Best Classical Duets
Mozart Edition: The Complete Works will make a great gift this Holiday season for the music lover in your life or someone who is hard to buy for.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are loading some of the works into your iTunes library for use on an iPod, as I am, there are inconveniences in variability of the disc labeling such that the format of the labeling varies between parts of the same opera so that iTunes loads the tracks on one part out of order in the library. You will have to manually correct the labeling of each track in order to get the tracks of the operas affected by this problem in correct order for iTunes and your iPod to play them in correct order. For instance, the CD in the envelope labeled part 3 of Cosi Fan Tutte, volume 9 CD 40 with the CD itself labeled part 3, volume 9 CD 40, actually contains the tracks for part 1, volume 9 CD 38, so you get a duplicate of CD 38 but no CD 40, thus missing the last tracks of Cosi Fan Tutte. There are also several cases so far of tracks that "freeze" and cycle the read head in the CD drive and preventing ejection of the CD without closing iTunes and starting it up again with the offending track unchecked to cause iTunes to bypass it. So far (about 60% of the discs reviewed) the errors have occurred on only a few discs, with manual relabeling correcting all but a couple of incorrect track content problems."
"It is hard to justify spending $120 for one opera, but if you do buy this Mozart box set you will be rewarded with a delightful Così fan tutte. Huub Claessens brings the correct blend to Don Alfonso -- a character actor's comic patter plus a lyrical ability to actually sing the music. Soile Isokoski tosses off Fiordiligi's "Come scoglio" without making it sound like an Olympic routine on the uneven parallel bars. While her trouser impersonations of the doctor and notary are somewhat sloppy (albeit for intentional comic purposes), I'll take her chesty blustering over the standard drill of ear-piercing nasality. Don Giovanni is quite good, although the cast is not as strong as for Così, and the tempos seem out of proportion in the Act One finale. I like Le nozze di Figaro despite its flaws -- blatant nepotism is perpetrated by Marie Kuijken (the conductor's wife? I have found a few unfamiliar (to me) treasures in the box set: The Divertimenti of Volume 3 make pleasant background music while I am working."
"Mozart, along with all piano music composers/players of that period, would have given his right arm for a modern piano; well maybe not an arm, but possibly a leg. Most of those are very well done as well, although I must point out to those performers as well as all other "period practice" cultists, that Bach did not write for countertenors."
2 Timeless: The Most Relaxing Classical Piano Music Ever - Perfect Gifts for Mom, Dad, Grandma, Kids
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I was delighted to order Grammy Award winning artist Laura Sullivan’s new CD Timeless: The Most Relaxing Classical Music Ever. When the CD came in the mail, I immediately put it in the DVD player and sat down to listen to Laura’s music. For this song Laura has invited a flutist to accompany her and the flute blends in nicely with her measured performance of this lovely piece. This new album just released will add to her reputation as a fine pianist who is able to tap into the inner richness of the music she performs. We listeners can sit back, kick up our feet, turn down the lights, and let ourselves relax and unwind for an hour as we enjoy some of the most famous and beautiful melodies ever written."
"This Time Laura brought together The Most Divine Songs in Classical History."
"After I heard some of her performances of traditional classical pieces on earlier albums, I'd been hoping she would favor us with an entire album of same, so this seems like a personal answer to that wish! :-) And as my wife commented, any albums that includes such beautiful performances of Clair de Lune, Fur Elise, and Pathetique (Moonlight Sonata) is a winner."
"A lover of piano music, I took a chance on this CD but it is one I've listened to many times since it arrived."
"Timeless, with Laura Sullivan, is not muzak, but beautifully played music that you can listen to often and never grow weary of.. As to how this music compares to other arrangements and orchestras, I am in no position to say."
"Although the predominant instrument is Sullivan’s piano, the cello, violin, flute, clarinet, and English horn are nicely represented in the final product."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you just find 8 new recordings in this for your collection, the set will have paid for itself."
"If you are interested in baroque and earlier music, this is the set for you."
"This is an absurd bargain - very high quality stuff (nearly all the recordings are from the 90s) covering an enormous range, and at a low low price."
"The recordings are wonderful performances captured in the highest audiophile quality."
"There are few words that can describe the breath and quality of this wonderful set."
"Although I had some problems receiving the product, Grandmafred answered all my doubts and provided the solutions to all the drawbacks."
"I collected a few of these recordings over the years when they were first released, so when I saw this set come up for sale I ordered immediately."
"I have bought much of this music in individual CD's at many times the price, and so this collection represents a terrific value. The thing has 50 CD's and weighs close to four pounds and is housed in a formal presentation box, and they pathetically wrap it in a paper backed bubble wrap--with absolutely NO BOX--and send it media mail. This set does not use jewel cases--if it had, the plastic shards would have just poured out (as has happened several times in the past with these corner and cost-cutting affiliated sellers). It is terribly frustrating: you have to either do a send-back (and you'll have to find your own shipping box), or accept an expensive item which is in tatters. After this experience with this set (Movie Mars offered me a $5 credit--which I obviously declined), I have decided that in the future I'm just going to spend the extra dollars and buy directly from Amazon."
Best Classical Sextets
Mozart Edition: The Complete Works will make a great gift this Holiday season for the music lover in your life or someone who is hard to buy for.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are loading some of the works into your iTunes library for use on an iPod, as I am, there are inconveniences in variability of the disc labeling such that the format of the labeling varies between parts of the same opera so that iTunes loads the tracks on one part out of order in the library. You will have to manually correct the labeling of each track in order to get the tracks of the operas affected by this problem in correct order for iTunes and your iPod to play them in correct order. For instance, the CD in the envelope labeled part 3 of Cosi Fan Tutte, volume 9 CD 40 with the CD itself labeled part 3, volume 9 CD 40, actually contains the tracks for part 1, volume 9 CD 38, so you get a duplicate of CD 38 but no CD 40, thus missing the last tracks of Cosi Fan Tutte. There are also several cases so far of tracks that "freeze" and cycle the read head in the CD drive and preventing ejection of the CD without closing iTunes and starting it up again with the offending track unchecked to cause iTunes to bypass it. So far (about 60% of the discs reviewed) the errors have occurred on only a few discs, with manual relabeling correcting all but a couple of incorrect track content problems."
"It is hard to justify spending $120 for one opera, but if you do buy this Mozart box set you will be rewarded with a delightful Così fan tutte. Huub Claessens brings the correct blend to Don Alfonso -- a character actor's comic patter plus a lyrical ability to actually sing the music. Soile Isokoski tosses off Fiordiligi's "Come scoglio" without making it sound like an Olympic routine on the uneven parallel bars. While her trouser impersonations of the doctor and notary are somewhat sloppy (albeit for intentional comic purposes), I'll take her chesty blustering over the standard drill of ear-piercing nasality. Don Giovanni is quite good, although the cast is not as strong as for Così, and the tempos seem out of proportion in the Act One finale. I like Le nozze di Figaro despite its flaws -- blatant nepotism is perpetrated by Marie Kuijken (the conductor's wife? I have found a few unfamiliar (to me) treasures in the box set: The Divertimenti of Volume 3 make pleasant background music while I am working."
"Mozart, along with all piano music composers/players of that period, would have given his right arm for a modern piano; well maybe not an arm, but possibly a leg. Most of those are very well done as well, although I must point out to those performers as well as all other "period practice" cultists, that Bach did not write for countertenors."
Best Gigue
Mozart Edition: The Complete Works will make a great gift this Holiday season for the music lover in your life or someone who is hard to buy for.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are loading some of the works into your iTunes library for use on an iPod, as I am, there are inconveniences in variability of the disc labeling such that the format of the labeling varies between parts of the same opera so that iTunes loads the tracks on one part out of order in the library. You will have to manually correct the labeling of each track in order to get the tracks of the operas affected by this problem in correct order for iTunes and your iPod to play them in correct order. For instance, the CD in the envelope labeled part 3 of Cosi Fan Tutte, volume 9 CD 40 with the CD itself labeled part 3, volume 9 CD 40, actually contains the tracks for part 1, volume 9 CD 38, so you get a duplicate of CD 38 but no CD 40, thus missing the last tracks of Cosi Fan Tutte. There are also several cases so far of tracks that "freeze" and cycle the read head in the CD drive and preventing ejection of the CD without closing iTunes and starting it up again with the offending track unchecked to cause iTunes to bypass it. So far (about 60% of the discs reviewed) the errors have occurred on only a few discs, with manual relabeling correcting all but a couple of incorrect track content problems."
"It is hard to justify spending $120 for one opera, but if you do buy this Mozart box set you will be rewarded with a delightful Così fan tutte. Huub Claessens brings the correct blend to Don Alfonso -- a character actor's comic patter plus a lyrical ability to actually sing the music. Soile Isokoski tosses off Fiordiligi's "Come scoglio" without making it sound like an Olympic routine on the uneven parallel bars. While her trouser impersonations of the doctor and notary are somewhat sloppy (albeit for intentional comic purposes), I'll take her chesty blustering over the standard drill of ear-piercing nasality. Don Giovanni is quite good, although the cast is not as strong as for Così, and the tempos seem out of proportion in the Act One finale. I like Le nozze di Figaro despite its flaws -- blatant nepotism is perpetrated by Marie Kuijken (the conductor's wife? I have found a few unfamiliar (to me) treasures in the box set: The Divertimenti of Volume 3 make pleasant background music while I am working."
"Mozart, along with all piano music composers/players of that period, would have given his right arm for a modern piano; well maybe not an arm, but possibly a leg. Most of those are very well done as well, although I must point out to those performers as well as all other "period practice" cultists, that Bach did not write for countertenors."
Best Classical Septets
2007 issue of 22 CD's filled with the works of the great composer drawn from the vaults of Columbia Records.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I found all the performances (as conducted either by Stravinsky or Craft) gave me a strong sense of how Stravinsky personally envisioned his works."
"22 discs, conducted by The Master himself (with one exception, and exceptional, disc conducted by friend and protege Robert Craft. I purchased that 22 disc set for about $30 (that's not a typo) from a UK seller listed on amazon/us and received it in less than a week - many US sellers take longer to ship their product!"
"Stravinsky is the conductor for almost all the performances with the CBS orchestra and, though recorded in the early to late 60's, the sound is spectacular. Bravo for this generous release and anyone, both new and familiar with Stravinsky need not think twice about purchasing this."
"I originally purchased this set in order to replace a few worn out LP's from the 60's."
"Having just watched Jewels by the Paris Opera Ballet on DVD, I was curious about his Capriccio for Piano, which was the first from this set I played."
"oh my this is great music."
"The price for this many works is astounding, and I highly recommend this to any classical enthusiast."
"Loves the whole collection and would recommend it to any fan of Stravinsky you literally get all of his works famous and not but excellent selection."
Best Classical Grounds
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you just find 8 new recordings in this for your collection, the set will have paid for itself."
"If you are interested in baroque and earlier music, this is the set for you."
"This is an absurd bargain - very high quality stuff (nearly all the recordings are from the 90s) covering an enormous range, and at a low low price."
"The recordings are wonderful performances captured in the highest audiophile quality."
"There are few words that can describe the breath and quality of this wonderful set."
"Although I had some problems receiving the product, Grandmafred answered all my doubts and provided the solutions to all the drawbacks."
"I collected a few of these recordings over the years when they were first released, so when I saw this set come up for sale I ordered immediately."
"I have bought much of this music in individual CD's at many times the price, and so this collection represents a terrific value. The thing has 50 CD's and weighs close to four pounds and is housed in a formal presentation box, and they pathetically wrap it in a paper backed bubble wrap--with absolutely NO BOX--and send it media mail. This set does not use jewel cases--if it had, the plastic shards would have just poured out (as has happened several times in the past with these corner and cost-cutting affiliated sellers). It is terribly frustrating: you have to either do a send-back (and you'll have to find your own shipping box), or accept an expensive item which is in tatters. After this experience with this set (Movie Mars offered me a $5 credit--which I obviously declined), I have decided that in the future I'm just going to spend the extra dollars and buy directly from Amazon."
Best Classical Passacaglias
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you just find 8 new recordings in this for your collection, the set will have paid for itself."
"If you are interested in baroque and earlier music, this is the set for you."
"This is an absurd bargain - very high quality stuff (nearly all the recordings are from the 90s) covering an enormous range, and at a low low price."
"The recordings are wonderful performances captured in the highest audiophile quality."
"There are few words that can describe the breath and quality of this wonderful set."
"Although I had some problems receiving the product, Grandmafred answered all my doubts and provided the solutions to all the drawbacks."
"I collected a few of these recordings over the years when they were first released, so when I saw this set come up for sale I ordered immediately."
"I have bought much of this music in individual CD's at many times the price, and so this collection represents a terrific value. The thing has 50 CD's and weighs close to four pounds and is housed in a formal presentation box, and they pathetically wrap it in a paper backed bubble wrap--with absolutely NO BOX--and send it media mail. This set does not use jewel cases--if it had, the plastic shards would have just poured out (as has happened several times in the past with these corner and cost-cutting affiliated sellers). It is terribly frustrating: you have to either do a send-back (and you'll have to find your own shipping box), or accept an expensive item which is in tatters. After this experience with this set (Movie Mars offered me a $5 credit--which I obviously declined), I have decided that in the future I'm just going to spend the extra dollars and buy directly from Amazon."
Best Caprices
But if you've never heard Rachmaninov play Schumann's Carnaval , try starting there for one of the most imaginative recreations of a piece of music ever recorded.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"What an extraordinary pianist, and a great lesson on how to play his pieces, from the composer himself."
"Recording is older and not remastered, but fine for hearing the beauty of Rach... Kind of scratchy..."
"The recordings are obviously low quality, but this has nothing to do with the quality of music Rachmaninoff performs (these recordings are from the early 1900s, so the recording quality is expected)."
"This is a collection of all the recordings that Sergei Rachmaninoff made with RCA Victor."
"4 finally made me sit up and listen, even though I've owned two versions of this piece for a number of years (Ashkenazy & Wild)."
"Thus we can really appreciate Rachmaninoff in at least three different directions: composer, pianist and conductor; and if the first is generally recognized nowadays, the other two aspects of his genius are somewhat neglected. As a special bonus, we get Rachmaninoff as a conductor (disc 3) in his own Third Symphony, the symphonic poem ''The Isle of the Dead'' and the orchestral version of his famous ''Vocalise''. The very thought that we are able to listen to the playing of one of the greatest piano composers is difficult to assimilate and, for better or for worse, is bound to colour our perception of his recordings. Considering the fact that Rachmaninoff also made a number of transcriptions for solo piano of music by various composers, he easily emerges as a towering figure of Lisztian versatility, if necessarily on a much smaller scale. We should be deeply thankful that part of Rachmaninoff's life coincided with the invention of the earliest recording devices. Now, by modern standards Rachmaninoff's playing can only be described as highly idiosyncratic, with extreme tempo fluctuations and enormous sound. If today some brave young soul dares to play Chopin's Third Ballade or Second Sonata at a competition even remotely in the manner of Rachmaninoff, I am pretty sure he would be ostracized and any chances even of modest career would vanish into thin air. Occasionally, it must be admitted, this IS at the expense of the music, but far more often it is indeed a most refreshing exception among digital dullness that reigns supreme today. Rachmaninoff is generally regarded as a conservative and intellectual pianist, a puritan in the best sense of the word, and I daresay he is less impulsive than some of his illustrious contemporaries (such as Hoffman and Paderewski, for instance) but, being born as early as 1873 (30 years before Horowitz! ), Rachmaninoff certainly belonged to the grand nineteenth-century Romantic tradition of piano playing whose chief object was to communicate the emotional content of the music. Small wonder that these recordings have the most dismal sound in the whole box set: very loud background noise, highly artificial and often distorted piano tone. The Hungarian Rhapsody is particularly well recorded indeed, and it is a performance of towering virtuosity which may well make dizzy Cziffra himself, especially Rachmaninoff's dazzling cadenza. The performance is astounding, with super-fast octaves that blow Argerich away and very slow tempo for the second subject which makes it sound extremely poignant. They are far superior to the Edison ones from 1919 because, unlike them, they were made using Steinway concert grand and two horns for recording the treble and the bass sections of the piano. After 1925 all recordings Rachmaninoff made (again except any piano rolls) were electrical and these, of course, are greatly superior to the acoustical ones in terms of clarity and depth. Rachmaninoff's last recordings, made in 1939-42, are not the vintage mono RCA gave Horowitz a decade later, but they do not require much imagination from the listener in order to imagine why Rachmaninoff was the idol of many other great but vastly different pianists, such as Bolet and Horowitz for instance, and why Harold Schonberg himself used to rave about his abilities at the keyboard. 1, 3 and 4 were recorded in that period; sadly, though the piano is fairly well projected, the orchestra sounds pretty horrible, especially the tutti passages which remind me of a lost radio station. Rachmaninoff's own transcription of Tchaikovsky's tender ''Lullaby'' was one of the last recordings he made, in 1942, and it is remarkable how little background noise there is and how clear even the quietest passages are. The many lyrical passages in all three movements are played with exquisite tenderness, whereas the dramatic ones have an awesome power and need be heard to be believed. Too bad, also, that all those treasures mentioned in the discography printed in the biography of Rachmaninoff by Bertensson and Leyda, such as Liszt's Rhapsodie Espagnole or ''Au bord d'une source'', were apparently lost. Alas, though we are fortunate to have all concertos and the Paganini Rhapsody, the solo piano fare is meager: eight preludes (out of 24), three etudes-tableaux (17), one musical moment (6), two pieces from Op. Except for the highly disappointing G minor prelude, with its shoddy climaxes so far removed from the powerful renditions of Horowitz and Lugansky, the other pieces are superbly played, and mostly available in an electrical version. There is no such thing, and thank God (should he exist) that we have no recordings of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt; they would be held as ''definitive'' and nobody would bother to play the music anymore. Mussorgsky's ''Hopak'' (1925) and Rimsky-Korsakov's ''The Flight of the Bumble-Bee'' (1929) are equally dashing, and so is the notoriously difficult Scherzo from Mendelssohn's ''A Midsummer's Night Dream'' of which Rachmaninoff obviously makes a child's game. (Fascinatingly, in 1972 Jorge Bolet recorded, very differently of course, many of these transcriptions in a now legendary LP which can be found as ''bonus tracks'' to his fabulous Carnegie Hall recital in PHILIP's Great Pianists of the 20th Century series.). Among the Chopin highlights from the ''electrical years'' there is a sweeping version of the Second Sonata (1930) with one of the fastest, singularly convincing though, funeral marches ever committed on disc. Since these 10 discs, on the whole, do confirm beyond any reasonable doubt Rachmaninoff's colossal stature as pianist, I may be allowed to conclude with few mild complaints. To name two examples, Mozart's Turkish March is way too rushed and sloppy, and the middle section of Schubert's Impromptu (Op. These are minor quibbles which do not in the least mar an otherwise absolutely fabulous set of recordings, a unique memento from another era of great pianism that will never happen again, alas."
"For example, while he would of course infuse his personality into a Scriabin piece, he could also approach it only as a master composer could; additionally he studied under the same instructor as Scriabin, and they were lifelong friends."
Best Tangos
While the result isn't your essential Piazzolla album (that would have to include more of the composer's own playing), it's an atmospheric and convincing collection, perhaps a good introduction for those who don't know the music.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I have better sounding CD's from Yo Yo Ma."
"After reading "The Gods of Tango" I decided to learn more about the music that was so much a part of the novel."
"Beautiful soulful music to listen to, love it."
"La delicadeza de la interpretacion y los arreglos de YO-YO-MA, es sinigual."
"The first song on this CD superbly captures the Argentina tango."
"What can you say about a musical icon, fantastic."
Best Tango
Can there ever have been such a decade, so endlessly discussed, pored over and analysed? We see it as a period of unparalleled hedonism, quite unlike any other, with Bright Young Things seemingly engaged in a perpetual day-and-night party, fuelled by bathtub gin and dancing wantonly to the bright, snappy rhythms of jazz. F. Scott Fitzgerald defined the era as the 'Jazz Age', publishing his novel 'The Great Gatsby' in 1926, a key text for the times, encapsulating the headlong but ultimately self-destructive mood of the moment, what one writer called 'the greatest, gaudiest spree in history'. Bert Firman - Kansas City Kitty. The Rhythmic Eight - Umtcha, Umtcha, Da, Da, Da. Johnny Hamps Kentucky Serenaders - Black Bottom.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Use 20's music for my dance class."
"I love the music, but I didnt realize there were no vocals."
"Oh, do I love this CD!"
"What distinguishes the music of the roaring twenties?"
"This is a terrific CD!"
"Modern music is generally murky, pessimistic, full of turgid language when it isn't being profane, and usually sounds uninspired."