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Andrea
: :It's no mean feat being the world's foremost crossover artist--a task that risks alienating two disparate audiences and everyone in between--but somebody had to do it, and Andrea Bocelli again walks that artistic tightrope with impressive deftness. The title may imply a casual intimacy (indeed, the singer admits to taking a more 'hands-on' approach to the album's conception and production), but it's a collection that nonetheless continues to expand on the Italian tenor's ambitious internationalism. His collaboration 'Sin Tu Amor' ...
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Artur Rubinstein in Concert
from: Deutsche Grammophon
:Description:First DVD release of this legendary performance by a legendary artist. 'Rubinstein's superb form is matched by the incredible musical sensitivity of Haitink and the orchestra...Sounds and images are expertly cued to the split second... Rubinstein's face, body and hands are captured in a smooth flow of shots and reflections...The Beethoven takes on an almost Mozartean delicacy, the Brahms is infused with all the power it requires.' --The New York Times A vibrant and revealing interview, 'Rubinstein at 90' conducted ...
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Surrender
:Album Description:1995 compilation for Polydor featuring 17 tracks, including 'Memory' (Italian Version) (from 'Phantom Of The Opera'), 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' (Spanish Version) and duets such as 'Friends For Life' (with Jose Carreras) and 'The Theater Cat' (with Jon Gielgud). The full title is 'Surrender: The Unexpected Songs'. Album Details:Tracks Include- Surrender, Unexpected Song, Chanson D'Enfance, Tell Me on a Sunday, Nothing Like You've Ever Known, Macavity: The Mystery Cat, Gus: The Theatre Cat, Piano, Everything's Alright, the Last ...
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Massenet - Thaïs / Fleming, Hampson, Sabbatini, Shkosa, Vidal, Devellereau, Cals, Yves Abel
: :Given the renaissance in recent years of an interest in Jules Massenet--consider, for example, the 1999 release of two Werthers back to back--the time definitely has become ripe for a new account of his late opera, Thaïs. This is the first alternative to appear on CD since the problematic version with Beverly Sills from the 1970s. While far from flawless (curiously, it was recorded in two stretches, with a pause of 15 months between them), it makes a mostly convincing ...
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Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna, etc. / Salamunovich, Los Angeles Master Chorale
: :Modern choral music for amateur singers may be America's biggest musical underground. That's the only explanation of why Grammy-nominated composer Morten Lauridsen can claim that his works are some of the most often-performed new pieces in years, although few among the East Coast intelligentsia have ever heard of him. Like the similarly popular John Rutter, Lauridsen inhabits an extremely conservative style directed simply and single-mindedly at showing off the beauty of choral singing while it illustrates inspiring texts. Unlike many ...
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Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle [DVD Video]
from: Decca
: :Béla Bartók's sole opera, Bluebeard's Castle, is a masterpiece well-served by an all-Hungarian cast and conductor in this filmed studio version. It's a dark, brooding work peppered with dramatic moments; less a retelling of the Bluebeard legend than a journey into psychological depths and the impenetrability of the human soul. Bluebeard and his bride, Judith, arrive at his castle and as they enter the subterranean fortress whose walls sigh with tears, she notices seven locked doors and insists that Bluebeard ...
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Music from a Farther Room
: :Josh Groban fans who caught the singer's 2004 Closer tour would no doubt take note of Lucia Micarelli, who was the violinist and concertmaster for Groban. Like her boss, who also is executive producer of Music From A Farther Room, Micarelli is a young, attractive, and talented player who has the classical training, but who is also enchanted with pop music. Also like her boss, her strain of classical crossover works thanks to tasteful accompaniment, in this case from arranger/composer ...
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Beethoven: The Complete Symphonies and Piano Concertos
from: EMI Classics
: essential recording:Otto Klemperer's Beethoven is one of the towering achievements in the history of recordings. By today's standards, these performances are hopelessly old-fashioned: dark, heavy, and frequently very slow. But they are also the grandest, most unsentimental, most purposeful versions in the catalog. In addition, the relatively slow tempos (only in the fast movements--the slow ones are pretty swift) and forward wind balance permit more detail to be heard than in most original-instrument performances. At budget price and with ...
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The Prayer Cycle
from: Sony
: :It is with primitive urgency and lustrous clarity rising like flickering embers from a fire that Jonathan Elias's ambitious Prayer Cycle is given voice. Woven together like knotty wool, silk, and fine strands of silvery water, the disparate yet complementary voices of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Alanis Morissette, Yungchen Lhamo, Ofra Haza, the American Boychoir, Salif Keita, and others intertwine in multiple languages with the superb English Chamber Orchestra and Chorus. Prayers of supplication, gratitude, and longing build ...
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Cielo e Mar
from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :Exuberant and charismatic, Rolando Villazón is the tenor of today. Here he releases his first solo album on Deutsche Grammophon. The soaring title track from Ponchielli s La Gioconda inspired Villazón to become a singer. Here it is the starting point for an intriguing album which moves far beyond the usual greatest tenor hits . Less familiar masterpieces by Boito, Cilea and Verdi feature alongside little-known Donizetti arias and rarities by Gomes, Mercadante and Pietri. The album is Villazón ...
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