|
|
|
Bach - The Complete Brandenburg Concertos / Pearlman, Boston Baroque
: :Boston Baroque and Martin Pearlman recorded a splendid set of the Brandenburg Concertos on period instruments in 1993 and 1994. Made entirely in the US, these snappy, crisply articulated, and fluent performances rely heavily on the talents of violinist Daniel Stepner (who doubles as one of the two solo violists in Concerto No. 6). Among the highlights are the joyous finale to Concerto No. 4 and the superb cembalo cadenza in No. 5, played by Pearlman. Along with outstanding sound, there's a winning sense of freshness ...
|
|
|
Party at the Palace: Queen's Golden Jubilee / Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Queen, Rod Stewart, Annie Lennox, Tom Jones, Opus Arte
: :The Party at the Palace was in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, held over the Golden Jubilee Weekend, 1-4 June 2002. The concert itself was the pop equivalent of the Prom at the Palace, a classical music event.The concert was held at the gardens of Buckingham Palace Garden as part of the Golden Jubilee. It was touted as the greatest concert in Britain since Live Aid or possibly ever. Tickets to the event were determined by a lottery, and 12,000 people ...
|
|
|
Ludwig van Beethoven: 9 Symphonien
: essential recording:By general consensus, Herbert von Karajan's first (1963) Beethoven cycle for Deutsche Grammophon is the best of the four (!) that he recorded. The Berlin Philharmonic was in top form, and they had not yet made an artistic fetish out of the bland smoothness that typified the conductor's later recordings of this music (and just about everything else). Karajan's squeaky clean, emotionally cool Beethoven will always be something of an acquired taste, but this set makes the best possible case for it. --David Hurwitz
|
|
|
Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words
from: Deutsche Grammophon
: essential recording:By general consensus, Herbert von Karajan's first (1963) Beethoven cycle for Deutsche Grammophon is the best of the four (!) that he recorded. The Berlin Philharmonic was in top form, and they had not yet made an artistic fetish out of the bland smoothness that typified the conductor's later recordings of this music (and just about everything else). Karajan's squeaky clean, emotionally cool Beethoven will always be something of an acquired taste, but this set makes the best possible case for it. --David Hurwitz
|
|
|
The Time-Life Treasury of Christmas
from: Time Life Records
: essential recording:By general consensus, Herbert von Karajan's first (1963) Beethoven cycle for Deutsche Grammophon is the best of the four (!) that he recorded. The Berlin Philharmonic was in top form, and they had not yet made an artistic fetish out of the bland smoothness that typified the conductor's later recordings of this music (and just about everything else). Karajan's squeaky clean, emotionally cool Beethoven will always be something of an acquired taste, but this set makes the best possible case for it. --David Hurwitz
|
|
|
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale [Hybrid SACD]
from: RCA
: :This is a classic recording of these two works, led with grand authority by Fritz Reiner. The Chicago's brass and wind section play gloriously throughout, and the final movement of Scheherazade (we learn from the original producer [1960] in an accompanying essay) was recorded in one take--an almost unheard-of feat. This fast movement is taken at breakneck speed, with no loss of clarity or power, with the strings in the hands of magicians. Stravinsky's Nightingale has never sounded so exotic, so bristling over with color, since ...
|
|
|
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
:Description:The acclaimed 1995 Bayreuth production by Heiner Müller, conducted by Daniel Barenboim with fire and sensitivity. Siegfried Jerusalem and Waltraud Meier were the Tristan and Isolde of choice throughout the decade, and were at the height of their interpretive powers. Müller and stage designer Erich Wonder have compressed the monumental story into a clear and fascinating geometry of love, creating highly evocative spaces through projections of colors and forms. First DVD release of this memorable performance, in wide-screen format and 5.1 DTS Surround Sound. Staged by ...
|
|
|
Requiem & Magnificat/Rutter, Cambridge Singers
from: Collegium
: :Two of John Rutter's most popular large-scale choral works are paired in this bargain-priced CD. Requiem, his first composition written without being commissioned, is a convincing affirmation of Christian doctrine on death and eternal life. It is also a substantial and sincere work that strives to be widely appealing while preserving a spiritual context centered on themes of light and consolation. Highlights include 'Out of the Deep,' its modal tune and harmonies giving it the flavor of a spiritual, and the wonderfully gentle and restful 23rd ...
|
|
|
Tarik O'Regan: Threshold of Night
from: Harmonia Mundi
: :Threshold of Night presents the Austin-based choral group in a program of premiere recordings of new works for voices and strings by the award-winning young British composer Tarik O'Regan. These peices- setting texts of British and North and South American writers - explore teh ecstasies of heaven and the challenges of life on Earth. O'Regan's is a music of polarities, sometimes contained with a single piece. The works here range from the dense and propulsive to the airy and meditative. Settings of 2 poems by ...
|
|
|
Hildegard von Bingen: Canticles of Ecstasy
from: RCA
: :Although Hildegard von Bingen's music has been around for 900 years--and recordings of her music for decades--it seems that only now, as we approach the turn of another millennium, the time is right for the world to pay attention. In this first-rate traversal of her music--the most popular of several volumes released by the early-music ensemble Sequentia--we hear music that resulted from Hildegard's legendary visions, which often included song texts that she subsequently collected and dispensed to her religious community of women. As rendered here by ...
|
|
