Miscellaneous music reviews

The word "Mo'" in the title got my attention. I bought the CD to compare it to the already popular "Three Tenors" (Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras). Wow! Was I surprised. I had expected an all opera, classical and possibly spiritual repetoire. But, the music varies from "Nessun Dorma" to "Love Train" was truly, truly delightful. I enjoyed the wonderful voices of Thomas Young, Roderick Dixon, and Victor Trent Cook and the variety of musical selections so much that I purchased several other copies for my family and friends. Then, several months later, I saw their performance on PBS. I immediately ordered the VHS offered by the TV station, paying way, way over the retail price. But, I had to have it. It was, and is, the most exciting musical performance that I have seen. Later, when I put the tape into the player at my son's house, my 5-year-old granddaughter Ciara stood next to the sofa to watch. I expected her to move away soon, but, she stood there, during the entire playback of the performance, and I do mean from beginning to end. I left the tape there so that son could see it later. The following day, and for most days during the next several weeks, Ciara asked to have the tape played, until she later was taught to handle it herself. The family has since replaced my VHS with the DVD so that now, when Ciara visits me, we can watch the show again (and again). "Three Mo' Tenors" was so surprisingly wonderful- with great voices, charismatic personalities, terrific orchestral arrangements, lively and precisely choreographed routines, and just an overall feeling of mutual admiration and respect among the three gentlemen. The beautiful cinematics, with frequently interspersed shots of the enthusiatic audience, contributes to the feeling that I am actually there at the concert. Every time I watch it, I see and hear something new. When I first heard the CD, I was not fascinated by the countertenor voice. After seeing Victor Trent Cook's heartwarming performance on the DVD, and hearing his comment about his mother's definition of a countertenor, I have been granted a new appreciation for his voice. Here it is, years later, and I'm still enamored, remembering Roderick Dixon's "Make Them Hear You" elicits tears, Thomas Young's "Twisted" makes me laugh, and the duet with Victor and Thomas (see, I'm now on first-name basis with them) is so beautiful. I could to on and on. In fact, it's time for another listen.

I would rate this CD more than five stars if I could! I picked up this CD not knowing anything about these guys, but, knowing that I liked some of the songs contained on it. I was absolutely blown away by this collection! These guys have it all. Voices, talent, showmanship, style, technique, etc. Everytime I listen to it, I feel like I'm sitting right there in the theatre. I am a huge fan of opera, jazz and gospel. This CD covers it all! Although my favorite tracks are La Donna e Mobile, Make Them Hear You, and Nessun Dorma, they are all so good! I wouldn't hesitate to buy this again. You have to hear them to believe them!

A good album is one that can't be categorized neatly. Three Mo' Tenors tackles classic opera, Broadway tunes and other genres with ease. They have beautiful voices, and the music they choose to interpret is so universal that even my toddler girl loves listening to it! Their technical expertise combined with their stage presence and charisma makes for an enjoyable cd. Highly recommended - especially if you are looking to introduce yourself or your children to different musical genres.

This magical album crosses oceans and centuries and puts me in touch with my Irish ancestry. The title song tells a story similar to my greatgrandmother's and even though I've heard it many times now, I still weep for her.

Long a fan of Irish music, I have turned to a series of artists to satiate my appetite. Bing Crosby and John McCormick have been succeeded by the Irish Tenors.

This CD has a bit more of an Irish American theme as "Isle Of Hope, Isle Of Tears" and "God Bless America" illustrate. Interspersed among these tunes are traditional Irish tunes such as "Macushla" and "Croppy Boy", along with newer songs, such as "The Green Fields Of France" and "How are Things In Glocca Morra?"

The singing is excellent, the words understandable. I appreciate the inclusion the lyrics of the songs contained on the insert of the cover. These are songs you will want to learn, whose stories you will want to research. I have. Listen again and again!

Long a fan of Irish music, I have turned to a series of artists to satiate my appetite. Bing Crosby and John McCormick have been succeeded by the Irish Tenors.

This CD has a bit more of an Irish American theme as "Isle Of Hope, Isle Of Tears" and "God Bless America" illustrate. Interspersed among these tunes are traditional Irish tunes such as "Macushla" and "Croppy Boy", along with newer songs, such as "The Green Fields Of France" and "How are Things In Glocca Morra?"

The singing is excellent, the words understandable. I appreciate the inclusion the lyrics of the songs contained on the insert of the cover. These are songs you will want to learn, whose stories you will want to research. I have. Listen again and again!

This is most definitely NOT the Kapp recordings - I grew up with the Kapp recordings, and stumbled upon a re-issue of them in 1984 on vinyl by MCA (MCA-15006), complete with the same album notes (the original notes were on the back of the album cover, rather than a liner insert) as the original Kapp album - probably laid out with an Exacto knife from the original album. No hymn medleys were part of the Kapp issue, which was titled The Little Drummer Boy and led with that, followed by an overspeed rendition of the Hallelujah chorus, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, What Child is This? and Carol of the Bells - at which point a flip of the playing surface leads to O Bambino, The First Christmas Carol, Mary's Little Boy Chile (a typo on both the original Kapp album and the MCA re-issues), Christmas is a Birthday, Christmas Tree, and Sing of a Merry Christmas. O Tannebaum would not be near this album, as the notes openly speak of Harry Simeone writing Christmas Tree "which started out, Simeone admits, as a counter-melody to 'O Tannenbaum'"

That said, anyone know if the Kapp recordings ever made it out of cut-out limbo to CD or MP3?

This is certainly not the record I own from childhood. My copy is a 20th Century Fox release from 1963 and includes thirty-one songs on nine tracks -- including the ravishing "Villancico" and "Lo, how a rose e'er blooming", which are not on this CD.

It always struck me as a bit kitschy, and I still have no idea why my mother bought it as she took a very dim view of made-up apocrypha like "The Little Drummer Boy". However, it does contain some rarities and unusual material. You won't hear "Masters In The Hall" on the Muzaks in the mall! This is still the only recording of "Villancico" that I have ever heard. Why isn't the original recording released on CD? Legalities?

This is one of my 3 favorite Christmas albums of all time, with Bing's "Merry Christmas" (now titled "White Christmas"), and Ray Conniff's "Christmas With Conniff". I was able to find this album for download on a music site run by a piece of fruit (hint hint). I hadn't heard it in years, and it brings back so many memories. It's all I've been playing this week!

The movie was sensational, it seems almost impossible to capture all of it in a soundtrack, but they did a wonderful job of it. Every sngle song captured the spirit of the movie, it was almost like going to a broadway musical because of the quality of this music. Catherine Zeta- Jones did a amaizing job of singing the songs "All That Jazz", "Cell Block Tango", "I cant Do it Alone",and so many more. This music is almost magical, I would recammend this soundtrack for anyone!

If you loved the movie Chicago I'll garenty that you'll fall in love with the soundtrack. You can never get to bored of "all that jazz" with Catherine Zelta Jones singing it, you can tell that she's the real star of the soundtrack. Don't be surprised if you run across "The cell block tango remix" and all that junk, it just didn't blend in with all the other songs, I always avoid it.

the movie had great songs and great music and this soundtrack captures all of it.

Hi,

I went to the same school as Helmut Lotti (and I live in Belgium and from about 20 miles from where he lives). Let me tell you a little about Lotti: He started his career singing stupid songs for a long time, he wasn't a big sensation at that moment, till he discovered his amazing voice, became very popular in Belgium, amazed Europe and afterwards the rest of the world's continents. He became most famous singer from Belgium. Allthough I'm 19 and you could think such music isn't my style, I highly recommends this and many other cd's to anyone, young and old. Besides several releases of Helmut Lotti goes Classics and Out of Africa, you may be interested he has another bestseller about Latina songs. I have all his cd's and whish him despite his devorce much success allthough I've heard he stops his great career.

Discovery of this artist has been extremely rewarding. The amazing versatility of Helmut and his styles are amazing.

Superb listening. I find myself listening to this CD over and over.

Buy it. You WILL love it.

I listen to Helmut Lotti's tape "Helmut Lotti goes classic" every day! His voice is magnificent, dynamic and soothing. I first heard his music on PBS Television and was soon hooked on him! I have purchased 2 of his tapes so far!

Upon hearing this record for the first time, I had to pinch myself to make sure I was actually listening to such an amazing, if not perfect display of talent and beauty. After having listened to it over and over again along the years, maybe more than 1000 times, I still find it hard to believe that the guy was even a human being. The only fair review for such a record would be a wordless one: nothing I can write or say would do justice to the rich, almost infinte world of emotions, thoughts and colors he's able to convey through his playing. 20 stars. ;-)

I remember hearing all about this concert in Moscow when I was a kid. Whatever I thought - so some old guy played in Mosocw.

Well, reader you must forgive me for my stupidity, because for some time I realize the greatness of Maestro Horowitz, and the importance of his playing in Moscow, his hometown and homeland after 60 years.

I bought this album because I remember the hoopla in 1986. I was not dissapointed. The playing is emotional and incredible. Horowitz really was an amazing piano player - the ability to hold rapture over the audience is captured here. Those fingers -connected to a difficult, sole-eating, slight, Russian man - were magic. Wow. Those beautiful notes he plays hold in the air like ripe fruit. A master at work!

This was an inspired performance by a magician on the ivories. If your wondering what the fuss was about, or you want a CD that expresses how classical music can move the soul - then I recommend this CD very highly. Along with the Three Tenors IN Concert, it just has some inherent quality to move you.

Horowitz may have made better studio recordings, and better live recordings, but I am convinced this is just a good. I join along with the gentleman who can be heard yelling "BRAVO" at the conclusion of several pieces. BRAVO!

Every now and then throughout history a genius in a certain area or discpline emerges. Whether it is Newton, Mozart, Freud. Horowitz falls into this category. Although there are some contrarians who don't like Horowitz, these people are usually not pianists and mere amateurs. Not for nothing he is considered one of the best if not the best pianists. Saying someone does not appreciate Horowitz is the equivalent of the creationists denying evolution.
Horowitz does things with the piano that are practically impossible to emulate or duplicate. His control over color, sound and pedalling dynamics just boggles the mind. He balances left hand right hand accents in a unique way. Horowitz reaches what is in my opinion the most technically challenging accomplishment, namely being ablt to play multiple voices simultaneously as if they all are autonomous one from the other, namely, playing three voices in which one has a crescendo, another a descrescendo and a third staying the same. I challenge any pianist to go to the piano and play 10 different level of marginal volume differences. starting from forte to pianissimo. For non musicians... this is like a shotput thrower throwing the shotput 100 times and hitting 50 feet, then 50 feet and 1/4 inches, 50 and half inches (you get this point) back and forth. This control over volume is just unparralled in the world of music. It is as if Horowitz fingers have their own brains and can do things that boggle the mind. This is akin to inducing schizophrenia in mice. There is NO ONE in the solar system who can play like this.

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.

In my opinion it`s the Bing Crosby-songs that makes this album worth buying, but these songs can be bought on compilations. The rest of the music is for people with special interest for backgroundmusic in films.

So beautiful and emotional, it makes you want to cry! The score for the film and the collection of music together is absolutely breathtaking....

I loved the film, so I love the soundtrack, which brings back memories of the film. WKW uses period music to evoke the emotions and feel of the time period of the film.

What is this trash?! This film is beautiful but the soundtrack sucks big time. They should have used the actor who was playing Pablo Neruda to read the poems in ITALIAN! It's a beautiful and romantic language but no..they screw it up with actors from the U.S. OMG! I HATE JULIA ROBERTS! she makes the soundtrack even worse. I spit on this cd! believe me..I would so give this trash 0 stars but amazon doesn't allow it!

I recently rented the movie Il Postino and fell in love with it! The music, the poetry, the story, all opened my eyes to a whole new interest in the Italian culture. It's wonderful because in addition to the movie soundtrack, the CD has more than 12 poems recited by actors with the music from the movie playing in the background.

The poetry on this CD is marvellous--I never tire of Glenn Close or Sting reading Neruda's amazingly sensual poems. And the music, poignant and romantic, really hits the spot. I have given this CD to many of my friends.

This CD has some really beautiful playing, but a lot of the selections are cheesy. i.e. Titanic. They might as well have hired Celine Dion to sing along with them. And although there are some real "wow" moments like when you listen to Caravan for the first time, (The lead horns sound like the trumpet section in a jazz band), overall, the Cd isn't that exciting to listen to more than once. On the other hand, Take 9 is a CD featuring the American Horn Quartet & The Horns of the NY Philharmonic. Not only do they kill the Londoners with their technique and intonation, but the repertoire better suits the medium than lame pop fantasies. Of note is the orchestral transcription of Overture to Candide. I say transcription because yes, they even play the flute and clarinet solos in the correct octave. TAKE 9 Check it out!

Love this CD! Feel in love with it from the first hearing! The Titanic fantasy is wonderful, perhaps a tad long, but wonderful just the same. I got used to the flat high D after a couple hearings. The Hansel und Gretel is nice, but arranged a whole step below the original key, and it looses a little luster. There is a wonderful published 8 part arrangement of this in the original key that I think is better.

The jazz/swing tunes are wonderful. Uses of stopped horn to simulate muted trumpets are quite effective. I also like the use of percussions throughout the disc. I think Caravan is my favorite track.

I just received the Take 9 CD today, and I didn't have the WOW feeling as I didn't when I first heard the London Horn Sound. There are many more tracks on the London CD that I will continue to listen to. The arrangements, I feel, better handle variations of texture and timbre of the homogeneous sound of a horn section. And besides...who cares about the Grand Canyon Suite?? Take 9 arrangement choices are boring.

This is THE CD I listen to on the way to rehearsal. It truly inspires me to do my absolute best! You've got to love Roman Carnival - so excellent! I would recommend this CD to anyone, especially horn and brass players. These performers are just phenomenal. What else is there to say?