5 comments about Mozart for Meditation.

1. I was expecting this to be true to its title"Meditation".
   Though nice it's really just a random selection of music
   not necessarily soft or meditative.



2. Well, as far as music for meditation goes, I'm not so sure about this product for that purpose. When I meditate, I tend to need more monotonous sounds to do it by - however, this CD is GREAT for relaxation and sleeping. So I still give it 4 out of 5 stars even though I won't be using it for its stated purpose. Still well-worth the money.



3. All the pieces are the perfect ones for the relaxation. As a collector I am impressed of the selections chosen for this album.



4. When I am working and I need to block out sounds to concentrate on what I am doing, I always put on this CD. Besides the fact that it is easy to listen to, it doesn't distract me from my work, and I never get bored or tired of the music. I'm reluctant to purchase a similar album in the fear that it won't be as good as the Mozart Meditation.



5. I'm a licensed massage therapist, and I absolutely adore using this CD during my sessions! It's a great alternative to the new age-y music styles that are so pervasive in the relaxation music scene -- my clients find this CD soothing & relaxing, and not at all "weird". This music suports a "relaxed but focused" atmosphere -- it serves as excellent white noise in the lobby area, and I even use it at home as a soothing backdrop for reading/ sewing/ paperwork/ etc. Excellent arrangements & clarity -- DON'T MISS!

4 comments about The Story Of Handel.

1. The content is terrific. This CD is one of a series of classical music masters. The only problem is that tracks 38 and later have a lot of distortion/static. I returned thinking it was a problem with the disc, but the replacement disc had the same problem. If not for that, I would have rated 5 stars.



2. The narratives are short enough to keep your children's attention, the music may be short in some instances but if you're playing it in the background for exposure- it doesn't matter. The price is great and the cheapest you'll find in addition to the 4 for 3 deal. We have all 18 of these cds and don't regret it!



3. I have found this recording series to be a very helpful introductory teaching device for my young children. It gives a brief history of the composer and samples of the musical style.



4. The music on this CD is all wonderful, and it's a perfect CD toget - if you have the attention span of a soap bubble! Thisis a "sampler" with narrative and very few of thepieces listed are actually played in their entirety. Even pieces which are short to begin with are excerpted. We are given a whole minute of the Hallelujah Chorus and a rousing 45 seconds from the overture from "Ezio". This is a teaching CD which gives some fine examples to support the narration - but they are very short examples. A few bars here and there is all you get.

5 comments about Toccata and Fugue: Bach Organ Music.

1. I have to admit that I bought this CD for a relative who has a strong liking for the classical music of J.S Bach. The CD arrived quickly and in mint condition.



2. This disc collects some of Karl Richter's better known interpretations from the organ works of Bach. The performances certainly convey the modern notion of `authentic interpretation,' but I find they lack that which makes the music worth listening to: namely, a communicative intent on the part of the performer which is perceptible to the listener.
   
   Though I am hesitant to throw around words like `expression' and `musicality' in a subjective review, I will say that I find Karl Richter's cold, austere, Bach rather distasteful. Needless to say, Karl Richter plays the works with mastery and conviction - but, I find nothing in his interpretation to be surprising, moving, or even interesting. This is cookie-cutter Bach.
   
   Furthermore, I would challenge the notion that the interpretation of any organ work of Bach could be, as reviewer Patrick Walsh suggests, "as close as you can come to listening to Bach's music the way he created it in his mind before setting pen to paper." What a preposterous notion! First, no one really knows what Bach was thinking when he put pen to paper. And furthermore, who cares? Johann Sebastian Bach was a product of his time just as much as we are a product of ours. To suggest that music and its interpretation have not evolved is ridiculous. I fail to see how "authentic" performance practice should be the sole factor when considering an interpretation of a work of art. There is so much more to consider!
   
   For lovers of Baroque organ music, this CD will remain a winner. Of particular interest to period-organ enthusiasts will be Mr. Richter's selection of instruments, which is decidedly late 17th century German Baroque in nature. However, I implore those who are seeking a less black and white Bach to consider the accounts of other great performers, including E. Power Biggs, Virgil Fox, Kate van Tricht, and David Sanger. Their diverse, vivid renditions of the classic works remind us how unique Bach's genius really is.



3. I just picked this up again after having lost it some years ago. I'd like to second everything mentioned in the reviews below. These are very rich, dense, wonderful pieces and the performances on each of them are - at least as far as a non-classical person like me can tell - flawless.
   
   The first two tracks are, incidentally, pretty fine examples of what would come to be known as the wall of sound some two hundred years later. And they're really considerably better than most of what Phil Spector came up with.



4. The great tragedy of Baroque music is that we no longer really know how it was actually played. Various attempts to reconstruct the Baroque flavor of the music have been made. Karl Richter, and Wanda Landowska are perhaps the pre-eminent interpreters of Baroque music in the 20th century.

   Within this album, Karl Richter's breaks away from his contemporaries, playing on the massive organs for which Johann Sebastion Bach wrote these pieces, instead of the small portable organs. He does not try to play the pieces fast or slow, but rather play the piece at a pace in which each note has meaning. A great deal of thought and consideration has gone into each performance, and they display a profound understanding of the music Bach was trying to create.

   I do not want to discount the modern performances of Bach's music, many of which are top notch--for example Glen Gould's rendition of the Well-Tempered Clavier, but they do not fully reveal the mastery of harmony that Bach displays in each and every piece on this album. Modern renditions display Bach's genius in creating music that can be played on many different instruments, but they do not display Bach's vision for the specific piece.

   This is as close as you can come to listening to Bach's music the way he created it in his mind before setting pen to paper.




5. I too bought the vinyl version of this disk in my youth in the late '60s (actually it was about half this disk, right?). Itis such a wonderful recording because it plays the very dramatic and popular toccata and fugue in d minor as a serious and intelligent piece on a magnificent instrument - not as some kind of madman's nightmare. Yes, there is drama and fire, but it is all there with purpose and intellect.

   But there is SO MUCH MORE on this disk. Wonderful recordings of trio sonatas, fantasies, and chorale preludes. This is such a wonderful disk I really believe you would be very happy to own it and listen to it again and again.

   The ONLY negative is that the liner notes are not included (or weren't on the disk I have). Please email me with what you think of this disk once you hear it, particularly all the other selections.

1 comments about The Story of Schubert.

1. this collection deserves more than 5 stars.peter maag and the philharmonica hungarica are in top form.this is the best ever of schubert's fifth and eigth i have ever listened to.it is not karl bohm or leonard bernstein or george szell or lorin maazel.
   truly the hungarians inspired by maag easily beat all the other top orchestras.
   the orchestral texture is transparent with a perfect balance among the string sections ,the woodwind and the brass sections.peter maag obviously loves this music and brings out the heavenly beauty ,the pathos and the monumental dramatic quality of these works.
   just listen to schubert's fifth second movement which ends with a heart rending cello phrase.
   it is a shame that the well established record companies have not thought it fit to record more of peter maag.in my opinion he is one of the greatest ever conductors.
   i will not exchange these performances for any other!

5 comments about Bach: Toccata & Fugue in D minor & other favorite organ works.

1. the cd was a gift - certainly not my cup of tea but apparently a great cd and much enjoyed by the recipient.
   
   however, very disappointed with the delivery...it was ordered to be sent expediated delivery to the uk in early december...i paid the extra to guarantee delivery before xmas. it arrived in the new year, taking over 3 weeks to deliver which i think is very poor.



2. This CD has many wonderful organ pieces. In fact, _every_ piece is an ocean of musical genius. And though I agree with the preceding reviewer--viz., that the recording is wanting in a few respects--I find the organ's recorded tonality to be "good," overall. However, for someone who has never heard a lot of the organ, the first few listenings may be trying. (Most people, in my experience, find that a little organ goes a long way; a CD spotlighting the organ may be a too much of a singular thing for those people.) And for those who simply do not care for the organ (descriptions such as "funeral music" come to mind), you will probably not find any new fascination with the instrument on this CD.

   But this CD does offer a dynamic range of Bach's organ music: "Nun Komme Der Heiden Heiland" is especially sober (as they are between "the" Toccata and Fugue and Bach's Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, the solemnity of both chorales is compounded), while Bach's concerto after Vivaldi is especially lively; and a careful listen to Bach's fugues is always a rewarding endeavor. Lionel Rogg interprets certain pieces in a manner with which I do not always agree (i.e., the toccatas); but the slight variations from orthodoxy have merit, for the listener may hear Bach's music in a new--and possibly enlightening--way.




3. Decent performance at a very low price. Bass quantity and performance isn't quite like my Verany and Telarc discs, but still enjoyable. I'm impressed with the diversity, a couple of chorales, fugues, and a Bach/Vivaldi concerto. However, I'd skip this one if price isn't a consideration and get a higher quality disc with similar selections.



4. Bach in any format from learning to enjoyment is worth my time



5. Bach in any format from learning to enjoyment is worth my time

No comments about Stories Of Schumann And Grieg.

5 comments about 20 Classical Favorites.

1. I can't remember why I bought this cd but I can't be happier that I did. What a pleasant surprise. A disk of 20 songs for about [price]. Very nicely arranged and perfect for relaxing, driving, or work.



2. You won't regret purchasing this amazing classical cd, with many well known tunes played on instruments such as the violin and piano. Pachelbel's Canon and Vivaldi's Winter from The Four Seasons are, in my opinion, the two best songs on the cd.



3. This CD was excellent. I just received it today and so far its one of the best CD's in my collection. I recommend this CD to anyone who enjoys a wide variety of classical music.



4. This is a really nice collection. It is like a sampler of some of the best classical works. Well conducted and played. A terrific value for money. I highly recomend it to anyone from beginner to seasoned listener.



5. This CD is definitely one of my favorites. It has all of the great composers and a great selection of their works. Every recording is very good quality. I have to give it an A++

2 comments about Pachelbel Canon.

1. For those of us who appreciate the art of album creation, this CD succeeds in transporting the listener back to the 18th Century to enjoy a concert of period hits. A good album (CD) should present the listener with a journey created to present a mood and or story that the artist wants you to experience, this album succeeds hands down. Enjoy Pachelbel Canon as it was meant to be heard as well as other movements of the same time period that complete your journey to the 18th Century music hall.



2. Truly one of the finest recordings of the Canon, and the entire CD is absolutely a must to listen to. The only complaint I had was the missing track 'The Dance of the Blessed Spirits' that was on the LP from the 1980's. However, all the tracks are extremely well done. All in all, this is a great Classical CD from a great Conducter and Orchestra. Get this one, you won't regret it!!!

3 comments about Byrd: Consort and Keyboard Music; Songs and Anthems.

1. This CD has a mixture of pieces that would have been performed in a domestic setting, from secular/devotional songs to verse anthems, virginal music and viol consort. Many of the vocal pieces are found in Byrd's "Songs of Sundry Natures." I particularly enjoyed the verse anthems 'Have Mercy Upon Me, O God' and especially 'Christ Rising Again' which is probably the finest recording of that well-known anthem that I've ever heard. Red Byrd captures the domestic nature of these pieces, which is nothing like the typical ethereal cathedral boy soprano/Tallis Scholars type of performance that you would normally hear. They have a very earthy sound and the viol consort plays quite energetically. I also am a big fan of historical pronunciation which they use. And of course I can never get enough of Caroline Trevor's fantastic alto voice. As a result, I've bought every Red Byrd CD I can get my hands on. Do yourself a favor and pick up this bargain CD.



2. William Byrd is regarded by many as the greatest composer England has ever produced, as a kind of musical Shakespeare. He was certainly one of the greatest of the composers of the Seconda Prattica from around the period of the Reformation and Counter Reformation.
   
   The collection of consort music here is simply superb. Pieces like 'John Kiss Me Now' remind us of the fact that variation form began in England around this time. All of the performances are as good as any I have yet to hear of Byrd's music and Naxos clearly scored something of a coup when managing to sign up this group for a recording like this. This would be equally highly recommendable for three times the price. Just look at the list of performers and you will even find Tesser Bonner of the Tallis Scholars listed here. Needless to say she sings beautifully too.
   
   Perhaps my very favourite aspect of this recording is the fact that period pronounciation is used. While some may feel this to be pedantic, the rather quaint and rustic sounding Tudor English pronouciation in my mind only enhances the characterfulness of the pieces. I must say it puzzles me why even the likes of Emma Kirky insists on using modern English pronouciation when singing Byrd.
   
   This is a hugely enjoyable CD and for the price it is a genuine steal that enhances the image of Naxos as a company dedicated to quality music making, that puts the giant multinational recording cooporations to utter shame. For that Naxos deserve our accolade and support.



3. Extremely fantasti

5 comments about Beethoven: Piano Sonatas.

1. This disc is a MUST-HAVE. Even if you already have other recordings of the Pathetique and Hammerklavier. Why? the most obvious reason is the inclusion of Serkin's splendid performance of the almost impossible to find Fantasy in G Minor, Op.77 -- in fact, I don't think I have ever heard tell of another available recording. (Though Sony/Columbia have issued this recording with other couplings, such as the Diabelli Variations.) So how lucky we are that the one we DO have is by Rudolf Serkin, unquestionably one of the great pianists of the 20th Century.
   
   A few words about op. 77 are in order here. The piece itself is fascinating, because it gives us, as it were, a glimpse of Beethoven's improvisatory technique-- it is (and the sketchbooks seem to support the notion) a case where the master appears to have pretty much merely written down an improvisation. And it is beautiful as well. It is also very interesting as per form. It begins with two somewhat dissonant downward glissandi, followed by an almost verbatim statement of the beautiful E minor piano theme from the slow movement of the G Major Piano Concerto (here given in G Minor). After repeating these transposed lower, there follows a series of very free variations on this theme. It is whittled down to its harmonic skeleton and then this is refashioned finally into a new (but clearly derived) theme in the major. At this point the downward glissandi recur, as if to point up or articulate this moment. The new, no-longer-melancholy transformation theme is now examined in a further series of variations -- and still the harmonic structure of the original sad G-Minor theme is audible throughout. After a penultimate triumphant variation, there is finally a quieter dissolution one, and then a coda-- at the end of which the original glissandi, no longer dissonant, round off the piece. A delightful piece, showing a genius at play!
   
   Serkin's Hammerklavier is among the very best available. And if I myself would still award the laurel for BEST to another performance (Charles Rosen's flawless rendition, available on Sony/Columbia in a 2-disc set of the late Beethoven sonatas), Serkin's is almost as good: and if Rosen's particularly shines in the first and second movements, Serkin's playing in the third and fourth, especially, is utterly felicitous and humane. Certainly the peer of Brendel's famous version.
   
   And the Pathetique! This is, in my considered opinion, the VERY BEST version of this magnificent early masterwork on record. And I have heard very many other recordings, as well as numerous live performances. None have equalled, and few have approached, Serkin's magisterial performance. Especially of the first movement: exquistively gauged in every respect. His tempi are authentically very fast, yet he makes it sound effortless: never has the allegro been more thrilling in its athleticism, and his bringing out of the themes, yet never at the sacrifice of the whirling accompaniments, is -- perfect. So many performers play this movement with a heavy hand and a great deal of (albeit subtle) rubato. The very lightness of Serkin's touch adds to the almost physical thrill of the movement, which can fairly send chills up one's spine. Hearing his version, one can almost see why some demagogues of the time thought the music subversive! (Mozart, though, I think, would have been delighted.) Serkin's rendering of the famous, luscious slow movement, and the agitated final rondo, are also magnificent.
   
   In short, this disc is a MUST HAVE-- especially at its remarkably low price! Not only for the inclusion of the rare Fantasy in G, but also, for what is emphatically the benchmark version of the Pathetique, and one of the 3 or 4 best versions of the Hammerklavier. Don't hesitate! Snap it up before it goes out of print! Let us hope Sony will also release the Serkin performances of the wonderful Sonata no. 11 in B-Flat, Op. 22, and the op. 78 Sonata, which at one time were coupled with the Fantasy on vinyl.



2. It is more than a shame that this disk is out of print. I urge you to grab up a used copy while they can be found because Rudolph Serkin was a very important pianist of the twentieth century and deserves to be remembered. This recording of the Opus 13 sonata, the "Pathetique" is one we all studied as we learned the piece. It is rather unique because during the repeat after the first ending of the exposition Serkin includes the opening Grave as well. Most of our editions have the repeat double bar AFTER the Grave and that is the way it is most often played. I do not know what the manuscripts say, but Serkin's approach makes sense. Why? Because after the second ending, when the sonata continues, there is an abbreviated version of the opening Grave. If you don't repeat the opening Grave, there is little dramatic reason to bring it back after the second ending.
   
   Serkin's playing is always strong and very intelligent. He was born in Austria and was a prodigy, received a sound music education, and made his first public performance at age 12. He became a touring professional at 17. He met and studied with the luminaries of his day and played with greats such as Adolph Busch (violinist and founder of the acclaimed Busch quartet). He eventually married Busch's daughter. When Germany annexed Austria, he left Europe to live in America. He was a professor and later director of the important Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia through 1976. Serkin and Busch, his father-in-law, founded the Marlboro Music Festival in 1951 and it continues to this day.
   
   The version of the "Hammerklavier" recorded here is strong, witty and the amazing Adagio is so full of passion and intelligence that you are glad that Beethoven gave us so much music for such a pianist to play. The first movement is not taken at a breakneck tempo, but still keeps us moving along, but always in the service of a strong musical point of view. I am glad that he ignored the ridiculous and unplayable metronome marking of the first movement that some nowadays are still trying to claim as serious. The short scherzo is witty if not crisp and we understand the fun of it all.
   
   Another reason to get this disk is to have a recording of the rarely recorded Fantasia, opus 77. A fantasia in the classic period is not unlike a toccata in the baroque. It is supposed to have an improvisational feel and a premium is placed on that feeling of contrast and unpredictability. Beethoven wrote a great fantasy and Serkin provides us with a masterful "improvisation".
   
   So, snap up these disks while you can and I hope it gets back in print soon because this is too important a disk to have unavailable.



3. Beethoven composed one of his most titanic and expansive Sonatas ever made and even the thematic material is deeply dense in amplitude and proposal, these are not defaults but just a part of the complex emotional sphere in which Ludwig was immersed.
   
   The extensiveness of the work reveals a new attitude of Beethoven before the life. This Sonata is a real breakthrough with all the previous works in its genre. You could refuse the argument arguing to previous issues as Waldstein, Appassionata or Patetique, for instance are shorter and extremely precise and concise. That's correct but maybe you forget something and, in this sense the analysis may be extended to his Symphonies. Why is Beethoven so decided to write a work of colossal proportions in time extension and astonishing difficulties and great variety of emotive frequencies? The same reasoning remains valid for the Seventh Symphony respect to Ninth. Why sol long? And what's the purpose of human voices?
   
   Personally I suspect the hidden reasons could be explained by three different arguments: the first of them and the most decisive is very simple: Beethoven's audience has vanished. The triviality has taken place in Vienna: the disturbing consequences of the French Revolution have elevated the rank of the mass media of those ages and many composers have found a chance to exhibit his abilities: I am talking about of Carl Maria von Weber and Rossini : two remarkable exponents of the academicism may height to the status of the people. So let's give to the audience what they want: evasion and entertainment. This idea must have permeated the mind and inspiration of the new composers who consider Beethoven the most fervent and passionate live musician in the world but a little bit old fashioned due he is not in a real state of mind with the audience. To say in management expressions: He has lost his share and so his specific weight in the market has reduced to minuscule proportions: Liberty, fraternity and equality in the music have imposed their codes.
   
   In the other hand the growing concerns about his private life have not diminished; his deafness is absolute and he finds himself in a real dilemma: must I keep living in Vienna or thinking about another city?
   
   Finally I guess the last step given by this genius was to get back to the essential roots and try to get in the enormous trace left by Bach a new way of musical expression: that would explain by itself the use of the Fugue form in his last three Sonatas and the absence of assertiveness in the final of every one of them . That's why their conclusions result vanishing and incorporeal suggesting perhaps a renounce due the lack of force.
   
   In any case the reading of this Sonata will lead you to a real cathartic experience , the heart rending existential schism must have been a Dantesque laceration in the soul and spirit of that genius living in a city who applaud and raves by Rossini.
   
   The interpretation of this work should be made to my mind taking in count all these premises, because if don't, the result would be a cold analytical performance , tour de force exhibition exercise to prove the technique and skillfulness of the pianist and nothing else: the audience can be satisfied, the artist may be proud of himself but the work's spirit is absent.
   
   Rudolf Serkin makes a honest, convincing and extraordinary musical achievement with this performance. And -with the potent version of Wilhelm Kempff in the early fifties- I don't know of any other performance until now played with such score's understanding.



4. Is Serkin to your taste? Aficionados of pianos without hammers will not find much of what they are looking for here!. However if your impression of him is mainly raw power and tension, I believe you stand to discover one of the deepest and most complex and thoughtful interpretative worlds in the entire 20th century.

   The Pathetique gets an athletic reading in the outer movements, slightly solemn in the slow movement. One unusual feature is that the Grave introduction is included in the repeat - Beethoven does not actually say where to start the repeat. The rarely heard G minor fantasia is my idea of Beethoven playing at its greatest. The piece is top-rate Beethoven with abrupt changes of mood that Serkin can articulate like nobody else. And for outstanding beauty and delicacy try the variation-theme and the first variation.

   In op 106 Serkin does not rush the outer movements. The familiar strength of line is there of course, but there is infinite attention to detail. In the scherzo he does not attempt the 'snap' that some younger players put into the rhythmic figure, and I found myself wondering how Serkin himself played it when younger. But it may have nothing to do with age. He does not always do what you expect, to say the least, and Richter for one, in his very attractive live performance from Blythburgh church, is even less inclined to go with the young lions here. The slow movement is famously Beethoven at his deepest, and to say this is not your average interpretation would be an understatement. The opening is not pianissimo, and I was surprised to find that there is no dynamic marking at all, which in Beethoven usually means something like mezzopiano. The speed seems faster then usual, but I timed Serkin at 16 minutes to Richter's 17, so overall there is little difference. The left-hand chords in the transition-theme are unpedalled for once -- why on earth did Beethoven labour with his quill pen to write chords short and followed by rests if, like everyone else I can recall, the player undoes the effect with pedal? The reprise of the main theme is, for me, the greatest sequence in all Beethoven, and here you get the full sense of Serkin's flowing tempo -- the phrasing, the continuity, the rhythmic subtlety are sublime. In the course of this stupendous passage Beethoven writes 'molto espressivo' -- what was the rest of it, for heavens sake? What more can the interpreter do? Just listen to that mighty left hand shouldering its way (to mix my anatomical metaphors) through the flickering figuration in the right and you will find out. The last movement is utterly uncompromising, (and I should think so too), culminating in some really prodigious fortissimo trills.

   It's an experience not to be missed. Be prepared for the start -- I know from hearing him play the piece live just what a gigantic sound Serkin produced in those opening chords. By comparison Richter hardly seems to be trying. What makes them extraordinary is the wonderful rich tone, quite unlike the familiar Serkin crash on fortissimo chords (you can hear that in the finale). It obviously gave the recording engineers a problem, because in the following phrase the piano momentarily seems a bit distant. I may mention here that although Serkin's pedalling is rather audible, we are mercifully spared his vocalising.

   I could go on for long enough pulling out plums, but I will settle for just two more details. The lovely running duet between the hands in the first movement is as from nobody else. Serkin simply follows Tovey's instruction 'left hand leads'. At the reprise of the main theme in the same movement Serkin is too loyal to Beethoven to play the sublime but unauthentic reading of A sharp in the lead-in bar, which Pollini, Richter and Solomon among others play. Can there possibly be such a thing as Beethoven Improved? Well, the exception proves the rule. Even that high priest of Beethoven Professor Tovey sighs for A sharp not A natural here, but has to admit that it's not what B wrote. However if the whole idea seems blasphemy to anyone, rest assured that you will not get Serkin altering Beethoven, even for the better.




5. RUDOLF SERKIN WAS A MASTER PIANIST WHO SPECIALIZED IN THE GERMAN ROMANTICS SUCH AS BEETHOVEN AND BRAHMS.
   SERKIN WAS A COMBINATION OF THE HEART AND THE INTELLECT AND WHEN BOTH OF THOSE INGREDIENTS CLICKED AS THEY DO HERE... YOU HAD A UNBEATABLE COMBINATION.
   SERKIN'S HAMMERKLAVIER IS A MARVEL OF STRENGTH,CONCENTRATION,AND SPIRITUALITY.
   ATTENTION AND CLARITY OF DETAIL COMBINED WITH PRECISION AND INSPIRATION MAKE FOR THE MOST COMPELLING RESULTS IN WHAT IS CONSIDERED BY MANY TO BE THE GREATEST PIECE OF CLASSICAL KEYBOARD MUSIC.
   SERKIN TAKES A MORE EXPANSIVE VIEW OF THE FIRST MOVEMENT (CLOCKING IN ABOUT 12 MINUTES)YET THE POWER AND MAJESTY ARE NOT LOST AS HE STRIKES EVERY NOTE WITH CONVICTION AND A MIGHTY AUTHORITY. THE SCHERZO IS PLAYFULL AND PRANCES WITH DELIGHT AS IT SHOULD MEANWHILE THE IMMORTAL ADAGIO IS TAKEN AT A FASTER TEMPO(ABOUT 16 MINUTES)WHICH DOES NOT AFFECT THE IMPACT DUE TO SERKIN'S ROCK SOLID CONCENTRATION AND MASTERFUL WAY OF PACING AND PHRASING.
   SERKIN TAKES THE ADAGIO AND DIGS DEEP INTO THE CORE OF ITS SOUL AS HE KEENLY UNVEILS THE EMPTINESS AND SORROW THAT LIE WITHIN EVERY NOTE.
   THE FINAL MOVEMENT IS TECHNICALLY IMMACULATE AS SERKIN HANDLES THE COMPLEX MELODIC STRUCTURE AND RHYTHMIC COMPLEXITY MEANWHILE RETAINING THE GHOULISH DANCING MOMENTUM THAT THIS MOVEMENT ENTAILS.
   MARVELOUS!
   O.F.