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Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 [Includes DVD]
from: Cso Resound
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Let Yourself Go
: :Kristin Chenoweth won a Tony for the supporting role of Sally Brown in the 1999 revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, made a memorably vampy Lily in the 1999 television film of Annie, and had an NBC sitcom created for her, Kristin! Now she grabs the spotlight in Let Yourself Go, her first solo recording. She mixes torchy standards ('My Funny Valentine,' 'How Long Has This Been Going On?') with Faith Prince-style sauciness ('If'), gets to show off her operatic and scat chops ...
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25 Romantic Classics
from: Vox (Classical)
: :Kristin Chenoweth won a Tony for the supporting role of Sally Brown in the 1999 revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, made a memorably vampy Lily in the 1999 television film of Annie, and had an NBC sitcom created for her, Kristin! Now she grabs the spotlight in Let Yourself Go, her first solo recording. She mixes torchy standards ('My Funny Valentine,' 'How Long Has This Been Going On?') with Faith Prince-style sauciness ('If'), gets to show off her operatic and scat chops ...
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Soul of the Tango: The Music of Astor Piazzolla
from: Sony
: essential recording:Yo-Yo Ma might seem like an unlikely protagonist for the tango, but this intrepid musical explorer has taken his task seriously, collaborating with experienced tango musicians. Ma even participates in a posthumous collaboration with one 1987 Piazzolla recording. Furthermore, while he's obviously the headliner here, he doesn't dominate the arrangements nearly as much as he does the billing and photography of the disc. While the result isn't your essential Piazzolla album (that would have to include more of the composer's own playing), it's ...
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Mozart for Meditation
from: Philips
: essential recording:Yo-Yo Ma might seem like an unlikely protagonist for the tango, but this intrepid musical explorer has taken his task seriously, collaborating with experienced tango musicians. Ma even participates in a posthumous collaboration with one 1987 Piazzolla recording. Furthermore, while he's obviously the headliner here, he doesn't dominate the arrangements nearly as much as he does the billing and photography of the disc. While the result isn't your essential Piazzolla album (that would have to include more of the composer's own playing), it's ...
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Bernstein: Candide; West Side Story; On the Waterfront; Fancy Free
from: Sony
: :This release comes from Sony's immense backlog of famous recordings of Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. In fact, these works trace the evolution of the New York Philharmonic into a world-class orchestra in the late 1950s under Bernstein's hand. At this remove in time, we can almost hear New York in these works. Bernstein deftly captures the shimmering glamour of his music, particularly in Overture to Candide and the astonishing Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. If you don't own this music--and these ...
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Amore: Romantic Italian Love Songs
from: Decca
: :From Calaf's 'Nessun dorma' from Turandot, in which the singer exclaims his love for the ice princess and the victory he will have over her, through Lionel's realization that he will have a new life and be happy with Lady Harriet in Martha ('M'appari'), and on to Rodolfo's falling in love with Mimi in La Bohème when he touches her hand ('Che gelida manina'): here we have some of opera's most beautiful love songs, sung by Pavarotti when he was in his golden-voiced prime. His ...
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Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1/Rachmaninoff: Concerto No. 2
from: RCA
: essential recording:What a story there is behind this recording! When Van Cliburn won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War with his playing of this concerto, it created an international sensation. The recording followed immediately thereafter, and Cliburn was launched on an international career of unprecedented celebrity for a classical musician. Perhaps the attention was too much, too soon, given his subsequent burn-out and retirement from public life. Fortunately, we have these unique recordings to document what was, ...
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300 Years of Guitar Masterpieces
from: Vox (Classical)
: :Manuel Barrueco is one of the best guitarists I've ever heard. Listen to his own arrangement of Albeniz's Suite Española and you'll have trouble believing it's only two hands on one guitar. But Barrueco doesn't use his technique to show off. He's a solid musician, as expressive in Bach as in Villa- Lobos. He also makes transcriptions that respect the origins of the music. This is a wide-ranging guitar collection, but all the music is worth hearing, especially in performances like these. The disc is ...
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Jacqueline du Pre - Favourite Cello Concertos ~ Boccherini, Dvorak, Elgar, Haydn, Monn, Saint-Saens, Schumann
: essential recording:During her far-too-brief career, cellist Jacqueline du Pré exhibited an almost oracular power of communication. Her performances bristled with the kind of brilliant electricity that could change lives and convert listeners to a lifelong love of music. Happily, it's possible to experience a sense of that power from the recordings du Pré completed before multiple sclerosis halted her career as a performer in the early 1970s. This set provides a splendid portrait--at bargain price--of du Pré's unmistakable personality: the astonishingly original yet convincing ...
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