The Essential Andreas Vollenweider [Enhanced] [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The Essential Andreas Vollenweider surveys the Swiss harpist's career from his 1981 worldwide debut, Behind the Gardens, Behind the Wall, Under the Tree..., to 2000's Cosmopoly. In 1981, Vollenweider was a breath of fresh incense capable of creating sweet, poignant melodies with an electro-acoustic harp that reached from deep bass lows to shimmering highs. As Vollenweider's music progressed, world-music elements came to dominate his sound. Sometimes, as on "Belladonna" from 1982's Caverna Magica, the fusion resulted in world-music kitsch as Middle Eastern and Brazilian vocals wafted over snappy lounge rhythms. By the time of 1984's White Winds, Vollenweider had coalesced his multicultural approach into sweeping suites. The Essential Andreas Vollenweider concentrates on his upbeat, jazzier material, leaving the more textural, emotionally ambiguous pieces aside. Nevertheless, there's a breadth of vision represented on this CD that shows a musician always searching. Vollenweider's albums are meticulously recorded, with each instrument given its own space, creating an encompassing sense of architecture. But the remixes here improve the sound dramatically, especially on the earlier works. For the Vollenweider fan, there's nothing new here, but for the uninitiated, this is a good place to begin exploring the works of a New Age pioneer. --John Diliberto

The Essential Andreas Vollenweider, Music, Andreas Vollenweider, Andreas / Ladysmith Black Mambazo Vollenweider, Andreas / Nascimento, Milton Vollenweider, Matthias Ziegler, Andreas Vollenweider, Mark O'Connor, Milton Nascimento, Classical, Classical Music, Miscellaneous, Miscellaneous Music, New Age, New Age / Meditation
The Essential Andreas Vollenweider
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • A Must Have Harp Album
  • A Musical Experience
  • Less Than I Expected
  • Not just "essential Vollenweider", simply essential!
  • from Solo Piano Publications
 The Essential Andreas Vollenweider

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | New Age | Styles | Music
MeditationMeditation | New Age | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
Classical MusicClassical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:
  1. Book of Roses
  2. Magic Harp
  3. Eolian Minstrel
  4. Dancing With the Lion
  5. White Winds

ASIN: B000058T7P
Release Date: 2001-02-13

Tracks:

  1. Behind The Gardens, Behind The Wall, Under The Tree...
  2. Flight Feet & Root Hands
  3. Belladonna
  4. Angoh!
  5. The Play Of The Five Balls
  6. Pyramid
  7. Pearls & Tears
  8. See, My Love...
  9. Moon Dance
  10. Passage To Promise
  11. Dancing With The Lion
  12. Wanja The Wanderer
  13. Night Fire Dance
  14. Cor Do Amor
  15. Stella
  16. Pace Verde

Amazon.com

The Essential Andreas Vollenweider surveys the Swiss harpist's career from his 1981 worldwide debut, Behind the Gardens, Behind the Wall, Under the Tree..., to 2000's Cosmopoly. In 1981, Vollenweider was a breath of fresh incense capable of creating sweet, poignant melodies with an electro-acoustic harp that reached from deep bass lows to shimmering highs. As Vollenweider's music progressed, world-music elements came to dominate his sound. Sometimes, as on "Belladonna" from 1982's Caverna Magica, the fusion resulted in world-music kitsch as Middle Eastern and Brazilian vocals wafted over snappy lounge rhythms. By the time of 1984's White Winds, Vollenweider had coalesced his multicultural approach into sweeping suites. The Essential Andreas Vollenweider concentrates on his upbeat, jazzier material, leaving the more textural, emotionally ambiguous pieces aside. Nevertheless, there's a breadth of vision represented on this CD that shows a musician always searching. Vollenweider's albums are meticulously recorded, with each instrument given its own space, creating an encompassing sense of architecture. But the remixes here improve the sound dramatically, especially on the earlier works. For the Vollenweider fan, there's nothing new here, but for the uninitiated, this is a good place to begin exploring the works of a New Age pioneer. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars A Must Have Harp Album.......2003-07-01

Andreas Vollenweider has created great music and this has his best songs. The only other album I own by him is "Dancing With The Lion". My dad bought the cassette a long time ago, I listen to it sometimes but not a lot. Andreas Vollenweider is the second harp player I heard, the first was Hillary Stagg and I can see a big difference in their music mostly because of the background instruments.

All of the songs on the album were good but I found "Wanja The Wanderer" a bit strange and so did my dad when he listened to it, so I don't think I'll get his album "Kryptos". Here are my favorite songs: Behind the Gardens, Flight Feet and Root Hands, Belladonna, See My Love, Moon Dance, Dancing With The Lion, Night Fire Dance and Cor Do Amor. The only reason I gave the album 4 stars was because some songs sounded a bit strange.

The bonus material on this CD includes: songs with new mixes, mulltimedia cd including the music video of pearls and tears and a new song "Pace Verde"

If you don't own any albums by Andreas Vollenweider and are thinking of buying one I would recommend this one the most but if you already have this one I would recommend "Down To The Moon".

I hope you enjoy his music!

5 out of 5 stars A Musical Experience.......2002-03-28

This composer has never let me down from the very first time I heard his CD entitled, Down To The Moon. I was in a restaurant having lunch, and even though I was having a conversation with three other people, I was constantly drawn to the music playing in the backround. I asked the waiter for the name of the composer. After lunch, I ran out and purchased the CD. That was several years ago. I now have all of his works, and find that each one is as moving as the first time I listened to him. With this album, you'll get a sampling of his work, that will keep you coming back for more.

3 out of 5 stars Less Than I Expected.......2001-09-16

I have most of Vollenweider's CDs already, but was willing to purchase this one because I was interested in the remixed versions. In my opinion these "new" versions have not changed enough to justify the price of the CD. However, if you intend to purchase only one Vollenweider disc, this would be a good one. My recommendation: purchase a used disc.

4 out of 5 stars Not just "essential Vollenweider", simply essential!.......2001-04-29

Made in CAN in 2000, Serial# SK-89507, Playing Time 72:47

First of all, let me just say that, contrarily to what's stated on the cover artwork, there is NO multimedia section on my copy of this disc.

Still, this 12th album by AV covers material from all his albums, except his first (which, contrarily to popular belief, only half of which is on "The Trilogy" set), "Eolian Minstrel" and "Live".

The songs presented here have been remastered and remixed by AV and long-time percussionist collaborator Pedro Haldemann, and tend to focus on his more joyful genre. His early albums have also been remastered a few years ago, but the selections here contain some rich textures: his earlier works are a lot more new-age and "natural" than his latest offerings. "Stella" is the only track from "Cosmopoly", an otherwise bland and generally "ethnic" album: I would even suggest you listen to the sound clip from that album, and you'll be amazed to see what sounds can come out of his harp: much closer to classical guitar than harp.

An excellent starting point for the novice; if you enjoy, start gathering the albums chronologically, as you'll notice a somewhat significant departure from "Book Of Roses" forward.

5 out of 5 stars from Solo Piano Publications.......2001-04-10

I have to confess that in all the years I've been listening to new instrumental music, I've avoided Andreas Vollenweider because I really don't like harp music. When I received a copy of "The Essential Andreas Vollenweider" for review, I kind of thought, "Oh great - another harp CD." Vollenweider's is such a huge and well-respected name that I decided that this would be an opportunity to educate myself. Many "best-of" and "greatest hits" albums are compiled by labels without any input from the artists, but this collection was chosen by Vollenweider himself from albums dating from 1981-1999. Several of the older tracks were remastered by Vollenweider, so this was a great chance to get to know a bit about this artist. It really didn't surprise me that quite a few of the songs were familiar from radio play, but I was surprised that many of them I never would have guessed as being played on harp. Vollenweider developed his electracoustic harp, which has quite a different sound from the standard acoustic harp. In addition to the harp, Vollenweider sings and plays wind instruments, guitars, accordion, keyboards, percussion, and "special fx". I was also surprised at how much I found myself enjoying this album! Musical influences can be heard from all over the world, and most of the music is lively, rhythmic, and infectious. I especially like "Moon Dance", "Dancing With the Lion", and Pace Verde", but the album as a whole is a wonderful sampler for those of us who are relatively new to Vollenweider's music, and is an excellent "best of" collection for his longtime fans. I will definitely be adding more of his music to my collection! The CD is multimedia-enhanced and contains the music video to "Pearls and Tears". Highly recommended!
The Essential Andreas Vollenweider
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		The Essential Andreas Vollenweider
    Andreas Vollenweider
    Manufacturer: Content Records
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    GeneralGeneral | International | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | New Age | Styles | Music
    New AgeNew Age | Imports | Stores | Music
    ASIN: B000BBRDDU
    Release Date: 2005-11-25

    Tracks:

    1. Behind The Gardens, Behind The Wall, Under The Tree... (Remastered)
    2. Flight Feet (Remastered)
    3. Belladonna (Remastered)
    4. Ang! (Remastered)
    5. Play Of The Five Balls (Remastered)
    6. Pyramid (Remastered)
    7. Pearls And Tears (Remastered)
    8. See, My Love... (Remastered)
    9. Moon Dance (Remastered)
    10. Passage To Promise (Remastered)
    11. Dancing With The Lion (Remastered)
    12. Wanja The Wanderer (Remastered)
    13. Night Fire Dance (Remastered)
    14. Cor Do Amor (Remastered)
    15. Stella (Remastered)
    16. Pace Verde (Remastered)
    17. Pearls &Tears (Video)

    Album Description

    Fully remixed and remastered in 24BIT Hi-Definition Audio, with bonus audio and video content. Edel.
    The Essential Andreas Vollenweider
    Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
    • Does not play from a computer CD player
    • Amazing Collection by an Amazing Artist!!
    • A great collection on a great artist
    		 The Essential Andreas Vollenweider
    Andreas Vollenweider
    Manufacturer: Sony
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    GeneralGeneral | International | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | New Age | Styles | Music
    Similar Items:
    1. White Winds
    2. Book of Roses

    ASIN: B000053HK6
    Release Date: 2000-12-12

    Tracks:

    1. Behind The Gardens, Behind The Wall, Under The Tree...
    2. Flight Feet & Root Hands
    3. Belladonna
    4. AngH!
    5. Play Of The Five Balls
    6. Pyramid
    7. Pearls & Tears
    8. See, My Love
    9. Moon Dance
    10. Passage To Promise
    11. Dancing With The Lion
    12. Wanja The Wanderer
    13. Night Fire Dance
    14. Cor Do Amor
    15. Stella
    16. Pace Verde

    Album Details

    Collection of his Greatest Hits Including Previously Unreleased Track 'pearls and Tears'.

    Customer Reviews:

    1 out of 5 stars Does not play from a computer CD player.......2007-01-04

    I purchased this CD thinking it had songs on it (a best-of) and popped the CD into my cd player on my PC so I can listen while I work, and lo! There are no songs on the CD. There is a cheezy "multi-media" bit of crap that wants to install all sorts of Microsoft mal-ware and spy-ware on your PC (it's quite obvious about it). If you just want to listen to the music, you cannot. You are not buying music, you're buying spyware. You cannot listen without installing crap-ware all over your machine. When I finally decided to try, my anti-virus software screamed, my anti-spyware software went nuts... This is bad news.

    They say it has music but only if you install their advertizing and spyware. I'm returning it and getting a real CD of someone else's music, not some Microsoft drone's music. Andreas, get a new music label and get back to the business of music, not spyware.

    5 out of 5 stars Amazing Collection by an Amazing Artist!!.......2006-03-27

    I fell in love with his music back in the 80s, and I continue to enjoy it everytime I hear it! This is a great anthology from a groundbreaking artist within New Age music.

    Whether you are working or playing, this is the greatest background music. Believe me, you won't be sorry that you took the time to play this CD.

    If you have never heard Andreas' works, I encourage you to take a listen to this unique, creative and awe-inspiring music!

    5 out of 5 stars A great collection on a great artist.......2005-04-06

    I had never heard anything from Andreas Vollenweider before I decided to make an experiment and buy The Essential; all I knew was that he was a famous-new-age-swiss-harpist. When I heard the first tracks, I didn't know wether I liked it or not; I must admit I even became bored as the album carried on. But when I reached track #12 and heard the beautiful concerto for harp and orchestra 'Wanka the Wanderer' I was deeply touched and moved as very few times before in my life. The clashing sounds and the heart-breaking arrangements for strings, the beautiful cello solo and the interaction between the differents sounds like the erratic movement of the tides at a glorious sunset totally changed my mind. The album finished and I immediately put it on once again. Even now, the more I hear it, the more I love the particular sounds and concepts managed by this talented man, from a 'scherzic' first track that introduces us into his wonderful world, to the romantic and passionate movement of 'Stella' and 'Pace Verde', not to mention the mystic, dreamy 'Pyramid' and the strange yet sticky rhythm of 'The play of the five balls' or 'Dancing with the lion'. It's a musical experience I can never stop admiring.
    Essential: Best of 1982
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		Essential: Best of 1982
      Andreas Vollenweider
      Manufacturer: Sony
      ProductGroup: Music
      Binding: Audio CD

      GeneralGeneral | International | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Jazz | Styles | Music
      Jazz FusionJazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | New Age | Styles | Music
      ASIN: B0002CHHUW
      Release Date: 2002-09-10

      Tracks:

      1. Behind The Gardens, Behind The Wall, Under The Tree...
      2. Flight Feet And Root Hands
      3. Belladonna
      4. Angoh!
      5. Play Of The Five Balls
      6. Pyramid
      7. Pearls And Tears
      8. See, My Love...
      9. Moon Dance
      10. Passage To Promise
      11. Dancing With The Lion
      12. Wanja The Wanderer
      13. Night Fire Dance
      14. Cor Do Amor
      15. Stella
      16. Pace Verde
      17. Angoh!
      18. Down To The Moon
      19. Moonday
      20. First Piece
      21. And The Long Shadows
      22. Cheng Lunar
      23. Years In The Forest
      24. Flight Feet And Root Hands

      Album Details

      Includes a Bonus CD which Includes Live Tracks.
      Essential Best of 1982
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        		Essential Best of 1982
        Andreas Vollenweider
        Manufacturer: Msi Music Corp
        ProductGroup: Music
        Binding: Audio CD
        ASIN: B0002B6T0M
        Release Date: 2002-09-10

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        4. Watercolors: Swedish Songs
        5. 4 + Four
        6. A Bride's Guide to Wedding Music [Box set]
        7. A. Scarlatti - Griselda / Röschmann · Zazzo · Gangemi · FInk · Tro Santafé · van Rensburg · Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin · Jacobs
        8. A Window in Time
        9. Alban Berg: Violin Concerto "To the Memory of an Angel" (1935) / Wolfgang Rihm: "Time Chant" Music for Violin & Orchestra (1991-92) - Anne-Sophie Mutter
        10. Andreas Scholl - Heroes / Norrington

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        Stravinsky: Baiser de la fée; Bartok: Two Pictures Op10

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