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Bizet - Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers) / Hendricks, Aler, Quilico, Capitole de Toulouse, Plasson
from: EMI Classics
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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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Angel Voices
from: EMI Classics
: :There's very little to say about this recording of ethereally beautifully singing by the 24 young English lads who make up the group Libera. Enormously popular in Asia, the group is part of a parish choir in South London that has been around for many years, with of course, changes in personnel as voices change. There are a couple of pieces here by well-known composers--Pachelbel, Sibelius, Holst, Dvorak--but to their music have been added words and, of course, it's all been 'arranged.' Texts, translations from ...
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Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music, Fifth Edition, Volume 2: Classic to Twentieth Century (6 CDs)
from: W. W. Norton
: :The Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music includes professional recordings (many brand new) of all works in the anthology on two six-CD sets, of which this is volume 2.
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Puccini - Turandot / Sutherland · Pavarotti · Caballé · Ghiaurov · Krause · Pears · LPO · Mehta
from: Decca
: essential recording:Joan Sutherland is not usually considered a Puccini singer, and in fact she sang the role of Turandot only in the recording studio. But for that assignment she had exactly what was needed: a voice that seemed to have no upper limits and a personality that concealed vulnerability under an air of icy detachment. She also had an ideal set of colleagues, notably Luciano Pavarotti, whose 'Nessun dorma' has become practically his signature tune. --Joe McLellan
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Messiah (George Frederick Handel) London Philharmonic Orchestra
: essential recording:Joan Sutherland is not usually considered a Puccini singer, and in fact she sang the role of Turandot only in the recording studio. But for that assignment she had exactly what was needed: a voice that seemed to have no upper limits and a personality that concealed vulnerability under an air of icy detachment. She also had an ideal set of colleagues, notably Luciano Pavarotti, whose 'Nessun dorma' has become practically his signature tune. --Joe McLellan
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Andrea Bocelli: Under the Desert Sky [DVD Included]
: :It's impossible to hear Andrea Bocelli singing Perry Como's 'It's Impossible' without being overcome by a sense of utter enchantment. As the ripe-hearted have known since 1997's Romanza, though, Bocelli's French-perfume-like appeal generally lingers well beyond a single song, suffusing entire lovestruck evenings with its richness and warmth. And so it goes with Under the Desert Sky. Recorded at a floating concert venue near Las Vegas (thus the title), Bocelli's first CD/DVD combo plays like an elaborate seduction. Cue up the DVD, and the crossover ...
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Switched-On Bach
: :Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Bach is one of those rare novelty recordings that never gets boring. In the capable hands of Carlos, Bach's keyboard masterpieces sound like they were made for the otherworldly blurps, farts, and chimes of a Moog synthesizer. And, in a sense, they were. Bach's inventive music doesn't lose any of it's contrapuntal punch in these complicated arrangements and, novelties aside, the playing is great on this Grammy Award-winning classic. Whether performing Bach's 'Two-Part Inventions,' 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring,' or 'Wachet Auf,' ...
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Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music; The Lark Ascending; Fantasia on Greensleeves; English Folk Song Suite; In the Fen Country; Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1
from: EMI Classics
: :Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Bach is one of those rare novelty recordings that never gets boring. In the capable hands of Carlos, Bach's keyboard masterpieces sound like they were made for the otherworldly blurps, farts, and chimes of a Moog synthesizer. And, in a sense, they were. Bach's inventive music doesn't lose any of it's contrapuntal punch in these complicated arrangements and, novelties aside, the playing is great on this Grammy Award-winning classic. Whether performing Bach's 'Two-Part Inventions,' 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring,' or 'Wachet Auf,' ...
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Great Recordings Of The Century - Strauss, R.: Salome / Karajan, Behrens, Van Dam, Baltsa, et al
: :Herbert von Karajan's mastery of the opulent idiom of Richard Strauss is everywhere apparent in this recording of Salome, made in 1977-78 in conjunction with the first-ever Salzburg Festival production of the opera, conducted (as well as directed) by the Salzburg-born maestro. Never has the shimmering, feverish intensity of Strauss's colorful scoring been more tellingly captured on disc, although Karajan's fastidious direction and iron grip on the music are only a part of the reason: a good deal of credit belongs to the Vienna Philharmonic, ...
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