Classical music reviews

This is an excellent (and essential) recording of Chopin's Etudes. Yukio Yokoyama (cool name too) plays Chopin as though it were second nature to him. His fingers fly up and down the keyboard effortlessly. As a result, he immediately brings out the elegance inherent within this music.

This is not to say that he's nothing but a showy virtuoso either. Chopin's music is elegant and virtuosic, yes, but there's also intense emotion hidden underneath the music. Yokoyama brings this out as much as he is supposed to. The music, emotionally, is supposed to sound restrained, as is the case here.

My favorite in most ways is still Vladimir Ashkenazy's complete recording of all Chopin's piano works. However, Yokoyama's has several advantages. First, the recording quality here is much more crisp and clean. Second, the piano he uses is much better than Ashkenazy's which can occasionally sound tinny. Besides which, Ashkenazy's complete is 90-some dollars.

This CD is a must for piano music fans and Chopin fans.

This is an excellent (and essentially) recording of Chopin's Etudes. Yukio Yokoyama (cool name too) plays Chopin as though it were second nature to him. His fingers fly up and down the keyboard effortlessly. As a result, he immediately brings out the elegance inherent within this music.

This is not to say that he's nothing but a showy virtuoso either. Chopin's music is elegant and virtuosic, yes, but there's also intense emotion hidden underneath the music. Yokoyama brings this out as much as he is supposed to. The music, emotionally, is supposed to sound restrained, as is the case here.

My favorite in most ways is still Vladimir Ashkenazy's complete recording of all Chopin's piano works. However, Yokoyama's has several advantages. First, the recording quality here is much more crisp and clean. Second, the piano he uses is much better than Ashkenazy's which can occasionally sound tinny. Besides which, Ashkenazy's complete is 90-some dollars.

This CD is a must for piano music fans and Chopin fans.

Yukio Yokoyama exemplifies the technical mastery and cerebral control paradoxically necessary to elicit the full range of Chopin's passion and lyricism in the �tudes. At the same time, he never descends to the meretricious or sentimental. The recorded sound clarifies each sparkling note. I highly recommend this disk!

This album is unfortunately unavailable.
I have Ashkenazy Chopin complete solo piano collection but I am not satisfied with his interpretation of the Nocturne in C# minor, for example.

In fact, I liked much more the interpretation that you can listen in "The pianist" movie. Listen and say me if I am wrong.

So that, today I was searching and listening several, several samples at amazon but, in my opinion, many of them you can not sing. Yes, sing!

My piano (polish) teacher used to said that you need to "sing" the music (even mentally).

Do this mental exercise: Think you would like to sing the nocturnes (that are beautiful melodies after all) and choose the best interpretations.

This album contains one of the best interpretations I know.

Concerning the piano: In 1839, the 6.5 octaves Chopin's Pleyel piano was put at his disposal (between 1839 and 1841), that is, Chopin himself used Pleyel pianos. But I do not blame the piano. IMHO, Steinway, Bosendorfer, Bluthner, Bechstein, Yamaha would also be good choices. The great difference is the interpretation!

PS: You can listen the nocturne I mentioned (in C# minor) as well as the op.37 no.2, available as mp3 files freely downloadable. Search using Google with the name Michele Boegner.

Calliope has done everyone who loves the beautiful Chopin Nocturnes a genuine favor in recording Ms.Boegner with the Pleyel piano! First, the performances are flawless, gracious,and thoughtfully played. Obviously this performer knows the heart of Chopin; to me he certainly wears his heart on his sleeve with the gorgeous nocturnes. I can think of no one that plays these better than Boegner. Second, the mechanism and soundboard of the Pleyel piano is far less resonant than the modern Steinway and Boesendorfer pianos. As a result, the line of the music can flow out more clearly and inner voices are heard far better. If you have never heard this music with this vintage piano, you certainly owe it to yourself to hear it! This is a MustBuy! This must not be missed! Recommended Strongly!

Chopin devotees can't be without this one! The sound of this Pleyel piano is revelation itself. I hope Boegner will record more Chopin on the same instrument!

By the way, the recent Chopin releases on Opus 111 lable are very worth collecting, too. Some of them also feature period instruments (Pleyel and Erard pianos).

The lesser perforance on this CD is the 1960 account of the Chopin Concerto #1, made when Pollini was only eighteen. Paul Kletzki is a dud, opening with a lackluster accompaniment, but when the pianist enters we jump to a higher level of musicianship. Pollini didn't yet have a persoanlity--his playing here is very musical and confident, but it's faceless, lacking in fantasy. One doesn't detect the strong profile that Argerich and Zimerman express. Both their recordings (on DG) are more satisfying artistically. Three stars.

Pollin was that rare thing, a prize winner who retired immediately from the concrert stage until he could emerge as a confident master. That makes the remainder of this CD, recorded eight years after the concerto, fascinating. Here we get four Nocturnes, the First Ballade, and the "Heroic" Polonaise. I would judge that we are still hearing only an incomplete Pollini. There is sensitive touch and poetic line in the Nocturnes, but the Ballade is foursquare and somewhat generic--we don't feel drawn into a sense of rhapsodic abandon. The Polonaise alone might satisfy listeners who find Pollini's DG account too fierce and militant. Four stars.

On revisitng this CD after a decade, I expected to hear more of the finished artist in these readings. Eventually he did emerge and became my keyboard idol, but he's still gestating here.

Maurizio Pollini's exhilirating performance of Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto was recorded when he was 18, soon after he won first prize in an international prize competition, the Warsaw Chopin Competition, which included legendary pianist Artur Rubinstein as among its jurors; Rubinstein remarked that Pollini was technically a better pianist than himself and his fellow jurors! Pollini's playing is replete with warmth and technical elegance, in stark contrast to his recent, "colder" Deutsche Grammophon recordings of works by Chopin and Brahms. The Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Paul Kletzi gives a fine performance too, though there are instances, most notably the first movement, where its tempi tend to be a bit rushed. The Nocturnes, Ballade and Polonaise which close this recording were recorded eight years later, following a recital in Italy - and further study with Benedetti after winning the Chopin Competition - and still demonstrate Pollini's wam affinity for Chopin's music. My own personal favorites of these works are the 5th Nocturne and the Polonaise, but the others are well played too. Without question, both recordings helped cement Pollini's reputation as a keen, sympathetic interpreter of Chopin, and rank quite well against similar recordings from the likes of Rubinstein and Horowitz. The sound quality is quite good, due to EMI's state-of-the-art digital remastering. It's taken me almost a year to hear this CD, and am thriled that I am did, showing a wonderful side to Pollini's playing that I was unfamiliar with.

This performance was given in 1960, early in Pollini's career, before his interpretation of works became increasingly 'cold'. Not here, where the playing was warm, and entirely appropriate. Never have I heard the rubato given with such spontaniety and yet with no sign of 'mannerisms' that often affect other pianists, even including Argerich or Zimerman. Contrary to what the previous reviewer said, the 2nd movement was exceedingly beautifully played and ethereal! And what a playful rondo! I have never heard a better performance.

I have a few recordings of P & M and this is probably the best.

This is such a vast piece with huge orchestra and lots of inner parts, etc. and this recording brings them out very well. The performance is great too: nice and over the top where it counts.

The Siegfried Idyll is done well too.

Schoenberg had moved to Berlin in December 1901 with a position emanation from the Uberbrettl cabaret and stayed until 1903, and the writing of Pelleus und Melisande came to dominate these excursis, this exergue to something. I don't know if the mountainous orchestration of Gurrelieder had helped this creativity.One needs to free oneself from creative burdens not impose them continually.
In retrospect in these gargantuan works,I find Schoenberg's utilization of stark contrapuntal lines,(here however impacted in dense orchestrations)and as manifested in the subsequent piano music to be the most interesting,his timbral focus for the new dodecaphonic language to come,was quite fascinating as the "Five Pieces for Orchestra"where lines function around contrapuntal unfoldings and timbral lacunae. It is always fascinating to see where the epistemologic creative seeds reside,the concept of destiny, and fate was, recall please a working premise of the post-romantic spirit. As Arnold Hauser said someplace that there is no product of modern art,no emotional impulse to modern man/woman,that does not owe some debt to romanticism,its delicacy, and conception to the exhuberance, the anarchy and violence of modern art," its drunken stammering,lyricism,its unrestrained,unsparing exhibitionism is derived from it" where themusic may become nourished.
Certainly Maeterlinck's dramatic encrustations( a time Freud was well into numerous studies,1901-1905) saw this penumbral darkness as a starting canvas for modernity,for the unexplained, the trace as Derrida said some decades subsequent. Pelleus here has long captured the spirit of this transitional period with Debussy and Sibelius and Schoenberg as well his suitable imagination and with Richard Strauss still in his blood chose eight of the fifteen scenes, this dark symbolic drama of lechery,obsession,aging,love,brooding penumbral dimensions. This voyage also sees creative parallels in Melisande's Wanderings, as the wiorking image for Schoenberg's latter 'Erwartung' to come. The Tower scene of Melisande combing her long 12 foot hair; Hair as a sexual metaphor in those days of infinite boundless pleasure, desire. Alban Berg's analysis from 1920 reveals how the work distributes theses motives freely very much like a free floating timbral canvas of motivic associations. Gilles Deleuze had thought of Wagner's 'Ring' in similar ways, as free floating leitmotiv All within these various motives scattered graciously throughout this long impacted lumbered work have this melodic sweeping character,and all lend a deeply lyrical gesture assuming differing traces of instrumental colours, as the, Solo Violin,walls of brass, and English Horn. Thielemann has no trouble with this full cathedral timbre which I thought it was at first too predictable and overbearing, too lead heavy leading one's sensibility to unwanted wanton darknesses.Illumination should also be a point of reference here.Melisande's unknown innocence perhaps,her foible naive constitution as a constrast to the brooding darkness which pervades the work.
But where does the work reside? The Boulez with The Chicago Symphony as well I found, you may find a greater telescoping of the work's dimensions, where it feels more compact than it actually is.Boulez's genius is that he always reveals another way,an alternative to tradition.
Berg's analysis again points to the work the structure as a Sonata Symphony. But Schoenberg thought it something else. Who knows what. Like the quip on pregnancy, either you are, or are not. Schoenberg recall had advised the young Berg, that his 12 Tone Opera(Wozzeck) had no chance of success. But Schoenberg always had harbored structural problems he had no way of solving, and here in Pelleus he had no great convictions of the amount of return of the distributive motives necessary for structural coherance.This is why shorter durational forms as his pathbreaking 'Pierrot' and again the piano music discovers incredibly frutiful lands to occupy. Let me gently bash just one more time. Schoenberg had no means to finish 'Moses und Aron' either, was it a testament to what is known, or what should be known. It is this incompletedness, this opaque creativity of indescision which I in fact find the most fascinating aspect of Schoenberg's creativity. That he set before himself conceptual durational problems he had no way to resolve.

The Wagner Idyll here Theilemann makes it float as well,downgrading the Wagner penchant for conviction of rhythmic purpose. It is a work far more to do with space than I once had known. Again the Berlin musicians bring their typical seemless bottom to top timbral conception.
But Theilemann does hold the reins quite taut, quite strongly which then gives his Berlin players enough conceputal space to breath.

Christian Thielemann's recording of these works by Schoenberg and Wagner should further enhance his reputation as one of the foremost interpreters of late 19th Century/early 20th Century German Romantic music. Both are spellbinding performances of these tone poems, played with ample grace and warmth from the Deutsche Oper's pit orchestra. Thielemann's interpretation of Schoenberg's tone poem, is more lush than Boulez's, opting to emphasize the Romantic ties which bind the early Schoenberg to predecessors such as Wagner and Mahler. Still, it is a truly original composition which foreshadows Schoenberg's interest in atonal music. The sound quality is exemplary, no doubt due to the splendid acoustics of the same studio used by Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in many of their classic 1960's and 1970's recordings.

I mistakenly bought this CD thinking it was a reprint of an LP of Christmas carols that my parents played when I was a child. What a happy accident this was! The singing is beautiful, the arrangements are well-crafted and the sound is lush and warm.

These are indeed the carols that I enjoyed as a child, but the fact that they were recorded in New York City and accompanied by a pipe organ that was shortly afterward ruined in the September 11 World Trade Center attacks gives this CD an extra resonance.

Trinity Church at Wall Street was directly in the path of the World Trade Center's monumantal rubble showers when the buildings collapsed on 9/11. Consequently Trinity's magnificinet organ was a victim of dust and debris along with everything else in its path. As a sort of memorial to the late renowned organ, "Christmas at Trinity" is a tribute to not only the superb choir and its director, Dr. Owen Burdick, but a fond farewell (for the time being) to one of this country's finest musical instruments. And as the the parishoners get used to a decent substitute organ, the glorious instrument is being refurbished (at enormous, but worthy expense) to return to its place of honor at Trinity, Wall Street.
Having added that bit of history, "Christmas at Trinity" is a general collection of the finest arrangements and selection of choral literature for Christmas. Under the direction of Dr. Owen Burdick, the Choir breathes sensitivity into each carol. This disc is one of the finest collections of Christmas music available. It is a classical collage of sound and literature which I would recommend for a single choice for one's Christmas enjoyment, that is, if you are on a limited budget.
And, speaking of "budget", for $6.98 this is a superb bargain. Naxos is the label with delicious and unusual collections of music for anyone wanting to be adventuresome, or looking for a modest start to a personal CD library. Start with "Christmas at Trinity" and be delighted with not only the performance, but also the lovely price!

This is a wonderful CD. The singing is wonderful. The recording is excellent with a huge soundstage. Descriptions like "smooth like silk" come to mind when I want to describe their voices. I bought this CD last year and play it all the time, even after Christmas. My system consists of Meridean CD player, Audio Research amp, Herron preamp, and Verity speakers.

For those who cherish those Bette Davis Golden Oldies as I do, you'll not want to be without this CD. All her most memorable film scores are here: Warner's fanfare introduces the exquisite "It Can't Be Wrong/Charlotte's Theme" from "Now, Voyager", Steiner's poignantly haunting score for "Dark Victory" the suitably regal score for "All About Eve" by Alfred Newman and the instantly recognizable theme for "A Stolen Life" - again by Max Steiner.

Korngold's score for "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" is fine as are the various scores for "Deception", "The Letter" and "All This, and Heaven Too" & "In This Our Life". When Davis made "Dark Victory" she was a bit "upstaged" by Max Steiner's score towards the final fade-out of the film. Judy Traherne ascends the staircase, says good-bye to Daffy and Don (her dogs) and quietly insists that her maid Martha leave her alone, undisturbed to die in peace: "beautifully and finely". During this shot, the angels are singing ethereally and Davis flung herself at director Edmund Goulding during reheasal and demanded: "Damn it, who's playing this scene? Max or me??" No fears. It worked. Beautifully.

This is one of the best albums from the classic film scores series conducted by Charles Gerhardt with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Max Steiner composed most of the scores represented here. Max Steiner was one of the greats. My favorite cut is the "main title" from A STOLEN LIFE. This tune was uesd again in A SUMMER PLACE with Troy Donahue. Both films have their central settings in New England. This tune greatly captures the feeling of the land and sea and the people living on the New England coast. This is a lush and beatiful cd.

This is one of about a half dozen or so recordings of classic film scores conducted by Mr. Charles Gerhardt, performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, and produced by Mr. George Korngold (Erich Wolfgang Korngold's younger son). These recordings were made in the 1970's, and with, perhaps, one exception, have yet to be equalled much less surpassed! Almost single handedly, they have shaped the film scores of today and made CDs of same a major profit center for the recording industry. Don't just buy this one; grab anything that has Mr. Gerhardt name on it!

I think Wolf says it all in the liner notes with something like: this is how he thought the Masters would play if they had a Marshall Stack and a Whammy Bar. How a metal axeman out of Accept can be so delicate is beyond me, but the delicacy loses none of the Accept power, even some of the old Accept boys are listed as back up muso's. As a metalhead of old, I never thought I'd listen to the Classics let alone appreciate them, but hearing them from this point of view, metalised maybe, I have discovered a whole new musical appreciation. Introducing metal friends of mine and others who are classical freaks to this album gets the same response ... how brilliant is this, how unbelieveable is Hoffman's guitar work? This brings together 2 worlds that never looked like getting it on - Classical Metal or a Metal Classic(?) you decide - you won't be disappointed!

I don't understand the reviewer above that claims "The album sounds like an Accept album without UDO's famous vocals."

It's VERY different than Accept's music, but it's still VERY fun and entertaining. Having been an Accect fan for about 20 years (geez, I'm getting old), I appreciate getting to hear some music that he likes ... that he grew up with ... that influenced him.

I especially like the fact that these are not just exact copies of the tunes that we already know. On most of the songs, he added his own syle and interpretation of the original.

For instance, the intro to "In Hall of the Mountain King" is completely original (although it sounds almost AC/DC-like). Even the rest of that song (with the horns and blues-like arrangement) screams originality (which is hard to do with such a well-known piece of music).

I especially like the wide range of styles. From his "trademark" hard-rocking guitar sound to some mellow accoustic (and electic) runs to bluesy electric soloing (like on "Habanera") to a slgihtly middle-eastern sound and many other styles.

Other guitarists have done similar songs or even full albums (see Yngwie Malmsteen's "Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar & Orchestra" or Cirith Ungol doing Bach's "Tocatta"), but I really like this one.

This is an incredible meld of classical and metal music. I doubt that anyone else could do this as well as Wolf Hoffmann, who has nourished his love of classical music throughout his career as guitarist for the metal band Accept.

If you love classical music, treat yourself to a wrenching, gripping new take on it. If you love metal music, treat yourself to the classics in a way you've never heard before; a way that will win you over to classical music at last.

I give copies of this CD as presents to people I love a lot.

I agree with all. This CD set is everything I hoped it would be---listenable Chinese "traditional" music with a variety of instruments---to remind me of my travels. Nothing screechy and nothing "New Age-y". Instantly listenable and nothing unbearable.

Chinese folk music is not the "screechy" Asian sound you may associate with Chinese music. This is not Beijing Opera. These tunes are fun, soothing, joyous and listenable. If you like Asian sound and folk music of the world, or just want something different but pretty to listen to, try this out. I play it often.

This unusual collection of traditional Chinese instrumental music is full of heart and spirit. The melodies are particularly accessible to westerners (although I don't believe that this was intentional). For many people it would not only be a good introduction to the "other side of the globe," but to the "other side" of the self. Highly recommended!

Juilliard facualty member and music writer David Dubal gives a good description of Hunganian pianist Tamas Vasary's style in his book, The Art of the Piano: "Vasary is a poet-pianist, a dreamy bard. For him, the music must first be beautiful. It must be Romantic and emotional. At his peak, we have a lucscious colorist repleat with an exceptionally wide dynamic range, an artist capable of ravishing lighting effects. His pedeling is plush and creamy, the technique well oiled and balanced within its parts. Chopin is never far from his field. His multi-colored imagination depicts this artful literature with all kinds of feliticitous lingering." Dubal's description above seems to fit Vasary's Noctures well.

Its too bad such fine playing is not matched by a better-quality recording than this one which has lots of tape "hiss" that can be distracting especially with headphone listening. (You can hear this on the sound clips). At least for me, this detracted from the otherwise intense yet dreamy readings of Vasary along with the lack of completeness of the entire 21 pieces. Compositions - 5 stars; Performance - 4.5 stars; Sound quality - 3.5 stars.

If you are comparing, there are many fine recordings of the Nocturnes which include Pires, Rubinstein, Ashkenazy, Ohlsson and a newer one from Angela Hewitt that is surprisingly excellent with an understated and beautiful poetry (and some superb, in-depth commentary on the Nocturnes from Hewitt which alone make her set desirable for those wanting to explore this music in more depth).

I am so pleased to read the reviews here. Vasary's playing is, to my mind, the epitome of Chopin's musical soul. I agree that it is a shame that DG are so sparing with their Vasary releases as there is a wealth of material gathering dust in a vault somewhere! This disc is the best possible introduction to anyone who wants to know how Chopin's music should be interpreted. Come on, Amazon, have you any influence on DG? Bring on the Studies, the Sonatas etc!

i echo the sentiments of other reviewers: vasary's chopin is incomparable, wonderful, essential. these 1965 stereo recordings of the nocturnes are among the finest available -- even in this abbreviated format.

to my sensibility, the key to vasary's approach is its depth and nuance. each phrase seems sculpted from the heart, and susceptible to the heart's changes of emotion; there is a marvelous dynamic range and sensitivity to changes in tempo; above all, there is an inexpressible landscape of poetry that is simply invisible in the other, "read the text" interpretations. vasary might claim to have channeled chopin's spirit, so absolutely right do his interpretations sound. the hidden element is his technical command: even richter's playing does not surpass vasary's ability to turn on the power when necessary (for example, in the A flat ballade). these recordings are among the unique treasures of the chopin catalog.

my only reservation is the piano, which has a clanging wolf note in the right hand that occasionally becomes intrusive when part of a repeated note motif. otherwise the sound is forward, clear, warm, well balanced across the range -- and to my ear more effective than the original vinyl.

i want to add that vasary's *complete* nocturnes (!), along with the waltzes, scherzi and ballades (those utterly unsurpassed magnificent ballades!), are available as a "trio" box set (from universal classics, catalog no. 289 469 350-2). inexplicably, this does not appear in the amazon classical search (using "chopin vasary" as keywords), but as the trio editions of dvorak, handel, bach, etc. are already available at amazon, i'm assuming the vasary edition will appear very soon.

These recordings are the best recordings to get if you are looking for two things in the etudes. those two things are interpritation and finesse. He interprits all of the etudes withought thinking of what chopin has written and even though these all make sence and are beautiful, all in there own way. His technique is flawless and everything is perfect in the music. This is just my thoughts about these and I'm sure that some of you, or all of you will dissagree, but this is my thoughts about these etudes.

The sonatas are the best recording you can get with all three there but that said, their not all interesting... In my oppinion they are flawless, but not musical, they're bland and they have lost my intrest when he plays them here. Some moments are absoultely gorgeous, but in the end he dosn't really piece together his ideas in a logical and drawing way... I wish that I could give you the name of someone who has done dinomite recordings of all of these but I don't know who you should go to for better. these are just my thoughts...

Vladimir Ashkenazy has impressed me a lot with these recordings along with Scriabin's Sonatas. I think the highlights on this Chopin's collection are Sonatas 1,2,3 and the Fantasie in F minor more than 24 Etudes which are played greatly especially the Revolutionary (possibly one of the best i've ever listened to) though there are other pianist more impressive than Ashkenazy such as Boris Berezovsky, Juana Zayas, Nikolai Lugansky, Andrei Gavrilov and the young Jean Frederic Neuburger just to name a few. But the 3 Sonatas and the Fantasie are performend marvellously. Also the quality of the sound recording is really high. This is a splendid double!

Although Ashkenazy has been criticised because of the lack of brilliance in some of his more recent recordings - the Grammy-winning Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues being an exception - these excerpts from the Complete Chopin Edition he recorded for Decca prove otherwise. The three sonatas - some of the best-known pieces by Chopin - are played with the relaxed and intelligent poise that is so often encountered when listening to this wonderfully-talented Russian pianist, the Second Sonata - with its infamous Funeral March - being simply divine. However, the real meat of the CD comes from the two sets of Etudes - these pieces are often played in performance, but very rarely do you hear all of them: on this CD the many different types of technical and musical challenges facing the pianist are played as if they were for children. The musical tempi are all profoundly and musically correct, and the attention to bringing out the harmonic and tonal qualities of the more technically simpler pieces is very evident. Pay especial attention to Op.10 No.4,7,9 and 12; Op.12 No.4,7,9,11 and 12. The Fantaisie, which ends the CD set, is played to near-perfection and it is a fantastic ending to a brilliant Double Decca CD - a real bargain, considering the absolute mastery of the playing and interpretation.