Reviews (5)

Excellent Introduction to Spanish Classical Guitar Music
As a sampler, this CD is an excellent introduction both to Spanish classical guitar music and to guitarist John Williams.
The guitar is an orchestra inminiature!
This admirable concept belongs to Hector Berlioz and it must not be a surprise the best guitarrists in the story have in common this trademark.
GUITAR MAJESTY
John Williams is a true Guitar virtuoso. His repetoire is very extensive and I use his music in my office while I work at my daily office duties. This album is a must for all guitar enthusiasts old or young. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th/21st Century Ballet    2. Ballet    3. Chamber    4. Chamber Music    5. Chamber Music & Recitals    6. Classical    7. Classical Artists    8. Classical Music    9. Classical Sonata/Sonatina for Keyboard    10. Coll. of Character/Single-Movement/Misc. Works for Keyb.    11. Guitar Solo    12. Keyboard    13. Orchestral    14. Song Collection for Solo Voice and Piano    15. Suite for Orchestra    16. Suite/Partita for Keyboard    17. Vocal   

Editorial Review

Kristin Chenoweth won a Tony for the supporting role of Sally Brown in the 1999 revival of Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th/21st Century Music for Voice and Keyboard    2. Classical Music    3. Concert/Brass/Marching Band Music    4. Film    5. Film Music    6. Miscellaneous    7. Miscellaneous Music    8. Music Theater    9. Musical Theater    10. Pop    11. Pop Vocals    12. Solo Voice(s) and Small Ensemble    13. Vocal    14. Vocal Music   

Reviews (5)

Better than baby einstein
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!

great music at a great 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.
A Wonderful CD for all ages
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. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th/21st Century Ballet    2. Ballet    3. Baroque Variations for Keyboard    4. Character/Single-Movement/Miscellaneous Work for Keyboard    5. Childrens    6. Classical    7. Classical Period Serenade/Cassation/Divertimento    8. Classical Period Symphony    9. Educational    10. Keyboard    11. Keyboard Work with Descriptive or Unclassified Title    12. Orchestral    13. Romantic Ballet    14. Romantic Sonata/Sonatina for Keyboard    15. Romantic Symphony    16. Symphonic    17. Waltz for Keyboard    18. Waltz for Orchestra   

Editorial Review

While many hospitals across the country send new mums and babes home equipped with discs of classical music to soothe and gently stimulate babies' tender minds, Read more

Reviews (15)

enjoyable
I have enjoyed this cd thus far.If you have the money to spend, this is relaxing and enjoyable, however you can get similarmusic for free on your local classical station.So if you would rather save your money...just tune in on your radio dial.I am glad I bought the cd for the familiarity of the songs, but I also love just plain old classical radio.

Play in utero, sooths out utero
My wife put the headphones from her portable CD player on her pregnant belly every night before bed."Ultrasound" played for 30 minutes to an hour every night to our unborn son.Once he was born he'd sometimes get cranky in the car.We'd turn this CD on and he'd INSTANTLY settle down.It was amazing.He's 15 months old now and it still calms him down after a frustrating car ride, and he goes down for naps like a champ with this CD playing. I HIGHLY recommend this technique to all pregnant mothers!

A++++++
most comforting and beautiful music, for anybody looking
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Subjects:  1. Ballet    2. Baroque Suite/Partita for Orchestra    3. Berceuse for Keyboard    4. Chamber    5. Classical Collections-Composer Desc.    6. Classical Music    7. Classical Period Serenade/Cassation/Divertimento    8. Coll. of Character/Single-Movement/Misc. Works for Keyb.    9. French Romantic Opera    10. German/Austrian Classical Period Opera    11. Harp Solo    12. Italian Romantic Opera    13. Keyboard    14. Keyboard Work with Descriptive or Unclassified Title    15. Miscellaneous    16. Miscellaneous Music    17. Music for Two Keyboards    18. Music with Spoken Words    19. New Age / Meditation    20. Opera   

Editorial Review

Leave it to composer John Corigliano and violinist Joshua Bell--two of biggest names in classical music--to team up and create one of 1999's best soundtracks. For many, the soundtrack to Read more

Features

• Soundtrack

Reviews (51)

staggerinly complex music makes for music hard to listen to
This score features one of the greatest violinists of our day and was written by a master composer, but those who do not appreciate dissonant, modern classical music will not enjoy this album.It is not pleasant-sounding melodic themes that most movie scores are.The writing in this music is terribly complex and theoretically intriguing, but this is not a score that I sit down and listen to as I read a book or something.This is not background music.With the exception of a couple tracks, this is not music that will please the lay people of the film music world.I give this score 3 stars because it has brilliance behind it, but will only appeal to very (modern) classically minded listeners.I'm sorry to say I don't fancy myself one of those.I recognize this piece for what it is, and honestly admit that I don't enjoy it much.

It'll leave you breathless!
John Corigliano like Leonard Bernstein or Aaron Copland-known more for his symphonies than any film music-has created one of the best scores ever. Many people are not familiar with "The Red Violin" and it's such a shame! This soundtrack contains some of the most beautiful and heart-rending music you could ever imagine. It's so powerful that you could relive the entire tale told in the movie just by listening to the music alone. Joshua Bell's performance as the violin soloist is brilliant! I gave this sountrack five stars because six wasn't an option. Anna's theme, the one that circulates throughout the entire movie...whether it is sung, hummed, bowed...it can be the most mysterious, the most beautiful, and the most disturbing melody-sending shivers down your spine. That's one of the reasons the score is so great, because of the adaptability Corigliano gives even this one theme. It's funny how one change in timbre, execution-style of playing, etc. can change how the melody affects you. Buy this soundtrack.

Haunting
I love this movie.I love the soundtrack, too.The music is haunting and I can't get it out of my head.I really like the way the story follows the violin and correspondes this to the present. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classical Soundtrack/Score    2. Concerto    3. Film    4. Film Music    5. Original Score    6. Pop    7. Soundtrack    8. Soundtracks    9. Soundtracks & Film Scores    10. Violin Concerto   

Editorial Review

From a pure-pleasure standpoint, the first Read more

Reviews (10)

More Great Fun
Like the first volume, this CD encourages young children to enjoy classical music.The silly lyrics sometimes impart factual information on the composer or the piece.There are 11 sing-along symphonies and then the 11 symphonies are replayed without the lyrics--total of 22 tracks.Booklet with lyrics and trivia is included.All our children (aged 2-12) enjoy this CD, as do we.

One is better but this is still awesome!! Gotta have it!
My children loved Beethovens Wig 1. I checked this one out at the library. Then, we decided we had to have this one too.
Absolute joy, and endless fun!
The tunes and word stay with you and before you know it, you are signing them along.My two kids (ages 9 and 7) ask me to put the CD on as soon as we get into the car.What a wonderful and fun way to get them to love classical music! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chamber    2. Children's Collections    3. Childrens    4. Concerto    5. Educational    6. French Operetta    7. Italian Romantic Opera    8. Keyboard    9. Keyboard Music    10. Miscellaneous    11. Miscellaneous Music    12. Opera    13. Orchestral    14. Orchestral Music    15. Pop    16. Prelude for Keyboard    17. Quintet for Keyboard and Four String Instruments    18. Romantic Incidental Music for Orchestra    19. Romantic Orchestral Music    20. Sing-Along   

Editorial Review

Although Gergiev is highly experienced in the theater, and he is leading an opera-ballet orchestra, this is definitely a concert Read more

Reviews (66)

Don't Let The Word Kirov Fool You!!!
Anyone who thinks that this recording of "The Nutcracker" is on any level exceptional is out of their mind. There are a zillion recordings of "The Nutcracker", whether complete or of excerpts, and for ballet theatre many of these recordings are useless. Alot of famous symphonic conductors have had a hand at recording ballet music, and at least to ballet dancers (the people they were written for) mostly without success - for example Seiji Ozawa conducting "Swan Lake" is like Adam Sandler performing Shakespeare. What makes one a great conductor of symphonic music does not necessarily make one a good conductor of ballet music, and only a very small percentage of the conductors of any recording of "The Nutcracker" or any other ballet have ever conducted a live ballet . As far as I am concerned only a ballet conductor should conduct ballet music.
The Faster the Better, Dance On, Dance On!
There is a very healthy defense called "denial" by which the human psyche protects itself from information too troubling for its system to handle.I have noted people usingthis defense lately to try to convince themselves that Valery Gergiev doesn't do all that he does. For example, a critic prattled about a recent performance with the Mariinsky (Kirov to us Westerners)that it somehow might be different when Gergiev "leaves" the Kirov for London (where he takes up directorship of the LSO next year).Leaves?Who said anything about leaving?He didn't leave when he directed or guest directed the gazillion other orchestras in the last twenty years. He's just going to keep going hither and thither, looking like a walking advertisement for No-Doz and creating better music than most of us could hope to.
Gergiev Nutcracker - Excellent
RECORDING:
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Subjects:  1. Ballet    2. Christmas / Chanukkah    3. Christmas Music    4. Classical    5. Romantic Ballet    6. Xmas Classical Instrumental   

Reviews (12)

It has no equal
The availability of this CD phenomenon with a $3.98 price should be shouted from the rooftops. Milstein outperforms everyone on both concertos; the Brahms is sublime, and the recording quality is excellent throughout. Push the purchase now key without further delay. It doesn't get any better than this, ever!

Possibly the biggest steal in all of recorded music !
As one who grew up adoring the Jascha Heifetz/Fritz Reiner recordings of these two great concerti, and certain they had set a standard of musical excellence impossible of being equalled, much less bettered, imagine my surprise upon hearing this fabulous disc.
Milstein is spectacular here!
As many reviews have been written about this disc, I'll try to keep it short and mention the things that I like about this CD most.
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Subjects:  1. Classical    2. Classical Composers    3. Classical Music    4. Concerto    5. Violin Concerto   

Editorial Review

What a story there is behind this recording! When Van Cliburn won the InternationalTchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War with his playing of this concerto, itcreated an international sensation. The recording followed immediately thereafter, and Cliburn waslaunched on an international career of unprecedented celebrity for a classical musician. Perhaps theattention was too much, too soon, given his subsequent burn-out and retirement from public life.Fortunately, we have these unique recordings to document what was, by all accounts, a genuinephenomenon. This is the disc "heard 'round the world." Read more

Reviews (41)

An all-time classic!
Get it for the coupling of two piano masterpieces!Get it for the performance by a legend!Get it for its historical significance!But, for Pete's sake, get it!
The standard
I wanted a good piano recording and after a lot of web searching and reading reviews, I decided on this Van Cliburn recording.What sold me was that it was Van Cliburn at his prime, with this recording done only days after winning the Tchaikovsky competition.I am very satisfied with the CD as a whole.
One of classical music's best back in SACD
Van Cliburn's famous rendering of the Tchaikovsky concerto, recorded just days after the tall Texan won Moscow's Tchaikovsky competition in 1958, has been one of classical music's most famous and endearing recordings since the day it first appeared on vinyl.
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Subjects:  1. Classical    2. Classical Composers    3. Classical Music    4. Concerto    5. Orchestral & Symphonic    6. Piano Concerto   

Editorial Review

Is it chance or serendipity that Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic timed their new recording of Holst's Read more

Features

• Enhanced

Reviews (6)

A recording of "The Planets" worth owning.
I was very anxious and curious to hear this new recording of The Planets. The reasons? Simon Rattle recorded The Planets almost at the same time that the Berlin Philharmonic was recording it 20+ Years ago with Herbert Von Karajan and Colin Davis. The Karajan recording was dismal in places. The Davis recording was pretty good, but the Rattle recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra was lackluster. Flash forward to 2006. Sir Simon Rattle has now recorded The Planets with the Berlin Philhrmonic and has achieved a recording that surpasses all three of the afore mentioned recordings.
Big names produce lacklustre results
A website, a "making-of"enhanced CD feature, a rave review in Gramophone (it is Rattle, after all) - expectations for this issue are highly strung. Unfortunately, the sounds as such do not live up to them. This is a strangely bloodless traversal of the planetary system, with Rattle seemingly determined to go all subtle and turn the music into some kind of Rococo filigree. As in his Mahler recordings, the result can sound deliberate and mannered. Granted, at times it is definitely successful: Venus is simply breathtakingly beautiful, and Mercury's fleet-footedness is dazzling. But Mars is without menace (and without organ too, by the sound of it); Jupiter is unexhilerating, Uranus just OK but nothing more (and again, not a trace of the organ even in that spectacular upward glissando); Saturn and Neptune, finally, are seriously lacking in any sense of mystery. I suspect the recording itself is partly to blame; EMI engineering is, in my experience, rarely top notch, and the Berlin Philharmonie notoriously difficult acoustically speaking. On CD, there is lack of detail, the dynamic range does not expand quite as widely as one would hope, and strings can sound strangely lacklustre and thin. Worse though is the distancing of the woodwinds, who at times sound as if they were sent out of the hall to keep the female choir company. Then again, that choir, sounds too near rather than distant.
Space Junk
Rattle disappoints in a perfunctory reading of one of the most familar of concert warhorses. Mars is a bit "oogie-boogie" scary, not terrifying. Venus sulks in a warm bath of ultra-rubato. Rattle himself seems slightly embarrassed by the great central hymn of Jupiter, calling it "a nostalgic look at an England that never existed - the England of cricket fields and warm beer and bad cooking". Well, then - guess that shows US. But the most egregrious offense is cobbling together unwanted bits to, in Rattle's own words, "make a calling card for the orchestra". This is essentially make-work for a group of completely unrelated compositional styles and the results are underwhelming in the extreme. It's bad enough that Pluto has been "downgraded" from planetary status - it now has to suffer the insult of being tagged "The Renewer" (for entirely obscure reasons) and having a tacky, alternately whispy and annoying six-minute noise-bomb associated with it. (The composer, Colin Matthews, is far better known as the producer of the Nonesuch recording of the Gorecki Third Symphony than as an orchestral composer.) Adding this piece after the ephemeral fade-out of Neptune makes as much sense as sticking chrome-plated plastic arms on the Venus d'Milo.
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Subjects:  1. Chamber Music & Recitals    2. Classical    3. Classical Composers    4. Orchestral    5. Orchestral Music    6. Suite for Orchestra   

Editorial Review

It's as if composer Danny Elfman's fertile relationship with director Tim Burton had been building up to this, their 11th collaboration and perhaps the one that best encapsulates their shared aesthetics: It's hard to think of a subject better suited to the two men than an adaptation of Roald Dahl's Read more

Features

• Soundtrack

Reviews (85)

Unbelievable underscore; but undercooked, unmelodic, unmemorable songs
For me, Danny Elfman is among the most brilliant film composers of all time, so it disappointed me that the songs written for this film just couldn't in fairness be said to be good.
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory...
Mysterious and haunting, this darken soundtrack is easy to listen to as Danny Elfman did another excellent job of conducting a dark and beautiful score. Some of it is fast paced while some of the other tracks are slow paced, giving the score a balance. Danny Elfman was perfect for the job on this score, for he has composed a lot of scores that "The Wonderful" Johnny Depp was in. The music is a little simular to the Casper 1995 original score, a haunting and melodic score. This soundtrack is highly recommended along with the other eerie scores of Mr. Danny Elfman.
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
The movie was great! If your a Johnny Depp Fan (after 21 Jumpstreet), you would love the movie!It's funny and magical! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Film    2. Film Music    3. Pop    4. Soundtrack    5. Soundtracks & Film Scores   

Editorial Review

Compared with the Broadway cast recording, the 1956 soundtrack to the film version of Read more

Features

• Cast Recording
• Original recording remastered
• Soundtrack

Reviews (30)

great album
Great songs for kids to learn to sing along, instead of bubble gum fluff.

a classic
A true musical theater classic.Wonderful melodies that will last for years to come.
"I Have Dreamed"
As an avid collector of Broadway Cast Recordings and Original Soundtracks I have dreamed for years for complete recordings (including underscoring) of soundtracks to film versions of Broadway musicals.The one advantage to soundtrack recordings of film versions of Broadway musicals is access to large studio orchestras and Hollywood's best arrangers and orchestrators.The most satisfying result of this for me is the sound of each production number.What the large studio orchestra does is mirror the visual action of the large (or small) production number.The original LP versions of these soundtracks rarely included the orchestral tracks due to space limitations.I cite one example to illustrate this point though there are many others.That example is the dance preceding the barn raising in the soundtrack to "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" included on the wonderful Rhino disc.This CD of "The King & I", along with other Angel releases, "Carousel" and "Oklahoma!" also feature generous portions of orchestral tracks.For this reason alone (though there are others)this CD is a must for any R & H fan. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cast Recordings    2. Music Theater    3. Musical Theater    4. Musicals    5. Pop    6. Soundtrack    7. Soundtracks    8. Soundtracks & Film Scores   

Reviews (9)

A philosophical work
I first heard "Drumming" on my car radio (of all places, of course it was probably WBAI-FM in New York) when it first came out in the early seventies. I pulled over to the side of the road to listen, so hypnotic was its rhythm. I have the original three-LP Deutch Grammophone version (the third disk contains two other pieces), which I put on tonight for the first time in many years, and came here to Amazon in hopes of finding a DVD-based version that would play straight through without interruption. (I guess that's still in the future.)
Amazing, absolutely amazing
I could blather on about this album for a good while and since the other reviewers take you into a more in depth analysis of such an extraordinary album I'll just say this venture into minimalism is incredibly relaxing. While listening to it subconciously you seem to pick out tunes even when it sounds to be incredibly cluttered. Gradually if you're still listening by the time you pop the second CD, it becomes less aggressive, less cluttered and more peaceful, calming, tranquil and then picks the pace up yet again but still sound somewhat slightly different all the time. It's a sheer masterclass of beauty. I hate using words like that normally because it usually makes you sound like a pompous fool but this however deserves the term. It's quite simply astonishing and if you feel overly frustrated or exhausted with your life, this could prove to be the perfect tonic for those with an open mind towards music. It's a pure aural pleasure. Surrender subconsciously and the rewards are great!

like dying and going to Heaven
at least if you can hear it live, which I did at BAM in the early 80s; but even if you can't, the recording still provides something of the eerie visceral sensation that accompanies immersion in a tide of interlacing percussion shifting from the lower to the higher pitches, such that at the beginning you can FEEL the sound somewhere around you solar plexus (at the live performance, I was astonished to feel my large leather handbag vibrating sympathetically as if it were a tuned drum), then progressing gradually up (inside!) your chest, throat, and into your skull-case, until the sound seems to rise into the air right off the top of your head.All along you hear it in your ears as well, enchanted by the sheer "color" of the instruments' endlessly shifting, overlapping patterns.The effect is visual, too, as if one could hear the everchanging symmetries in the viewchamber of a kaleidoscope, but unfurling as a series over a long arc of time.It's BEAUTIFUL. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chamber Music & Recitals    2. Classical    3. Classical Composers    4. Classical Music    5. Minimalism    6. Modern Composition    7. Two Solo Voices with Small Ensemble    8. Vocal   

Editorial Review

The concluding chapter of director Sergio Leone's epochal Man With NoName trilogy ushered film scorer Ennio Morricone into the pop mainstreamcourtesy of a hit cover of its main title by AmericanHugo Montenegro.More importantly, it both showcased the composer'sspectacularly inventive range and set him up for even greater triumphsto come with Leone and others. Butaficionados of Read more

Features

• Original recording remastered
• Soundtrack

Reviews (17)

4 1/2 rounded up; Great PerformanceWith Some Problems In Recording Quality
I have always thought of "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" soundtrack as an artwork in itself, apart from the movie--a symphony or tone poem.This expanded version worried me a bit, since the new pieces broke up the order in which I was used to hearing the songs on the old soundtrack.But they seem to blend in seamlessly, not least because the themes established in the first two songs---"Il Buono, il cattivo, il brutto", and "Il tramonto" are repeated throughout."Sentenza", for example, starts out with eerie strings, evoking shimmering mirages on the desert, changing to variations on the main theme. "Il ponte di corde" revisits a theme from "Il tramonto."
Music That Lives in Your Heart and Mind
Ennio Morricone is without a doubt the best musician to ever compose a Western Movie soundtrack.I have loved the movie The Good, The Bad and The Ugly ever since I was a child, and it wasn't just the stylish visuals, and the great story, but more so the music that grabbed me, and transported me back to the Old West.
Good Music! Famous Theme Song! This Expanded Edition Rocks!
Some other reviewers find this Expanded Edition of THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY SOUNDTRACK to be inferior to a certain imported version. Whether that is true or not, I don't know; but I do know that I thoroughly enjoy this Expanded Edition CD!
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Subjects:  1. Film    2. Film Music    3. Original Score    4. Pop    5. Soundtrack    6. Soundtracks & Film Scores   

Editorial Review

These 1977-78 recordings are Karajan's best Brahms--better than his somewhat mannered digital set. The Berlin Philharmonic, as ever, is amazingly smooth and accomplished, playing with great class without losing any power--as an example, just listen to the finale of the second symphony. DG's engineers have turned this always-good recording into something truly magnificent to hear, and, at the price, this is a sure bet. Read more

Reviews (17)

Symphonic Heaven
Karajan is largely considered the greatest exponent for mainstream symphonic works- Mozart, Brahms, Tchaikovsky Mahler, Dvorak and Bruckner. This collection is a terrific buy and it's affordable. You can't go wrong. Recorded in 1977 and 1978, Karajan delivers all the rich melody, grace, grandeur and musical harmony that Brahms suffused his four symphonies with. The Berlin Philharmonic are trained so that even the strings move with miraculous exactitude. The only other worthy set is Solti's. This one has everything one can hope for in Brahms symphonies.
A great part of your collection!
This is an easy, afforable way to get all four Brahms symphonies on two great quality cds.Each symphony is recorded with the passion and fire you get from Brahm's music, although I have heard better recordings of the symphonies,I would still buy these cd's for the price.
The greatest Brahms twofer you could imagine
DG's catalog is overflowing with Brahms performances from Karajan, and although this late-Seventies cycle of the four symphonies is not esteemed as highly as his earlier analog recordings, the truth is that Karajan had few real competitors in these works during the postwar era--except himself. He was the greatest Brahms conductor after Walter and Furtwangler, bar none, and these are outstanding performances in every way.The best are the First and Thrid symphonies, two works that Karajan was peerless in. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classical    2. Classical Composers    3. Classical Music    4. Orchestral & Symphonic    5. Romantic Symphony    6. Symphonic   

Editorial Review

With the help of some friends (James Taylor and Alison Krauss lend some vocal support), the trio of Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor have created yet another fascinating hybrid of chamber music and bluegrass. This follow-up to 1996's