Reviews (19)

Whether you like classical music or not...
... you will love the rythym and beat and feel of this music! It is the best music to clean house by! I know, sounds silly, but most of it has such a good back beat, and you will hear many songs you probably recognize, from the Lone Ranger Theme song, to Flight of the Bumblebee, to Lullabye, and the music is just the best orchestration ever.

HOOKED ON CLASSICS VOL 1
I FIRST HEARD THIS CD BACK IN 1991 WHEN I WAS IN THE ARMY. A FELLOW SOLDIER WAS PLAYING IN ON HIS CASSETTE PLAYER. I WENT AND BOUGHT IT THE NEXT DAY. UNFORTUNATELY I LEND IT TO A FRIEND AND IT GOT LOST. TO MY REGRET I COULD NOT REMEMBER THE NAME. IT TOOK ME A LONG TIME BUT I FINALLY FOUND IT. I NOW OWN THE ENTIRE COLLECTION. WHETHER YOU LIKE CLASSICAL MUSIC OR NOT I GUARANTEE YOU WILL ENJOY ANY OF THE HOOKED ON CLASSICS SERIES...

Walking with the Hooked ons
I enjoy walking.My favorite music is Hooked ON Classics. All the Hooked On Music is great to walk to but this is my favorite ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classical    2. Orchestral & Symphonic    3. Popular Music    4. Rock/Pop Collections    5. V/a Compilations   

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   

Features

• Soundtrack

Reviews (41)

SERENITY-FIREFLY
What a terrible loss to television, this movie based on the television series "FIREFLY" was the best scifi on television. The wit and humor was neverending and the charactors were like watching an old western in space. It is beyond me why all excellnt type scifi series bite the dust and they leave on sex, drugs type dramas that basically cater to delusional minds....what were they thinking by pulling this off the air...Buy this DVD you wont be sorry if you like excellentScifi.

unknown
I bought this from a friend's wishlist. I do not own it and have not heard it. Why are you asking me about somthing Amazon should know was a gift? I gave it 5 stars because I am guessing it is good, and it would not let me leave it blank.

Get the Firefly soundtrack, it's much much better
My kids and I are huge fans of Firefly and Serenity, but this was a huge disappointment.Believing that this soundtrack would be an excellent one like the Firefly soundtrack, I purchased it.It was/is awful.As others have said, there's basically only one really good track which lasts about 20 seconds.The rest are beautiful scores riddled with incredibly loud jolting noises that are offensive and can quite seriously make you drive your car into the ditch (they're that loud).If they were this loud in the movie, I wouldn't have left the theatre.Why they overdramatized these noises for the soundtrack is beyond me.It ruined it.I would not recommend it, but if you want it, please don't pay much.You'll be hugely disappointed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Film    2. Film Music    3. Movie Themes    4. Original Score    5. Pop    6. Soundtrack    7. 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   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (32)

My Fair Lady Isn't So Fair
I am a die-hard Julie Andrews fan, so that alreadybrings it down a notch. I also really like Audrey Hepburn and the fact that she didnt do her own singing makes it seem fake.
The Rain in Spain stays Mainly in the Plain
This movie film soundtrack of 'My Fair Lady' is magnificent. Trust me, You'll love it. I already know I love it. Audre Hepurn and Rex Harrison. WOw. ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS IT'S WONDERFUL

A Great Soundtrack
The music is sweeping and wonderful.It makes you want to sing and dance along.There is a wonderful mix of classical and songs with lyrics.The tracks go in the order from the film, and if you have seen the film, you can picture it wonderfully in your mind as you let yourself take in this marvelous collection of songs from My Fair Lady. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classical    2. Film    3. Film Music    4. Musicals    5. Show Tunes    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 Read more

Reviews (42)

Best on the Planet!
These are flawless preformances of great music by some of the most talented artists on the planet.Slumber My Darling will leave you so relaxed you'll have to remember to breathe.The reels will bring you to your feet.This music reaches the soul as well as the ear.

Stilted
I suppose you will enjoy this if you really like Yo-Yo Ma at his most boring.This is glorified elevator music and about as interesting.

Walking the trail
I actually heard this cd while having a root canal done at the dentist's office. I find the music so wonderful and the vocal segments are great. It does make you feel like you are walking the Appalachian Trail...and makes a root canal painless! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Appalachia    2. Chamber    3. Chamber Music    4. Chamber Music & Recitals    5. Classical    6. Classical Crossover    7. Classical Music    8. Miscellaneous    9. Miscellaneous Music    10. North America    11. Romantic Music for Voice and Keyboard    12. Vocal   

Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (39)

The Very Best of Maria Callas
Second on my list for CDs that should be recommended for people who want to start on a long trail of Callas to the Carmen with Gedda and Prétre. This has perhaps the best excerpts of all time from Maria Callas. The 'Ritorna vincitor' and 'Una voce poco fa' are to be treasured. Any long-time Callas fan will find this CD of little to no interest, because anything they haven't heard before, there's a better, low-audio-quality version of somewhere. 4 stars for that reason.

Classic Callas
Countless assessments of Maria Callas' life and career, as well as re-issues of some of her definitive recorded performances have been fueled by the 25th anniversaary of her tragic and prophetic death alone in her Paris flat on September 16, 1977.One of those such discs, this 17 track retrospective compilation from the archives of EMI is among the best.Every character she portrays is bought to life by her incomparible ability both vocally and emotionally.Enjoy!

FEELher music.
Extremely rare.A beautiful tone,nobody will ever have this evergreen voice again.Just listen to each passage and sound.A determinated voice,always under control even when she shouted.It's not me,anyway,who has to say this n' that.
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Subjects:  1. Classical    2. Classical Artists    3. Classical Music    4. Classical Vocals    5. French Romantic Opera    6. German/Austrian Classical Period Opera    7. Italian 20th/21st Century Opera    8. Italian Romantic Opera    9. Opera    10. Romantic Opera   

Features

• Soundtrack

Reviews (17)

KA is *theater*, not circus... and it's awe-inspiring!
Prior to KA, I had seen Saltimbanco. I wasn't even going to watch KA, because I'm not too fond of circus in general, even though Saltimbanco is very good at that.
not what I expected
of course, since it's from Cirque, I should know better than to have expectations. The CD's music is darker than I expected, so it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.If you've seen this show, you probably know what to expect, but if you haven't, this isn't as light as many of their other CDs.

It's about the Effects, NOT the Performances
I have seen 3 other Cirque's, Mystere (fantastic), O (great) and the one in Orlando (Okay). This one was a total disappointment. It was all about smoke, grunts, lights and the stage. In fact, the stage was the star of the show.
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Subjects:  1. Circus Music    2. Ethnic Fusion    3. Music Theater    4. Musical Theater    5. Pop    6. Soundtrack    7. Soundtracks & Film Scores    8. Worldbeat   

Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (18)

I Wish Dennis Brain Had Been Born So That His Performing Powers Peaked in 1995
I purchased The LP in 1953 and proceeded to 'wear it out.' No, I have not yet thrown it out.
A Master Performs a Master
I'm not much of a classical music reviewer.I've been exposed to a lot of music, but I tend to stick to favorite performances, so I don't have the depth needed to really be authoritative.Except perhaps for oboe, and that's because I grew up listening to John De Lancie and Marcel Tabuteau - and once you hear really good, you know what's what.This album is a similar case.Dennis Brain wasn't a 'good' French horn player, he was probably the best that there ever was or will be.