5 comments about Chant: Music For The Soul.

1. I just got this CD and went to play it last night, but through the entire CD, I got a hissing, static like sound. This CD does not work on all CD players. I tried it on my computer and it worked fine, but not my main stereo system. I tried other CDs on my stereo system and they worked ok. Must be the way they recorded it to the CD. Will be going back to Amazon for refund as defective. It should work on all CD players. Manufacturing problem which should have been noticed before releasing it.



2. "Mesmerizing" is totally descriptive of this collection. Aside from any religious significance, these chants, even without the ability to comprend any words, promotes tranquility beyond reasonable analysis. No library should be without it.



3. This CD is very relaxing to listen to. Unfortunatly there is an imperfection in the CD so it skips on a couple of the sequences near the end.



4. This CD is beautiful and gives one a sense of timelessness. A great way to accompany meditation. A perfect accompaniment to creativity. Visions of nature, and of course great halls and cathedrals with those haunting acoustics! What a treasure.



5. just not what u'd expect, made purely for compensation with no effort or quality behind the product. choose another if u really love the real chants.

4 comments about Vivaldi: The Four Seasons.

1. To say that Joshua Bell is a virtuoso is an understatement. To say that this album is an inspiration and a renewing of the spirit is yet again an understatement. Put them both together and you have an amazing work of art and ingenuity. His interpretations of Vivaldi's Four Seasons is not only remarkable, but a true inspiration. I have many versions of this work, but by far yet, Joshua Bell's is my absolute favorite. He is a miracle to the world of classical music. I highly recommend this album!



2. How a Bloomington, Indiana musician successfully managed to interpret a baroque masterpiece by Italian Composer Vivaldi is amazing. Partly because Bell uses a Violin better known to the Baroque era; The Stradivarious. Thanks also go to London's acclaimed "Academy of St. Martin in The Fields", (a chamber orchestra specializing in Baroque era music) of which Bell felt very comfortable playing with. Most of all Joshua Bell is not only a great musician, but a hard working determined student of the baroque era. He puts his stamp on one of the most interpreted musical pieces of all time. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!



3. Truly a match made in classical music...Joshua Bell and Vivaldi's Four Seasons is a masterpiece of the arts and music.



4. Five BIG Stars!! Grammy-winning violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, one of the greatest on the planet, steps into the baroque world and delivers an unusually personal, superb version of Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons". This is an oft-recorded work (in the past year alone I've purchased a wonderful version by violinist Viktoria Mullova/Claudio Abbado and enjoyed a very nice transcribed slice of "Winter" by cellist Sol Gabetta in full baroque gear), but in Mr Bell's hands he reveals even more wonderful tempo elasticity and more personal nuances in this classic work by "the Red Priest". On this CD, not only is Mr Bell in the role of dazzling virtuosic soloist and conductor, but he is fortunate to have the superb Academy of St. Martin in the Fields as his orchestra and they have had a year of performances leading up to this august recording.
   
   The entire work is breathtakingly wonderful and should find it's way into music libraries as a benchmark work. My favorites are the third movement (presto) of Summer (with Mr Bell daringly ahead of the normal pulse) which is outstanding and unrelenting in it's intensity, the first movement of Autumn, and the entire wondrous four movements of Winter. It's amazing how the familiar becomes fresh in different hands. Mr Bell successfully pairs the Vivaldi work with a 14 minute exposition of Tartini's Sonata in G Minor for Violin and Basso Continuo (aka The Devil's Trill Sonata) which is a lovely work of elegance and virtuosity, the last four minutes of which are stunning. Throughout Mr Bell pulls off difficult passages with ease and depth of feeling. This is truly beautiful music that leaps into the realm of pure enjoyment and over any possible controversies about period instruments, baroque strings & bows, and vibrato. It took Joshua Bell decades to finally work his way to Vivaldi's Four Seasons but the wait was worth it. Bravo, Mr Bell. My Highest Recommendation. Five BIG Stars (This review is based on an iTunes download, also containing translations of Vivaldi's seasonal sonnets.)

5 comments about Italia.

1. My husband and I saw Chris Botti last weekend in Temecula, CA. He and his band delivery high quality entertainment. Catch them in person whenever you can. As for Italia, we just finished listening to this album for the third time -- in 3 hours. It is beautiful and moving. Nessum Dorma alone is worth the price.



2. I love every Chris Botti CD I have and this one may be my favorite. I wouldn't have thought I'd like Nessun Dorma on a trumpet...
   or Gabriel's Oboe (from the soundtrack of The Mission), but it brings tears to my eyes.



3. I'm fairly new to Chris Botti's music but am rapidly becoming a big fan. This CD is no exception. Every track on the CD has something to recommend it, but my particular favorites are "Venice" and the title track with a fabulous and haunting vocal accompaniment by Andrea Bocelli. Beyond those two cuts and two others (Ave Maria and Estate'), however, there's not much here in common with the Italian-themed title of the CD. I would also note that Paula Cole's vocals on track 4 (The Very Thought of You) sound rather muffled at the beginning of the song, but this is production issue that doesn't otherwise detract from the quality of piece.
   
   The titular misnomer aside, I found the rather eclectic range of styles (and multiple covers) maybe a little distracting. Offerings go from the crooning of Dean Martin (I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face), to the more typical Botti smooth jazz (The Way You Look Tonight), to Andrea Bocelli (Italia), to the higher sound of the Ave Maria (which is a mixture of church oratorio and Botti's trumpet). In spite of this rather unique blending of styles, though, I am generally very pleased with this CD and would gladly recommend it for your listening pleasure.



4. This CD is amazing, so well done...love the title track with Andrea Bocelli even though I have no clue what he is singing about...after a day at work, I slip this CD into my car's CD player and my frustrations melt away...lovely, lovely music...



5. ItaliaWhen I Fall in Love
   Both of these CD's offer beautiful instrumental music. Very classy sound. I enjoy listening to this talented jazz artist.

5 comments about The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere.

1. Very good LP.
   Each song seems to be a character, along with a great storyline.
   Bocelli's vocals are perfection, as usual, and wrapped within the walls of the other instruments, this LP is a perfect thing.
   It is NOT necessary to understand the lyrics, the delivery does more than speak to you: It creates a mood that reflects the very love that went into the creation of this LP.
   Great job and money well spent.
   This LP will effect you on a visceral level, it is pure mood.



2. This week I bought the latest tenor Andrea Bocelli CD, "Vivere" and was not disappointed.
   
   Andrea's voice is passionate and warm. The songs are soothing to the ear, heart and soul. This is a MUST buy CD for those Andrea Bocelli fans and for those affraid of opera singers. He chose a variety of songs sang in Italian, English, Spanish, and German. The CD includes four duets performance wiht great singers such as Laura Pausini, Sarah Brightman, Judy Weiss, and Celine Dion. The duet with Judy Weiss is a combination of English and German.
   
   This CD includes three of my favorite singers, Andrea Bocelli, Sara Brightman, and Celine Dion. Since the first moment I listened to it, I felt in love with it!
   
   On this CD, Andrea, shows that a great voice goes beyond opera and classical recitals to include other songs such as Besame Mucho, Time to Say Goodbye, and the Prayer just to mention a few.
   
   The ''Prayer'' is beautifully sang on a duet with Celine Dion. The combination of these two voices is a gift from heaven. Both voices merged together in an extraordinary feast of notes and pleasure.
   
   ''Time to Say Goodbye' duet with Sara Brightman takes you to a place of magic. On this song, Sara's clear soprano voices vibrates like angels singing on heaven accompained by Bocelli's deeper sound. The end of this song is breath taken. They hold the last note strong for a very long, long, time.
   
   "La Voce del Silenzio" the first songs puts you on the mood and serve as a prelude for the rest of the CD.
   
   This is a MUST buy.



3. Bought this for my mom for mothers day. Apparently she knew who he was even tho I didnt. I heard him on tv and he is amazing singer and musician.
   This was the perfect gift. His music is amazing.



4. Just not impressed with this compilation. Best songs on it are all the ones from the Romantica CD. I'm sorry I bought it.



5. I have all of Andre,s CDs, but this one seems alittle rough in places.
   I am no music critic, but the voice does not seem to be as crisp and smooth as in his other cds.
   I play it very now and then, but if you have the past cds then you may want to pass on this one.

5 comments about Mozart: The Symphonies.

1. This set, like the music played, is simply perfect. Every instrument in the orcehstra can be heard as a distinct voice -- this is partly a function of the wonderful sound quality on these discs, but more importantly it's a function of the razor sharp playing of the performers. And Mackerras makes the music dance and sing and soar like (I believe) Mozart's music always should. Everything about this set is just right. I've compared it carefully to Pinnok/English Concert and to ter Linden/Mozart Akademie, Amsterdam (both also excellent) and the Mackerras set is just that much better in every way. Listening to these performances is like listening to this glorious music for the very first time, and you couldn't possibly wish for a better treat than that. I can't recommend this set highly enough.



2. While historical instuments are not used on these recordings the performances are still excellent and most particularly for the faster than usual tempos for the minuets. Lethargic and pompous minuet tempos are common with most recordings of music from the Classic Period but here we have minuet tempos that are related to the dance steps and the way it was generally danced in the period. While ignorance of the minuet as a dance is wide spread here we have recordings that rise above that limitation and give improved character and vigor to the works as a whole. Bravo!



3. a music fans comment, Mackerras is good, BUT...
   So I do not expect anyone to give my comment a "YES Paul's review was most helpful"
   :-))
   Mackerras is the most popular as far as modern voting goes. Popular votes never influence my decision in critiquing.
   My fav in the complete is Bohm/Berlin
   In the last 6 syms, it is Walter/Columbia/Sony which may be the finest I've heard, which is sadly Out of print. The Walter/Columbia is a bigger orch sound, which obviously is against Mozart's initial idea of size of orch. But the Columbia plays so tight/fliud/details rendered with powerful depth of emotions, that it is excusable the "big-band" sound.
   Bohm's Berlin is slightly scaled down in size, yet at times does not match the Columbia's tightness/percision.
   But I do find Bohm and Walter to be very close so that I can't decide which I prefer more.
   IOW I love them both equally, and prefer both over Mackerras well recorded set. Seems to me Mackerras' Prague Chamber is like a "youth orch", not going into the details as does the more experienced Columbia and Berlin. Also to consider is the fact of the instrument quality, which the Prague is not in the same class as the Columbia and Berlin. In Mozart the string section's instruments can make all the difference. AS well as winds. I'm sure the Prague is a smaller budget orch and cannot afford the finer instruments alloted to the 2 bigger orchestras. .
   Makerras' orch play too fast at times, lacks depths in the nuances that I hear in Walter and Bohm, and the recorded sound is abit harsh/grainy.
   Overall the Mackerras is my 3rd choice in Mozart. But still as good as Bohm is, I felt no need to keep the Mackerras.
   Read my review of the Bohm/Berlin complete set.
   



4. I bought this item from Amazon and I am not sorry that I did. Actually it is good, very good, but I find something that I do not like: Why does this Sir McKerras play all the minuets so fast? Why does he such excessive repeating? The minuets in Haydn are all happy and full of joy, but in Mozart each one is quite different from another: some are happy, some are sad, some are childish, some are majestic, etc. Some of those Minuets seem to be written in order to be danced by Kings and so forth. Is Sir McKerras such an egalitarian that he does not accept such differences? Too bad Herr Josef Krips is dead, he was the real Mozartean.



5. Mackerras has made some pretty amazing recordings these last years, from Beethoven's 9th to Mahler's 5th. This set has Mackerras conducting the Prague Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble that has definetely studied Mozart and studied him well. Most if not all the symphonies are first class but I have to point out the opening of the 25th and the finale of the 40th. I really rediscovered these pieces after hearing to these great recordings. The sound perfect as always with Telarc recordings. A must for all Mozart fans and a great alternative to the celebrated Hogwood set on L'Oiseau Lyre (Decca).

2 comments about The Berlin Concert.

1. This is a beautiful recording, Simone Dinnerstein's renderings of the Bach French Suite and the Opus 111 of Beethoven are altogether perfect, with fine musical judgment and finesse. To point out just one track, the Gavotte of the French Suite was delightfully cheery, remaining adult while fleetly avoiding the trap of "cuteness". My only doubt in pre-ordering this CD was whether the contemporary Variations by Philip Lasser would stand up in such august company. I'm glad to report that the Lasser made me happy; it is musical and skillful in its echoes of Bach and impressionism both. I am pleased to have this recording join Dinnerstein's Goldberg Variations on my music shelf.



2. Barely more than six months after Simone Dinnerstein's triumphant debut at the Berlin Philharmonie - the modern concert hall which is the official residence of the Berliner Philharmoniker - Telarc has issued her sophomore recording, "The Berlin Concert", and one which is bound to please her ever growing legion of fans (of which I am now one). In a performance that is approximately an hour and fifteen minutes in length, Dinnerstein offers some fascinating insights into works composed across the span of three centuries by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and contemporary American composer Philip Lasser, playing each as though they were being heard by the audience for the very first time. What unites these works by these three different composers is their joyful spontaneity and tendency towards almost jazz-like improvisation; Bach's French Suite No. 5 in G major, Lasser's Twelve Variations on a Chorale by J. S. Bach "Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott" (Cantata 101), and Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. In her performance of the Bach French Suite, Dinnerstein emphasizes - as she notes in the liner notes - its exquisite dance rhythms and spontaneity. In Lasser's work, her playing, while also sounding spontaneous, ranges from Bach's "contrapuntal energy" to brief nods to both French Impressionism and jazz too. As for jazz itself, Dinnerstein's performance of the final Beethoven piano sonata's second movement is light years removed from the elegant simplicity of, say, Alfred Brendel; hers is one which, unlike others I have heard either live or on recordings, truly emphasizes the improvisational, almost jazz-like, qualities of this very movement (Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile). It is still a quite compelling interpretation that holds its own against the likes of Brendel and Uchida, among others. A brief encore, Bach's Goldberg Variations: Variation 13, concludes this most remarkable recording. If anyone has doubted whether Simone Dinnerstein is a first-rate concert pianist, then this exhilarating live recording should dispel such doubts.

5 comments about Josh Groban.

1. The music and songs are wonderful. I have this CD in my car and listen to it over and over. It is especially well done. I am enjoying every song the more I listen to them. "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church is one you can sing to.



2. I specifically purchased this album after seeing a video on Youtube. It was a song that briefly was played on the radio, I never could catch the title. The song is "To where you are." I abosolutely love the song and was happy to finally find it.



3. When Josh first appeared on an episode of Ally McBeal, I was mesmerized. The boy (at the time he was 16) can sing!! I love his work... he does not disappoint!



4. There is nothing you can say about Josh Groban except that his voice is like a piece of heaven...



5. I was about ready to give up on anything new in the music industy and I was told about Josh. All I can say is oh my God. He not only has renewed my faith in singers, his voice with Foster and Marx songs move me like I havent been moved in a such a long time.

5 comments about Fiesta.

1. This may not be the greatest music, but the orchestra sounds terrific. Most important, under the wunderkind Dudamel, the players convey a joyful sense of engagement and appropriately controlled abandon. A real winner!



2. Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela are in their element with this selection of Latin American music. Senemaya and the dances from Estancia are familiar but the remaining tracks (Leonard Bernstein excepted) were by composers entirely new to me.
   
   Sensemaya was based on a poem called Chant to Kill a Snake and was given an archaic feel by Silvestre Revueltas that sounds quite ominous and is magnificently performed by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra. Margeritena by Inocente Carreno is a majestic piece based on Venezuelan popular songs, and while it may be European in his orchestration Carreno is magnificent in expressing his love of his homeland. I had the feeling that I was given a musical tour of Venezuela. Antonio Estevez's Mediodia en el Liano is a more reflective and elegiac work that describes the grasslands of Venezuela. Originally, this short work was part of a larger suite but the other movements were cut by the composer. Mediodia en el Liano is a very colorful piece that has the feel of awe inspired by the broad landscape.
   
   Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez is a very popular work and is considered Mexico's second national anthem. The music begins quietly and slowly builds across the orchestra as the tempo switches to a dance rhythm. Fuca con Pajarillo by Aldemaro Romero is a tuneful work based on the Venezuelan dance pajarillo. In this piece the dance melody is worked into a fugue with contracting melodies.
   
   The dances from Estancia are played with true passion and certainly challenge the recordings I currently have of the music. Santa Cruz de Pacairigua by Evencio Castellanos is inspired by the festival of the same name that is characterized by parties with a great deal of drinking and dancing. The composer was a collector of Venezuelan folk music and this work show its influence. The final work, Mambo, by Leonard Bernstein is played with true abandon by the orchestra.
   
   This is a marvelous disc that was certainly one of discovery for me and I come away from it wanting to hear more. This is one that is not to be missed if you are interested in Gustavo Dudamel.



3. Well, we all know the review process is flawed--the one-star review is just heinous, but it will disappear. This CD is magical. I am as non-Latina as they come, but I can't play this (at work) without swaying/dancing in my seat. People stop at my office door and smile--it is that contagious. I agree with other reviewers: Dudamel is a buoyant talent, the real thing, and I for one am thrilled to be around to watch him mature and dazzle. I live in New York where I've seen him twice, but would fly to LA to see him at work again--kudos to them for hiring this extraordinary young man. Please buy this CD--so highly recommended. Absolutely brilliant.



4. The person who rated this CD as a 1 star, should be ashame of himself. Is the most absurd comment I'd ever heard. And I feel is my duty to report to the public that this opinion is absolutely WRONG. Gustavo Dudamel is simply the hottest thing to hit classical music since Leonard Bernstein. But in the world of music, why talk? Better to look, and listen. Obviously, this reviewer is in desperate need of learning what the best music is. Hands down, the best CD I own.



5. The first reviewer has absolutely NO idea what he is talking about and obviously does not know anything about music!!! Please IGNORE HIM and forgive him for his ignorance. The Simon Bolivar Orquestra in Dudamel's hands is without doubt, one of the most impressive works done in the world of classical music. Dudamel is a genius of the size of Mozart and we have the privilege of having him is our times. This CD has an immense value, not only for the magnificent performance of he orquestra and the way they transmit the essence of latin America through their music, but also because of the success of a UNIQUE music education program that takes place in Venezuela and that gives birth to the best musicians of the world. Having this CD is a privilege that will delight your ears and an open window to the heart of Latin America.

5 comments about Martha Argerich, Evening Talks.

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



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



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



4. In my opinion Martha Argerich is one of the most important musicians of our time. Not only her incredibly virtuosic playing, but all that she has done in promoting young gifted performers, and her unending exploration of the piano and chamber music repertoire has made her a legend.
   
   The newly released film Martha Argerich Evening Talks, by Georges Gachot will add to the legend. It is beautifully filmed, using footage from performances past and present, juxtaposed with scenic footage of Argerich's hometown of Buenos Aires, and an interview, or as Gachot says, "Let us rather call it a conversation that took place at dead of night...A single `night time conversation' recorded as if by miracle on the magnetic tape of a camera that would then become the very heart of this film".
   
   That "conversation" is the centerpiece of this film. In it Martha bares her soul. She speaks about her relationship with composers as incredibly personal (Chopin would be jealous if she played a Liszt piece better than a Chopin during a performance). She speaks frankly of her insecurities, and demons, and her discomfort with solo performances. She speaks with absolute reverence about her teacher Friedrich Gulda. And she gives us a sense of her life story. All this is interwoven with Martha's amazing playing.
   
   One of my favorite scenes is from her performance of the Chopin Scherzo Op.39, during the 1965 Chopin competition, which she won. I have seen footage of that same performance before, but not this footage. The camera is looking across the keyboard, placed at a low angle (almost appearing to be placed on the end of the keyboard). The focus is Martha's fingers dancing across the keys. It is one of the most beautifully filmed sequences of musical performance, that I've ever seen.
   
   This DVD also has a section of extras which contain complete performances of a few pieces that are edited in the actual movie. Of these, the Lutoslawski "Variations on a Theme by Paganini" is amazing, performed by Martha and Mauricio Vallina (two pianos). This section also contains three solo encores (Scarlatti, Chopin, & Bach) after a 2001 concert in Zurich.
   
   The sound quality is superb throughout. In Martha's own words "if I was a Martha Argerich fan, I would love to see this movie".



5. Martha Argerich, for many of us, has long been an enigma. She has always been a private person, one who does not seek the spotlight, who even cancels performances because, it is said, of nervousness, shyness. Filmmaker Georges Gachot, after years of entreaties, gets her to agree, to speak with him on camera. She comes across as a soft-spoken, shy, immensely intelligent but often cryptic person, one who has idiosyncratic but attractive ideas about her relationships with composers and various pieces of music. For instance, she will not play the Beethoven Fourth Concerto because she is afraid of 'what might happen', this after talking about the galvanic emotional effect it has had on her ever since she heard Claudio Arrau play it when she was six.
   
   Interleaved with Gachot's and Argerich's low-key but very revealing conversations are many clips of Argerich rehearsing and playing, primarily with orchestra or with other pianists. There are seventeen clips of her playing music ranging from an incandescent Capriccio from Bach's Second Partita to a two-piano and percussion arrangement of Piazzolla's Libertango. She is shown, in a long clip, rehearsing the Schumann Concerto with Jörg Faerber and the Wurttemburg Chamber Orchestra. There is a blistering finale of the Ravel G Major Concerto (with Charles Dutoit conducting). There are clips from her 1965 Chopin Competition win and a marvelous performance of Lutoslawski's two-piano Paganini Variations with Mauricio Vallina. And a short bit from the Teatro Colón with fellow South American Nelson Freire in the piano four-hand 'Laideronette' from the Mother Goose Suite of Ravel. Riches, indeed.
   
   Although most of the music contained in the documentary is excerpted, there is a bonus that includes full performances of the Bach Capriccio, Schumann Concerto, two Piazzolla pieces, a sensational Scarlatti sonata (D Minor, K141) and a Chopin Mazurka (F Minor, Op. 63, No. 2).
   
   Argerich's fabled technique is in plentiful supply throughout, but even more is her highly personal way with all the works she plays. She is clearly one of a kind and it is no wonder she has fanatical admirers the world over. I suspect they are snapping this DVD up. And if you know or want to know Argerich's playing, you will, too.
   
   Highest recommendation.
   
   Total Time: Documentary - 63 mins; Bonus - 38 mins; Sound: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1; Format: NTSC 16:9; Spoken languages: French, English, German; Subtitles: French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese; Region Code: 0 (worldwide)
   
   Scott Morrison

3 comments about Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music, Fifth Edition, Volume 1: Ancient to Baroque (6 CDs).

1. The CDs in this set are not packaged in standard jewelboxes nor even in cheap sleeves, but are mounted directly atop a printed surface. As a result, when I purchased the set from my school bookstore, I found that several of the CDs had dried flecks of ink on the data side that made it impossible to play or rip certain tracks. Beware.



2. I received these cds well on time, and upon discovering they were the wrong cd set the return also took place quickly.



3. If you're a music student at almost any major school (I just finished my undergraduate at Indiana University, for example) you'll most likely need to take a course that uses these CD's as part of its history survey. For that purpose, this set is an excellent collection. These, with their companion Norton Anthology of Western Music, and in conjunction with Grout/Palisca's History of Western Music, make for a thorough survey of the roots and history of Western music. Both the History and the Anthology use these CD's, and make constant references to them. (At least, up until 1750, after which you'll need the second volume)

   Having said that, however, i'm afraid that these CD's are limited to their intended purpose. Obviously, there would be absolutely no way to have a comprehensive collection of music and text be affordable to an average college student. As it is, the Grout, Norton, and CD's total about $200 total. However, for that cost they provide an extremely good survey of Western music. A student can follow historical developments through the music, and learn an enormous amount from these CD's. They provide a fairly good cross-section of different styles of major composers, and even a few examples of lesser known composers. One is far less likely to criticize the music of the twentieth century, for example, if one finds that Gesualdo (of the late 16th century) was writing music that was MUCH stranger than anything before the turn of the twentieth century.

   For someone outside of the music school (who will most likely be required to buy these anyway), these are also an excellent (and comparatively affordable) way to survey the mainstream and less-mainstream trends in Western music. The recordings are all relatively high-quality, often using historical instruments and interpretations (something important to a student of musical history) and providing a good introduction to classical music.

   For that reason, then, i recommend these to the casual listener as a good introduction to Western music. If you seek a "greatest hits" album, these are not that; go buy those Time-Life things they advertise on television. This is rather a serious collection of music from as many different styles as allowable while still maintaining some depth. The only thing that keeps the fifth star empty is the lack (by necessity, though i must admit) of a more wide-ranging selection of music. Despite that, they are still an excellent buy. The casual listener of classical music should find these to be a valuable introduction to the well known, and also the more obscure realms of early music.