Best Modern & 20th Century
1 SkyWorld
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."
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"helped me to learn vespers for singing with 17-member ensemble Piedmont Chorale in October 2017."
"One of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard."
"If you at all love Russian Orthodox choral music, this is for you."
"Shaw does stretch many phrases, some may say almost too much or too frequently, but this group performed it beautifully."
"I really like this version of Vespers."
"A Choral reference in sound."
"Robert Shaw is, of course, the premier choral conductor and this choir is not only trained, but musically expressive like no other."
"Love this music."
Best Polish
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Szymanowski's opera paints a wonderful,contemplative sound world with its heavenly choral singing at the beginning and the often dark orchestral colours used to depict the conflict between King Roger(Norman ruler of Sicily and the "shepherd" Dyonysus),the music is highly charged and often erotic in flavour,Zagorzanka sings beautifully as Roxana,meltingly so in her seductive aria,in fact it is a splendid version with all the singers characterising well on this clear digital recording of a rarely heard opera but one worth investigating."
"This recording of Szymanowski's opera, King Roger, is superior in every way to the recent EMI release with Simon Rattle conducting and Thomas Hampson in the title role."
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."
Best French
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"After having the LP versions of these overtures by Ormandy/Phil Orchestra and Bernstein/NY Phil from years gone by, I see now that they are not available on CD or out of print."
"Good quality."
"This is a song my family used to hum to me when I was a child and I carried it along to my children and now my grandchildren!"
"This is a good CD."
"This is a great collection of overtures."
"love this music."
"Not in the least, it reminds me of the great shows of my youth, Sergeant Preston of the Northwest Mounted Police, and Captain Video."
Best English
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The multi-layered libretto, by David Henry Hwang analyzes the search for knowledge as a basic human need, exceeding limitations, but with a cost to oneself or to others. The prologue with a wheelchair-bound scientist introduces the quest with a graphic description of physical limitations from which the questioning mind seeks liberation. The final scene of act III, after the spaceship launch, is particularly poignant, and demonstrates how superb music can universalize and convey the depth of emotion suggested by the text. One example is the repeated motion of the waves in Act II that intensifies the monotony and frustration of the long voyage before land is finally sighted. The conducting by Dennis Russell Davies brings out the fullest potential, from the crashing climax of Act 1 to the sublime calm that ends the opera."
"I was at the World Premiere for this opera - my first time to be in the Met Opera House, my first time to be at a Philip Glass premiere, in the first month after I moved to New York City."
"I recorded, live, the original broadcast from the Met. I live in Sierra Vista, AZ., and was very excited when it was broadcast live on KUAT, the night of Columbus day 1991, 500 years after Columbus discovered America."
"I have been trying to buy this since 1992, when it was played at the 500 year commemoration of the discovery of the Americas."
"This one grows on you."
"In fact, I am tempted to say that The Voyage is like a cross between the musical style of Akhnaten and La Belle Et La Bete (and other works from roughly that same mid-90s period, like the score to The Secret Agent film)."
"So, although I can't really compare it with the original (Troyanas since passed away) it was a very welcome recording and, being a Glass fan, I have enjoyed it greatly."
"Although not Glass's greatest opera (that title remains with 'Akhnaten' or 'Satyagraha'), this is still a monumental work."
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 Classical (c.1770-1830)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Rebuilding my somewhat deficient Classical collection."
"Beautiful sound and presentation."
"A thrilling interpretation of The Ring, without all that awful singing."
"WOW you've got to hear this!"
"His personal behavior was low....yet, these orchestral excerpts show the God-given musical genius he possessed right up there with Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. The conductor was able to capture "the Noble Savage" aspect in Siegfried with those musical bits."
"Berlin Philharmonic is one of best orchestras in the world."
Best Romantic (c.1820-1910)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you have any love of piano music, Clair De Lune is a must."
"BEAUTIFUL, VERY SOOTHING AND GREAT FOR RELAXING."
"Lovely music, well-performed."
"I love this performance of "Reverie" more than any I've heard ."
"Great CD, totally enjoying the clarity & beauty of Debussy's music."
"I love this music...I can't believe such grand music exits on this disc."
Best Baroque (c.1600-1750)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If one has to give an extra-special Christmas gift, I strongly recommend, as I have, at various times here, the complete set of Bach Cantatas recorded at performances throughout Europe, and ending at St. Bartholomew's in New York (that odd faux-byzantine episcopalian contraption on Park Avenue two blocks up from my old office) each on its appropriate sunday, by John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir, Bach Soloists, and a batch of wonderful solo vocalists including Magdalena Kozena, Mark Padmore, James Gilchrist, Nathalie Stutzman, Robin Tyson, Katherine Fuge, Peter Harvey, etc. Throughout my life I have dipped into the various collections of Bach cantatas beginning with the pioneering Harnoncourt/Leonhardt collection, Suzuki, Ton Koopman, Richter, Gonnenwein, but as individual performances and overall, I think John Eliot Gardiner captures the beauty, liveliness, gravitas, virtuosity, drama, and devotion in the music in ways others did not realize was present."
"The singing is glorious, in part because the group was recording their Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in a succession of churches where Bach had worked."
"BWV 178 is an ingeniously constructed and intensely dramatic work; it is also (as Gardiner notes in his unusually insightful commentary) formidably difficult to perform. BWV 45, long a favorite, has recieved many distinguished recordings, including those by Karl Richter and Ernest Ansermet from the early stereo era. They should not be forgotten, if only because the solo singing--though more operatic than many listeners may feel comfortable with today--was so splendid (both Krause for Ansermet and Fischer-Dieskau for Richter eclipse all subsequent competition in the dramatic bass arioso). Gardiner conveys the deep unease at the heart of the work (more in the two arias than in the unexpectedly jubilant-sounding opening chorus) quite as well as his traditional performance-practice forbears, though once again I must note that the solo singing is not quite up to par. Gardiner's rendition of the great opening chorus stresses the dramatic contrast between the elegaic first half (which Bach later used for the "Qui Tollis" of the B-minor Mass) and the minatory fugue which follows. BWV 101 is probably the most harrowing cantata in the Bach canon: a deeply troubling evocation of peril, fire and sword--in both the literal and spiritual senses. Fischer-Dieskau and Richter are at once more animated and more alive to the dramatic potential of the text (one of St. Paul's most scathing denunciations of hypocrisy); Schwartz and Gardiner give a subtler and more subdued account that is just slightly disappointing for those who were expecting more incisiveness. There is not a hint of routine in any of these performances, even when the solo singing falls below standards set by the formidable competition in Suzuki's equally outstanding cycle."