to imagine other lives, in other circumstances and that is clearly the intention of the disk, entitled as it is.
   
   No one else has mentioned it but for me the most extraordinarily moving track is Ade, kamerad, sung by Christian Gerhaher - a farewell to a comrade destined for transport to Poland...
   
   I resist emotional blackmail - I feel this disk totally avoids it as much as it can - and is all the more powerful as a result. But it is clearly impossible to think that we can distance ourselves from the subject to appreciate this as simply music. However, it is a necessary disk.



2. Out of context, the music on this memorial CD to the composers who were led to death at Terezin, Hitler's showplace among the concentration camps, could seem almost wistful. We get a snapshot of genres as separated as cabaret, simple lullabies, and serious classical lied. One could be walking down the street in Berlin in the Thirties. But we are in Terezin instead, and wistfulness turns to tragedy. The lullabies come from a nurse wo chose to enter the gas chamber with her sick kids, still singing, rather than abandon them. The possibility for heartbreak is endless. The simple fact that almost every composer's dates end in the same year, 1944, triggers the specter of horror.
   
   Von Otter, Gerhaher, and company respect the dead -- as well as the music itself -- by not laying the pathos on thick. Some of these songs are miraculously light-hearted, a call to life in the valley of death. The most substantial composers are Victor Ullmann, Pavel Haas, and Erwin Schulhoff (a Nazi victim even though he died of tuberculosis in the Wulzburg camp and didn't go to Terezin). Their songs, and Schulhoff's solo violin sonata, performed by Daniel Hope (whose mother's family fled to South Africa from Germany in the Nazi era) provide more advanced listening satisfaction.
   
   But I imagine most people will remember, and be haunted by, the simple melodies of the nurse, Ilse Weber, who went to die with the children of Terezin. This whole CD stands on the same emotional ground of devastation and grief. It's hard to come away the same person as before you started listening.



3. Beautifully sung and played. Reminds one of the Berlin cafe music from the 1920s, which is probably where most of the composers found their niche. Sad to know that these people didn't survive, but their music lives on!



4. Approximately 144,000 Jews, mostly from Germany and Czechoslovakia, were imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camp at Theresienstadt for varying terms between 1941 and 1945. Roughly 15,000 of them were children. At least 33,000 died of contagion or starvation. 88,000 were dispatched to Auschwitz or other extermination camps, where they were gassed, usually on the day of arrival. Of the children, no more than 1100 survived. Of the total transient population, there were only 17,247 verified survivors -- 17,247 witnesses to the Holocaust.
   
   Among the Jews at Theresienstadt were some 470 Danish Jews who had not been successfully smuggled away to Sweden. The Danish government to the bold step of demanding that the International Red Cross be allowed to inspect the camp, and on June 23rd, 1944, such an inspection took place. The Germans prepared a mammoth hoax, cleaning, painting, building false fronts for shops, evacuating the sick and scrawny and cutting the population of prisoners to hastening the dispatch of thousands to Auschwitz. Theresienstadt had from the beginning been the "clearing house" for the Jewish intellectual elite, especially of Czechoslovakia. For propaganda purposes, Jews there were permitted certain cultural activities, under censorship. Thus the Red Cross was shown a thriving ghetto in which people conducted art classes, educated children, and performed music of all sorts - cabaret songs, Schubertian Lieder, modernist music not tolerated in Germany, even a children's opera. A film was made, to show the world the humanity of the Third Reich... The makers of the film were immediately sent to be executed. The composers of the music, including the opera, were soon sent to Auschwitz. Three of the composers on this CD - Hans Krasa, Pavel Haas, and Viktor Ullman - were sent to Auschwitz together on October 15th, 1944, and gassed immediately when they arrived.
   
   One inmate of the death-to-come camp at Theresienstadt was a nurse, Ilse Weber, who wrote at least 60 songs which she sang during her night rounds among the sick. The first song on this CD, in the proper German of her murderers, begins like this:
   
   Ich wandre durch Theresienstadt,
   das Herz so schwer wie Blei.
   Bis jäh mein Weg ein Ende hat,
   dort knapp an der Bastei.
   I wander through Theresienstadt,
   my heart as heavy as lead.
   Till suddenly my way ends
   right there at the barrier.
   
   When a throng of sick children were shipped from Theresienstadt to the death camp, Ilse Weber voluntarily accompanied them. Eyewitnesses report that in the gas chamber, she sang to the children her own lullaby, Wiegala, included on this CD.
   
   Swedish opera star Anne Sofie von Otter and baritone Christian Gerhaher sing the 25 pieces of music composed by inmates of Theresienstadt with respect and pathos. Von Otter says: "I felt and feel profoundly moved by thoughts of the cruel and terrifying fate of these inncoent prisoners, of all the human beings, young and old, whose existence was obliterated by the Nazis."
   
   This is a CD you need to own. The next time your humanity is insulted by the presence of a Holocaust-denier - there are such execrable creatures here in America - play this CD for him or her. Let's extend that: the next time any preacher of racial or religious hatred, any political scare-monger, any demonizer of immigrants, any ranter against cultural co-existence assaults your decency and intelligence, tell her or him the story of Theresienstadt.



5. Terezi'n/Theresienstadt by Anne Sofie Von Otter, Benct Forsberg, Christian Gerhaher and Daniel Hope is a wonderful musical tribute to the musicians murdered by the Nazis in the "model" concentration camp, Terezi'n. It is lyrical and lovely and worthy of listening to for many hours. I participate in an annual Holocaust Remembrance program, and I am trying to figure out how we can incorporate this CD into the program. I am pleased to have purchased it.

5 comments about Dvorak: Piano Quintet, Op. 81/ String Quartet, Op. 51.

1. I have no bone to pick with the other reviewers who faint with delight over this new recording of the great Dvorak Piano Quintet. But in all fairness someone should describe the interpretation a bit objectively. The dominant force here is the Takacs Qt, with Haefliger decidedly in the background. If like me you think the piano should be the leading voice, as it is to magnificent effect in Sviatoslav Richter's recording with the Borodin Qt. (Phiilips), Haefliger will seem soft-grained and overly suave.
   
   But he falls into the spirit of this account, which is tender, sweet, and swoony. There's no doubt that we are hearing a deluxe, silky performance, but to my mind Dvorak's idiom is already somewhat sugary in this work, and the more starch and rigor one adds, the better. Tempos are middle of the road, execution is crisp and often sparkling, and Decca's sound is up-to-date, although I hear a little vinegar in the upper strings.
   
   Dvorak had the misfortune to write one string quartet, the "American," whose popularity has overshadowed all the others. The Quartet #10 precedes the really great ones from Dvoraka's pen, but the Takacs step up and give it their all. This is a robust, committed reading that ranks among the best I've ever heard. It deserves five stars.



2. There are three piano quintets recognized as masterpieces of the form: Brahms' Op. 34, Schumann's Op. 44 and Dvorak's Op. 81 here. Dvorak composed this work as part of his devotion to the Bohemian folk idiom and, along with the "Dumky" Trio and E-flat Piano Quartet, epitomize the national Czech music tradition. Similarly, the String Quartet Op. 51 was composed purposely with to showcase Slavic flavors and is rich in beauty and charm.
   
   Everything seems to have come together in this reading to produce a great recording for the ages. Andreas Haefliger's joins the quartet with some sparking pianism that propells the fast movements with inspired verve and dazzling running semiquavers - all captured in brilliant clarity. Equally attractive is the poinant and serene second movement which is performed with a beautiful depth of passion and breathtaking emotive tonalities from the legendary Takacs Quartet. Overall, their temperament and approach here are ideal for Dvorak - appealing to his brilliant lyricism and love of the music of his homeland. The recording ambiance is bright, bold and perfectly balanced between instruments with just the right amount of spaciousness. In short, the Dvorak compositions on this CD are truly monumental, the playing of the highest caliber and the end result very attractive. Hopefully, we will see more recordings of Dvorak's chamber works from the Takacs Quartet (whose award-winning Beethoven Quartet cycle is also superb).
   
   Living in Boulder (where the Takacs Quartet is in residence at Colorado University), I have had the priviledge to hear this superb quartet play in person. I thought they sounded great on disc, but to hear this ensemble in person is extraordinary. Among their many fine, award-winning recordings of Bartok, Beethoven and Haydn is this one of Dvorak recorded in 1998 with the brilliant first-violinist, Edward Dusinberre. Another change with this quartet came in 2005 with the departing of Violist Roger Tapping and the arrival of Geraldine Walther from the San Francisco Symphony (a wonderful addition). Also in 2005, The Takacs Quartet celebrated their 30th YEAR with original members Mr. Schranz and Fejer still going strong from the college days in Budapest.
   
   This coupling scored very high with the music press who healded it as one of the great modern recordings of the Quintet. ClassicsToday gave it a perfect 10/10 for Artisty and Sound Quality with these accolades which I concur: "This is one of the most beautiful chamber music discs in the catalog. Throughout, the Decca engineers have managed to combine clarity with tonal richness, achieving perfect balances between the piano and strings in the quintet. Both works are similar in form and content, especially notable for their folk-inspired melodies and infectious dance rhythms." Another impressive recording of the piano quintet (but coupled with an early string quintet) comes from Susan Tomes and the Gaudier Quintet (Hyperion). Both are satisfying choices but my lean would be towards the Takacs/Haefliger recording for the quintet and especially their lush reading of the string quartet companion piece.



3. This is a masterful performance that is polished and proportionate in every way. The music bursts with life in the hands of these musicians! Having seen the Takacs Quartet in live performance twice within the last 5 years I will say that these guys are definately on top of their "game". This becomes at least partly apparent by way of listening to this recording...one of the finest of these works!



4. No mixed feelings at all about this warmly autumnal performance; there is a genuine glow to the Haefliger/Takacs presence, an introspective ambience that separates it from the crowd. There is sweetness, too, and an affecting lyricism, particularly appealing in the tender treatment of the often-hectic opening movement, but even more so in the heartfelt second. Unlike any other recording I've heard, the Slavic melancholy imbued in this work is unashamedly brought to the fore by this ensemble, and I applaud them for their insight. Even the sparkling third movement earns kudos with its magical trio section (so beautiful!); and, too, the finale is brought off with just the right amount of panache and grace, sans the usual barnstorming.
   
   The coupling of the magnificent String Quartet No. 10, Op. 51 couldn't be more perfect. Again, the same intimacy of playing prevails, the same glow. The sense of gentle give and take between the members of the Takacs Quartet is a joy. What a breathtaking and deeply devoted view they take of this quartet, with its exceptionally wonderful slow movement. I can't imagine a more revealing rendition of this work, frankly. Nor have I heard one.
   
   The sound, although a bit ambient, suits and does not cloud clarity or expression of this most moving and impressive CD of these two Dvorak masterpieces.
   
   [Running time: 71:27]



5. Dont miss this one!

   Its one of the best played piano and string quartet from Dvorak out there.

   About this string quartet... well those of you familliar with Deccas Bartok 6 string quartets understand the extremly high quality of these guys and if you dont... trust me on this or read all reviwes about Bartoks 6 string quartets on Decca with Takacs string quartet.

   Haefliger is marvelous on piano here and do justice to Dvoraks lovely pieces.

   Its a very moving set and well worth its price.

5 comments about Chopin: Preludes & Nocturnes.

1. So this is my first Chopin CD and if this is a fairly complete sampling of his type of work, then I'm not a fan. The pianist is skilled and does a good job in playing the work so my critique is not about him. I just didn't like the compositions. There was just not much to grab on to - I did not come out of listening to it humming anything I just heard. And since most was very short, just when I thought Chopin may have had a motif going, the piece ends without the motif being developed (or even just repeated).
   
   There seemed to me to be two types of compositions on the CD: fast, finger agility exercises and slow, arppeggiated chords progressions. The fast ones do show the pianist's virtuosity but is just not enjoyable to listen to, not like say, Flight of the Bumble Bee, which can show virtuosity but is a joy to listen to. The slow pieces on the other hand sounds to me just like the piano accompaniment part of a duet or small combo. I was wanting for a melodic instrument (oboe, clarinet, violin, etc) to be playing a good melody above those slow pieces.
   
   As for using it to relax, it's just too annoying and boring to me for it to be even relaxing. Sorry, Chopin fans, give me Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, or Vivaldi any day.



2. Fryderyk Chopin was a concert pianist who created his own compositions. They are as sad as they are beautiful. This record allows the melancholy of the composer and pianist to really show. It is well recorded and seems to attempt to portray the artist music with it full intensity.



3. I found this cd to be a great listening tool when working on Chopin's Preludes. The pianist is very sensitive to the Romantic musical style, allowing for a sense of understanding of some of the most difficult harmonies of the 19th century. Highly recommended!



4. This beautiful music was purchased for relaxation and it is perfect for that. I play it while reading or getting ready for sleep.



5. Sheer poetry. Barto slows down the slow preludes, much to their advantage, finding in them more beauty and meaning than you previously thought was there. Listening to them is like watching a rose open in slow motion. But to make this succeed as a cycle, and to maintain overall scale, he has to pull back on some of the faster pieces, to their minor disadvantage. A real winner!

5 comments about Susan Graham - La Belle Époque (The Songs of Reynaldo Hahn).

1. Susan Graham is an incredible artist and
   this is one of my favorite of her CDs.
   
   Hearing her in person is even better; her musicality,
   her diction, her style, her physical appearance on stage,
   add to the sheer beauty of her voice. The one time I heard
   her in person, I was stunned.
   The recital was as close to perfection as one can get.
   
   I highly recommend this CD and any other CD of Susan Graham.
   
   Geraldine Hubbell
   Lafayette, LA



2. Stunning. The sticker on the front of the CD (New York Times quote) says it all: "breathtaiking and unforgettable!".



3. 'La Belle Epoque, The Songs of Reynaldo Hahn' by mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, accompanied by pianist, Roger Vignoles, is much different from my earlier subject of a Graham Review, some songs from Berlioz. The Berlioz material struck me as a concerto for orchestra and voice. This was excellent material for to wow a mate on a first date. Reynaldo Hahn's chamber songs are for much more intimate venues and objectives. Even more than any other 'Lieder' or 'Chansom' specialist I can think of, these are the sorts of things you want to use when the object is seduction.
   
   The songs are so gentle and so seductive that they are as likely to set the tone for the seducer as well as for the seductee. Even if you are not in a seductive situation, the songs will make you want to be there.
   
   All this means is that while Reynaldo Hahn does not have the great reputation of Berlioz or Shubert or Schuman or Debussy, you really should know his songs, and Ms. Graham does a great interpretation to make this introduction.



4. This was only Graham's second solo outing, and for many listeners it confirmed the promise of her début recording of "Les Nuits d'été" -- an unusual accomplishment for a relatively minor project.
   
   I know the songs of Reynaldo Hahn from a number of worthy recordings from other artists -- Rachel Yakar, Martyn Hill, Bruno Laplante, Mady Mesplé, Graham Johnson & Co. (the Hyperion French Song Edition), one-offs on Elly Ameling albums, not to mention vintage recordings by Hahn himself. All the same, this recording was a complete revelation. Her beauty of tone, her ease with the French language (surpassing, I daresay, the much-vaunted Francophony of Felicity Lott), her canny selection of songs, Vignoles's sensitive accompaniment, they all add up. But there's that (ahem) je-ne-sais-quoi that makes something a classic, and this album has it. It captures an era, it creates a time and place that come wafting out of your speakers.
   
   My favorite song on this record is "Si la nuit n'est pas étoilée" -- it is a rapturous melody to a quintessential Victor Hugo text. But there is nary a false note on the entire album. I do recommend, if you can find it, the Ameling album "Serenata," which includes two Hahn songs I haven't encountered elsewhere, "L'amitié" with its faint melancholy and "La vie est belle" with its French élan.
   
   As we know, Graham has gone on to much bigger things, but she retains her commitment to the art of song and to breathing fresh life into French rarities (as in her delightful operetta album). In terms of tone, timbre, and intonation, for my money she has the most beautiful voice in opera today. My only hope is that she doesn't go the way of Ren?e Fleming and become The Voice Beautiful ... she veered a bit in that direction with her recent Chausson record, and I hope she gets back to business and gets her vivid personality back in action in her song performances.



5. This is one of the most beautiful vocal recordings I have recently experienced. The songs of Reynaldo Hahn are beautiful gems exquisitly presented by the polished voice of Susan Graham. I have gone back to this recording many times.

5 comments about Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier.

1. The quality of the recording is very bad indeed. Above all there is a terrible resonance effect, and also the timbre is awful. But it isn't only this. There is something else for me, very important. It seems to me that the piano sustaining pedal is used very much, almost always. When Richter take away fingers and feet, the sound "aura" that remains is by far much less, and not only at the end of the peice, where could came into the work of sound engineer. That's also typical of the romantic school that Richter represent... And that, playng Bach, would be really unbearable! On the other hand, otherwise, he would had never approved this recording for issuing. The recording I'm talking about is the Salzburg 1970 one of the first book of the work (that I bought fotunately low price with a classic music magazine) and I'm sure enough is the same of this cd set.
   
   Post Scriptum: And the torn, destroyed and burned score on the cover what is it? A freudian slip (lapsus), a provocation (they are "screwing around" us) or what?
   
   If you don't like Glenn Gould Bach, listen Martha Argerich Bach (Toccata BWV 911, Patita BWV 826, Englishe suite No.2 BWV 807, last two in particular) or Dinu Lipatti (partita No.1)... And learn.
   
   Ah... RICHTER SAID HIMSELF in an interview that the best Well tempered clavier is the Glenn Gould one.



2. This interpretation of WTC should forever reinforce the notion of Bach's piano music as the most sublime integration of musical intellectual vigour and sheer poetry. It took player of Richter's genius to achieve such task. A desert island piano playing.



3. While some of the criticisms made of this set are valid (the sound can be a bit distant here & there,)overall, this is one of the finest recordings of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier currently available. Richter is extraordinary in these pieces. I expected the precise virtuosity, but have been even more taken by the emotional depth the Russian master shows on this four cd set from RCA. Many perfomances of these works can be technically perfect, but quite dry, revealing little feeling (Gould comes to mind for me.) Not so with Richter. This is a wonderful set to add to your cd library, even with the very minor imperfections in the sound quality. What an exceptional performance by one of the greatest pianists of the 20th Century!



4. I love the way the Russian school plays Bach (Richter, Gilels, Nikolayeva, etc.), and particularly this Russian, and these performances. The opening Prelude and Fugue I of Book I is one of most magical keyboard works that I have ever heard, and Richter's playing of it is other worldly--it is incredible. Too many notable Bach pianists--Edwin Fischer and Wilhelm Kempff among them--simply rush through this piece, destroying it's profound inner beauty. I have never understood why they do this. Perhaps they are trying to approach the music from the standpoint of a harpsichordist--in order to sound less romantic, but even on a harpsichord it works better at a slower tempo, at least, to my sensibility. Suffice it to say that Richter just gets it right, and more so than anyone that I have ever heard.
   
   As for the rest of the Well-Tempered Clavier--it is some of the most towering and influential keyboard music ever written, and essential in any collection. Beethoven loved this music so much that he copied out fugues from it into his sketchbooks. While Pablo Casals called it the "foundation of music."
   
   And now for the bad news, the recorded sound here--despite the high quality of Richter's playing--isn't all that great. However, if you can find a 2002 Japanese/ RCA release, it sounds better than this. There is also a more recent 2007 Japanese release, but I have not heard this yet. (But be warned that a Japanese issue from approximately 8-10 years ago is terrible, with the piano sounding as if it was recorded in a tunnel--and no, it is not all due to Richter's use of the pedal). If you can't locate a current Japanese release (try Cd Japan), I would alternately recommend trying to find a long out of print issue from the French "Le Chant de Monde" label. This is probably the best version of all soundwise, and is far superior to the RCA effort.
   
   (EDIT: I recently saw a picture of the 2007 Japanese release mentioned above, and it had the same identical cover as the Japanese set that I bought some 8-10 years ago, and was so disappointed with--in other words, it may be the same release, and if so, I would stay away from it. However, I also noticed that there is a new Japanese release scheduled to come out in October, 2008, which will be a remastering of the original recordings using the new SHM technology. Thus far, the few CDs that I have bought which use this technology have been excellent, and hopefully, this 2008 release will be the new version of choice sound-wise. Check out Amazon.co.jp or cdjapan in October, 2008, or pre-order now.)
   
   If I could give these performances more than five stars I would; certainly this level of pianism is so rare that it deserves many more. People who think that Richter is overrated should have a listen to these performances; I think they will see what all the fuss is about.



5. Having listening to more than a dozen recordings of WTC played with piano,
   I have to say Richter's rendition is one of the few I love best. Technical virtuosity, melodic fluency, contrapuntal precision, and musical depth are perfectly combined here. Even the tempos could not be better handled. The only thing I find not so good about this rendition is that Richter seems to have used too much petal, making the sound blurring at times. Even so, I stronly recommend this recording on grounds of its artistic value and relevation.

1 comments about Holiday Musik.

1. A wonderful accompaniment to the holidays. Davis' selections and performance enhance any get-together.

5 comments about Defined.

1. This is an average CD. I do not think it as good as the first. I am really not a fan of The Prayer sung by anyone.
   
   You can bypass the loading of the software by holding down the shift key while the disc loads. Once it stops spinning, it will show up in media player or your other audio program. I am still working to get the software off of my computer, but at least it will not infect any of my other machines. Not that I will purchase any other of this type of disc, ever.



2. All one would of expect of this exceptional emsemble ... with a few pieces that soar.



3. Amici Forever is one of the finest singing groups to come along in many, many years. Their musicality is awe inspiring.



4. These are truely wonderful singing voices,backed up by a beautiful orchestra.The first song actually gave me chills.I can't wait to buy another one of their CD's.I recommend it highly to anyone who loves REAL music.



5. This is a novel concept for opera lovers and fans. There are some original songs and also some classic arias and ensembles with a modern update. Most of the pieces have been "enhanced" with additional voices (e.g. an aria sung as a two-soprano piece, with three male voices as backup).
   
   Unfortunately, this album has so much echo and reverb that it is almost impossible to hear the artists' actual voices. If you just like opera music, this is a wonderful album, but if you are a student of the operatic voice, look elsewhere.

4 comments about Deutsche Harmonia Mundi: 50 Years (1958-2008).

1. I believe this Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 50th set is BETTER than the Harmonia Mundi France edition.
   
   Why you ask? First of all, I think it is safe to say that over the years, Harmonia Mundi has always been far more valuable as a label for its recordings of music pre-1650. This Deutsche set reflects that. The HM France set is more of a chronological catalogue of all "classical" music.
   
   
   Secondly (and completely subjectively), I prefer Baroque and Early Music, which this set is chock full of. Honestly, I haven't even really listen to much of the HM France edition which is weighed down by (in my opinion) too many unnecessary and boring recordings by the likes of Janacek, De Falla, Schumann, Chausson, Copland, et al.
   
   Don't get me wrong, it is a great source for reference, but the Deutsche HM set is for my wife and I, far more listenable.
   
   Now don't go getting your panties in a scrunch and say to yourself "He didn't just call Schumann BORING, did he?!"
   
   Well, yes, I did. But the point is, if you want a historical overview of classical music then go with the HM FRANCE collection; if you love Harmonia Mundi for its Baroque and Early Music recordings, as I do, then get this one.



2. This is ancient music to be sure, and there is so much here to learn and enjoy. The recordings are wonderful performances captured in the highest audiophile quality. I hope to be enjoying these rarities for years and years to come!



3. Deals like this don't come around often and don't last. I collected a few of these recordings over the years when they were first released, so when I saw this set come up for sale I ordered immediately.
   
   Here's what you get:
   
   CD 1
   
   ASTORGA - Stabat Mater
   
   PERGOLESI - Confitebor
   
   DURANTE - Magnificat
   
   Freiburger Barockorchester
   
   Thomas Hengelbrock
   
   
   
   CD 2
   
   BACH
   
   Concertos pour hautbois § Double-concerto
   
   Camerata Köln
   
   
   
   CD 3
   
   BACH
   
   Variations Goldberg
   
   Gustav Leonhardt, clavecin
   
   
   
   CD 4
   
   BACH
   
   L'Offrande Musicale
   
   Barthold Kuijken
   
   Sigiswald Kuijken
   
   Wieland Kuijken
   
   Robert Kohnen
   
   
   
   CD 5
   
   BACH
   
   Motets
   
   Cantus Cölln
   
   
   
   CD 6-7
   
   BACH
   
   Messe en si mineur
   
   Freiburger Barockorchester
   
   Thomas Hengelbrock
   
   
   
   CD 8
   
   BACH / VIVALDI
   
   Ouvertures, Symphonies, Concertos
   
   Thomas Hengelbrock
   
   
   
   CD 9-10
   
   BACH
   
   Suites pour violoncelle solo
   
   Hidemi Suzuki
   
   
   
   CD 11
   
   BAROCCO ESPAOL
   
   Literes / Duron
   
   Martha Almajano
   
   Al Ayre Espanol
   
   
   
   CD 12
   
   Le violoncelle au 17ème Siècle
   
   FRESCOBALDI
   
   GABRIELLI
   
   JACCHINI
   
   ANTONII
   
   Anner Bylsma
   
   
   
   CD 13
   
   BIBER
   
   Requiem à 15
   
   STEFFANI
   
   Stabat Mater
   
   Gustav Leonhardt
   
   
   
   CD 14
   
   BOCCHERINI
   
   Concertos pour violoncelle
   
   Symphonies
   
   Tafelmusik
   
   Anner Bylsma
   
   
   
   CD 15
   
   BUXTEHUDE
   
   Sonates
   
   Capriccio Stravagante
   
   Skip Sempé
   
   
   
   CD 16
   
   CACCINI
   
   Le Nuove Musiche
   
   Jordi Savall
   
   Montserrat Figueras
   
   Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
   
   
   
   CD 17
   
   COUPERIN
   
   La Sultane
   
   Skip Sempé
   
   
   
   CD 18
   
   FACCO
   
   Pensieri adriarmonici
   
   6 Concerti Op.1
   
   L'Arte Dell'Arco
   
   
   
   CD 19
   
   FORQUERAY
   
   Pièces de viole et de clavecin
   
   Jay Bernfeld
   
   Skip Sempe
   
   
   
   CD 20
   
   FRESCOBALDI
   
   Messa della Domenica
   
   Canticum
   
   Lorenzo Ghielmi
   
   
   
   CD 21
   
   FRESCOBALDI
   
   Messe de la Madone
   
   Canticum
   
   
   
   CD 22
   
   GLUCK
   
   Les Chinoises
   
   Un Opéra-Sérénade
   
   Anne Sofie von Otter
   
   Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
   
   René Jacobs
   
   
   
   CD 23
   
   LASSUS
   
   Musica Dei Donum
   
   Lauda Sion Salvatorem
   
   Missa « Puisque j'ay perdu »
   
   à 4 voix
   
   Pro Cantione Antiqua
   
   
   
   CD 24
   
   LASSUS
   
   Requiem à 5
   
   Magnificat
   
   Pro Cantione Antiqua
   
   
   
   CD 25
   
   LITERES
   
   Los Elementos
   
   Opéra harmonique
   
   Al Ayre Espanol
   
   
   
   CD 26
   
   LULLY
   
   Divertissements
   
   Capriccio Stravagante
   
   Skip Sempé
   
   
   
   CD 27
   
   MACHAUT - Messe à Notre-Dame
   
   MAGNUS / LE CHANCELIER
   
   Deller-Consort
   
   Collegium Aureum
   
   Alfred Deller
   
   
   
   CD 28
   
   KNÛPFER, SCHELLE, KUHNAU
   
   Les Maîtres de la Chapelle St. Thomas avant J.-S. Bach
   
   Cantus Cölln
   
   
   
   CD 29
   
   MARAIS
   
   Fantaisie champêtre
   
   Pieces in trio
   
   Ensemble Rebel
   
   
   
   CD 30
   
   MONTEVERDI
   
   Lamento d'Arianna
   
   Combatimento di Trancrede et Clorinda
   
   Capriccio Stravagante
   
   Skip Sempé
   
   
   
   CD 31-32
   
   MONTEVERDI
   
   Vêpres de la Vierge
   
   Cantus Cölln
   
   
   
   CD 33
   
   PACHELBEL
   
   BACH
   
   Motets
   
   Cantus Cölln
   
   
   
   CD 34
   
   PALESTRINA
   
   Lamentations du Samedi Saint
   
   Missa in duplicibus
   
   Ensemble Gilles Binchois
   
   Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
   
   Dominique Vellard
   
   
   
   CD 35
   
   PERGOLESI
   
   La Serva Padrona
   
   Maddalena Bonifaccio
   
   Siegmund Nimsgern
   
   Collegium Aureum
   
   
   
   CD 36
   
   PURCELL
   
   Dioclesian suite
   
   HAENDEL
   
   Concerto grosso
   
   Il duello Amoroso
   
   Freiburger Barockorchester
   
   
   
   
   
   CD 37
   
   PURCELL / LAWES
   
   LOCKE / MATTEIS
   
   English baroque music from the 17th Century,
   
   pour flûte § clavecin
   
   Pedro Memelsdorff
   
   Andreas Staier
   
   
   
   CD 38
   
   RAMEAU
   
   Hippolyte et Aricie
   
   Suite pour orchestre
   
   La Petite Bande
   
   Sigiswald Kuijken
   
   
   
   CD 39
   
   RAMEAU
   
   Platée et Dardanus
   
   Suites
   
   Nicholas McGegan
   
   
   
   CD 40
   
   RAMEAU
   
   Pygmalion
   
   La Petite Bande
   
   Gustav Leonhardt
   
   
   
   CD 41
   
   REBEL
   
   « Tombeau »
   
   Les Sonates en trio
   
   Ensemble Rebel
   
   
   
   CD 42
   
   SAINTE COLOMBE
   
   Pièces pour viole de gambe
   
   Hille Perl
   
   
   
   CD 43
   
   SCARLATTI
   
   Cantates / Cantatas
   
   David Daniels
   
   Nicholas McGegan
   
   
   
   CD 44
   
   SCARLATTI
   
   Passion selon St Jean
   
   René Jacobs
   
   Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
   
   
   
   CD 45
   
   TELEMANN
   
   Concertos pour instruments à vent
   
   Camerata Köln
   
   
   
   CD 46
   
   VIVALDI
   
   Les quatre saisons
   
   Freiburger Barockorchester
   
   The Harp Consort
   
   
   
   CD 47
   
   VIVALDI
   
   Avanti l'opera
   
   Ouvertures d'Opéras oubliés
   
   L'Arte dell'Arco
   
   Christopher Hogwood
   
   
   
   CD 48
   
   VIVALDI
   
   6 sonates pour violoncelle et basse continue
   
   Anner Bylsma
   
   Hidemi Suzuki
   
   
   
   CD 49
   
   ZELENKA
   
   Missa dei Filii
   
   Tafelmusik
   
   
   
   CD 50
   
   ZELENKA / PISENDEL
   
   Concerti
   
   Freiburger Barockorchester
   
   Amazing, no? Most followers of Baroque music will find something new in this set. How delicious it is to discover music that is both new and yet hundreds of years old. The performers are first-rate as well--DHM cut no corners.



4. I pre ordered this box set on April 15th. Amazon took my order saying that the product would be shipped on April 29th and it would be delivered in my country since this May 1st, by express courier (!). As on April 30 my account said "yet not shipped", I wrote to Amazon asking if they had any problem with my order. Only then Amazon said to me that they supposedly had problems with their suppliers, re-programming my order until May 30, but without any certainty because the product is now "temporarily out of stock". All this it's a shame, especially -I believe- because the internet commerce works out on the basis of people's confidence. I have cancelled definitively my order.

2 comments about Wagner: Tristan und Isolde/Parsifal/Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg/Lohengrin/Tannhäuser.

1. I have been ravenously studying classical music for about the last two years non stop. It has been a fantastic voyage. Out of everything by everyone, to me, this is among the very best CDs. The music is beautiful, mighty and majestic. On top of that, the CD is very inexpensive, considering it's quality.



2. The original EMI Seraphim budget CD line has to be the greatest value for the money in the history of music. For half the price of other so-called budget lines, including the new version of EMI Seraphim and the Sony Essential Classics series, you get first-rate performances from the golden age of stereo by some of the greatest conductors of the century. On this particular title you get brilliant Wagner performances by Rudolf Kempe and Sir Adrian Boult. This was my first disc of Wagner Orchestral Music, and I liked it so much that I eventually upgraded in order to get more terrific Wagner performances by Kempe and Boult (see my reviews). You see, Boult has a two-disc mid-priced set collecting his Wagner recordings on EMI, while Kempe has two full-priced discs on the Testament label, which licensed his EMI recordings. Granted, most will not want to pay as much as I did for their Wagner, and if you don't, just buy this title with the loose change in your pocket.