Best Early Music
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I plan to buy more classical choral music as I used to sing with the choral affiliates of the Indianapolis and the Detroit Symphonies."
"CD Arrived Timely and Nicely Packaged!"
"I have admired Robert Shaw and I love Choral arrangements."
"Anyone who pursues the art of choral excellence - and with it a representation of the masterpieces will want and enjoy this CD."
"I like knowing that music I have hunted for can be found at Amazon."
"As usual, the articulation of words is such that you can hear them clearly, even sung by a large chorus."
"Robert Shaw (1916-1999) founded his Chorale in 1948 in New York City."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"We have seen this group twice and have a DVD recording of them doing Christmas music. If you are unfamiliar with Chanticleer note that this is an all male choir but to listen to them you would swear there are some female voices in the choir."
"The list of songs appears to be missing the following: Canite tuba in Sion. Serenissima uno nocha. Now make we joy. Nowell. Joseph, lieber Joseph mein. Psallite Unigenito."
"I bought this album mainly for the single track 'Ave Maria' by Franz Biebl - well worth the price just for that track alone."
"The most beautiful Christmas music experience!"
"I heard this on the net, but haven't had a chance to listen yet, but sill soon."
"Hard to beat Chanticleer for classical vocal sound."
"I love this recording - great sound, great pieces, very well-performed."
"Acapello music requires solid singers."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Simply beautiful."
"This is a magnificent choral piece."
"Portions of this magnificent work can be heard in the final scene from Angels and Demons-The movie."
"I bought this tape specifically for the recording of O Magnum Mysterium after hearing the song at a concert, but the other music is fantastic too."
"The recording was of very good quality, and the music is gorgeous, ethereal!!"
"Each song transitions perfectly into the next, until it climaxes at the end."
Best Variations
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are a classical and electronic music fan, were around in the late 80's and early 90's and have never heard this album you were probably in a comma :) Its predecessor Bachbusters was the number one classical music recording of the year, the only classical recording without any musicians (aside from mr. Dorsey ) ever to attain such popularity!"
"I originally had this fun music on cassette tape and listened to it all through high school and college!"
"I wish Don had more!"
"had this long ago and now again!"
"You get what you asked for, classical music on synth."
"I had this on a cassette tape long ago but wore it out."
"This album is terrific."
"While we like rock and "electric" renditions of classical, couldn't give this CD away."
Best Symphonies
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I feel queasy whenever I see a photograph of Alfred Cortot - the Vichy High Commissioner of Fine Arts. Even so, just as salvation was vouchsafed to the Good Thief, is redemption possible for our swish, goosestepping friend? If the likes of Horowitz and Richter have a rival in this domain, it is surely Cortot. Every sentiment and state of being in Schumann's lexicon is given utterance and vibrantly so. Repeats are also sparse, particulary in Davidbundlertanze (Frisch in particular - my favourite - is disappointingly truncated). One almost raises a votive offering to Cortot when the Poet at last falls silent."
"After having played Appassionata's first movement in front of Anton Rubinstein, A.R told him: "Beethoven's music must not be studied. Consider besides, the happy meeting with two legend musicians as Thibaud and Casals; I mean, in despite of the fact the natural gifts, Cortot was surrounded for wisdom companies. & March 1929, Small Queen Hall) have been one of the main battle horses and most beloved preferred compositions by the most of high caliber pianists (as in the case of Frau Carreño, for instance) ; while Kempff gives a dreamy approach, Cortot makes a mesmerizing, disturbing and nervous performance, plenty of electricity and sublimate passion. It owns an overflowing poetry and is to my mind the nearest composition related with the autumnal approach of Franz Schubert in his last days. 2 (rec.4 July 1935) we find seriously less gifted pianist but at the meantime, a wiser man , this admirable set of variations are played with hat sense of elusiveness and dreams so typical of the youth years. 4 July 1935) - conceived by Schumann as " Souvenirs for those who have grown up" - is a superb poetic homage to those years of the childhood seen through adult eyes. We have to recognize and acknowledge the impressive and notable Engineering process about the clean and almost imperceptible hiss for Music & Arts personal."
"Cortot brings his own well-thought-out views to several of Schumann's central piano works, including Kreisleriana, Kinderszenen, and Symphonic Etudes."
Best India & Pakistan
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The brass and strings sections add that dramatic epic movie feeling and somehow blend magnificently to the accompanying funk, ethnic, electronic and sometimes downright whimsical grooves of each song, add then some beautiful singing on the forefront, great combination of male and female voice that maintain each song fresh allway through."
"What a crazy fun mix."
"The male and female singers have wonderful voices."
Best Baroque (c.1600-1750)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"So so good; a must for your collections; peaceful soothing spiritual music."
"Five stars for the music; 0 stars for the degree of difficulty in the Amazon Music app about how to re-upload downloaded music back into the Amazon Cloud."
"I grew up listening to Robert Shaw Christmas on the huge console stereo that took up half the living room!"
"As a Christmas music and classical music lover, I'm delighted by the inspired creativity and imagination shown by selecting these particular pieces. This is pretty much the very best Christmas CD I've ever heard."
"I have been forfunate to have sung with Robert during my college years-it was a truly wonderful experience to have him pop in on our rehearsals once in a while."
"The arrangements are simple, tasteful, and transparent; if you like BCM (Bombastic Christmas Music) this is not for you."
"This is some of the most beautiful Christmas music I own."
"A cappella music is difficult to sing and the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers do an amazing job of it."
Best Classical (c.1770-1830)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon""In April 2006, Vanessa-Mae was ranked as the wealthiest young entertainer under 30 in the UK in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006, having an estimated fortune of about £32 million[3] stemming from concerts and record sales of over an estimated 10 million copies worldwide. [citation needed]". "She represented Thailand at the 2014 Winter Olympics as an alpine skier with the name Vanessa Vanakorn. "Autorip" successful from Amazon cloud to PC, a nice feature. Nice insert with good pictures of VM, and some expected shameless self promo. When I throw it in my Sony Bluray player it would be nice to see a pictures folder while the music plays."
"I found the use of the drums to be uninspired and heavy-handed, relying on them to emphasize the basic time of the pieces, rather than as an instrument in their own right."
"Pretty much the most exciting violin you will ever hear!"
"Great mix of classical greats with new techno sounds."
"I am highly anticipating her next work, as I am interested to know how she is developing her violin skills - some of the compositions on this CD, although still refreshing, are around a decade old...!"
"Vanessa-Mae shines in this wonderful music CD."
"sound quality isn't as great as I expected."
"I'm stunned at the low star reviews."
Best Romantic (c.1820-1910)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Songs as bleak as the Russian landscape are strangely addictive if a duo as good as Hvorostovsky and Ivari Ilya are interpreting them."
"This series is extremely well recorded with beautiful heartfelt singing and interpretations."
"", the haunting "She is as beautiful as the moon", opening with strummed arpeggios reminiscent of Schubert's "Dioskuren" and continuing with melismatas in a distinctly Polovstian minor mode, and "In the silence of the mysterious night" climaxing with a magnificent G-flat and a long-breathed piano D to conclude. This is Hvorostovsky's first recording on the Finnish Ondine label, with whom he has signed a long-term contract, and although he has recorded some of these songs before, his voice is now perfectly weighted and his artistry honed by long experience sufficient to give them his finest interpretation."
"Hvorostovsky's voice is powerful and beautiful, his musicianship is top-notch, and his interpretations are probing."
"His Rachmaninov Romances reflect his passion for dragging the listener into his music, with pure empathy."
"Fine Russian pronunciation; articulation and accent (without which singing have no power and not able to be identified as 'Russian')."
Best Renaissance (c.1450-1600)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Wonderful, relaxing holiday music."
"Gorgeous music!"
"CD had a great collection of songs!"
"Great collection."
"I gave this as a Christmas gift and the receipient was charmed by the sounds of the Middle Ages."
"A Feast of Songs is a gorgeous journey through a millennia of different cultural takes on the Christmas theme."
Best Modern, 20th, & 21st Century
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm always on the lookout for good background music to write to, and my goodness, this album is incredible."
"Blackheart is worth the price of the entire album all by itself."
"Two Steps From Hell specializes in the increasingly popular genre known as "Trailer Music"; compositions that are clearly in the style of action-adventure symphonic scores, but which are clearly not from movies you've ever seen."
"When I love a track or feel my mind creating visuals for some epic movie trailer or thrilling fight scene. It's like I mentally become a movie director and start visualizing scenes that excite my imagination to no end. But the auto tuned lyrical songs are terrible and certainly not a strong point for the Two Steps team."
"Imagine trying to find inspiration to tackle on dull chores, or even finding the drive to make yourself finish that half-block of a morning jog."
"Which is nice to have - the album flows rather well, and the tracks do lend themselves quite well to the title of Skyworld.."
"I've been a fan of TSFH for a bit now so as amazing as this album sounds to me there is some bias in my opinion."
"Since first coming to this genre after listening to their first album and finding many other offerings, I've found TSFH to not be capable of delivering consistently album to album. Their albums have two versions of each track, one with vocals and one without."