Classical music reviews

The performance of the Liszt sonata offered here is more convincing than any other I have ever heard. Ernst Levy reveals himself as nothing less than a genius. If you can imagine a cross between Horowitz and Furtwangler, you may get some idea of Levy's abilities. That this CD is not better known or better regarded in classical music publications is a damning indictment of their critical flaccidity.

This disk is the aesthetic equivalent of getting your ears syringed. Its principal works are the Hammerklavier and last Beethoven sonatas and the Liszt sonata. The Beethoven is certainly memorable, with a fast, fiery first movement in op. 106 and a superb finale. The op. 111 is a dramatic performance, with a charged first movement and one of the slowest Ariettas ever.

But the real highlight is the Liszt sonata. I can see some people hating it. If you like, say, Pollini or Brendel, you should probably stay away. It is like nothing you have heard. Levy is very liberal in his interpretation of the score -- many will not like this, but it sure works for me. Just two highlights will suffice, amongst many. First, the appearance of the d-flat theme is magnificent, because Levy tones down the left hand to pianissimo, so that the theme sounds timeless. Second, the fugue is ferocious in its energy and zest. This is the most provocative reading you are likely to hear, but for me it comes together wonderfully well.

The rest of the disk is also very fine -- a fine Benediction and a dark Sposalizio are the other highlights. The recordings are rough and ready but serviceable.

Essential for those who like to hear something different.

Ernst Levy was a visiting Professor at MIT during my undergraduate years at MIT. I found his interpretation of the late Beethoven Piano Sonatas to be powerful and unique. Extremely romantic and intense, these performances can be compared to the very best of those "famous" for their interpretation. Highly recommended.

Ustad Zakir Hussain is one of the most famous living master tabla players. He tours and records widely. This CD showcases his drumming.

The sarangi and tanpura are very much in the background, playing the melody and drone of traditional classical music of India. The tabla playing is indeed masterful and brilliant. The music is well-recorded.

Any fan of truly exceptional drumming should enjoy this recording. Fans of traditional Indian music may wish to hear more of the other instruments in the mix.

~heidimo

This disc lives up to its name. Zakir Hussain is an extraordinary artist and his tabla playing almost seems melodic at times. There is a drone accompaniment from Suchismita Chatterjee, but Zakir is very much to the fore on each of the three tracks. Incredible virtuosity on an instrument you either love or hate. It is entrancing - and I love it.

Once again, Ustad Zakir Ji has proved his mastery over the tabla in this most amazing recording. I enjoyed this recording for a number of reasons: he demonstrates ways and methods to play off of odd timed cycles of 10, 12, and 15 beats - rather than the age old favorites of 4, 8, or 16 (which everyone feels comfortable in). He takes these, and incorporates "tukras" and "kaidas" of teen taal and kehrva and shows how to confuse even the beat itself- that is, he places four of five, eight over fifteen, 32 over six, 49 and a half over nine, 20 and three quarters over three and a third...and unless you are locked into the lahara (the cycle keeping melody behind the tabla) you will trip over yourself trying to find the ONE. also, except for the track that his younger brother, Fazal Ji (who is also AMAZING), accompanies him on - this cd is pure Z A K I R. He plays the sarangi, he plays the tabla, and he plays the tabla (duets with himself). Tuning his tablas to the root note as well as the perfect fourth (correct me if i'm wrong), he gets a really cool sound with duel tabla solos, and tabla duels between the "Sa" pitched tabla and the "Ma" pitched. Thank you, Ustad Ji.

I actually own a previous version of the album, featuring all but Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto, but I have lots of good things to say about the top three clarinet music I really enjoy listening to.

Corigliano: As a person obsessed with the so-called Avant Garde Classical music (consider those like Pendericki, Glass, Boulez, etc.), Copland's Clarinet Concerto is nothing less than subtle. A complete travesty to those who love Mozart's I would have to say (sinister laughter)! Anyway, as with other music by the the composer, it's both highly barbaric, wild and intense in faster segments, and dark, solemn, and painful in slower sections. Both the orchestra and the brilliant clarinet soloist Richard Stolzman plays with much passion. I especially like the outer two, each frenzic in its own way. I just love listening to the constant scream-like high notes in those movements - the first more bitter and serious, and the third more witty and somewhat sardonic.

Copland: A complete shift from something vile to something much more innocent and enjoyable for causal listeners. Just having the soloist being accompanied by the string orchestra, harp, and piano also adds the effect. The first movement is slow, lyrical, and lulls you to peace, while the second movement is more active, more fun, with a bit of jazz-like elements. Stolzman has done a brilliant work playing both beautifully and richly in the first, and full of wit and color in the second, more than most other recordings I have heard.

Bernstein: This is the recording of the piece to look for, after finding myself somewhat not as pleased in the Bernstein/Goodman recording and the more disasterous Bernstein/Vienna one (Would you expect a world class European orchestra to play a piece not really part of their very genre, and across the Atlantic???). The jazz band in this recording is more enticing, more jazzy feeling. Excellent timbre in both brass and the saxophones (I love the honking sounds of baritone, and the soprano sounds very nostalgic as in the Roaring 20s). As for the clarinet solo, no offense Goodman, but Stolzman wins this one. More apparent musicality. In one section, he actually makes a huge glissiano from an A up to a E.

For those who like Mozart's Clarinet concerto, try getting out of this obstinate conservatism like the constant arpeggios themselves and be exposed to something more beyond the borderline.

Okay, at the risk of sounding crazy, Richard Stoltzman is the greatest thing that ever happened to clarinet music!! There are no words to describe the great talent he displays on this CD. I've personally perfomed the Copland Concerto (not anywhere nearly as well as him, though) and I'm baffled by his technical skill and how easy he makes it sound. I've heard many versions of this (including the original by Goodman) and Stoltzman's jazzy interpretation is wonderful and not at all over-done (as far as smears and what not). The Stravinsky is really nice, but might take a little getting used to.. I really enjoy it though. The Berstein is really nice, but I do agree w/ another review which said it was largely filler... there isn't a whole lot of clarinet in the "Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs", but what there is is fantastic.

Now, for the Corigliano. I've met Corigliano before, and the man is a genious (as is evident in his music). Beware of "Cadenzas"... it starts really soft, but gets really loud so be read to adjust the volume at a moments notice... The last movement is unbelievable... Stoltzman really showcases his abillities here. There is a quasi-cadenza in the clarinet in the third section after a little timpani solo that is amazing. I've listened to it several times and I still can't grasp how he makes the sounds he does (you really have to hear it to understand). While a little harder on the listener than a "typical" concerto, this one is really nice. Corigliano manages to showcase the most wonderful qualities of the clarinet AND create unique and inspiring sounds in the orchestra (especially in the first movement). This is a must have for any music lover (clarinetist or not).

This CD showcases Richard Stoltzman's strength in jazz-oriented modern clarinet music. The selections are well-matched in their sound, yet still provide a diverse musical experience. You *will* enjoy this CD.

I don't know opera.

Last summer we had an incredible 20th anniversary trip to Italy. As a side trip from Venice, we planned a night in Verona. Neither my wife or I had been to an opera.

Is this how its supposed to be...

...an incredible star filled night with a three quarter moon, the largest stage and outdoor theatrical production on the planet, all taking place in a roman colleseum (arena) built in 180 a.d., an incredible colorful set and production with a full symphony orchestra and voices that don't come easy. Aida.

Now I know what all the hpye is as you opera fans sure are lucky to have such a beautiful setting for all your productions.

Okay, we got spoiled. But I also found myself getting spoiled on the Italian composer Verdi.

For me, this set is not only a "take me back to Verona" trip, but a great introduction to Verdi's other works. With some of the biggest names in the opera world in starring roles, I listened to both discs twice the first night they arrived.

And, of course, we are planning a return trip to Verona in the very near future to see some more Verdi...perhaps Nabucco or Otello or Macbeth...I'll even settle for Aida again. It was such a magical experience and a superb introduction to opera and Verdi.

This set continues that magical moment for us and provides a great introduction to a master of the opera...Verdi.

This is a marvelous compendium of Verdi's opera works that even the serious opera fan wouldn't turn his nose up at. These are the top contemporary soloists singing with first tier orchestras. When I saw the Decca label, I expected reasonable quality, but this disk is stunningly well engineered. Most of the vocals match the best jazz cds for immediacy and intimacy, and the orchestras are equally well done.

I don't say incredible about too many things, but Verdi was the zenith of Italian Opera and Solti and the Chicago Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic are the quintessential ensembles for modern classical performance. Not to mention that most of the voices showcased have their own lines of CDs (Pavarotti, etc.) This CD is the best Verdi album available, and it has EVERYTHING. BUY THIS CD!

Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra bring out so much beauty in these masterpieces. No words of mine can adequately describe the perfection and mystery of these glorious masterpieces, and no praise of mine can adequately describe the beautiful sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ormandy's incomparable conducting.

The Toccata and Fugue arranged for orchestra sounds even better than it does on organ, and A Mighty Fortress is Our God sounds so glorious, words fail to describe its power and majesty. Sleepers Awake feels so spiritual...so moving...

Of course, these performances are on modern instruments, and many of them are arranged or transcribed, but with such fine performances it doesn't matter. I have witnessed people who never appreciated Bach before fall in love with his music after listening to this album. Kiri Te Kanawa's Ave Maria album has a really great Bist du bei mir, but the arrangement here sounds very, very moving also. The entire performance of the beautiful "Little Suite" from the Anna Magdalena notebook by Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra may be found on the "Baroque Masterpieces" CD from Sony Classical. Please also consider buying recordings of Bach's cantatas, since many of the pieces here were actually meant for both chorus and orchestra.

I would recommend this as an excellent introduction to classical music for those looking for an entry point. The pieces are familiar to most everyone, and are quite beautifully orchestrated. I have purchased better than 5 copies and given them as gifts to neophytes, with good results. I really love the "Preludium in E Major," and "Sleepers, Awake" will melt anyone's heart. And you can't beat the price!

If you love these Bach pieces and would enjoy hearing excerpts beautifully played by one the best sounding modern orchestras, this disc is for you. Excellent value.

This is a wonderfully varied album, one which I've given to several opera neophytes among my friends, as well as to my mother who has been an opera fan since the 1930s. The excerpt from Bizet's Pearl Fishers is gorgeous, everything the other reviewers say, but my personal favorite is the one from Don Carlo for its rollercoaster emotional dramatics (be sure and read the notes to this one so you know what's going on!), a showcase for the versatility of the performers. Hampson's performances here are subtly nuanced, self-assured, and sophisticated without losing a sense of fun, while Hadley's lovely tenor contains an irresistible ebullience. They are great foils for each other, and I'll bet they had a fine time making this album.

Although Jerry Hadley may not have the reputation of some of the world's other great tenors, his voice is truly beautiful and his straightforward, unegotistical style is refreshing. Everything about this disc is perfect, it is superbly recorded, the orchestration is just right, and the two singers (Hampson is, as he always is, masterful) blend flawlessly. The Pearl Fishers Duet, taken at a relatively leisurely pace, is absolutely riveting for its sheer beauty and probably ranks with the great recordings ever of this masterpiece.

I had never heard of Jerry Hadley prior to seeing an ad in one of the auctions. I bought the CD and became an instant lover of Hadley's voice. I am a Michael Crawford fan and also admire Michael Feinstein. Carreras and other greats have their places. Why didn't I hear about Hadley earlier?

I acquired this CD also on auction. Listening to it one thought came to mind. Sometimes two = better than one. The interplay and synergy displayed by tenor Hadley and baritone Hampson is marvelous. This CD represents a case where two voices = a four-power recording. The works should all be savoured.

Which of the nine tracks do I enjoy the most? All nine is not an acceptable answer. I admire the opening Puccini excerpt from La Boheme. Bizet's selection from Les Pecheurs de peries can stand with any. My favorite has to be the Strauss selection from Die Fledermous. Hadley and Hampson are more Broadway-type opera singers. Their duet in Die Fledermous may only be 3.36. You might put this track alone on repeat.

I highly recommend the CD. Maybe you will find other tracks more desirable than #1 (Pucinni), #5 (Bizet) and #9 (Johann Strauss). Try this. Maybe I will have to re-listen. That would be such sweet joy. It is going to be my next CD played (again and again). Enjoy.

A whole world of delightful music and lovely poetry (Rilke, Whitman, Yeats...)on a single CD. Hilariously funny at times, it tells also of pathos, of everlasting love, of old age and youth, of hobos and Heaven's own angels. Some of the songs are familiar (Copland, Barber), others commissioned and lovingly composed for this particular recording. The freshness of the young voices, the painstaking polish of every detail of performance, the discreet skill and subtlety of the accompanying pianists are all part of the joy of this CD. And the delicate instrumental interludes a charming surprise.

This is ginseng for the soul!

An incredible CD! The American Boychoir is amazing! Also my little brother, attending the boychoir school, is on this!

I was familiar only with the Aaron Copland pieces but even those sound new and fresh in this recording - young voices, both the American Boychoir (maybe the best children's choir in the world right now) and the two female soloists, give a lavish interpretation to music most of us haven't heard - you'll enjoy it if you like classical vocals.

Addendum to earlier review: Adele Addison is alive and well and a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, very good news for me and for all music lovers. My apologies for my error.

I heard Time Cycle as a teenager when it first came out and still treasure my 33 1/3 record, which I've told my son to guard with his life. I've waited YEARS for the piece to be re-released on cd and at last, it has been.

I believe that Foss deserves far more recognition than he's received, and this piece will show why. It should be noted that it was encored immediately after its premiere performance in '61, was it? It won the NY Music Critics Circle award too. It's haunting and I shall play it for everyone who sets foot in my home. I live in Spain and recently requested an airing of it on our national clasical music station's request show.

The Time Cycle is an unsung (forgive pun)masterpiece of Twentieth Century twelve-tone composition and superbly sung by the late Adele Addison.

Three diverse scores by Lucas foss that show him to be a composer of uncommon gifts. His Time Cycle my well be one of the masterpieces of the vocal/orchestral literature of the 20th century. The great Adele Addison gives a magnificnet performance, Again the recording executives passed up the opportunity to record this great American singer in her vast repetoire that spanned early baroque to contemporary--She was one of the great lieder singers of her generation matching the great Irmgard Seefried -but nothing exists on disc of Addison's Schubert ot Hugo Wolf or Charles Ives--What a loss

in conjunction with one of THE best big bands. Many examples of takes he would re-record 15 - 20 years later at Capitol. Master of some tracks crisper than same song recording on other CD's.

Some Sinatra fans have a strong preference for his early work, others for his "middle years" (the mid 50's through early 60's) and still others for his later years. I have a particular fondness for the middle years. With that as a preface I declare this early CD to be one of my four favorite Sinatra CDs. The young Sinatra voice blends beautifully with Tommy Dorsey's terrific Big Band sound. Indeed, Dorsey and his band are a major selling point of this compilation of early 1940's recordings. Dorsey ranks among the greats band leaders, alongside Goodman, Shaw and Miller.
All three discs feature over an hour of fantastic music. There isn't a single cut that disappoints.
Most of the tunes are familiar and many were to become among Sinatra's standards throughout his career.
If you're any sort of a Sinatra fan this CD is a must. If you particularly like his early recordings...well, I can't believe that you wouldn't already have this gem.
Why is it the best of Sinatra's early work? It could be that, as with Nelson Riddle and Count Basie, the partnership with Dorsey came at the perfect time for both. I just know the sound is wonderful.

Although the CD is on the way to me at this moment and I have not had the opportunity to review all the music, I was able to catch a good part of the Soundtrack in the Movie "Sinatra"~ How could anyone go wrong with Sinatra and Dorsey together? A must have for any Sinatra/Dorsey Lover. I can hardly wait to receive mine~ The "Never Ending Sinatra/Dorsey Together"~ What a Deal!!

Nubian is spoken along the banks of the Nile from Aswan in Egypt down into the Sudan to where the river makes the big bend, but these days Nubian people live in all the big cities of Egypt and Sudan. As a member of the Nilo-Saharan macro-family, it is entirely unrelated to the Arabic spoken by the majority of people of these two countries and has a cultural history going back to the christian Nubian kingdoms of the middle ages. This brings us to this delightful CD on which Kuban, the most popular Nubian singing star, sings in both Arabic and his mother tongue. My favourite track is Sukkar Sukkar Sukkar with its infectious foot-tapping beat, whilst Nouba, (sung entirely in Nubian)is a lovely song about the Nubian homeland along the banks of the Nile. The CD includes a booklet with background info on Kuban and the lyrics to all the songs. I love his music, it's got a very unique flavour not quite the same as most Egyptian or middle eastern music. Happy, uplifting and inspiring.

From Nubia to Cairo was exactly the kind of music I needed to help pull me out of a deep rut of paralyzing apathy. It's an upbeat escape to a far away land. The fact that I have no idea what Kuban is saying (apart from the titles, as I don't have liner notes) only adds to this wonderful feeling of being anywhere but here. I can instead be in a happy place, full of life. These melodies are infectious--you'll have them stuck in your head in no time. I very highly recommend this album.

From Nubia to Cairo is one of my favorite CD's. The opening track "Sugar Sugar Sugar" is guaranteed to lift your mood and make you smile. This is the music of celebration! It is music for weddings, dancing, and happiness.