Classical music reviews

I have the fortune to have much of Arau's music both on tape and on cd. This venture could be called a "departure" from his jazz style, but his work is so wide ranging that it could also be considered an intregal part of his larger work. He shows abilities to branch out with every release. There is such a wonderful spirit shining forth in this work, it always leaves a smile. At times I play it simply for the lift it gives and the groove it sets. All my children love this cd and sing selections a lot. "The Alphabet Song" is a never-ending hit. Kids love to be able to recite the alphabet with jazz syncopation and then backwards with a flourish. "Onomotopaea" sets them off on mimicries for days. Adults will enjoy this on more subtler levels and kids will be tickled for years. I cannot recommend this enough to anyone, especially families with children

Javier is BRILLIANT!! Fun for all ages and levels of musical skill. Seems like a great teaching tool that teachers should bring into their classes-- should be required in all classrooms!

English is a much sought-after language here in Portugal and my grandchildrens' friends are always keen to listen fun music from America. Everyone is lucky in the case of this CD by Javier Arau, myself included. The songs are joyous and jumpy and his voice is friendly, warm, and silly, like that of a loving uncle.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was never between my favourite singers but I have to admit that she is really a respectable artist and this lovely cd proves how versatile she is and how she managed to keep a fresh and mellow tone even in her fifties. She is really at her best in the extracts from Citizen Kane and the operetta The Enchanteress. It's a pity that no Verdi music is included in the program, Kiri Te Kanawa was a great Amelia (Simon Boccanegra) and a moving Desdemona. A very fine Dame Kiri indeed.

OK. I'm going to go out on a limb here. This is, IMHO, Dame Kiri's finest recorded performance.

I know that's taking in a whole lot of territory, but there is something simply magical, and magisterial, about her singing here.

Yes, I know "perfection" is that illusive impossibility to be sought but never achieved. However, on this night I think Dame Kiri did achieve perfection.

Simply a glorious life affirming performance by one of the great singing artists of the last fifty years.

Dame Kiri, Happy Birthday, and thank you.

Kiri's exquisite voice and expansive repertoire make for an unbeatable combination which reaches its crescendo on this special evening. A full symphony orchestra, two choruses, a jazz trio, and even a tenor (!) help Kiri in celebrating her 50th birthday. (That's her chronological age, the voice is timeless.) The hall's accoustics are excellent and orchestra and audience support without intruding. One of the reasons why I love Kiri's singing is that I believe she sings the songs the way the composer wanted them to be sung without the sometimes annoying embellishments employed by others. Kiri includes songs sung in her ancestral Maori in a program that takes the listener from the opera house to Broadway and then to an intimate jazz club. I love live concerts because I feel most artists are at their best before a live audience and this cd is proof. I don't believe that there is another artist recording today that has covered such a wide range of song styles and done it with such beauty and skill. This disc is confirmation. If you only buy one Kiri cd, make it this one. But don't be surprised if you start buying many more!

I have had this recording for twenty years and have held it in top favor, but with a few minor reservations. There is an audible buzz on disc 2 which appears on other recordings of the CSO even on different labels, and Mira Zakai has more of a tremble than a vibrato in her solo work (her performace was panned by Stereo Review magazine as cold and unfeeling upon the original release). There are even points where the formidable Chicago Symphony Orchestra seems to be not "InSynch" especially in the third movement. Maestro Solti's London Symphony recording was my first initiation to this monumental work, and after purchasing many other interpretaions, the Solti recordings are the most desirable.

This is one of my favorite recordings of anything by anybody. I practically wore out my original LPs of this London recording and now, happily play my CD set - which sonically almost still matches the warmth of the original (I don't know how they did THAT!).

Without going into a technical analysis of the work, or of how this recording was so vividly captured, all I can say is this performance is staggeringly powerful. Every instrument - including the famed CSO brass - every voice in the Chicago Symphony Chorus - everyone seems to be captured by the great spirit of Mahler. A simply astonishing achievement.

This is without a doubt one of the finest Mahler 2s on record. Even Mehta's classic recording with VPO doesn't come close to the intensity here. The playing, especially the brass is stunning and leaves one breathless at the end. Solti's quick interpretation just creates even more excitement in one of the most exciting pieces of music ever! This is a must have cd for every Mahler fan! Recommended without hesitation!

Although this Abbado may be the best recording, it is not the best performance. That credit will likely always go to the old Horenstein performance with the London Symphony. IT is one of those things so rare, no one will even discount it!

Very well presented Work superb Conducting,& Orchestral playing the Solist & Choir great.

Thomas M Shanks

Great musicians can excel even themselves, and that's the case with this 1982 recording of the Mahler Third under Abbado. I had carelessly assumed that Abbado's superb live recording with the Berlin Phil. from 1999, despite some sketchiness in the sonics (it was engineered on the spot in London by the BBC), showed that this conductor had grown as a Mahler interpreter.

I was wrong--Abbado didn't need to grow. This is a stupendous performance in terms of musicality and insight. We are inside Mahler's sound world from the first bar, and there is magic and mystery, tears from childhood and rollicking joy, that only Bernstein's first recording from New York could hope to match. But Bernstein didn't have the Vienna Phil., playing so superbly it defies description, and he didn't have the miraculous sonics that DG somehow contrived so early in the digital era. Abbado, like Karajan, favors extremely hushed pianissimos and thunderously loud fortissimos, both caught here to amazing effect. In fact, the one flaw for many listeners will be how to find a single volume level that can capture the polar extremes in dynamics. Other reviewers have already extolled Jessye Norman, a mesmerizing soloist in the Nietzsche poem from the fourth movement. My only reservation is htat the extremely slow last movement is a bit cool and detached compared to Bernstein.

I want to apologize silently to Abbado for overlooking this accomplishment. He can be a variable condcutor, but on this occasion he reaches the very heights of Mahler interpretation.

These arias from La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Linda di Chamounix, I Puritani and Rigoletto have been recorded often (Too often) but among recent recordings I like Marcelo Alvarez's recordings of them the most. He has a most velvety and gorgeous timbre, wonderful high notes and he phrases sensitively, he uses vocal colours to shade and illuminate every phrase making him a great successor of lyric tenors like Giuseppe di Stefano and Jos� Carreras. Of course he is individual but just as amazing as these guys! Bravo Monsieur Alvarez!

Now and then it is a pleasant excursion to return to early recordings made by singers who are reaching a heady level of importance just to see how voices mature. In the case of Marcelo Alvarez, who is enjoying great success with his recordings (Massenet's 'Manon' with Renee Fleming, and his own solo CD 'The Tenor's Passion' for example), listening to this remarkable disc of bel canto arias is of particular interest.

This recording features the younger (1998), lighter voice in the appropriately lighter repertoire and the intelligence coupled with sheer beauty of sound is here. Though his voice has darkened and is much more full now, these bel canto arias are still splendid. The technique is sound, the line is pure, and the bloom at the top promises that he would become the lyric tenor he has become in 2004.

Marcelo Alvarez started here with the right works at the right time in his career. They are here to savour - sort of a hint of what he has become - a treasureable, exciting and intelligent singer. Grady Harp, December 2004

Mr. Alvarez has a wonderful vocal instrument, and his technique is marvellous. He is true bel canto. Nothing is ever forced or lacking in beauty. Fine diction and flawless Italian pronunction. Even when the voice rises in intensity, the sound remains lustrous and golden. The liner notes indicate that he is a wise steward of his voice as well, choosing his repetoire carefully and planning ahead as to when he will attempt certain things. I look forward to hearing him sing Cavaridossi in a few years. In the meantime, you will not be disappointed by this collection. It is simply great singing.

This album was a labour of love for Goddard Lieberson at Columbia records. And a daring pospect too: an expensive 3 - record set of Gershwin's folk opera. Well cast and recorded with vivid theatricality, the was in fact the only complete version of PORGY in circulation until 1976 when both London and RCa offered new note complete versions that restored much of the score Gershwin was forced to cut between the Boston premiere and the opening night on Broadway. (The RCA set taken from the Houston Grand Opera production is the one to get. No other PORGY before or since can touch it.)

This older album preserves the edited text (but does restore "The Buzzard Song.") The edits actually make the whole thing flow faster and make for a very enjoyable listening experience. The cast, chorus and orchestra are all first rate. The sound is pretty good considering the limitations of mono recording in 1951. Strangely, as of this writing the set appears to be deleted.

There are also a variety of Jazz interpretations. A strange album with Mel Torme and Frances Faye on Bethlehem, a highly prized album with Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte, and albums by Sammy Davis Jr and Caremen MacRae, Ella Fitzgerald, and Miles Davis.

Sammy Davis also appeared in the 1959 Samual Goldwyn film version with Sidney Poitier and Dorthy Dandridge. The film was withdrawn from circulation by the Gershwin estate in 1974 and has rarely been seen since. The Columbia Records "soundtrack" album was briefly available from SONY on CD but it too has been withdrawn. (Strangely, contract problems prevented Sammy Davis Jr from appearing on that album and his songs were redone for the record by Cab Calloway!) It is still the preferred version of "highlights" from the score for many listeners who enjoy the well-sung program and lush orchestrations.

Plenty of old stage and soundtrack recordings for sale. However, this one is unique in that it was created for the "ear" as a sound recording and not taken from a Broadway or screen performance. Printed support materials enhance your immediate enjoyment of this work, even for those previously unaquainted with the Porgy & Bess story. Consider this was recorded in 1951, and it is a further testament to the technical and artistic expertise that went into its' making.

Regardless of its age and numerous technical drawbacks, this is probably the definitive treatment of Porgy and Bess. Several of the featured singers were in the original production, and the quality of their work has not diminished. Most important, it is presented as a piece of theater, not a multi-voiced concert. It is a drama, perhaps a tragedy, with emotional depth and developed characters. While adpatations were made from the original score, these changes were penned by Ira Gershwin himself. The vulnerable masculinity of Porgy is perfectedly captured; and Camilla Williams as Bess is nothing short of exquisite. Warren Coleman (one of the original cast) has a power and rawness that has yet to be matched. Undoubtedly, the crime of the performance is the times in which the recording was produced. The soloists and voices were among the finest in America; and all were denied their proper due and opportunities because of pervasive racism. Prohibited from performing in other operas, they at least come fully into their own in this hallmark recording.

I have own a copy of this CD since 1985. This is a lengendary recording. Chung's performance on both the concertos in the CD (particularly, on Tchaikovsky's) is quite simply, breath-taking. They have given me countless hours of listening pleasure. Some critics like to compare Chung with Heifetz. I have some of his work and I somehow feel that he seemed to be always on a rush. Whereas Chung's timing was just about perfect, but more importantly, her performances exult more passion and have a freshness that is hard to explain.
I would recommend that you buy it while it was still available.

This is my most favorite disc among Chung's many excellent records.
Specially for Tchaikovsky, it seems like the characters of the piece and the player has come to such a match. There're tons of records for this much loved concerto, and some can be told as more solid, powerful, and technically more brilliant; yet I wonder if there's one that can be a comparison to Chung's interpretation in the terms of passion and (more importantly) lasting frechness. She really makes this worn-out piece alive and dynamic.
Menselssohn is wonderful too. This another too-often-played music is so lovely in itself that it is even more difficult to find the orginal colour and understanding of a player's own. And Kyung Wha Chung manages it up to such an extend.

This is music that touches the heart. It seems to flow from the speakers and into the listener. Wonderful violin tone, a spacious recorded ambience, and virtuoso playing - these are there but are secondary to the musical experience.

Hard to believe that this was the first major recording of a young violinist. This is a keeper.

This is probably a minority report, but I could never understand why the Walter/Ferrier recordings of the "Das Lied" are considered to be the best Songs of the Earth. Probably because everyone else says so.

Yes, it's not bad, but certainly not at the top of the list.

The question is why is it so overrated? Our culture loves drama and hates death. Ferrier sang her Farewell in 1951 when she was dying of cancer and she knew it. In the 1947 performance of the same work, she burst into tears in the middle of the Abshied. OK, I understand what's the fuss and drama about, but what does it have to do with the music itself?

The Das Lied is not an opera, a fact that Walter and Ferrier (and also Bernstein amongst others) failed to understand, making this work sound overly dramatic and over-sentimental. It is *poetry*, pure p-o-e-t-r-y, and demands an entirely different approach to the one that many musicians have been taking over the years (yes, forget the misery of Mahler's life, as well. A musician's life is one thing, his output another.)

Bruno Walter himself said that "Kathleen Ferrier's performance in Das Lied remains among the deepest and happiest experiences of my musical life. The lovely timbre of her voice moved me as hardly any other sound has. And she had a soul as well as a voice. That soul knew and resounded the very soul of Mahler's work. I have often thought how much it would have meant to him to hear the profound understanding in her performances."

Contrary to that statement, both Walter and Ferrier did not understand Mahler. (BTW, neither did Bernstein, whose recording of the Das Lied with Fischer-Dieskau is certainly one of the worst Das Lied recordings ever.)

Ferrier probably was someone with a soul indeed, and a great singer, but this work did not suit her. Walter a great conductor, but this Das Lied is a clear case of mystification of the public, something analogous to the Da Vinci code (in this case the Da Mahler Code) and the smile of La Giogonda. There's no mystery. Only preconceived ideas.

I would go for the Boulez/Urmana, Klemperer/Ludwig or Tennstedt/Baltsa recordings, instead. Top of the list (also the Janet Baker and Jochum/Merriman, too.)

There are times when you can't let something pass. I've heard this nonsense about how Bruno Walter "didn't understand Mahler." The fact that Walter knew Mahler well and worked with him gave him far better insight into the composer than those commenting almost a century after the fact. The poetry in this performance is there for those whose who are capable of hearing it. Stating that Ferrier was past her prime seems odd in that she was about 40 when this recording was made and if made in 1951 it would have been two years before her death. She was a true contralto (the voice for which the music was written)with a tonal color that any mezzo-soprano can only approximate. Regarding this not being opera it might do well to remember that Mahler was primarily a conductor of opera. Would this have influenced how he may have wanted this work performed? I think so.

Now this recording is out of copyright it is beginning to turn up on several labels (e.g. Naxos). It is, after all, a classic recording. However, it was Decca who recorded it and they therefore are the ones who have access to the originals. So this is probably the best transfer, worth the extra cost over its rivals.

Its status as a classic is well deserved. Walter was a close colleague of the composer, talked through the work with him and conducted the world premiere after Mahler's death. It was a piece he had lived with for more than 40 years by the time this recording was made and his interpretation therefore at least deserves serious respect. Of course, it merits much more than that. Walter loved this music and invested it with all the depth of humanity he brought to everything he conducted. There is appropriate weight and thrust to the opening Trinklied, a logically consistent flow to the meandering melodic lines of the Einsame im Herbst, Schubertian delicacy in Von der Jugend and so on right through to the yearnings and final resigned acceptance of Der Abschied. This, as you might expect from Walter, is a Das Lied viewed from the Mozart, Schubert, Brahms end of the telescope rather than as the forerunner of Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and beyond. To that extent he could be said to smooth out some of the more abrasive orchestration, to soften the impact of the clashing harmonies in the great Funeral March and to try to integrate the often disparate and apparently unrelated contrapuntal melodic lines. For a contrasting point of view, you need to turn to Rattle, Boulez or, interestingly, Horenstein.

One of the chief raisons d'etre for this recording, of course, was the special relationship that had developed between Walter and Kathleen Ferrier. In the unique sound of that voice and in her special artistry, Walter felt he had at last found the perfect vehicle for this piece. And she doesn't disappoint. She gives a near-definitive performance of her three songs and especially of Der Abschied. The last outburst of love and regret for the `liebe Erde' and the ensuing resignation that drifts into an infinity of repeated `ewig...ewigs' over Mahler's achingly unresolved sixths in the harmony, these are heart-rending moments. If there is just the slightest note of reservation in my praise, it is that Ferrier (as her letters show) was rather in awe of Dr. Walter, particularly in this piece which was so much a part of his life. As a result she always seems to be following Walter's lead in this performance, without quite allowing herself the interpretive freedom she shows even in her live New York performance with him. But in her live performance with Barbirolli (on APR) the sympathy - empathy even - between the two close friends leads to greater freedom still, greater risk-taking on both their parts that I find all the more moving, despite the pretty dreadful sound quality.

Julius Patzak is also an integral part of this Vienna performance. The tenor role is a tough one, having to scale the heldentenor heights of the opening movement, the porcelain delicacy of the third and the drunken abandon of the fifth. Patzak doesn't have quite the ideal heft for the Trinklied and occasionally gets submerged in the orchestral swell, but he does bring a wonderfully plangent colouring to his voice in the `Dunkel ist das Leben' refrain. There's a wealth of experience behind the subtle word-painting of Von der Jugend, however, and the Drunkard in Spring is also a perfect blend of singing off the words and the notes.

This recording is deservedly a classic of the gramophone, a great performance which displays roots that reach directly back to the composer himself. However, if you can listen through bad sound quality, I'd urge you to listen to Ferrier's performance with Barbirolli as well.

The three Ruckert Lieder also included on this disc are also wonderfully done - especially Ich bin der Welt anhanden gekommen. Um Mitternacht, too, is mightily imposing. Only Janet Baker (again with Barbirolli) runs them close.

This is one legendary performance that I find unconvincing. In 1967 Barbirolli faced a Berlin Phil. that didn't know the Mahler Sixth, and as he applied his heavy, slow pacing, they seemed to respond without inspiration. Literlists have complained aobut faults in the execution, but that's never the point with Barbirolli, who always tried to involve the listener in the same emotional journey he was taking. Here the journey is a relentlessly sad one.

All the movements are very deliberately paced, and with the crunching bass line of the opening march we are made aware that the conductor considers this symphony tragic in every bar. I think that shortchanges Mahler's dramatic contrasts. Even the lyrical Andante comes off with touches of a dirge. The Scherzo is so slow nd heavy as to be unlistenable, and the apocalyptic finale ends the world with too much hesitation. The accompanying Strauss Ein Heldenleben seems just as heavy and sad.

Note: Although this two-fer is absurdly priced here on the used market, it remains in print at normal EMI midprice at most online CD stores.

I can add nothing to the reviews praising the musical and technical excellence of this release. Let me add that the programming of two contrasting post romantic views of the the hero in an un-heroic age is inspired. Strauss and Mahler were colleagues, if not the closest of friends, and they did conduct each other's music. Strauss' music was generally adored when not despised; Mahler's music was despised generally, and adored by a select few.

Strauss sees his hero from the outside in, and he is clearly looking in the mirror! He likes what he sees, this turn of the century man, urbane, successful, married (also hen-pecked), and beset by critics, who are Phillistines to be defeated by the end of the show. Strauss was on the verge of becomming a man of the theater, an opera composer to rival all but his beloved Mozart.

Mahler's hero is seen from within -- no need for mirrors, the paintings of Munch and Klimt, the writings of Kafka, the revelations of Freud reflect the hero's image far better than any glass. The natural world is this hero's saving grace; the love of nature, the clang of cowbells, the distant horns gleaming in the andante's great song, and Alma. Her theme is bittersweet, bright but full of longing for a happiness never realized. The blows that hammer this hero, more fundamental than the sniping of critics, will prove fatal.

There is more to this than the contrast of extravert and introvert, for each composer -- in strictly musical terms -- bears certain characterstics of the other. All of this is brought out in these two, well-paired recordings. Get them while you can.

Two historic recordings from one of the greatest English conductors. Sir John Barbirolli is marvellous in both works. Made in 1960's, sound quality is very good, and performances are in high cult status.

Richard Strauss and his Ein Heldenleben recorded with London Symphony Orchestra. This gorgeous symphonic poem, as you know, is an autobiographical work of composer, so, The Hero (of course) is himself and his enemies are music critics (of course!).
This work was scored for large orchestra: quadruple woodwinds, 8 horns, 5 trumpets (2 E-flat, 3 B-flat), 3 trombones, 2 tubas, timpani, cymbals, snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, 2 harps, strings. In other words: approx. 110 musicians...

The performance is excellent, the violin solo (imagine that Composer's Wife) is amazing and the solo of E-flat Trumpet (in 4th movement) is very good. The War Scene is terrific, amazing. And, I think, the most impressive movement of this work is the last movement - The Retreat of Hero and his Death. In last seconds, there is a noble finale -crescendo to reach to Fortissimo and then a diminuendo to reach to Pianissimo- of all winds, which tells that, the last breath and the death with peace of mind.

Mahler's Sixth Symphony called "Tragic" recorded with New Philharmonia Orchestra. This performance is very majestic, not so flamboyant as Bernstein, but this reading is powerful and impressive. Real Mahlerians should have this recording, I think. Even so this symphony sounds like a sountrack of a horror film! As you know, Sixth Symphony is Mahler's most pessimist work and however written in his happiest years of his life (1904). Because, Mahler married to Alma Schindler, and they had a new girl, named Maria. Even so, this is a propethic work (!). Mahler, used hammer blows (in last movement) explains that his three Fate strokes which will to be in next years of his life. And these Fate strokes are: his daughter's sudden death in 1907 (at age 4!), his departure from Vienna Opera Court and his heart disease!... And then, the composer used cowbells in offstage, too. This explains the Alpine landscapes that impressed Mahler, and extreme loneliness and a mystic atmosphere. Even so, this is only symphony which finishes with dark atmosphere, not with a glory scene. And the last sudden exploding chord of music (in last seconds) usually scares me. The music finishes like a iron curtain falls in scene...

The orchestra is huge (as usual in Mahler): 5 flutists, 5 oboists, 5 clarinettists, 5 basoonsists, 8 horns, 6 trumpets, 4 trombones and a tuba, huge percussion includes bells, gong, hammer, 2 set timpani, 2 harps, celesta and about 50 - 60 strings.

The 1st movement begins like a Nazi March! This "risoluto" and tragic opening continues with a apassionata "Alma" theme, so this movement has a full of drammatic atmosphere. Especially the moments between durations 15"00 - 17"00, the Alma theme comes again and this passage is may be the most romantic moments of whole symphony, you can weep when listen it... The 2nd movement is played as Andante, as Mahler himself decided later to choice as 2nd movement, not as a Scherzo. It is peaceful music and portrays a illusionary happiness. The 3rd movement is Scherzo, and it is I think not a Scherzo, but a "Dance of Death", with devil's laughters, but in Trio section, describes the games of children, but in finish section there is a drammatic explosion and this game melody sounds now when goes away and dying in a whimper... The amazing Finale is the prophetic movement. It begins as a nightmare - a silent terror, and then continues with a heroic-tragic march. This march portraits the hero (Mahler), but then the three hammer blows (by the way, in that rec. the Hammer Blows are really earth-shattering!), and then defeat and abandons himself to his doom...

This 2-CD set is marvellous. They are definitve readings and a must have for all Mahlerians and Straussians, and other music lovers.

Highly recommended.

I agree with Skylim's assessment. This is an opera seria filled with wonderful arias. The thing to guard against in such a work is for the singers to take arias out of context and sing them like they might in a concert. That's precisely what happened with this production. No sense of where the story is going at all. Just a string of beautifully sung arias. Good for concert performance. Disastrous for a full opera disc!

All the singers are top-notch. Wonderful voices with wonderful techniques... and singing beautifully all the time. Even when it is wrong to sing beautifully. Pieces like Farnace's Act I aria, 'Venga pur, minacci e frema' are supposed to be menacing and not pretty! And Asawa (Gosh! I love his voice!!!) is anything BUT menacing. Better get Kasarova's Mozart Aria disc and see how this piece is supposed to sound like. Farnace is supposed to be in a towering cold rage and spewing venom here.

A lot of that going around in this recording. And Rousset set wrong paces for many arias. Some of Sifare(Bartoli)'s were too fast, and most of Farnace(Asawa)'s were too slow (Oh how draggy can 'Gia dagli occhi il velo' get? If it was any slower it would be going backward!).

Seems to me only Piau (Ismene) and Dessay (Aspasia) turned in something that does Mozart justice. Juan Diego Florez is the minor character Marzio, and he is fine there. That out of 3 CDs at this price.... I regret buying the thing.

The booklet contains the story of how Mozart came to write the opera, synopsis, short bio of the cast (all in English only), and libretto in English and Italian.

I only knew a few of the arias from this opera before listening to this recording. While the singing here is beautiful, I was left in the cold by the lack of emotion shown by many of the singers. Ever heard Kasarova sing "Venga pur"? There's nothing to match that in this recording.

This opera written by 14 years old Mozart is really entertaining and fantastic. I would say this is my "personal" favorite mozart opera, along with Idomeneo. Recommended without reservation.