Classical music reviews

Had my first acupuncture treatment yesterday, and was pretty nervous until I walked into the room and heard this beautiful music playing softly in the background. While lying on the table, I drifted off into the most calming, relaxing state of being that I've ever experienced. I asked the therapist to write down the name of the CD, because I want to buy it. It's totally amazing! I'm glad to see that these fine artists have done other titles, which I'm anxious to explore. I have NEVER recommended anything at Amazon before, but felt I HAD to this time. I would buy this at TWICE the cost. The planet certainly can use some peace these days. Bring this home and find wonderful peace in your own little corner. Share it with your family and friends. It's THAT good.

This CD will draw out memories within you, and the sad flute composition will throw out your feelings.

This is beautiful. This will haunt you. I literally cannot stop playing this. My favorite piece--and I love them all-- is "The Waltz of the whispers" It haunts me. I had never heard Michael Hoppe's music before and then a friend played one track from this CD to me ("Of Mask and Shadow") and I absolutely had to have this. This is the sweeest most beautiful music. I just love this and cannot stop playing it

Trying to define this album to my good friend was hard. "Well it's Zappa's songs done with an orechestra, but's not really classical sounding . . . it's just Zappa." And my friend just simply nodded and said "Sounds awesome." and i realized that if any reviewer would've just said 'It's Zappa!' it wouldn't take much more to sway me. so - It's Zappa! And it's damn near perfect it's so good! Riveting!!!

Be warned! You may like nobody (musically or real life) or anything (musically or real life) ever again after listening to this album, but it's not that big of a deal!

`The Yellow Shark', with words and music by Frank Zappa is a collection of `chamber music' pieces recorded in 1993 in Germany, performed by a German orchestra, `Ensemble Modern', which, I believe, commissioned Herr Zappa to assemble these pieces for their concerts. In the accompanying booklet, Frank is pictured with a baton in hand, but the credits only have him conducting three pieces, those with a very significant spoken word aspect (all spoken in English). He also makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the CD where he introduces the Ensemble Modern conductor, Peter Rundel.

This recording is probably one of the very last to be done by Zappa himself, before his unexpected death due to illness. Of all the musical figures of the 1960s lost to us over the years, I miss Zappa almost as much as I miss John Lennon, and I am very happy that if we had to lose them, it was not to drugs or any other kind of self abuse.

There are fourteen musical pieces and three `spoken word' pieces on the recording. I confess that the spoken word pieces may actually be a bit dated, especially the `Welcome to the United States' track on a questionnaire for immigrants which makes a reference to terrorism which may seem entirely too glib in our current environment.

Two of the earliest tracks `Dog Breath Variations' and `Uncle Meat' are instantly recognizable from their music and titles as `quotes' from earlier albums, with very little `classical' varnish over their strongly jazzy sound. Most of the other musical pieces have more subtle quotes from earlier Zappa works, and demonstrate influences from George Gershwin, Kurt Weill, the movie music from `Spartacus', and his old mentor, Edgar Varese.

I noticed that the applause on these tracks was louder than the music and I was wondering whether the audience was appreciating the music itself or the presence of that formidable 1960's icon, Frank Zappa. I'm sure it was a little bit of both, but Zappa and audience couldn't resist quoting from one of his best albums, `The Mothers Fillmore East - June 1971'.

I think this quote was entirely appropriate, in that we owe so much musical innovation to the popular musical performers who were nutured by 1960's, producing such wonders as Zappa and the great bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Who, who are still scoring our artistic perceptions on both commercials and dramatic themes on TV.

This may not be Zappa's greatest album, but it is one of his cleanest. Like `Hot Rats', there is very little `throw away' material. And, it is one of the very few pop or classical recordings by a major musical figure where you will hear the performance of a didgeridoo (Australian aborigonal flute).

Highly recommended for Zappa fans and fans of 1960s music in general.

Most successful musicians are good at their particular style; what sets the great ones apart is that they can cross over to different styles successfully. It is really admirable for anyone of Zappa's stature to even want to work outside the box. But FZ pretty much lived outside the box, and this CD is proof. If you have an interest in Zappa's chamber or orchestral compositions (and be advised, this isn't "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" with violin accompaniment; these are real chamber music compositions), this is the one to buy. The London Symphony Orchestra sessions worked fine as compositions, but the recordings are rendered unlistenable by FZ's unfortunate choice of using 40-50 PZM's (pressure zone microphones) on the orchestra. I'm a recording engineer so take it from me: other than for a few very esoteric uses, PZM's take "suck" to a whole new level. The Yellow Shark, in addition to featuring performances by fantastic musicians, is very well recorded indeed. I personally would have been a little happier had they cut out at least some of the generous applause between tracks, which becomes tedious after awhile, but hey, it's a small matter. These are very good musical works by one of America's most gifted composers. The tragedy, of course, is that we can only imagine what he would be writing now if he were still with us.

Ms. Caball�, is a great Catalan opera singer, she's famous worldwide because of her amazing voice. This is a stunning album that you can't miss. A opera singer singing rock and pop is very unusual, so she breakes the rules on this CD singing at her best featuring Freddie Mercury's voice. A wonderful album!.

brilliant music, i'm just gonna say, this album is truly underated, shows just how brilliant MR. mercury truly was, the question for me is, will 'barcelona' ever get the credit it deserves? the song has, but will the rest of the album? probably not, it will always be a hidden gem.

This c.d. shows what a great contrast in styles of music that Freddie Mercury enjoyed. On this c.d. he didn't make the mistake of trying to sing opera, he was just himself & it works.

Graeme Revell demonstrates his skill at setting mood with creative and unusual sound blends on this CD. The Crow was a dark movie, yet the music combines sublime sweatness with dark foreboding. Some of the cuts would be pleasant to fall asleep to. Others could wake one screaming in the middle of the night.

I've enjoyed using this as background music for writing software. The tracks are varied enough so that it doesn't become boring, yet ambient enough to disappear into the background while leaving my mind free to concentrate on implementing algorithms correctly. I'm not quite brave enough to listen to this while driving SoCal freeways, though ... it jerks from the serene willingness to sit at peace in a perpetual traffic jam to instant road rage.

Although Revell is talented, The Crow's score does not match up to the work of Hans Zimmer. Zimmer's work on The Lion King and The Power of One absolutely define 5-Star film scores (Moulin Rouge goes to at least a 6- or 7-star score), so this only gets a four.

(If you'd like to discuss this CD or review in more depth, please click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)

The music of this movie (being that the movie it self was a amazing story in itself) adds to the excitment and the wonder of what could possibly be a new way of looking as life and death. I think the music is a wonder to listen to with or without the watching of the movie...as it moves your blood faster through your body , you feel the life run through you. And you feel more alive and appreciate the life you were given. A keeper for all those that have a darkside.

Remember Brandon Lee standing atop a building playing some heavy guitar licks? It's on this CD. This soundtrack has mostly the instrumental songs you heard on "The Crow". They are mostly a heavy rock and new age sound. I rate this one of the best soundtracks I've ever gotten. You have to watch the movie first to be sure you like this sound. If you do, be sure to get this one and not one of the other "Crow" soundtracks.

I first heard about Mediaeval Baebes from back in my file-sharing days when I downloaded a song of theirs. Immediately upon hearing it I ran out and bought this CD! I absolutely adore it, but for review purposes I give it three stars. Why? Well here are the reasons--

First: The pronunciation of the Middle English is often wrong. They seem to mostly know how it's supposed to go, so I don't know if it's slips of the tongue and they didn't have enough studio time left to try rerecording the songs after messing up, or what. One especially strange example is in a song with the words "night" and "fight." They pronounce night pretty accurately, like "neat" but with a kind of soft Germanic 'ch' sound for the 'gh.' Yet fight is then pronounced in the modern way. The words are obviously supposed to rhyme with each other, there is no sensible reason they should be pronounced so differently.

Secondly: The "song" So Sprech Das Leben. This is the most horrible song I've ever heard, basically an old lady reading a poem in pseudo-Shakespearean English with a hurdy-gurdy playing in the background. "No! Not the 'So sayeth Life' song!" I cry, and race to skip the track whenever those tingly notes start up from the speakers! This song is so awful I very nearly gave this CD no stars at all, because in cause this song it is really worth deducting them all; it is only for my love of the rest of the music that I gave it so high a mark.

Now, with that out of the way, I otherwise really like this CD. The music is great, you can even dance to most of it. I also like how most of the lyrics are included in the CD jacket, often with translations. The performances are great aside from the afore mentioned problems, and I totally expect to buy more of their CDs.

It is the Year of Our Lord 1372. The place, a rural county faire somewhere in Medieval Europe where one and all have come to celebrate the bountiful harvest. Along with the villagers there are also gathered minstrels, jugglers, actors and a town fool or two.

The smell of flowers, wine and fresh meat cooking in open fire pits fill the air offering a sweet boutique to all attending this joyous annual occasion. Complimenting these gastronomic fragrances is the most wonderous array of color and texture one could imagine. Allow yourself to become mesmerized by the bright, flowing dresses, scarfs, hats, wreaths and banners stretching out before you for as far as the eye can see.

Soon the intoxication becomes complete when the sound of female voices are added to the olefactory and visual delights. The vocals are enchanting, theatrical, whimiscal, heavenly and wantonly pagan simultaneously. Let the music carry you away on a magical journey to days gone by when man and nature were one, and song and dance was a way of life! Such Blysse!

I've just described what it's like listening to 'Worldes Blysse' a marvelous -16 track- CD by the Mediaeval Baebes.

Yeah, it's kinda like that.

I picked this up in a music store a few years back because I thought the album art was so interesting. I love madrigals, but they're always presented as stuffy-looking and boring. I almost as impressed with the album's creative aesthetics as I was with the music!

The Baebes are lovely witchy women with a very romantic and unique appeal, and their music is as catchy as it is dark and esoteric. Fans of classical/dead languages, beautiful & pure a capella harmonies, and wicked medievel musical instruments will need to purchase this... as will anyone who finds themselves enraptured by the music of ages past :)

The Boulez sonata is beautiful and fascinating. Boulez has an uncanny absolute sense of the color of each pitch, and throws weird cascades of notes around like magical sparks of light. Its built with a kind of highly disciplined mathematico-musical system similar to Bach in many ways, in that the logical compositional manipulative processes are just as important as the physical musical sonority, but in this case without regard for a tonal center of gravity. If you allow the music to speak to you without trying to make it fit into an alien and inadequate tonal musical framework, you might be surprised by some of the highly interesting and musical combinations of tones. Boulez is a sorcerer.

What an interesting disk! This is playing of a very high order by Pollini at the very top of his peak of his powers. The "Three Movements from Petruska" is a wonderful virtuoso piece that every pianist dreams of playing. Pollini makes every note clear, pulls of amazing orchestral effects, and plays with a brilliance that almost no one else can duplicate.

The Sonata number 7 by Prokofiev is also a wonderful piece. Pollini plays it with intelligence and insight. The last movement is amazing for its energy and ferocious inevitability.

The last two pieces require a different kind of listening that your experience with tonal music will not prepare you. Webern's "Variations" opus 27 is really an interesting work. Give it several listens and you will be surprised how it grows on you.

For me, the Boulez second piano sonata is a different issue. It is immensely complicated and impossible to play (but Pollini pulls it off), but its purpose and beauty eludes me. However, I admit that it just might be a limitation on my part. However, let me point out that one of the problems with the moderns of the mid-twentieth century serialist movement is that the music is not only beyond the understanding of its audiences, it is beyond the playing ability of all but the greatest virtuosi.

Is it mundane to point out that music, in order to be a living part of its culture, has to have an audience that not only listens to it, but learns to play it? Brahms made a tidy living writing very sophisticated music that skilled amateurs could play in addition to his pieces for virtuosi. That these largely academic composers wrote only for each other and actually scorned those who could not understand their works set the stage for their music to fade to the dusty shelf of music libraries at university music schools. And there they will likely remain.

The audience has become important to present day modern composers and notice how the stuff actually gets listened to and appreciated. Now, composers, please write music that amateurs and play and enjoy and you will see how your fame and the appreciation for your work soars!

But that is beside the point of this disk. This is a disk of music for the supreme virtuoso and Pollini makes this disk important and memorable.

This disc, while not for the faint of heart or the hesitant in the world of 20th century music, will reward the listener almost instantly with its visceral excitment and raw energy. Pollini, notorious for playing accurately but without passion or emotion, plays in a perhaps similar vein here, but it works in this repertoire. He executes Boulez's fiendish Second Sonata as though the piano had insulted his mother. This work is decidedly difficult to listen to unless one knows it very well and has an understanding of and sympathy for Boulez's methods. Yet there are moments of beauty in the work, and Pollini maintains a delicate touch and attention to phrasing in the slower sections. His Webern Variations are played with a clear understanding of the structural techniques the composer is using as made evident by Pollini's use of rubato and his highlighting of different voices. Finally, his Petrouchka and Prokofiev Seventh have both achieved legendary status since their initial release. There may be little in the way of Mozartian delicacy, but this is brutal music, and it is given the correct treatment by this most excellent Italian pianist. His sound is full and rarely harsh, sections of fast figures feel like a shower of bullets at times, yet it all contributes to the highest level of raw emotion and excitement. Selections from this disc could easily be used to convert a non-believer into a fan of 20th century classical music.

The Amazon reviewer seems to think this is "modern classical" music, which only proves how much the term "classical" has been cheapened. This CD is full of pretty, easy-listening tunes, none of which have a thing to do with classical music. Spa music personified, but anyone expecting a more serious level of music will be disappointed. Very well produced and recorded though.

Talk about heaven! This CD is divine. Just perfect for that needed relaxation on a daily basis. The jacket insert has the words to the songs, which is nice as I like to memorize the words -- makes the meaning of the songs come together nicely. Spiritually moving. I've recommended this CD to family and friends.

"I love poetry almost as much as music, and it is particularly satisfying for me to present these musical settings of some of my favorite poems. For me, these poems express the utmost tenderness, purity, joy, and poignancy." Bill Douglas

Has music ever overtaken you so that it became more than music? It was like your spirit entered its essence? Like it spoke to your soul on a level you cannot fully express with human words, yet your heart burns to share it? DEEP PEACE does that for me. I truly believe DEEP PEACE is inspired and approved by a Higher Power. I hope you will buy this and experience it for yourself. Until then, I leave you with some lyrics from the first song, my favorite, DEEP PEACE:

"Deep peace of the running wave to you / Deep Peace of the flowing air to you / Deep Peace of the quiet earth to you / Deep Peace of the shining stars to you / Deep Peace of the gentle night to you / Moon and stars pour their healing light on you / Deep Peace to you."
--a Gaelic Blessing o8E

Soar!

About Mahler' s birthday one hundred fourth sixth, it particularly results interesting to underline this version is without hesitation, one of the most prodigious performances ever recorded before or even later, until this date. It would be risky to consider Rafael Kubelik as a Mahler' s specialist conductor, but he certainly was gifted of a clinical eye and the necessary wisdom to understand the universe of this kaleidoscopic musician who typifies as any other composer, the stressing and anguished world of the contemporary man, without emotional, affective center, profoundly desperate, immersed in a real existential whirlwind, without hindrances, imaginary futures, hopes and illusions.

This first symphony's performance is flamboyant, that reflects with lavish idiomatic spirit, the fears, but besides the hopeful and triumphal final climax in the last movement, that finds to Kubelik in the peak of his conductor powers, totally immersed in the core of the work.

A must-buy due, it's a collector item, deeply venerated and famously phrased by several generations of listeners and dilettantes.

I love it when a musician will go out of their way and sacrifice everything to sculpt a piece of art for us. If they are fearless, they will obtain it all: Technical and Musical. And there are only a few successful examples of this. Kubelik's 'Titan' Symphony happens to be my favorite.

The playing is just beautiful. Flourishing, natural lines, and deliciously sonorous tone: its remarkable. Kubelik allows the players to make the most of everything without being too indulgent. The Brass section is especially exciting! The Finale, (Which is one of my dearest) is an historical moment. The communication between the conductor and his orchestra is precise, exact, and astonishing.

Upon first listening, the interpretation will sound very different- I guarantee that. but youll come to love it. Every bit of this recording is very personal and with Mahler, i believe that's important. Kubelik's touches are just right for that perfect character of music.

Underrated, Unrestricted, Unadultered Music-Making. Something that is sadly a rarity in the music world.

Firstly,i'd like to commend the writer below who draws attention to this horrible critic called Cassidy who contributed significantly to Kubelik's downfall in Chicago....a truly miserable affair.Why is there an arts centre named in her honour??!!!
Kubelik's Mahler stands the test of time very well (the most recommendable complete cycle on the market by some margin):there's a freshness and lyricicsm minus that self pitying streak which grounds so many Mahler interpratations.

Now I admit that I've never heard any other Philip Glass music prior to obtaining this CD. However, I was hooked on the "Candyman theme" song (actually titled "It Was Always You, Helen", track 6) from the first movie, so I figured there would probably be additional good tracks on the CD. Ok, made me look! To paraphrase Dr. Phil, I was "stupified" as to how awful this CD is, other than track 6 and a not-too-bad track 10 (Annie's Theme). Repetitious organ melodies and unrelenting, overbearing choral vocals (drowning out most of the music) comprise most of these songs. Maybe it can be blamed on the producer for a bad mix, I don't know. What I do know is, after getting about halfway through this CD while listening to it in my car, I was looking into my rearview mirror saying "Candyman, Candyman, Candyman", hoping he'd show up in my backseat and relieve me from listening any further. Sorry, but other than the "Helen" track so memorable from the first movie, this CD is probably just for hardcore Glass fans.

It's evident from the very first notes that this is a re-recording, and not a very good one at that. If you absolutely must have this music in some form, get this CD. To be honest, you'd be better off just playing the tracks from the DVD.

Quite possibly the best horror soundtrack to the greatest slasher movie of all time. Candyman is one of my all time favorite movies you see, and the soundtrack is one of the main reasons why. It is truly one of a kind. Pick it up. Now.

What in Horowitz and in other virtuoso pianist serves to art, here is used to have succes of mass. The technic is good, but the timing is conventional and the tone too. At the end, we ear a boring execution. Perhaps, the great russian school of piano playing is at the end!

Ladies and Gentlemen, what we have here is quite possibly the greatest piano virtuoso alive today. While the musicality and emotion the artist puts in his work are exeptional, but not without precedence, his virtuosity, technique and rapidity of execution are quite simply...GOD-GIVEN. Period. End of statement.

This recording doesn't need a review because it's simply to buy and listen to. All the piano transcriptions performed here are absolutly amazing. Arcadi Volodos has an immense technique and strong lyricism; he is really similar in terms of skills to Berezovsky, Lugansky, Kissin, Demidenko, Lane, Libetta and Hamelin. He performs Horowizt's Carmen Variations and Cziffra's personal transcription of Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee with amazing brilliance. This pianist is masterful virtuoso and this recording a must have for all piano lovers!