Classical music reviews

This is a great CD, with great music, at a great price. Everyone seems to love Baby Einstein, but I don't like the plinking music on those CD's, I like real orchestral pieces to stimulate my child. This is exactly what parents need, at a good price!

I got this cd to use as background when putting my 18 month old to sleep and for car rides. So far it has not made it out of the car. The cd is wonderful. The first song is the Luftansa airline comercial song (that is what my husband calls it) and is beautiful. I didn't think my husband would enjoy the cd at all but he doesn't mind one bit listening to it, he actually will put it on himself when we get in the car. My daughter loves it and will often start nodding her head back and forth to songs. I actually listen to it even when my daughter is not in the car. The music is soft and relaxing but not boring. It is also one of the only cd's that my in laws don't mind listening to when they are in the car with us.

I only paid like $4 here on amazon for it and I gladdly would of paid more for such a great cd. Its a great cd for such a great price!

My whole family has enjoyed this CD. It is very upbeat and easy to listen to. I think there is something for everyone on this one.

I must confess I have never been a special admire of Arrau. It' s just a question of temperament. But that evening in Lugano, Arrau was filled with highest orders spirits. These H�ndel Variations were a fortunate encounter and rejoining with the kaleidoscopic approach it must be given to this immense, exuberant and giant work. The showy pianism of Claudio Arrau appeared with that fervent energy and astonishing mystery, each one of these variations has its own specific weight and temperament. Well, he got it. With a convincing understanding of the Brahmsian mood played with inspired impulse and refinement. There are introspective and arresting moments; memorable rubatos, joy, and enrapturing passages.
The final fugue is played with amazing eloquence, giving that required counterpoint without losing expressiveness and autumnal noblesse.
To my mind there are just five supreme versions that own magic, versatility, expression, character and idiosyncrasy, genuine elegance and rapport: Julius Katchen, Michael Ponti, Lincoln Mayorga, Rudolph Serkin (in Lugano, 1957) and finally this one.
The rest of the album is OK, but these Variations are by far, the jewel of the crown.
Live performance recorded in Lugano 20th May 1963.

I simply want to repeat what others have said so many times before me: the experience of listening to Arrau live in concert used to be uniquely sublime, not only because of his interpretation, but also because of the exquisite sonority he extracted from the piano and the pervasive way that sonority was projected onto the audience. Such qualities seem to be somewhat captured in these recordings. Contrary to what one of your happy reviewers says, Arrau made studio recordings of all of the works in this programme, with the sole exception of Ravel's "Scarbo" from Gaspard de la nuit (for reasons unknown).

I simply want to repeat what others have said so many times before me: the experience of listening to Arrau live in concert used to be uniquely sublime, not only because of his interpretation, but also because of the exquisite sonority he extracted from the piano and the pervasive way that sonority was projected onto the audience. Such qualities seem to be somewhat captured in these recordings. Contrary to what one of your happy reviewers says, Arrau made studio recordings of all of the works in this programme, with the sole exception of Ravel's "Scarbo" from Gaspard de la nuit (for reasons unknown).

I have not heard his whole CD but I am a college student at NSU and heard him play live. He's not only a great performer but a great person and he has a great sense of humor. Well I enjoyed listening to Inner Beauty and Festival Time in the Ville. Since I live near New Orleans I hear Festival Time in the Ville all the time around Mardi Gras. The story behind that song is awesome. His trumpet skills left me in awe. I definatley recommend any of his stuff!!!

This CD keeps giving you more and more (great of course) even when you don't ask for it or are ready to be done and call it a night.

Unlike the afore mentioned nympho it is intelligent, well spoken, and even witty...and certainly not easy.

This is an incredible addition to anyone's collection who has a functioning brain or is aspiring to maybe get that allusive certain someone in the mood.Good luck!

This guy really knows how to "take it home". I am amazed at the quality output of these musicians...listened to the whole thing and really enjoyed the Mardi Gras number at the end. It is a great CD.

Argerich and Maisky deliver a good performance,but not quite inspiring.The playing is virtuosic and heady but robs the work of its true majesty and grandeur.I recommend the inspired performance by the incomparable Pierre Fournier and Kempff as a top choice for these beautiful works.Fournier brings a broad lyrical flow and Kempff matches with a sensitive touch.It is like true noble friends sharing an intimate and inspired conversation.Truly a noble performance with a broad sweep and flowing lyricism at its best.i have not listened to Richter/Rostropovich but I do not have to.The Fournier/Kempff performance has a sense of completeness.I understand why Kempff is one of the very best ever when it comes to Beethoven's sonatas.Truly a great artist and fournier is in the same class.
How sad that this album(deustche grammaophone)is not even listed in the Amazon catalogue!the sound quality is excellent for a 1965 recording!

Since I haven't heard the legendary recordings with Richter and Rostropovich, I can't compare their traversal of Beethoven's cello sonatas with Argerich's and Maisky's. Yet I think this is one of the most exciting recordings of Beethoven's chamber music I've heard, notable for Argerich's dramatic playing. Yet Maisky comes across as a skillful interpreter of his own, not once taking a back seat to Argerich's keyboard pyrotechnics. Instead, what you have hear is a splendid collaboration between equally gifted musicians, in which one occasionally takes the lead. There is clearly an atmosphere of familiarity, warmth, and indeed, friendship, in their playing. These fine performances are enhanced by Deutsche Grammophon's state-of-the-art digital recording.

The thing about Beethoven's chamber music is that he often "pretends" he's writing for orchestra. This is nowhere more evident than in the cello sonatas, in which the cello may be both a solo instrument and the bass line of the orchestral texture, and the piano may be a solo instrument or provide the inner voices of the orchesral texture-and, of course, Beethoven calls on both performers to wear both hats, and to alternate between them frequently, sometimes within the space of a single measure. Apart from the individual mastery of both these performers, the reason why this recording is so successful is that Argerich and Maisky do such an excellent and intelligent job of changing hats as the music requires. It is a beautiful and wonderfully engaging performance, of such interpretive richness that you're guaranteed to hear more every time you listen to it. And, of course, nobody can touch the mellifluous lushness of Maisky's tone.

First of all-- I love this collection. A dear friend lent it to me because I was performing the Nielsen Concerto. I got some wonderful inspiration from Galway, and I started to understand the piece more due to his performance as well as hearing the wonderful orchestral accompaniment. (It helps you make sense of the piano reductions you so often must settle for as a performer!)

This CD collection is very diverse--- and the best and most famous concertos are represented. Galway and Co. make some beautiful music. The performances are not to be missed, and any musician (and especially serious flutist) will be moved.

Of course there are new brilliant flute concertos out in the world since this recording was put on the market (e.g. Liebermann, Tower-her's was premiered a little before the collection was released), but seldom will you find such a complete collection that is so well done. Galway would surely put the brilliant contemporary works on another Collection, should he do another.

The collection's been a delight for me as well as a useful tool. I got a used copy in excellent condition through Amazon. You should seriously consider getting one for yourself or someone you love.

the great recording!! I want buy it!!

One of the main reasons I bought this collection was for the Ibert. However, I was very unhappy with Galway's rendition of it. The third movement is so full of mistakes and cracks that I was rather surprised. Not to mention his lack of dynamics. Overall though, I would definately recommend this set becuase all the other performances are tremendous. You have to buy this if just to hear SOMEBODY play the Rodrigo!

This album is quite a snoozer IMO. The main reason i still keep it (an LP) is a cover. It's very enigmatic and have that strange appeal.

I have often used this record in theatre-work, for concentration as well as relaxation, but most of all: inspiration. Some of the intensive, lyrical musical lines presented in Cycles make me want to cry every time I listen to them, they help opening my mind and also reassure me of a higher conception of life - a state safely beyond boring limits of "understanding".

It is a very special album because of the unique mix of instrumentation. I had been looking for something involving piano and cello, and when you throw Jan Garbarek into the mix, it's usually a good thing. From the opening the 'cycles' of the changes are hypnotic without being repetitive, and I was transfixed. Side 1 of my record ends with 'Fly'; listen to the saxophone for the first half and it makes sense. 'Ode' is a reprise from the Paul Winter Consort; very close to an ECM jazz standard. The friend who'd opened my ears to this suggested listening to it in a dark room in December with only the Christmas lights on; it's astonishing the rest of the year too.

This album is quite a snoozer IMO. The main reason i still keep it (an LP) is a cover. It's very enigmatic and have that strange appeal.

I have often used this record in theatre-work, for concentration as well as relaxation, but most of all: inspiration. Some of the intensive, lyrical musical lines presented in Cycles make me want to cry every time I listen to them, they help opening my mind and also reassure me of a higher conception of life - a state safely beyond boring limits of "understanding".

It is a very special album because of the unique mix of instrumentation. I had been looking for something involving piano and cello, and when you throw Jan Garbarek into the mix, it's usually a good thing. From the opening the 'cycles' of the changes are hypnotic without being repetitive, and I was transfixed. Side 1 of my record ends with 'Fly'; listen to the saxophone for the first half and it makes sense. 'Ode' is a reprise from the Paul Winter Consort; very close to an ECM jazz standard. The friend who'd opened my ears to this suggested listening to it in a dark room in December with only the Christmas lights on; it's astonishing the rest of the year too.

While all of this recording is genius, there are two movements that show Mr. Russell's genius in a special light. 1. The Passacaglia from the Handel suite. Anyone who has heard Russell play this in concert needs at least 5 minutes to get her or his breath back. Perhaps the single most brilliant transcription in the world of solo guitar. (Though, in a field of many transciptions, there are many contentors for this honor.) 2. The Andante from the Bach suite. Without any irony, this is "a heartbreaking work of staggering genius." If you want clean playing, soulful performances, great musicality...David Russell is it, on guitar. -Shanahan

David Russell's playing of Baroque repertoire is closer to its real spirit and performance practice than most other classical guitarists, even Julian Bream, although the latter has adjusted his approach over the years in the same direction (compare his early 1990's reinterpretation of Bach's Lute Suite #1 for EMI vs his 1960's RCA version, for example). Russell plays this music as a lutenist would, paradoxically exploiting the constraints of the instrument to achieve not only stylistic fidelity, but much greater musical expression and beauty of tone than the typically "robust" methods of his rivals. His transcription of Bach's Flute Sonata #5 is inspired, and the contrapuntal bustle of the outer movements make the lyricism of the Andante even more poignant. Using pizzicato on the basses in this movement to delineate the harpsichord part is a small stroke of genius, and although he has liberally reworked or simplified the voicings in places, the final effect is as absorbing as the original score (cf flautist Rampal's version on Erato). Thankfully Russell's transcription has now been published, so the rest of us guitarists can enjoy playing it too. The only negative is the puzzling (analog tape?) hiss on the (supposedly digital) recording - how did that get in there? Don't be put off though, this is desert island material and definitely one of my Top Ten classical guitar recordings of all time!

David Russell is the best classical guitarist in the world, and while I am thrilled that he now has a major label behind him, this Bach/Handel/Scarlatti disk from earlier times is an absolute masterpiece. The passacaglia from the Handel Suite-which I have heard on disc but also in several live performances-is one of the most breathtaking transcriptions ever. The slow movement of the Bach sonata is cut from the same cloth. David Russell is a genius, and my advice to any and all readers is: "buy this recording." My only caveats: 1. Amazon, please make it possible for browsers to hear the Handel passacaglia and Bach Andate on your site; 2. Someone out there, find some way to get David Russell's recording of Antonio Lauro back in circulation!

Yours, Mike Shanahan

Record companies used to be willing to record a highlights album of an opera to showcase certain singers known to excel in certain roles. The thinking, in those days, was that a complete multi-LP recording might not sell enough copies to justify the production costs, but a single LP would. This was especially true if said record company already had a complete recording of the opera in their catalog they didn't want to detract sales from.

Hence this recording. Regine Crespin was renowned for her Marschallin, and had sung it in virtually every major opera house on the planet. While I'm not sure of the exact recording date, I think it safe to say it was probably recorded five or so years before she would record the role complete on the now legendary version conducted by Sir Georg Solti.

While one would be hard pressed to fault the complete set, Mme. Crespin was, if anything, in even better voice for this recording. Having heard her in the house many times, I can say, without hesitation, the representation of her voice here most closely resembles how she actually sounded in the house: powerful yet intimate, involved, musical, beautiful.

She is joined by the great, but under-represented swedish soprano Elizabeth Soderstrom, as well as the much loved Hilde Gueden.

The sound is outstanding, much better than on the original LP.

And for those familiar with the LP, be advised that, while mentioned nowhere, this CD contains a considerable amount of additional music that, probably due to the time limitations of the LP format, has not been released before.

All in all, a priceless memento of a time gone forever, and the artistry that was the late, great Regine Crespin.

This highlights center on the romantic aspects of this favourite among Strauss' operas - so you won't find Ochs, Annina or Valzacchi here. Beside the three leading sopranos, only Heinz Holecek makes a shortest appearance (Sind immer so die junge Leut' and that's all). This recording finds Decca engineering in its best and Varviso offers masterly conducting, clear, forward-moving, understanding while keeping the nostalgic and sentimental (in the best sense of the word) atmosphere, with the fabulous aid of the Vienna Philharmonic. Anyway, the main interest in this recording is understandably R�gine Crespin's sumptuous Marschallin. I would single this performance as the most perfect account of this complex Straussian heroine. To start with, the voice is in its absolute price, warm, feminine, easy and natural. Her pianissimi retain an unique expressive and creamy quality and the sheer size of her voice allows her to keep an intimate tone whenever it is needed. She also blends the best of the most celebrated models of interpretation for this role, which are Lotte Lehmann and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Of the first, she has the natural warmth, the naturality and authority. With the latter, she has in common the elegance and the verbal acuity. As a matter of fact, the combination offered by Crespin is altogether more fascinanting because of the almost contraditory quality of "spontaneous sophistication" - a strong advantage to depict the aristocratic and sensuous princess of Hofmannsthal's libretto. It is also of major interest the performance of Elisabeth S�derstr�m as Octavian. This opera brought S�derstr�m to international attention, because she sang the three main female roles in this opera for a while. Although the Marschallin was the role which she finally kept, this is the only studio account of the Swedish soprano in this opera. Benefiting from the fact that she is singing in the range Strauss chose for the role (soprano), she sings the role with energy and involvement. It is also a redeeming occasion for G�den. Here she completely avoids the cuteness and old-fashioned mannerisms of her performance for Erich Kleiber (also on Decca)and, despite the riper quality of her soprano here, her Sophie is far more ingratiating and truthful in this second visit to the studios.

What a pity that amazon.com does not carry Decca�s complete recording of the opera (anymore?) with Solti and the one and only Marschallin, whose intelligent and deep-felt interpretation of the complex role will sing anyone else - including Schwarzkopf - up the wall!

By no means this excerpt is worse - S�derstr�m, who sings just as beautifully and intelligently as always more than makes up - bur try get the complete Decca recording - it will beat any Marschallin you have ever heard!

Oue is hardly a masterful Mahler conductor, but he does his best here, and Michelle DeYoung, caught rather early in her rising career, has a lovely voice if not a tremendous insight into Mahler's world. Overall, the reason to buy this disc is the audiophile-qaulity sound from Reference. They camped out in Minnesota for a while and made spectacular recordings under the rathre lackluster Oue before he quickly departed.

What an amazing recording..it's difficult to ask for much more than this. The recording quality is crystal clear, allowing the listener to hear the fantastic colors in this piece. Just as important, the orchestra and the soloist do a brilliant job, particularly Michelle DeYoung. I saw them perform this live 2 days before they recorded it as well (one of the best performances I've ever seen!) - this recording reminds me of that spectacular evening of music. The performers capture the brilliance of Mahler, and clearly show that his music was a bridge between the 19th and 20th centuries.

What an amazing recording..it's difficult to ask for much more than this. The recording quality is crystal clear, allowing the listener to hear the fantastic colors in this piece. Just as important, the orchestra and the soloist do a brilliant job, particularly Michelle DeYoung. I saw them perform this live 2 days before they recorded it as well (one of the best performances I've ever seen!) - this recording reminds me of that spectacular evening of music. The performers capture the brilliance of Mahler, and clearly show that his music was a bridge between the 19th and 20th centuries.