No comments about Story Of Verdi In Words And Music.

5 comments about Wagner without Words.

1. This was Cleveland's most prominent condutor, the late George Szell's only Wagner album. True, he was at home conducting the music of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Dvorak and all the brand-name, top classical music, but he was, at the same time, a gifted interpreter of Wagner. While Szell's name is not mentioned in the same sentence as Herbert Von Karajan nor was he a conductor of opera, this album showcases the skill and artistry he achieved while conducting the score to Wagner's most important operas - The Ring of the Nibelungen and Tristan and Isolde. The Cleveland Orchestra is at the height of its powers and the music you will hear on this album overflows with passion, dignity, grandeur and beauty, all the elements that Wagner's larger-than-life operas are made of. The first track is the Entrance Of The Gods Into Valhalla, the final scene in Das Rhinegold, the first of the four Ring operas. Pity this album does not begin with the beautifully mysterious and spiritual Rhinegold Overture, which would have been more appropriate, as the music segues into the Entrance of the Gods. But even as it is, it's wonderful. The music describes the vainglorious Odin, his wife Freya and the other Norse gods ascending into the glittering golden palace of Valhalla, pride and downfall of the gods. The music is bombastic and grand, just like one hears it at the opera, a melage of trumpets and brass. But the music is also composed of melancholy strings (violins) describing the lament of the Rhinemaidens, bemoaning the loss of the Ring and foreshadowing the coming tragedy. Track 2: Ride Of The Valkyries: This famous war march has been heard in films (such as Apocalypse Now) and occurs toward the end of "Die Walkure". It's a militaristic, noisy, ebullient battle cry. In the opera, Brunhilde, Odin's immortal daughter, has rebelled against him and takes to the air on winged horses with her fellow Valkyries. This interpretation is quite different than others you'll hear because Szell discovered an additional bit of music that Wagner intended to be played but for the most part is not heard. If you're quick, you'll catch it. It's a repetition of the battle cry "Hojo-to-ho" on the trumpet, occuring toward the last portion of the piece. 3: Magic Fire Music: This "magical" music, mostly for strings, serves as the score to the final scene in "Die Walkure" in which Odin has cast a sleeping spell on Brunhilde and puts her in the middle of a ring of fire, where she will await the kiss of the hero Siegfried. The tristesse of the piece represents a father's grief for the loss of his most belove daughter. Track 4 and 5 Forest Murmurs and Siegfried's Journey: This music is taken from various moments in the opera "Siegfried" which relates the hero's adventures. He awakens the sleeping Brunhilde who has become mortal, slays the fearsome dragon Fafnir and wields as magical sword. The Forest Murmurs takes place in the immense forest where Brunhilde lies sleeping. Endowed with the gift of communicatin with nature, a bird tells Siegfried where he can find Brunhilde. If one does not overanalyze the music, merely strings and flutes, one can clearly feel the word-painting and characterization in the piece. The flute is the bird or birds and the forest itself, the more powerful chords represent Siegfried and the brief "Valkyrie" motif stands for Brunhilde. In "Rhine Journey" we hear the strings become the flowing river and we can see Siegfried journeying to a dangerous adventure, one which costs the hero's life. In "Siegfried's Funeral March" Siegfried has been betrayed and is slain by the Giants. The funeral music is dark, primal and powerful in its depiction of nobility and downfall. As it ends, we hear Brunhilde's love theme which then appropriately takes us to the Immolation Scene. Brunhilde, distraught over the death of her beloved, summons her horse and leaps over Siegfrie'ds burning funeral pyre, a grand act of love and sacrifice, the first hint of humanity and compassion in otherwise dark drama filled with greedy and wicked characters. This leads to Valhalla's demise by fire and water and the world ends. Only the Rhinemaidens remain, taking back the ring which had long been stolen from them. Though these are only portions of music from the supremely lengthy score, it is enough to entice the listener to seeing the Ring, the biggest feast of opera one can ever undertake. The Overture to Tristan and Isolde summarizes the work itself. It's a high romantic tragedy concerning the knight Tristan, the King he serves and Isolde the Queen, whom he falls in love with. Their love is doomed but the magic and transient bliss is perfectly captured in the luminescent Overture, which begins softly and mysteriously with the "Tristan Chord" and culminates with a ravishing rush of strings. The Liebestod, the Love Death, is Isolde's swan song, as she dies of love for the fallen knight. Szell does not play this too fast or too slow. It's done right, and it's heartbreaking, ethereal and magnificent, perhaps even at the level of Karajan's famous interpretations of it. The final track is the grand overture to Die Mastersanger Von Nuremberg, a lengthy paean to Mediveal chivalry, all grandeur and pomp.
   
   Five Stars Well Deserved. Make this your first intro to Wagner. The music will seduce you into watching Wagner operas. Dreamy, romantic, grand, sad, larger than life, Szell has captured the essence of Wagner in a single album. Buy it now. It's cheap and affordable. It's highly recommended. Enjoy.



2. This is certainly very good music-making, falling just a little short in the colors department - for which the Berlin under Karajan or the Philadelphia under Ormandy are the ticket. But that aside it's difficult to accept all this Szell bashing. People still listen to the Cleveland recording of the Dvorak Slavonic Dances and will for years to come. And unless you have to have original instruments it's tough to beat Szell and the Cleveland orchestra's brio and attention to detail in Mozart and Haydn.
   Of course some of this carping may be the result of a little bit too much self-esteem and not enough appreciation for just what it takes to lead an orchestra at such a level. I remember in college I happened to be at a small gathering of literary people including a few novelists and poets and one critic,the august Edmund Wilson. Not knowing any better I walked right up to a stern-looking older man looking every bit the serious 'Dean of American Critics' and blurted out how much fun I had reading his story "The Man who Shot Snapping Turtles." Apparently this gushing adolescent accolade softened him a bit, and he talked with me for a couple of minutes. The last question I asked him was what did he consider the most important thing in writing criticism. Mr. Wilson blurted out bluntly, "Get it right!"
   Over the years I have always thought there was a world of truth in that rather journalistic maxim. The reviews here are a perfect example. One could write and gush about this and that, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter how many names you drop, or airs you put on, if you cannot recognize quality you're no better than the crook in Gatsby whose idea of a small town where one could safely pass counterfeit bonds over the counter was Detroit.
   In the Great Gatsby the crook passing false currency for real is picked up by the police. Unfortunately Amazon readers are easily mislead by glowing praise or, in the case of some of the reviews of the Wagner here, cold dislike. People react to harsh words, and especially when they are well written and sound based on experience. Let me assure you - no one is always right, and there are some people who, for whatever reason, have skewered taste.
   The Szell Cleveland Wagner CD here is a series of showpieces, played very very well by the Cleveland orchestra. What sets this apart from many Wagner collections is the astonishing orchestra playing. Szell's orchestra, supreme in Dvorak, brings to Wagner's music a clarity rarely achieved by other orchestras. Superbly balanced, the virtousity of the players is on full display. It's a joy to actually hear all the myriad instrumental sounds in Wagner's score - Wagner played in tune, what a shocking concept. And particularly Wagner devoid of bathos! Tovey used to cite Wagner as perhaps the best of all orchestrators; here we have the Cleveland at the pinnacle of their glory days, a wonderful momento. Writing nasty dismissive words about performances of this caliber says more about the reviewers than it does about the recording.
   This has been remastered for SACD and if you have a machine that will play SACDs then that is the one to purchase.



3. I quote from a previous review: "Perhaps no eminent conductor has fallen so far after his death as George Szell". To this comment, I say "Baloney". One great thing about Amazon is their sale of deleted CDs by independent sellers. When George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra CDs suddenly disappear, their price by the independent sellers skyrockets. As for the present CD, I have bought it on LP, cassette and CD and cherished it for years. The playing is sensational, the performances have plenty of passion and the sound is great. The Die Meistersinger and Tristan excerpts were recorded earlier than the Ring and have a little more spontanaiety but the Ring excerpts are also outstanding.



4. Perhaps no eminent conductor has fallen so far after his death as George Szell. He was treated with enormous respect during his long tenure with the Cleveland Orchestra, and he couldn't appear in Carnegie Hall without getting raves from the New York critics (his reviews were much better than Bernstein's). On the evidence of this cold, unfeeling CD of Wagner excerpts, mostly from the Ring, one wonders why. Every excerpt is treated to the same strict, unyielding approach; there is no rubato or romanticism. In addition the sound is thin and full of hiss (Szell's LPs on Epic were infamous for their bad sound, and Sony hasn't bothered to improve things on their digitual reissue.)
   
   I will remember Szell fondly from my formative years in the Sixties, but he has become a dead letter in the intervening decades.



5. Like the critic whose review I follow, I agree that this recording is less than perfect. However, George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra are not to blame. Szell was mostly in his element conducting Mozart and Beethoven, though his other works are of quality as well. However, with Wagner one must proceed with caution. Wagner was the most fatalistic and mystical composer of the 19th century, and he foreshadowed the more complex music of Mahler. Wagner's Ring operas are his most famous and grandest operas. They tell of the Norse legends of the stolen Rhinegold, the attempt to get it back from the Nibelung race, the rise of a hero Siegfried and the demise of the Valkyrie Brunhilde as well as the end of the world and the gods. These epic themes are treated with bombast and with grandeur in music that is both dark and lyrical. Szell does not have the right stuff for conducting Wagner. There is nothing compelling about his interpretation as compared to the other versions out there. May I suggest Solti's version and Karajan's versions of "Ring" music. The music from Tristan and Isolde- the Prelude and Liebestod, are also very weak. The Finale to Tristan and Isolde finds Isolde professing her love for the fallen Tristan and dying herself in a spiritual transformation. This music is considered the most beautiful and powerful music ever written for orchestra, at times spiritual, at times dramatic and even linked to female orgasm by the more prurient scholars. This complex music is not delivered well on here. The only reason you should get this recording is if you are curious as to what Wagner sounds like without the singing, and even then don't try this one. The music is bland and subdued. Szell should have thought more carefully about this album. Still, never blame Szell. He has done wonderful work in the past.

4 comments about Greatest Hits HANDEL ~ Water Music, Largo, etc...

1. I found this recording disappointing in many respects. The sound quality was much lower than expected, especially on track 7 "Largo" which on the origional, Ormandy had created such a quiet grandeur. In trach 11 "Let the Bright Seraphim" Wynton Marsalis overpowered the singing of Edita Gruberova, whereas the music should always be the backup of the singer, and not vice versa. I don't know what happened to the "Hallelujah Chorus," but it didn't come off very well at all.
   
   CD



2. ...the music is one of the most authentic feelings from human soul...it says without words the real feeling of the composer and listener...enjoy this beautifyl music to serenate your spirit....thanks God for music..



3. Nothing else tops this unusually gorgeous rendering. Leppard's is the finest conducting of Handel to this reviewers ears. Especially the Xerxes Largo and the Watermusic
   Hornpipes and Fireworks Oveurture tempi, legato and orchestration is full of warmth and energy. A true chiara scuro interpretation. Fabulous!!!!



4. Handel is my favorite classical composer. He had a wonderful knack for melody and interesting counterpoint. This was the first Handel CD I bought, and it was a great place to start. I was not sure that I would like baroque music at the time, but this CD convinced me otherwise. There are some wonderful, fast orchestral pieces (such as the "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba"), which are balanced by slower selections (such as the exerpt from "Xerxes" and "See, the Conqu'ring Hero Come"). "Eternal Source of Light Divine" is an extremely beautiful vocal piece. My only problem with this CD is that it made me want to buy other CD's of Handel's work which overlapped with some of the material on this collection. For example, this CD has exerpts from Handel's famous "Music for the Royal Fireworks" and "Water Music." In order to experience these works in their whole forms, I had to buy a CD that overlapped with the material on this one. However, this is an excellent Handel primer. It is the perfect collection to introduce a listener to one of the best and most accessible of the baroque composers.

2 comments about Movie Love Themes.

1. As someone who works from home, this is a wonderful collection to put on during the day. The beautiful arrangements of some of film's most memorable music is a treat to listen to day in and day out. I was one of those looking for music from the "Cousins" soundtrack. I'm so much happier to have found this CD with more great music than I could've bargained for. I'm very glad to have this in my collection!



2. I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THE SOUNDTRACK OF COUSINS... I KNOW BUT HEY I LOVED THE MOVIE AND WHEN I REALIZE THAT THE SOUNDTRACK WAS BEEN ASK $120 I JUST WENT NUTS LOL LOL BUT I WENT ON MY SEARCH AND FOUND THIS GREAT GREAT GREAT CD, THAT HAS THE SONGS I WAS SEARCHING FOR AND MORE.
   
   FOR EXAMPLE, CAVATINA FROM THE DEER HUNTER, HMM GREAT MOVIE AND GREAT SONG. AND LETS NOT FORGET THE WAY WE WERE, COME ON THAT IS A CLASSIC. AND ITS HAS THE THEME FROM THE MOVIE ON GOLDEN POND, ALSO UNCHAINED MELODY FROM THE MOVIE GHOST.
   
   BUT WHAT TOOK MY OFF MY SIT WAS THE SONG *WE ARE LOOSING HIM, FROM THE MOVIE SOMEWHERE IN TIME. LOOK THIS IS A GREAT CD, AND IT IS WORTH ALL.
   
   I HAVE ALL THE SONGS I EVER WANTED AND MORE. BELIEVE ME YOU ME, IT IS A GREAT BARGAIN. WONT BE DISSAPOINTED.

1 comments about The Best of Handel.

1. I have owned this recording for some time now. In fact, it was probably responsible for cultivating in me the understanding and appreciation I now have for Handel's music. It is a brilliant way to become familiar with his style, and because Handel's style is so easy to listen to anyway, it is also an great introduction to baroque music appreciation in general.
   
   Handel is for me the undoubted master of music, and with this recording, Naxos has given a collection of superb performances that do great justice to this impressive body of work. The "Overture to the Music for the Royal Fireworks" featured on this album, is the best I have ever heard, paricularly the first section, which I believe has no rival.
   
   I give this album five stars out of five, by sheer virtue of the fact that it just that good!!

1 comments about The Best of Bach.

1. I love the Naxos "Best of" series. I own quite a few of them, and they never ONCE fail to please. This is no exception. And even for people who've "heard it all", I'm sure this album will bring a few surprises. It's the brilliant performances, imbued with all the soul and depth of Bach's music. It's the fantastic and fresh selections. And it's hard to choose a "Best of" selection when it comes to Bach, simply because it is hard to say that ANY of his music fell below a standard one would expect of a "Best of" album. But Naxos have done a good job.
   
   Take the time to listen to this album. Bach's music really speaks for itself, but when you have such a great collection of it, by such great performers, you cannot go wrong.

5 comments about Brahms: Symphony No. 1; Haydn Variations; Academic Festival Overture.

1. The Bruno Walter version of Brahms" First symphony " completes my collection of all four Brahms wrote and includes Variations on a Theme of Haydn. I find the first portion of the Variations includes St. Anthony's chorale that sets me humming all day. The Academic Festival overture is included as well and the reasonable price makes this album a bargain. The First symphony contains a finale with a hymn-like theme which makes it my most played album of the four Brahmsian symphonies.



2. After comparing different versions of the Academic Festival Overture, Bruno Walter's rendition is the best. Bright, with a noticible faster tempo than other versions, yet still dynamic and powerful in all the right places.



3. I have listened to many recordings of Brahms 1st. I have also read extensively the reviews others have given on every Brahms 1st available on Amazon. Along with Klemperer's Brahms 1st, Walter's Brahms 1st is the one to own. The sound is incredible. The performance is closely-miked with deep rich bass. (a conductor's perspective). But, I like it that way. This performance draws you in. I can listen to this performance over and over without tiring. Do not get confused with the multitude of choices out there on which performance of Brahms 1st to get, I have done the searching and listening, get this Brahms 1st and you will not be disappointed.



4. First, these are three of my favorites, and Brahms is my favorite composer. Brahms was deeply concerned that he followed Beethoven. He needed no concern. These are masterpieces. Their performance by Bruno Walter and the Columbia Symphony is also masterful. The technology for the initial recording is dated, the remastering was done with great care. The result is a really great recording.



5. Walter is a legendary conductor, and these recordings have excellent sound quality and presence. The CD is nearly filled with three "Classical Canon" pieces. You get all this for $10. Highly recommended, for both serious collectors and anyone with even a passing interest in Classical Music.

5 comments about Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 "Choral"; Fidelio Overture.

1. The first movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is perhaps the high point of the sonata form.
   
   It portrays the natural universe as created by a Masonic God -- spheres in motion through infinite space. The temperature is absolute zero; there is no sound, no friction, no change. Its immensity is uninhabited and has no relation to the human scale; its mechanism stops for no one and can only inspire awe. Its only human element enters at the end, to serve as a transition to the rest of the symphony -- a funeral march portraying the terrifying realization that the perfection of this universe has no place for man.
   
   The recording by Cleveland under Szell has precisely the imperturbable power and precision to render this universe into music -- no small achievement given the awkwardly demanding gyrations of Beethoven's scoring.
   
   The same orchestral traits are less successful in the other movements portraying man's heroic revolt, his reward in nature, and his discovery of human society. But for the first movement you can't do better than this version.



2. Ludwig van Beethoven was more than a musical genius. He was the tie between the classical and romantic age, being the classical period's first true romantic. Hence, this is why I've always referred to him as classical music's Jean-Jacques Rousseau. If you listen to all of his symphonies in chronological order, you can hear the progression, from the formalism and traditional sound of the First, to the revolution of the Ninth.
   
   The first two movements are a nice buildup for the remaining two, and they are (unlike other versions, as noted) not too slowly paced (a real source of annoyance when you listen to some of the other versions of this symphony). Even more remarkable, there is a balance of sound between the woodwins and strings, a minor achievement that has been missed in most other renditions of this symphony. The third movement is the romantic, natural progression from the first two to the last, the movement we've all come to know and love. It is that beautiful. The chorus itself is set to Friedrich von Schiller's poem (and title of the Choral) Ode to Joy (a rather non-denominational celebration of humanity), which explains the movement's religious feel, corresponding with Schiller's universalistic appeal to a common ethos and belief in a higher good and being ("Ihr stuerzt nieder, Millionen?/Ahnest du den Schoepfer, Welt?/Such' ihn ueber'm Sternenzelt!/Ueber Sternen muss er wohnen."---- "Do you bow down, millions?/Do you sense the Creator, world?/Seek him beyond the starry firmament!/He must dwell beyond the stars.").
   
   Thus far, I've listened to over two dozen versions of this symphony, live or recorded, and this one is by far the best (and yes, I've even had the great honor of listening to a live version of this symphony from the same Cleveland Orchestra that recorded this CD). The simplicity of the symphony is immediately detectable in the sparse and crisp direction, and it has the effect of creating a sound that is amplified in its ability to overwhelm you with its power (I've listened to the same Cleveland Orchestra deliver a stylistically sparse version of Beethoven's Fifth, with the same enthralling affect). If you're looking for a great version of Beethoven's Ninth, this CD is a must have.



3. I grew up with this version of the 9th and I have to discount my love for it a bit because I probably suffer from a bit of an imprinting effect. This is the notion that the first version of a piece you here becomes the "true" version. However, listening to this again after several years away from it, I have to admit it is superb and wonderful. If you don't have this version, treat yourself.
   
   The first movement has real majesty and power to go with the mystery. Szell tells Beethoven's drama with great awareness of its importance in not only the first movement, but the foundation it sets for all the others and its brief recall in the fourth movement. I remember how mystified I was when I heard this movement the first time. It sounded like nothing else I had heard. Very convincing and beautiful, to be sure, but unlike anything else I had known up to that time.
   
   I was aware enough of how symphonies typically worked to notice that having the scherzo as a second movement is unusual. And this is a very very strange piece. Szell gets the humor and, well, insanity just right. I have heard many performances of this work and few are as fun and amazing as this recording. I remember that this movement absolutely convinced me that Beethoven was absolutely nuts, in a transcendently wonderful way, to think us music like this. Who else could have done this?
   
   The third movement is beautiful beyond compare. Listening to this movement closely, I always feel reconciliation with all the pains and struggles of life. They recede and the glories of God and eternity draw close. It is a kind of sweetness that grows because of and from pain rather than trying to overcome it with saccharine.
   
   Everyone knows the "melody" of the fourth movement. However, it is so much bigger than that. There is the remembrance of the first four movements. A meditation of them with a rejection that leads to the statement of the theme that grows in glory and then breaks out in the wonderful set of choral variations that set Schiller's poem.
   
   By the way, I think the notion that the Freude (Joy) of the poem was probably at one point was Freiheit (Freedom) is correct. The notion is that Schiller (and others) used Freude instead of Freiheit because their work would have been sensored if they were too direct in talking about Freedom and seen as anti-Aristocracy. The poem makes so much more sense if that is true. Try it for yourself and see what you think. This performance uses the traditional Freude, and that is what Beethoven wrote. However, it is Freedom that transforms man not just a vague sense of Joy.
   
   What a glorious work! What a tremendous recording!



4. I don't think I can add anything to this discussion that the other reviewers haven't already captured. All I know is, I've heard at least three high-profile recordings of the Ninth (von Karajan's 1963 recording, Dohnányi's with the Cleveland Orchestra and Lenny's Berlin Wall performance), and each of them gave me different reasons to nod when they were over and say, "Yeah, that was really good." When I finished with this recording, on the other hand, I slumped back in my chair, wide-eyed, and breathed "Holy s---." After all the conductors who figured bigger orchestra and bigger musical gestures meant better Beethoven, the effect created by this performance's straight-ahead, driving momentum is electrifying. Szell's exact rhythms and complete control over his orchestra drive you propulsively through the first two movements, slow down for some tender repose in the third, and just blast the final movement out of your speakers to the far wall. There are so many special touches on this recording, particularly the precise balance between all the instrumental groups (listen to the punctuation from the brass!) as well as between the orchestra and the choir. Yeah, I've heard better individual soloists on other recordings; yeah, the choir's enunciation suffers a little at points (particularly in the fiery race to the end of the symphony), and yeah, the recording quality, while good, still isn't up to the sonic capability of today. But the power! The intensity! There may be no such thing as a "perfect Ninth," and maybe there never can be, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't feel the need to buy another Ninth for a long, long time, if ever. When I consider the fact that this marvelous performance is offered at a budget price, all I can say is what Schiller (and Beethoven) already told us: "Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt/Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen."



5. George Szell al igual que Eugene Ormandy fueron los grandes de su epoca, claro que postergados por la fama de idolos como Karajan, Bernstein y otros, pero sin lugar a dudas lo máximo en dirección orquestal.
   Este CD que incluye una portentosa 9ª sinfonia no tiene comparación es ciertamente genial, increiblemente arrolladora, es como Szell pulcra y recta, una grabación sin igual, de verdad una sinfonia coral como quisieramos oir siempre, es majestuosa y potente, vibrante, elocuente y sin exagerar cercana a la perfección.
   Los primeros acordes nos muestran el primer fulgor de la gran orquesta de Cleveland, el scherzo es fortissimo, el adagio bello, y para finalizar coro y orquesta en una presentación incomparable.
   Se añade la overtura Fidelio (una de las que se conocen) muy alegre y vivaz.
   De Szell se dice que ensaya hasta la espontaneidad, en esta sinfonia es sencillamente inigualable.

1 comments about Story Of Berlioz In Words And Music.

1. I bought quite a few in this series and have not listened to this one yet but the others I have heard were very good. My eight year old loves to listen to them with me. They give a bit of the musicians life then a song then more info then song..... I think they are good for kids and adults to give an interesting bit of history and music to hold the attention during both.

1 comments about Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet; Symphony No.1 "Classical".

1. The CSO is one the best orchestras in the world, and just about any recording by them is superb. This one is no different. This is a high quality recording of excerpts of a great work by Prokofiev. I highly recommend it.