Mahler: Symphonie No.3 in D Minor

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Leonard Bernstein more or less owned this symphony, and both this and his earlier Sony recording are superb. He was one of the few conductors who wasn't afraid of the musical insanity that Mahler unleashes in the first movement (a collision between two marches of very different character), and the New York Philharmonic is one of the few orchestras in the world with the stamina to carry the whole thing off. This is the longest symphony ever written that's in the international repertoire, but listening to Bernstein's way with it, you'd never guess. This recording is also included in DG's magnificent box set of the complete Mahler symphonies. --David Hurwitz

Tracks:

Also Sprach Zarathustra (Sunrise) - R. Strauss
Mars (The Planets) - Holst
Overture 1812 - Tchaikovsky
Entry Of The Gladiadtors - Fucik
Sabre Dance - Khachaturian
Procession Of The Sardar - Ippolitov Ivanov
Night On Bald Mountain - Mussorgsky
Anvil Chor (II Trovatore) - Verdi
The Thunderer March - Sousa
Thunder & Lightening Polka - J. Strauss
Prelude To Act III : Lohengrin - Wagner
The Ride Of The Valkryies - Wagner
Montagues & Capulets (Romeo & Juliet Ballet Suite) - Prokofiev
The Storm: Symphony No. 6 In F Major, 'Pastorale' - Beethoven
Rondeau - Edward Carroll
Overture: Fireworks Music - Handel
March To The Scaffold: Symphonie Fantastique - Berlioz
LesToreadors - Bizet
William Tell Overture: Finale - Rossini
Revolutionary Study - Abbey Simon
Fanfare For The Common Man - Copland
Sym No. 1 'Titan' IV Sturmisch Bewegt (Excerpt) - Mahler
Augurs Of Spring From Rite Of Spring - Stravinsky
Russian Dance From Petrouchka - Stravinsky
The Great Gate At Kiev From Pictures At An Exhibition - Mussorgsky

Customer Reviews:

Good selection.......2005-10-02

I bought this CD to use in my classroom as listening examples. I'm not just a super big fan of some of the performances, but they are all good and for the price you can't beat it. That's why I gave it 5 stars. It's worth more than it costs by far.

thunderous applause.......2005-08-31

This is a who's-who of great pieces of music you have heard all of your life, and never knew the names and stories! I listened to it over and over in the car and had my own concert! A friend borrowed it to add music to his Home Movies and it was perfect!

Good Music at a Great Price.......2004-03-06

I bought this CD mostly for "Entry of the Gladiators," which everyone will recognize as classic circus music. The performance on this CD (by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops) is the best available version of Entry of the Gladiators. The rest of the CD offers mostly excerpts of classical music.

You will like this!.......2004-02-19

I had purchased an abundance of the "Favorites" collection and some were better than others.

This CD is at the top of them all. They may be short, but not that short. Wondrous music.

I can almost guarantee that you will like this music.
Well worth the price!

Good for the novice.......2002-06-08

The recordings on this disc are pretty good. However, the editors selected only the *loud* parts, as indicated by the title. I was pretty disappointed to find that the pieces are, in many cases, edited to reflect the most famous themes, etc, instead of including the whole work. In general, I would recommend this to the classical music novice, or someone who wants to expand their knowledge of classical music in general. Those who already are familiar with these pieces will probably feel gypped.

Average customer rating:

Instruments of the Orchestra - Great Reference Material!
Beginner or Expert
Very Informative and Enjoyable
Frank's view
Excellent Intro for Those Not Familiar with the Orchestra

Instruments of the Orchestra
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00006O0NT
Release Date: 2002-12-03

Tracks:

Overture To 'Tannhauser'
Domna, Pos Vos Ay Chausida
We Don't Merely Use Instruments, We Play On Them. And They Play On Us.
Hungarian Dance No.7
The Violin Is One Of The Most Tender And Beautiful Instruments Ever Invented.
Violin Concerto In D Major (Adagio)
But For A Long Time It Was Seen As The Instrument Of The Devil.
The Soldier's Tale: Triumphal March Of The Devil
The Manipulative Seductiveness Of The Gypsy Violin.
Csardas Music
The Violin And The Initiation Of Nature
The Four Seasons (Spring, Mvt 1)
Birds Are Again Evoked In The Second Concerto, Especially Music's Natural Favourite.
The Four Seasons (Summer, Mvt 1)
Like The Devil, The Violin Is A Master Of Disguise.
Old Viennese Dance No.3 'Schon Rosmarin'
The Menacing Sensuality Of Ravel's Tzigane: A Very Different Side Of The Violin:
Tzigane
Do We Now Have The True Measure Of This Instrument? Not Just Yet.
Caprice No.24
The Many Effects Of The String Tremolando: Brandenburg Concerto No.4 (Last Mvt)/From Joy To Fright/Quartettsatz In C Minor/The String Tremolo Practically Spells The World Agitato.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No.7)
Prokofiev's Tremolo In Romeo And Juliet Should Not Be Heard Just Before Bedtime.
Romeo And Juliet: Act IV
Vivaldi Use It To Illustrate The Shivering Of Travellers Crossing The Ice.
The Four Seasons (Winter, Mvt 1)
The Violin Muted
Clair De Lune
The Gentleness Of Muted Strings Persists Even When A Whole Orchestra Plays.
Piano Concerto No.21 In C Major, K.467 (Slow Mvt)
The Pizzicato Violin
Pizzicato Polka
In Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto, The Accompaniment Is Pizzicato.
Violin Concerto No.2 In G Minor (Slow Mvt)
Varieties Of Pizzicato: Colas Breugnon (The People's Feast)/Now A Drier, Leaner, Hungrier Pizzicato. There's Not A Lot Of Comfort Here./Capriol Suite (Tordion)/The Use Of Pizzicato As 'Percussion'/Romeo And Juliet (Act I)/Mahler Used Pizzicato...
The Planets (Mars - The Bringer Of War)
The Technique Of Double-Stopping Enables The Violin To Play Duets With Itself./Sonata No.3 In C Major For Unaccompanied Violin (Fugue)/Now A Later Example Of The Same Technique
Hungarian Dance No.4
Double-Stopping Is A Standard Feature Of A Lot Of Folk Music.
The Four Seasons (Autumn, Mvt 1)
Now The Same Technique, But The Sound Might Have Come From Another World.
Bolero
Double-Stopping Can Only Approximate The Sound Of A Real Violin Duet.
Cadenza To The Violin Concerto By Brahms
Now Compare That With A Real Violin Duet.
Forty-Four Duos (No. 1: Teasing Song)
Another Duo By Bartok, Demonstrating The Violin's Rich Lower Register
Forty-Four Duos (No.2: Maypole Dance)
And Now What May Be The Most Beautiful Accompanied Violin Duet In History
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
The Soul Of The Violin Is In Song; But What About This Weird Passage?
Violin Concerto No.1 In D Major (Mvt 2)
The Use Of Harmonies In The Orchestra Can Be Both Magical And Unsettling.
Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 1, Opening)
Tchaikovsky's Use Of Harmonics In The Sleeping Beauty Is Both Strange And Darling.
The Sleeping Beauty (Act II, No.15: Entr'Acte)
Ravel's Harmonics In Mother Goose Effect A Magical Transformation.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
Stravinsky's Harmonics In The Firebird Transport Us Almost Into Another World./The Firebird (Introduction)
The Natural Upper Notes Of The Violins Have A Unique Emotional 'Grab'.
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Of The Afterworldsmen)
Still In Their Upper Register, The Violins Unleash The Energy Of A Young Colt.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No. 4)
Elsewhere, Britten Uses The Same High Register To Create A Very Different Mood.
Four Sea Interludes (Dawn) From 'Peter Grimes'
To End This Outing With The Violins, A Charming Little Elfin Dance
Elfenreigen

Tracks:

Introduction To The Viola
Viola Concerto (Mvt 1)
Khatchaturian Gets A Very Different Sound From It: Fuller, Fruitier, More Exotic.
Gayane Suite No.1 (Armen's Solo)
Very Nearly The Whole Of The Violin's Upper Register Is Also Available To The Viola.
Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'
The Viola Can Bring A Special, Rich Twanginess To Pizzicato That The Violins Lack./Don Quixote/Berlioz Drew Sounds From It That Retain Their Metallic Strangeness Even Today.
Harold In Italy (Mvt 4)
The Muted Viola: Intimate, Gentle, Poignant In Dvork
Cypresses (No.9)
The Massed Violas Of The Modern Symphony Orchestra In Mahler
Symphony No.4 (Mvt 3)
The 'Period' Viola In Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No.6 (Last Mvt)
The Cello: A Voice Of Unique Nobility
Suite No.1 For Unaccompanied Cello (Prelude)
Brahms And The 'Soul' Of The Cello
Piano Concerto No.2 In B Flat Major (Mvt 3)
Most Orchestral Composers Tend To Emphasize The Cello's Lower Register.
Cantata 'Herz Und Mund Und Tat Und Leben', BWV 147 (Soprana Aria: Bereite Dir, Jesu)
In The Time Of Beethoven The Cello Remained As Fundamental As Ever.
Symphony No.3 'Eroica' (Finale)
But The Cello Is Not Condemned To Spend Its Life In The Basement.
Elfentanz, Op.39
Not Only In Recital Showpieces Like That Is The Cello Is Used In Its Highest Register.
The Protecting Veil (Opening)
A Cello With An Identity-Crisis: The Pizzicato Flamencan
Flamenco
Double-Stopping In The Lower Reaches Of The Cello's Range
Solo Suiet For Cello And Piano (Sardana)
It's In The Middle Register That The Cello Really Comes Into Its Own.
Oriental Dance, Op.2 No.2
It Was To The Cellos That Beethoven Gave Two Of His Most Famous Themes./Symphony No.5 (Mvt 2)/Still More Famous Than That Theme Is This One From The Ninth Symphony.
Symphony No.9 (Finale)
Introduction To The Double-Bass
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Elephant)
But The Double-Bass Can Be Intensely Expressive And Graceful.
Elegy No.1 In D Major
The Range Of The Double-Bass Is The Greatest Of All The String Instruments/Allegro Di Concerto, 'Alla Mendelssohn'/And It's Also Capable Of Very Considerable Virtuosity.
Capriccio Di Bravura
Double-Bass Solos In Orchestral Scores Are Rare But Often Memorable./Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 3)/In His Third Symphony Mahler Makes A Very Different Use Of The Instrument./Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1)
The Double-Bass Muted In Prokofiev/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Kije's Wedding)/In Another Work Prokofiev Uses The Double-Bass To Enhance The Winds./Romeo And Juliet (Act III)/And He Combines The Bass Clarinet With A Shivering Tremolo From The Double-Basses....
Symphony No.5 (Mvt 3)/So Much For The Strings/On Now To The Winds

Tracks:

The Antiquity And Magic Of The Flute
Prelude A L'Apres-Midi D'Un Faune
The Versatility And Agility Of The Flute
Orchestral Suite No.2 In B Minor (Badinerie)
The Flute In Fifteenth-Century Spain
Sa'Dawi
Other Flutes: The Bass And Alto
Chamber Music No.II
The Piccolo - Aptly Named
La Naissance D'Osiris (Mvt 6)
From A Piccolo Of The Eighteenth Century To One Of Its Descendants In The Twentieth
Suite No.1 For Small Orchestra (Valse)
A Variety Of Techniques
Chamber Music No.II
Flutter-Tonguing. But Tchaikovsky Got There Eighty Years Before.
The Nutcracker (Act II, No.2: Scene)
From The Transverse To The Vertical: The Baroque Recorder
Recorded Suite In A Minor (Menuet II)
An Unfamiliar, Early Vision Of The Instrument
Naelden, Naelden
The Bachian Oboe
Cantata 'Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott', BWV 80 (No.7: Duetto)
Introduction To The Cor Anglais Or 'English Born'
Symphony No.9 'From The New World' (Mvt 2)
The Loneliness Of The Cor Anglais
The Swan Of Tuonela
The Cor Anglais Joins The French Horn In Haydn.
Symphony No.22 'The Philosopher' (Opening)
Introduction To The Oboe D'Amore, Beloved Of Bach - But Also Of Ravel
Bolero
The Clarinet Family: Boxing The Compass, From The Depths Of The Bass Clarinet.../The Egyptian (Violence)/...To The Raucous And Squealy.../Taras Bulba (The Death Of Ostap)/...To The Shrill And Complaining...
Petrushka (No.8: Peasant With Bear)/...To The High Sprits Of A Playful Puppy./Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)/And To The Downright Jazzy/Romeo And Juliet (Act II)
As The High Clarinets Tend To Be Loud, So The Bass Tends To Be Soft:
Gayane Suite No. 1 (Mvt 5)
The Bass Clarinet Is Used By Most Composers Mainly As A Colouring Agent.../Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/...But It Does Occasionally Get A Whole Tune To Itself./Iberia (Almeria).
The Range Of The Normal Clarinet Parts Goes Quite High...
The Snow Maiden (Scene 5: Melodrama)
...And Quite Low.
Peter And The Wolf (The Cat)
The Clarinet As Concerto Soloist
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
But That's Not The Instrument Mozart Wrote It For; This Is:
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
Introduction To The Saxophone
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 4)
The Soprano Saxophone Has Quite A Different Feel To It.
L'Arlesienne Suite No.1 (Minuet)
The Little Sopranino Sax Goes Even Higher.
Bolero
The Most Famous Use Of The Saxophone Is In An Orchestration By Ravel.
Pictures At An Exhibition (The Old Castle)
The Saxophone Can Be Quite Contagiously Good-Humoured.
Sax-O-Phun
The Puffa-Puffa Image Of The Bassoon
Peter And The Wolf (Grandfather)
The Bachian Bassoon, In Accompanimental Mode
Cantata 'Weichet Nur, Betrubte Schatten' ('Wedding Cantata'), BWV 202 (Aria No.1)
Bizet Leaves The Puffa-Puffa Image Out, Allowing The Bassoon To Sing./Carmen Suite No.1 (Les Dragons D'Alcala)
And Ravel, Also In Spanish Mode, Does Likewise.
Bolero
The Bassoon As A Voice Of High Seriousness, Indeed Desolate Loneliness
Symphony No.3 (Opening)
The Eerie Bassoon In Its Highest Register
The Rite Of Spring (Opening)
Stravinsky Now Draws On Its Lowest Register, Lonely And Melancholy.
The Firebird Suite (1919, Berceuse)
The Bassoon As Concerto Soloist, Avoiding All Exaggeration
Bassoon Concerto In G Minor (Finale)
The Deep-Voiced Contra-Bassoon, As A Fairy-Tale Beast
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
The French Horn Under Its Woodwind Hat
Wind Quintet, Op.43 (Last Mvt)
Now A More Prominent Role, In A Woodwind Quintet From An Earlier Era
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Mvt 2)
The Horn In Harmonious Blend With Strings In Another Quintet
Horn Quintet, K.407 (Finale)

Tracks:

The Trumpet As Virtuoso Soloist
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Last Mvt)
The Special Brillance Of Paired Trumpets
Concerto In C For Two Trumpets, RV537 (Mvt 1)
The Ceremonial Trumpet
Fanfare For The Common Man
Trumpets And Drums - An Incomparable Alliance
Messiah (The Trumpet Shall Sound)
The Versatility Of The Trumpet, From The Most Public To The Most Lonely
Piano Concerto In F (Slow Mvt)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of The City/An American In Paris/The Trumpet As Recruitment Officer/The Soldier's Tale (The March)/The Trumpet As Swaggerer
Carmen Suite No.2 (Habanera)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of Strength And Courage
Carmet Suite No.2 (Toreador's Song)
The Trumpet Muted/Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Opening)/The Trumpet As The Voice Of Weariness
Billy The Kid
The Trumpet As Character Actor
Pictures At An Exhibition (No.6)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of God
Mass In B Minor ('Et Exspecto')
The Birth Of The Trombone
Aenmerckt Nu Hier
The Birth Of The Brass As A Family
Canzon 12 In Double Echo
The Trombone In The Eighteenth Century
Trombone Concerto In B Flat Major (Finale)
The Tone Of The Tenor Trombone/Romance For Trombone And Organ/The Memorable Voice Of The Bass Trombone/Requiem (Mvt 2)/But The Bass Trombone Is More Than An Instrumental Bullfrog.
Hosannah
The Trombones Become Part Of The Orchestra.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
The Wagnerian Trombone:/Overture To 'Tannhauser'
The Trombone As Caricaturist
Pulcinella (No.19: Vivo)
The Trombone As Raspberry/Concerto For Orchestra (Intermezzo)
The Horn And The Hunt
Horn Concerto No.4 In E Flat, K.495 (Finale)
The Challenging Horn Of The Baroque
Abaris Ou Les Boreades (Menuet)
The Scarcity Of First-Rate Players In Handel's Time
Walter Music (Minuet 1)
The Horn As Magician/The Firebird Suite (1919, Finale)
Horns And The Sound Of Nobility
Overture To 'Tannhauser' (Opening)
The Special Sound Of The Horn In Its Higher Register
Mass In B Minor ('Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus')
The Trumpet-Like Sound Of Massed Horns
Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1, Opening)
The Tuba - Unfairly Maligned?
Symphony No.6 (Mvt 3)
The Tuba Perfectly Cast By Ravel
Pictures At An Exhibition (Bydlo)

Tracks:

Introduction. And We Begin With A Bang.
Fanfare For The Common Man/The Bass Drum On The Battlefields/Wellington's Victory, Op.91 (Opening)
At The Opposite Extreme Is The Triangle.
Piano Concerto No.1 In E Flat (Scherzo)
Categories Of Percussion: Tuned And Untuned. The Side Drum
Overture To 'La Gazza Ladra' - The Thieving Magpie (Opening)
The Side Drum In An Effective But Unexpected Role/Clarinet Concerto (Mvt 1)
The Tambourine. One Of The Oldest Instruments In The World
Den Hoboecken Dans
Even Older Is The Originally Oriental Gong.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
No Single Instrument Can Match The Gong In Evoking The Breaking Of Waves./Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'/But Gongs Don't Have To Be Struck To Be Effective.
Gymnopedie No.2
The Cymbals Are Generally Discovered Early In Life./The Sanguine Fan/And They Do More Than Clash Together Loudly. They Can Be Clashed Together Softly./Studio Example: But They Needn't Be Clashed Together At All/Studio Example: They Can Be Lightly...
Other Untuned Percussion Instruments Include The Whip.: Piano Concerto In G Major (Opening)/And Here Are No Fewer Than Twenty, Cracked By Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Act I, Scene 5)
More Versatile Than The Whip Are The Wood Blocks.../Studio Example/...Which Crop Up All Over The Place In Twentieth-Century American Music.
Rodeo (Hoe-Down)
Related To The Wood Blocks, By Sound, Are The Castanets./Jota Aragonesa/But The Castanets Were Also Used By Monteverdi Back In The Seventeenth Century.
Scherzi Musicali (Damigella Tutta Belle)
A Still Earlier Example From Fifteenth-Century Spain
Yo M'Enamori D'Un Aire
The Birth Of The Bongo
Symphonic Dances From 'West Side Story'
From The Streets Of New York To The Blacksmith's Shop/Il Trovatore ('Anvil Chorus')
Desert-Island Decibels: Grand Canyon Suite (On The Trail)/Arcana
From One Vegetable To Another: The Humble Squash, Or Marrow/Huapango
Onwards To The Tuned Percussion. First, The Timpani
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Introduction)
But The Drum Roll Can Be More Effectively Frightening Than The Big Bang.: Symphony No.2 'Resurrection' (Mvt 3)
Not One Drum Roll, But Many/Grand Canyon Suite (Sunrise)/Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)
Taking Advantage Of Tunability
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Mvt 2)
The Russian Composer Rodion Shchedrin Takes A Downward Turn./Carmen Suite (Changing Of The Guard)/Tuned, Yes; But For The Truly Melodic We Must Look Elsewhere.
Introducing The Glockenspiel/Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Saint-Saens And The Xylophone
The Carnival Of The Animals (Fossils)
Ravel And The Xylophone
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
Introducing The Marimba/Carmen Suite (First Intermezzo)
Introducing The Vibraphone
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Narange Dolce)
The Vibraphone Goes Russian.../Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)/...And Is Joined By The Marimba./Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Introducing The Hungarian Cimbalom
Folk Dances
The Cimbalom And The Symphony Orchestra
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 3)
Introducing The Tubular Bells
Hary Janos Suite (Viennese Musical Clock)
A More 'Up-Front' Approach From Rodion Shchedrin
Carmen Suite (Introduction)
But The Bells Can Also Make The Sinister Even More Sinister./Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Introducing The Celeste
The Nutcracker (Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy)
Magic, In The Use Of Collective Percussion
Miroirs (La Vallee Des Cloches)
Plucked Instruments: The 'Undercover Percussion'/Carmen Suite (Scene)
A Prime Case In Point Is The Harp, Irresistible To The Romantics./The Nutcracker (Act II, No.1: Scene)/The Non-Solo Harp As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Hungarian Rhapsody No.1
The Traditionally Subservient Role Of The Harpsichord In The Baroque Orchestra
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Slow Mvt)
The Piano: King Of The Tuned Percussion/Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Mvt 3)/And A Quarter Of A Century After That:
Petrushka (Russian Dance)
The Anti-Romantic Piano As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Last Mvt)

Tracks:

Keyboard Instruments In The Orchestra - The Most Powerful Of Them All:
Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Finale)
But Things In Handel's Day Were Very Different.
Organ Concerto In B Flat, Op.4 No.3 (Last Mvt)
The Organ Is Difficult To Classify.
An Unexpected, Organ-related Guest
Concerto Pour Zampogna (Last Mvt)
Peasant-Fancying... And A Touch Of The Roaming Cowboy
Les Miserables (Drink With Me)
Outside Artefacts And The Power Of Association
Mahler's Sleighbells
Symphony No.4 (Opening)
A Roll-Call Of Some Unusual Guests/The Typewriter/Parade
Chains, And More/Integrales/An American In Paris/Sandpaper Ballet
Purpose-Built Oddities: Wind Machines/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Opening)
Don Quixote (Variation VIII)
National Calling Cards: The Guitar For Spain/Concierto De Aranjuez (Finale)
And The Guitar's Poor American Relative, The Banjo/Washington Breakdown
And Poorer Still, The Mouth Organ/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Packing Up)
The Balalaika For Russia/Romeo And Juliet (Act II: No.14)
The Maracas For Mexico/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (El Desayuno)
The Bongos And Congas And A Whole Wealth Of Other Drums For Africa And Central America/Studio Example
The Sitar Of India/Evening Raga: Bhapoli
The Accordion For France (Especially Paris)/Paris Canaille
The Zither For Vienna/The Third Man (Theme)
The Cimbalom For Hungary/Folk Dances
The Guitar As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Rondena
There Are Whole Orchestras Of Balalaikas./Sveit Mesiats
The Effect Of The Wordless Human Voice, Used Purely As An Instrument/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Nocturnes
Instruments And the Imitation Of Nature. The Clarinet As Cuckoo
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Cuckoo)
The Flute As An All-purpose Aviary
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aviary)
The Oboe As Duck
Peter And The Wolf (The Duck)
The Recording Of Reality. Does It Work As Well?
The Pines Of Rome (The Pines Of The Janiculum)
The Recording Of Reality Electronically Reborn In New Guises
Cantus Articus - Concerto For Birds And Orchesra (Mvt 2)
Beethoven Turns Avian: Cuckoo, Nightingale, And Quail
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral' (Andante Molto Mosso)
Some Improbable Casting: The Violin As Braying Donkey
The Carnival Of The Animals (Persons With Long Ears)
A Truly Orchestral Hee-haw To Be Reckoned With
Overture To 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
A Thunderstorm In A Million
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral (Allegro-Allegretto)
the Instrumental Depiction Of A Silent World
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aquarium)
Saint-Saens' Menagerie Takes A Curtain Call.
The Carnival Of The Animals (Finale)

Tracks:

The Grouping Of Instrumental Families. An Additive Approach. First, Two Violins
Forty-Four Duos (No.4)
A Great Contrast, Of Both Pitch And Character: Violin And Viola
Duo For Violin And Viola In B Flat Major, K.424 (Finale, Vars 1 & 2)/Studio Example
Arrival Of The Standard String Trio: Violin, Viola, And Cello
String Trio In B Flat (Menuetto)
The String Quartet: Two Violins, Viola, And Cello
String Quartet In F, Op.18 No.1 (Mvt 3)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Viola
String Quartet No.5 In D, K.593 (Adagio)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Cello
String Quintet In C (Mvt 3)
The String Sextet: Two Violins, Two Violas, And Two Cellos
String Sextet In B Flat (Mvt 2)
The String Octet: The Standard String Quaret Times Two
Octet In E Flat, Op.20 (Mvt 1)
Double The String Octet: A Fully Fledged String Orchestra
String Symphony No.2 (Finale)
The Massed Strings Of A Symphony Orchestra
Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis
Contrasts Of Pitch And Instrumental 'Colour' In The Woodwind Section
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Theme)
In The First Variation It's The Horn That Gets The Lion's Share.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 1
In Variation Two The Torch Is Handed To The Bassoon.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 2
In Variation Three The Oboe Leads.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 3
Variation Four: Conversation Before Returning To A Solo-dominated Texture
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 4
And Variation Five is Dominated By The Clarinet.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 5
The Next To Be Featured Is The Virtuoso Flute.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 6
Individual Farewells And A Closing Chorus
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 7
A Mixed Group: Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, String Quartet, And Double-Bass
Octet In F (Mvt 3)
The Early Classical Symphony Orchestra Of Haydn And Mozart
Symphony No.29 In A, K.201 (Finale)
Strings, Wind, But No Brass. What Haydn And Mozart Never Knew
Canzon 28
Beethoven's Fifth: Two Horns, Two Trumpets, And Three Trombones Join The Team.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
From Beethoven To The Massive Orchestras Of Berlioz, Wagner, And Mahler
Beethoven Changed The Face Of The Symphony And The Orchestra Forever
Symphoy No.6 'Tragic' (Mvt 1)
The Cult Of Orchestral Elephantiasis Reaches Its Peak.
Symphony No.1 'Gothic' (VI: Te Ergo Quaesumus)
When Large Doesn't Necessarily Mean Loud: Debussy
Images (Gigues)
A Crisis Of Confidence; The Orchestra's Survival Hangs In The Balance, But It Still Develops. The Ondes Martenot:
Turangalila Symphony (Chant D'amour 1)
The Advent Of The 'Early Music' Movement Brings A New Vitality And Freshness.
Balle De Xerxes (Gavotte En Rondeau)
Computer And Synthesiser: Friends Or Foes?
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
A Speculative Look Ahead/Mass In B Minor ('Dona Nobis Pacem')

Customer Reviews:

Instruments of the Orchestra - Great Reference Material!.......2007-04-04

This set lends itself to greatly enhancing one's knowledge of the orchestra, instruments in it, and their usage. I am a huge music buff, and I still picked up a great deal I previously did not know. I highly recommend this for all who wish to understand the origin of music, as well as the processes that are employed to create music!

Beginner or Expert.......2007-03-12

This CD is excellent for the beginner or expert! To be able to haear the instrumets separately and then together really provides a good education. and/or refresher. The book thaty comes with the CD is alomost worth the price by itself!

Very Informative and Enjoyable.......2006-11-20

Whether you're a music novice or pro, "The instruments of the Orchestra" is a very worthwhile purchase. The 7 CDs, with a total of 8 hours, are expertly narrated by Jeremy Siepmann. He's a great speaker, very much like the late Leonard Bernstein was. Mr. Siepmann takes you on an unforgetable musical journey covering the origins and use of the various orchestral instruments throughout musical history. The balance between his narration and a wealth of musical examples, which range from snippets to entire movements, is superb. The comprehensive enclosed booklet is excellent and faithfully follows the 7 CDs in content. Even with my 40+ years of music training I still learned new things from this wonderful collection. Considering the excellence of the content, and a cost that translates to about $5 per disc, this collection is a great value. Grab it, you won't regret that you did. Five solid stars!

Frank's view.......2006-08-19

This boxed set of CD's with booklet achieved all I had hoped that it would. There are good samples of individual instruments and well done commentary on each. The only drawback was that some of the samples were too brief and could have been longer, hoiwever I guess this fits in with time constraints of the medium. It has given me a lot of clues as to future purchases of CD's for listening to individual instruments. Altogeth a satisfactory purchase and a welcome addition to my collection.

Excellent Intro for Those Not Familiar with the Orchestra.......2003-11-08

I've listened to classical music for years and am interested in composition. I bought this CD set to learn how an orchestra and its instruments work. I thought the CDs would be a nice but boring lecture. They aren't! Not only are they FUN but they are informative as well. I learned a huge amount from each CD and couldn't wait to listen to the next one.

The narrator and writer is a great speaker and holds your attention well. He is definitely knowledgeable. He provides musical examples for each point he makes, so you get to "hear" what he just talked about. I'd say the CDs are about 65% music and 35% narration. You'll learn about the range of instruments, some history, different ways to play them, how they sound, and how they are used in the orchestra. This CD set was a great learning experience and is sold at such a low price!

I recommend this CD for those who want to learn about classical music and those who know about it but are interested in learning more about the inner workings of an orchestra. You'll learn much useful information. For instance, the Rite of Spring (with that eerie start) is written for bassoon! I never knew a bassoon could sound like that but now I do.

Tracks:

Scherzo - Jeno Jando
Waltz In C# Minor - Peter Nagy
Song Without Words, Op.102, No.5 - Peter Nagy
'The Fountains Of The Villa D'Este' - Jeno Jando
Scherzo - Jeno Jando
'March To The Scaffold' - Pinchas Steinberg
Finale - Adrian Leaper
Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 (Excerpt) - Adrian Leaper
The Moldau (exc) - Slovak PO/Barry Wordsworth
Final Movement Of Symphony No.9 'From The New World' - Stephen Gunzenhauser
'Bydlo' - Jeno Jando
'Flight Of The Bumblebee' - Balazs Szokolay
'Polovtsian Dances' - Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Finale - Adrian Leaper
Finale - Takako Nishizaki
'Liebestod' - Johannes Wildner
Finale - Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Intro To Also Sprach Zarathustra - Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Uranus, The Magician - Adrian Leaper
'Jeux De Vagues' - Alexander Rahbari
'Sunrise' - Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Chorus
Adoration Of The Earth (Finale) - Alexander Rahbari
March From Love For Three Oranges Suite, Op.33: March - Andrew Mogrelia
Scherzo - Alexander Rahbari
Finale - Alexander Rahbari

Average customer rating:

Bernstein's Symphony No. 3 Not Mahler's
Mahler creates a massive world...
A Mahler's Third for the ages
The bigger and lesser of two Bernstein Mahler Thirds
Surprisingly Impressive

Mahler: Symphonie No.3 in D Minor

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Ludwig, Christa | Divas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
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Mahler: Symphony No. 2
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Mahler: Symphony No. 1
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4
Mahler: Symphonie No. 6; Kindertotenlieder

ASIN: B000001GAG
Release Date: 1989-07-20

Tracks:

Symphonie No. 3: Part I, 1st Movement - Kraftig. Entschieden
Symphonie No. 3: Part I, 1st Movement - Immer das gleiche Tempo
Symphonie No. 3: Part I, 1st Movement - Tempo I
Symphonie No. 3: Part I, 1st Movement - Zeit lassen
Symphonie No. 3: Part I, 1st Movement - Zeit lassen
Symphonie No. 3: Part I, 1st Movement - Immer dasselbe Tempo. (Marsch). Nicht eilen
Symphonie No. 3: Part I, 1st Movement - Im alten Marschtempo (Allegro Moderato)
Symphonie No. 3: Part I, 1st Movement - Tempo I
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 2nd movement - Tempo di Menuetto. Sehr massig
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 2nd movement - L'istesso tempo
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 2nd movement - A tempo (Wie im Anfang)
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 2nd movement - Ganz plotzlich gemachlich. Tempo di Menuetto
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 3rd movement - Comodo. Scherzando. Ohne Hast
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 3rd movement - Wieder sehr gemachlich, wir zu Anfang
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 3rd movement - Etwas zuruckhaltend
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 3rd movement - Schnell und schmetternd wie eine Fanfare-Tempo 1. Mit geheimnisvoller Hast
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 3rd movement - Wieder sehr gemachlich, beinahe langsam

Tracks:

Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 4th Movement - Sehr langsam. Misterioso. Durchaus
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 4th Movement - Piu mosso subito
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 5th Movement - Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 6th Movement - Langsam. Ruhevoll. Empfunden
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 6th Movement - Nicht mehr so breit
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 6th Movement - Tempo I. Ruhevoll
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 6th Movement - Nicht mehr so breit
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 6th Movement - Tempo I
Symphonie No. 3: Part II, 6th Movement - Langsam. Tempo I

Amazon.com essential recording

Leonard Bernstein more or less owned this symphony, and both this and his earlier Sony recording are superb. He was one of the few conductors who wasn't afraid of the musical insanity that Mahler unleashes in the first movement (a collision between two marches of very different character), and the New York Philharmonic is one of the few orchestras in the world with the stamina to carry the whole thing off. This is the longest symphony ever written that's in the international repertoire, but listening to Bernstein's way with it, you'd never guess. This recording is also included in DG's magnificent box set of the complete Mahler symphonies. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Bernstein's Symphony No. 3 Not Mahler's.......2005-11-08

So some of this is oustanding and thrilling in its own special way. It is pure musical bravado and showmanship. Leonard Bernstein, who died in 1989, remains the most renowned American conductor of all time and has a huge following that will not go away. He makes the music so visceral and in-your-face, that one would think he was possessed as he conducted. This symphony is perhaps the most dramatic interpretation and never fails to electrify the ear. But even with the theatricality of it all, it cannot compare to Herbert Von Karajan's interepretation of Berstein's Symphony No. 3 or Zubin Mehta's. At least Karajan and Mehta understand the significance of honoring the composer's vision. Bernstein, more than any other conductor, gained notoriety for HIS particularly charged, intense and overblown interpretations of Beethoven and especially Mahler symphonies. While most classical music lovers enjoy and even laud his Mahler as the all-around best, I disagree. Mahler should not be treated with such monstrous force. Mahler was the last German Romantic, and that entails a spirituality, a mellowness, a mysticism which Bernstein never suffused his recordings with. His orchestra is taught to pull out all the stops in a modern showman way. Sure, being a German Romantic, Mahler was influenced by Wagnerian fatalism and harshness. However, he strayed from using too much Wagnerian techniques in his own music and only when warranted does the music become dark and dramatic. Mahler's symphonies, his later ones in particular, described in musical phrasing, the existential questions about God, man's purpose and the universe as a living entity. Bernstein fails to show us any of this. If you're a fan of Bernstein, then you will regard this as his best work and it actually is. He pulls out all the stops here. He is at his best here. The music is alive and roars with majestic power. It is really LOUD in some parts and it is sure to invade your stereosystem and even make your windows shake. The power of the music, however, is misguided. It ought to be about the inner notes. If you're more of a purist and prefer old-school conductors who treat Mahler reverently, go for Karajan's complete Mahler symphony recordings.

Mahler creates a massive world..........2005-08-09

What a huge symphony. It's enormous. Both discs of this recording together run approximately an hour and forty-five minutes (64'12 + 41'40). Throughout this seemingly impossible span the melodic themes intertwine like celtic knots, the dynamics range from a whisper to a SCREAM, and along the way we meet Friedrich Nietzsche, a solo vocalist, and a boys choir. Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic pelt this one out with gusto, but some listeners have complained that Berstein meddles too much with the production (the symphony does balance on the fence of melodrama in places, and a steady guide needs to keep it from tipping into the mushy goo on the wrong side). The recording overflows with full lush strings and horns throughout giving it a very dramatic texture. It's not a piece or a recording suited for background music. It demands attention.

Six movements (in two parts) spontaneously and linearly create Mahler's symphonic world. Mahler originally drew up program notes to go along with the work's multifarious parts (with titles such as "Pan Awakes", "What the Animals in the Forest Tell me", "What the Angels Tell me", and "What Love Tells me"), but he later abandoned them as too stringent. He didn't want to shove his interpretation down the throats of his audience and stifle the carte blanche experience of listening.

The first movement (composed in 1896, a year after the following five movements) opens with a triumphal imposing horn blasting melody. Allusions to Brahms and Wagner lurk beneath the melodies and harmonies. The movement itself is as dynamic as the entire structure of the symphony. From loud and garrulous to near silence, the movement marches and trunches forth while throwing some diversions here and there along with some lovely solo violin speckles. This movement alone makes up Part I of the symphony. The remaining movements make up Part II.

The second movement opens in great contrast to the first. A lonely but danceable horn melody leads us into a beautiful minuet which later transforms into downright danceable and bouncy music. It eventually flutters out with strings.

Next, in the third movement, some shades of the "nature sounds" of Mahler's first return. A "cuckoo" whistles and the orchestra performs some dramatic loopty-loops before breaking out into full song. Musical hints of birds flitter everywhere in this movement. It ends with a clenching creshendo buildup and finally with an unmistakable, almost shocking, bang.

Over an hour of music passes between the beginning of the work and the first vocal movement (the fourth). Here Mahler puts to music the "Midnight Song" from Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra". Following the bang of the previous movement, Mahler treats us to a tense painfully beautiful song. Nietzsche was still alive while Mahler composed this symphony, though he had fallen into his "famous" madness (he died in 1900). Mahler also apparently had some regard for Nietzsche -at one point he was going to name the entire symphony after Nietzsche's 1882 work "The Gay Science".

Once again, in great contrast, the next song (and the work's shortest movement at only slightly over 4 minutes) gives off a joyous feeling. The boy choir even chants happy bell sounds.

And then the big finale. The sixth and final movement. A painfully beautiful buildup of some twenty minutes brimming with juicy strings and a few explosions precedes the final thumping drums and majestic climax. It contrasts greatly with the symphony's first mostly raucous movement. And here's another of Mahler's big endings. The sixth movement as a whole provides a stunning conclusion to the piece.

Mahler's Third Symphony is simply overwhelming. It's as difficult to get one's mind around as it is to get one's arms around an aircraft carrier. It's a hulk, a behemoth. But it's also amazing and more than worth the numerous listens required for the symphony to begin to reveal its nuances and hidden gems. Did Mahler attempt to reflect life itself in this gargantuan work? Does that explain its complexity and size? Possibly, but regardless of how one interprets it, the work is full of great Mahlerian music that doesn't require picky granular analysis to enjoy.

A Mahler's Third for the ages.......2003-08-09

Mahler's Third is a very difficult piece to play and understand. Not only is the longest symphony in the standard repetoire, it also showcases Mahler's desire to show the entire universe in a symphony. There are more contrasts between light and dark, happy and sad, loud and soft, fast and slow, etc, in this symphony than in any other Mahler symphony. It makes this symphony a very difficult piece to listen to, and perhaps Mahler's most inaccessible for the casual listener or Mahler novice. That said, one must still agree that Bernstein gives this symphony a reading that is simply unforgettable. Bernstein manages emphasize the essential contrasting elements of the music, especially in the seemingly endless first movement, and keep the listener at the edge of his seat from the tension and emotion Bernstein elicits. Plus, this recording has excellent sound. Some of the best I've heard, in fact. The explosions are more explosive than in any other recording I've heard. It's something you have got to hear for yourself! I've grown to love this symphony and now it's one of my favorites; however, without this recording, who knows how positively I'd feel about this difficult (yet very fulfilling) composition.

The bigger and lesser of two Bernstein Mahler Thirds.......2002-11-12

As anyone happening across other reviews I've written about Bernstein conducting Mahler will gather, I've come to distrust the latter-day Bernstein performances in recent years. Yes, I too once thought that the cycle the seventy-ish conductor did for DG was one of the marvels of the universe, but since then I've come to understand that Mahler's music doesn't need quite as much "intervention" as the great Massachusetts-born maestro heaped upon his hero's exhaustively detailed scores. That tendency to superimpose his own personality onto Mahler's was especially pronounced late in Bernstein's career, around the time he made this rapturously received set of Mahler's Symphony #3.

Listen to this side-by-side with Lenny's first go-round with this symphony (now on Sony Classical) from the early 1960s, and you may get a sense, as I do, that this remake is a caricature of the earlier, fresher performance. Everything here is heavier, slower, stiffer, more coarse and blatant--if conceived from the same basic point of view as the '60s set. Even the second and third movements, which should provide a contrast to the massiveness of the half-hour (or, in this performance, 35-minute) opener, galumph along with a weighty tread. (Or, to paraphrase an old review of Klaus Tennstedt's recording of this symphony, what "the flowers in the meadow" and "the creatures in the forest" told Bernstein was not what they told Mahler.) A friend of mine put it beautifully: He compared Bernstein's Mahler conducting (with the DG cycle as his primary frame of reference) to "putting thick makeup on actors to make them somehow seem more lifelike." The acoustically dry digital recording is of a piece with Bernstein's performance and the circa-1988 New York Philharmonic's playing: higher-impact than the natural (if dated) analog sound picture of the Sony and warmly responsive (if imperfect) playing of the circa-1961 N.Y. Phil, but also more contrived and even sterile by comparison.

There are high points: Christa Ludwig's darkly rapt singing of the fourth-movement "Midnight song," the snarling trombones and bass-drum cracks in the opening movement, the time-suspending spell cast by the opening pages of the finale (which, by the way, runs a full three minutes longer than the already expansive 25 minutes of Bernstein's 1961 version. The CD booklet says otherwise, but then the CD booklet also claims that the opening track of the finale plays for 2 minutes, which would be impossibly fast; it's actually 5 minutes). And it must be acknowledged that the symphony here is not distorted out of shape, as happens with the DG set's renditions of the Second, Fifth and Ninth Symphonies. Yet there's too much that suggests an enlarged ego deluded into believing his every mannerism and ponderous elongation of a phrase casts more light on this composer's mysteries than anyone else did or does.

You may vehemently disagree, arguing that larger-than-life music demands a larger-than-life performance. If so, you may find this presentation enthralling and moving. For me, the Third is better served by Bernstein in his first recording of it, and by Sir John Barbirolli (despite some horrendous orchestral playing and Glorious John's comically audible grunts in the finale), Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Bernard Haitink in his 1966 recording with the Royal Concertegbouw (only available these days as part of a hard-to-locate boxed set) or, especially, Jascha Horenstein. Each man in his own way held this sprawling structure together beautifully, presenting it as Mahler's evolving hymn to nature, humankind and God--not as a showpiece for the conductor.

Surprisingly Impressive.......2002-09-21

Most of the live recordings done by NY PHIL sound rather mushy in texture and are just unsettling to the ear, especially for a listener who craves the extremely dry timbre of the orchestral brass. But this recording has an unusuall clarity to it that makes you want to turn your volume louder and louder. I would recommend this recording to anyone who prefers the brass to dominate the orchestra; the trumpets and trombones are are a little overbearing. I wouldn't reccomend it to anyone seeking the type of lyrical textures that are common in Mahler 5 and 9. Mahler 3 is very dry, dark, and percussive.

Average customer rating:

An Epic Performance of the Mahler Third
not my favorite, but still near the top
Dry, hollow Mahler Third from Boulez, VPO
All aglitter and aglow
An alternative 'aesthetics only' third, please.

Mahler: Symphonie No. 3

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
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ASIN: B00008GQTR
Release Date: 2003-03-11

Tracks:

Kraftig. Entschieden
Tempo Di Menuetto. Sehr Massig
Comodo. Scherzando. Ohne Hast

Tracks:

Sehr Langsam. Misterioso. Durchaus
Lustig Im Tempo Und Keck Im Ausdruck
Langsam. Ruhevol. Empfunden

Customer Reviews:

An Epic Performance of the Mahler Third.......2007-06-06

Among the Mahler symphonies the third is perhaps the one fo the most difficult to get a handle on. It is epic in subject and length filled with huge musical statements and vast solo writing as well. Many recordings of this piece are difficult to grapple with as they can seem chaotic or muddied at times. The latest installment in the Pierre Boulez Mahler cycle is the Mahler Third Symphony. This is an epic recording filled with beautiful solo playing and a power of playing that rates it as one of my favorite recordings of any piece of music ever. From the opening bars with it's horn calls you know that this is a symphony like no other. It puts one in mind of epic film scores of the late 50's and early 60's but of course Mahler's genious predates these times by half a century. This recording is a grand musical journey. It is, as Mahler suggested, a world unto itself that uses every technical means that the orchestra can muster. The playing of the Vienna Philharmonic as an ensemble and as soloists take on this task beautifully and are inspired, technically perfect and yet completely in touch with Boulez' vision of Mahler. There is no shameless romanticism here and yet in it's own straightforward way it is more powerful and touching than some other attempts to grapple with this singular musical statement. I think this recording with this conductor and orchestra more than any other captures the essence of Gustav Mahler's world and music. If you love Mahler already or if you are just entering the world of Mahler's music I strongly recommend this recording.

not my favorite, but still near the top.......2006-12-16

Forget words like "neurotic", "angst-ridden", "convulsions". This is still music, not psycho-analysis. The Mahler 3rd happens to be a very long symphony; well over 90 minutes of very concentrated music. Therefore, the flow of any performance is of great importantce here. In short, the middle movements musn't die! Boulez delivers the goods, intact. I find Anne von Otter to be a bit of a mis-cast, but she makes for a refreshing change - far lighter sounding than usual. What's interesting in the short "bim-bam" choral movement (fifth movement), is that Boulez adds a line for the upper brass towards the end of it that I've never heard on any other performance (trumpets and horns in unison). I also can't find any reference to it in any of the printed scores that I've come across. If it's something that Boulez invented on his own, I must say, it does contribute in a fairly positive way. Back in the half-hour long first movement, Riccardo Chailly - among others - captures more of the wide dynamic range and kaleidescopic color of this colossal musical happening. But Boulez hardly puts a foot wrong anyplace, keeping the overall flow a priority. He also has one of the stronger recorded trombone solos on his side as well; played by a trombonist stolen from the London Symphony, no less! This is hardly lightweight or "prozac" music making. In the third movement, Boulez keeps the tempi flowing along during the long cadence points that conclude the two "posthorn" solos (offstage trumpet). Compare this to the MTT/SFSO Mahler third, where Tilson Thomas stetches those cadence points almost to a standstill (it's so boring!). With MTT, you almost can't tell that the horns (onstage) and solo trumpet (offstage) are playing in rhythmic counterpoint to each other. Are you getting the point, folks? . . . flow, people, flow - go with the flow!!

Now, all this flowing would be meaningless if it weren't for one very, VERY important detail. That detail (envelope, please), is the climax of the long brass chorale towards the end of the final movement - the point leading up to, and at, the very last cymbal crash. Here, Boulez gets a lot of strength and lung power from his trombone section - not always one of the great features of the Vienna Phil. (usually it's the horns who steal the show). In fact, Boulez is better at this climactic spot than Chailly is. Conversely, Chailly is pretty much better than anybody in the symphony's concluding series of long chords, accompanied by the two sets of timpani. Overall, I like the Chailly even better, which has the advantage of Decca's richer sound, as well as the Concertgebouw's outstanding woodwinds and thoroughly modern percussion section. But I could also very easily live with the Boulez - by far the best recording of the third that the Vienna Phil. has made to date. This is also available in an SACD/CD hybrid, which would mean a DSD upgrade for you folks with plain, old CD players.

Dry, hollow Mahler Third from Boulez, VPO.......2006-02-16

Discretion would seem to be the password as to what leads, guides this interpretation of Mahler's grand paean to Nature. One relishes the chance to hear the piece with a fresh approach to it, as one can readily expect from Boulez. Under different hands, it can so easily seem to give itself over to much belabored cliche and endless sprawl. The clarity of the playing here, no doubt, is a great asset too, and is fulfilling most of the time, at least on technical grounds.

And yet there is something missing here. This recording is almost too perfect an example of what those in the Bernstein camp might conveniently hold up as an example of a cool, linear, modernistic literal interpretation. This one does not give Mahler's music the kind of edge one might associate today with or get from the emotionalism of a Bernstein, or even of a Walter or Mitropoulos. Scherchen, Rosbaud, Klemperer, even Boulez AND Mitropoulos, up through the early 1970's, found in Mahler its inherent pioneering and risk taking in its progressive tendencies and for most of them, best clarified in a more dry-eyed approach. They were at least during their day not to be denied.

These considerations bring us to this recording. The opening roar of Nature comes across as hieratic enough, but dry and lacking in mystery. Weight is lacking in the march like tread and rumblings from lower registers, and for sake of understatement perhaps, measures of such tread that are marked in six happen in closer to five. The solo trombone then also clips his expressive lines that arise from what comes below.

Spring enters tentatively both times with intonation suffering in especially the strings and also the flute trios. Matters improve with the second entrance of spring with warm playing from the horn section and winds, although the strings at first give evidence of having thawed little. Climaxes both at the end of this section, for the South Storm episode (but with convincing groans from low brass leading into that) and the close of the entire movement are typically understated, but the lyrical, expressive solos between are lovely, the reprise of the opening of the movement, both times it occurs is effective. The winds are allowed to go full out on so well portraying, so to speak, the Rabble, twenty minutes in.

The Wunderhorn warmth that Boulez has found in the first movement carries over well into the Menuet of the second. Textures are very light and clear, and rhythms through at least the first middle section well sprung. On second hearing, however, as Mahler more fully develops the B section, rhythmic activity and contours get a little undercut from within. The letting down to repose from such virtuosity, in both the concertmaster's retransition and reprise of the A section gets undercut. One detects a little an air of sophistication or all knowing attitude toward childlike naivete that has overtaken the atmosphere, in part in everything sounding so very neatly tucked into place.

For the most part, the third movement goes the most convincingly of any so far. A little of a personal stamp is felt even here in some of the Messiaenesque coloring that Boulez gives the reprise of the A section in this movement twice, as though pianissimo clashes in the cymbals should automatically find him an excuse. And yet, he is fully engaging with the Beethoven Fifth parody in also the trio of this scherzo, compensating for a little understatement from the brass by letting the flutes have at it with their harmonically off-kilter descending trills. The posthorn episodes take a moment or two to engage us and to warm the blood, but once there, they are fully convincing. Boulez brings the movement, to characteristically for him and with no lack of mystery, a close that could have come straight out of Messiaen.

The fourth movement, the Nietzsche movement, begins inaudibly. Anne Sofie Von Otter's reading is sensitive, but light toned and lacking in mystery. Contrast for the brighter then also more passionate outpourings of "Aus tiefen Traum" and "Doch alle Lust" is insufficient. Oboe portamenti, the way they are played now and here exaggeratedly so, do not fit into the postmodernist landscape that Boulez offers here. The fifth movement is all a little too matter of fact and detached, with Von Otter, too much in Wunderhorn mode, sounding petulant, almost poutish, as perhaps she more convincingly could be in another Mahler 3. The letting out of the brass at the end of the B section is menacing enough.

The sixth movement, though cool, solemn for most of the reach of it, is very effective. Some hesitations on the string line early on, to give the line more pronounced expression, are mannered, but quiet transitions sound sufficiently mysterious and full of awe, and the peroration to the movement suitably grandiose and noble in feeling.

One who takes to the Boulez approach to Mahler well, as other reviewers do, to give this set five stars, are going to be happy. There is something here as well even for the skeptics. I find, however, that it takes a little more effort with Vienna than other bands, on Mahler, to get the orchestra to do more than sit back and play their parts. The Sixth, from Vienna of seven years earlier, that opened this series, won enthusiasm and sustained interest from numerous people. I have found, the Sixth no full exception, that Boulez's ideas come or arise forth more palpably with the two American orchestras he uses for other installments in this cycle. Among the Vienna installments, in addition to the Sixth for some, the lovely, noble Adagietto from an otherwise disappointing, scrappy Fifth and most of the Das Lied are possible real exceptions.

All aglitter and aglow.......2006-01-19

Midway through the 2nd movement, a comparison came to my mind; one that stayed with me throughout the performance, at least until the final section. I liken this performance to a professional, high-gloss photograph of a Christmas tree - a scene designed and lighted by a superb decorator, willing to take infinite pains in arranging each strand of tinsel just so, each icicle in perfect relationship to each other icicle, and with each ornament positioned in just such a way as to sparkle in the most striking and delightful manner. Of course, Pierre Boulez is the decorator in question and he is expertly abetted by the Vienna Philharmonic, the Women's Chorus of the Vienna Singverein and Anne Sofie von Otter, whose exquisite voice blends perfectly with the orchestra, especially in the fourth movement, set to a text by Nietzsche. If the spell cast by Boulez & co. dissipates a bit in the final movement, perhaps it's because, at that point, the music calls for more sweep and expansiveness, and therefore resists somewhat the obsession with filigree. The engineering and production by DG are top notch, as expected, with one glaring exception for a dreadful edit about 9:30 into the third movement.

An alternative 'aesthetics only' third, please........2005-02-01

James Leonard in the All Music Guide wrote that the Great God Pan of the opening movement (in this recording) is just a bombastic tune for eight trombones, that the Flowers of the Meadow in the Tempo di Menuetto are just arabesques for the woodwinds, and so on.
Well, that's the whole point with the Boulez Mahler cycle in genreal.
We have countless recordings of Mahler, the arch romantic.
But, Boulez, as usual, makes you 're-think' the work.
HIS Mahler 3rd stems from the Mahler who fathered Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and so on.
This is quite a valid a viewpoint and a long overdue one.
The third, minus a raging libido,is now a modern structure of sound.
Boulez refuses to take the (oft taken) narrative route here. He's simply not built that way and never has been.
Boulez, the celibate atheist, cares not for the spritual/sexual angst often found in Mahler.
Instead, he opts for Mahler the revolutionary composer.
It's a narrow vision to be certain, but quite a specific one.
I wouldn't want this as the only recording on my shelf, but it's an essential addition and my collection of thirds would not be well rounded without it.
*One negative here must go to DG for the dreadful cover art. One thing that has been ultra cool with the Boulez Mahler cycle from the beginning has been the tie with early modern art gracing the covers. The link between viusal art and music has been understood throughout this controversial and much debated cycle.
This emphasized the cycle's pronouncement of being steeped in modernism.
To replace this with a by the book, dull b & w photo of Boulez conducting is a disservice to the cycle and it's aesthetical viewpoint.

Average customer rating:

Marches - CD 1

Marches: The Greatest Hits

Manufacturer: Compendia
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Gospel | Compilations | Christian & Gospel | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Jazz | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
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Stars & Stripes: America's Greatest Hits
Marches: Greatest Hits
Fiedler's Favorite Marches
Tchaikovsky: The Greatest Hits
Fiedler Greatest Hits

ASIN: B000003QWZ
Release Date: 1994-04-13

Tracks:

Ride Of The Valkyries
Pictures At An Exhibition - Promenade
Aida - Triumphal March
The Nutcracker - March
Pomp And Circumstance
Symphonie Fantastique - March To The Scaffold
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Wedding March
Symphony No. 9, Choral - Alta Marcia
March Militaire No. 1
Entry Of The Gladiators
Love For Three Oranges - March
March Joyeuse
Symphony No. 1, Titan - Funeral March
Radetsky March
National Emblem March
The Washington Post

Tracks:

Coronation March
The Ruins Of Athens - Turkish March
Les Troyes - Marche Troyenne
Marche Slav
Swan Lake - Wedding March
Symphony No 3, Eroica - Funeral March
Babes in Toyland - March
West Side Story - America
The Carnival Of The Animals - Introduction And Royal March Of The Lion
Carmen - March Of The Toreadors
Carmen - March of the Smugglers
Colonel Bogey March
American Salute
Semper Fidelis
El Capitan
Seventy-Six Trombones
Americans We
Lassus Trombone
The Stars And Stripes

Customer Reviews:

Marches - CD 1.......2006-03-12

Fabulous pieces. It all started with hearing Pomp and Circumstance by Elgar ont he radio...

A Celebration of Defining Moments in Recording History

Average customer rating:

Interesting, and so cheap!
Not that great

A Celebration of Defining Moments in Recording History

Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Russian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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Great Artists of the Century: 25 Launch Releases
American Classics Sampler
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op14; Damnation of Faust Op24
Lakme
Dutilleux: Cello Concerto, Lutoslawski: Cello Concerto

ASIN: B0002VEQIY
Release Date: 2004-09-07

Tracks:

Sinfonietta - Simon Rattle
El Combat Del Somni - Victoria De Los Angeles
Piano Concerto - Sviatoslav Richter
Don Giovanni - Carlo Maria Giulini
Eroica - Otto Klemperer
Gymnopedies - Aldo Ciccolini
Don Carlo - Placido Domingo
24 Caprices - Itzhak Perlman
Liederkreis Op.39 - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Cello Concerto - Sir John Barbirolli
Alborada Del Gracioso - Dinu Lipatti
'Peter Grimes' - Andre Previn
Das Lied Von Der Erde - Otto Klemperer
Violin Concerto No.1 - David Oistrakh
Boris Godunov - Boris Christoff
Piano Concerto No.22 - Annie Fischer
La Boheme - Jussi Bjorling
Symphony No.2 'Resurection' - Otto Klemperer

Tracks:

Bachianas Brasileiras - Heitor Villa-Lobos
Die Zauberflote - Herbert Von Karajan
Preludes II - Walter Gieseking
Symphonie Fantastique - Sir Thomas Beecham
Il Trovatore - Maria Callas
String Quartet - Alban Berg Quartett
Wesendonck-Lieder - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Horn Concerto No.3 - Dennis Brain
Fidelio - Otto Klemperer
Piano Concerto In G - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Kindertotenlieder - Bruno Walter
Dialogues Des Carmelites - Pierre Dervaux
Violin Concerto - Yehudi Menuhin
Salome - Herbert Von Karajan
Tout Un Monde Lointain... - Mstislav Rostropovich
Il Barbiere Di Siviglia - Vittorio Gui
Fantasia On 'Greensleeves' - Sir John Barbirolli
Die Lustige Witwe - Nicolai Gedda
Symphony No.9 'Choral' - Wilhelm Furtwangler

Customer Reviews:

Interesting, and so cheap!.......2005-03-17

In response to the reviewer below, yes, some of the recordings do not have the best sound quality. But that's not what this is about, it's about great recordings of the century.
There are two discs, each with about 18 tracks, averaging about 4 minutes each, of excerpts and individual movements of the some of the most famous of the 150 "GROCs."

In the booklet it has a few interesting (sometimes not that interesting) facts about each of the 150 performances.

If you don't mind excerpts of pieces or isolated movements, this would be a worthwhile purchase, especially for the bizarrely reasonable price.

Not that great.......2004-11-19

If this is supposed to be an album of "the greatest" -- I wasn't too impressed. The quality didn't seem that good and the selections, well, not all that popular to my mind.

SACD: The Classics Sampler [Hybrid SACD]

Average customer rating:

SACD: The Classics Sampler [Hybrid SACD]

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Czech | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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Super Audio CD Sampler [Hybrid SACD]

ASIN: B0001BPPNK
Release Date: 2004-06-15

Average customer rating:

Great music, great price.

Film Classics

Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Scherzo | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Russian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Soundtracks | Box Sets | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000000LDV
Release Date: 1995-04-16

Tracks:

'10' Ten: Bolero - RSO Ljublijana/Anton Nanut
Prizzi's Honor: Barber Of Seville Ov - Nurnberger Symphoniker/Gunther Neidlinger
Fantasia: The Sorcerer's Apprentice - North German PO/Hans Jurgen Walther
Rollerball: Toccata and Fugue In d - Phil Slavonica/Karel Brazda
Ser: Di Quello Pira (Il Trovatore) - Chor Of The Munich State Opr
Love And Death: Love For Three Oranges - Pro Musica SO/Hans Jurgen Walther
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy: Dance Of The Clowns (A Midsummer Night's Dream) - South German PO/Hanspeter Gniur
Un Coeur En Hiver: Berceuse Sur Le Nom De Gabriel Faure - Royal Danish SO/George Richter
Mrs. Doubtfire: Figaro (Marriage Of Figaro) - Milano Opr Congregation
Carmen Jones: Cabanera From Carmen Ste No.2 - London Festival Orch/Alfred Sholz
Fantasia: Dance Of The Red Flute (Nutcracker) - London Festival Orch/Alberto Lizzio
The Great Waltz: Voices Of Spring - Orch Of The Vienna Folk Opr/Peter Falk

Tracks:

2001-A Space Odyssey: Also Sprach Zarathustra-Opening Fanfare - New Festival Orch/Robert Maiden
Sleeping With The Enemy: Reveries From Sym Fant - South German PO/Alberto Lizzio
Raging Bull/Godfather III: Cavalleria Rusticana/Intermezzo Sinfonico - London Festival Orch/Kurt Redel/Alfred Scholz
Breaking Away: Sym No.4 'Italian'-Saltarello/Presto - LSO/Alfred Scholz
Manhattan: Rhap In Blue - Phil Slavonica/Henry Adolph
The Witches Of Eastwick: Nessun Dorma (Turandot) - Milano Opr Congregation
Gallipoli: Adagio For Str in g - Hambburg CO/Wilfired Bottcher
A Clockwork Orange: Pomp And Circumstance - Pro Arte Orch/Kurt Redel
Fantasia: Trepak (Russischer Tans) - London Festival Orch/Alberto Lizzio
All That Jazz: Con in G - I Solisti Di Zagreb

Tracks:

Death In Venice: Adagietto From Sym No.5 in c# - RSO/Anton Nanut
Fatal Attraction: Un Bel Di Vedremo (Madame Butterfly) - Camerata Academica Salzburg
Goodbye Again: Sym No.3 - Poco Allegretto - PO Bambergi/Hans Swarowsky
The Music Lovers: Ov 1812 Solennelle - RSO Ljubljana/Anton Nanut
Die Hard 2: Finlandia - Camerata Academica Salzburg/Bernhard Paumgartner
Rosemary's Baby: Fur Elise - Marian Pivka
The Untouchables: Vesti La Giubba - Milano Opr Congregation
Platoon/The Elephant Man: Adagio - Milano Opr Congregation
Fantasia: Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy (Nutcracker) - London Festival Orch/Alberto Lizzio
Amadeus: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Allegro - Camerata Labacensis/Alexander Von Pitamic

Tracks:

Elvira Madigan: Pno Con No.21 - Adagio - Svetlana Stanceva
A Clockwork Orange: Sym No.9 - Molto Vivace - London Fesival Orch/Alberto Lizzio
Fant: Waltz Of The Flowers (Nutcracker Ste) - London Fesival Orch/Alberto Lizzio
Moonstruck: Che Gelida Manina (La Boheme) - Milano Opr Congregation
Kramer Vs.Kramer: Con in C - Musici Di San Marco/Alberto Lizzio
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?: Hungarian Rhap No.2 in c# - North German PO/Robert Nagel
Amadeus: Sym No.29 - Allegro Moderato - Camerata Labacensis/Alexander Von Pitamic
Rome Adventure/Yes Giorgio: Santa Lucia - Pasquale De Filippe
The Age Of Innocence: Emperor's Waltz/Tales From The Vienna Woods - Milano Opr Congregation
Excalibur/Apocalypse Now: Ride Of The Valkyries - Hamburg SO/Hans Jurgen Walther

Customer Reviews:

Great music, great price........2000-08-08

If you like classical music, you should definitely get this set. Four CD's for no more than $14, and what good CD's they are!