The Historic Recordings

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Few, if any, historic releases are as charming as Ivory Classics' Shura Cherkassky--The Historic 1940s Recordings. For Cherkassky--as for his teacher, Josef Hofmann--music was a vehicle for self-expression. Stories about Cherkassky's personal eccentricities are the stuff of legend, but he was not so much an eccentric pianist as an individualistic one. Unlike individualists of our own day, who seem to play "differently" simply to provoke and who merely sound quirky, the miracle about Cherkassky is that he usually sounded natural. You'll surely never hear a Brahms F Minor Sonata more original than the one reissued here. In the finale, the pianist discovers inner voices whose existence would have astonished Brahms himself. But despite the pianist's interest in luscious tone, polyphonic texture, and details within individual phrases, he never loses grasp of the overall shape of the work. Much of the rest of what's contained in these two discs is simply magical. In short, familiar pieces by Chopin and Liszt and, particularly, in lesser-known works by Medtner, Rebikov, Chaminade, and Scriabin, Cherkassky's pianism evokes the elegance and melancholy of a vanished era. --Stephen Wigler

The Historic Recordings, Music, Johannes Brahms, Cecile Chaminade, Fryderyk Chopin, Mikhail Glinka, Morton Gould, Aram Khachaturian, Franz Liszt, Anatol Konstantinovich Lyadov, Nikolay Medtner, Francis Poulenc, Sergey Prokofiev, Sergey Rachmaninov, Vladimir Ivanovich Rebikov, Camille Saint-Saens, Alexander Scriabin, Dmitry Shostakovich, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Shura Cherkassky, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Artists, Classical Music, Coll. of Character/Single-Movement/Misc. Works for Keyb., Collection of Dance-Based Music for Keyboard, Etude for Keyboard, Fantasy/Fantasia for Keyboard, Impromptu for Keyboard, Individual Dance for Keyboard, Keyboard, Keyboard Work Entitled "Piece" or "Stück", Mazurka for Keyboard, Music for Keyboard, Nocturne for Keyboard, Opera, Orchestral, Polka for Keyboard, Polonaise for Keyboard, Prelude for Keyboard, Rhapsody for Keyboard, Romantic Orchestral Music, Romantic Sonata/Sonatina for Keyboard, Russian Romantic Opera, Toccata for Keyboard

Monarchs of Minstrelsy: Historic Recordings by the Stars of the Minstrel Stage
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The basis of the Broadway musical, but an unpleasant reminder of racism in the past

Monarchs of Minstrelsy: Historic Recordings by the Stars of the Minstrel Stage

Manufacturer: Archeophone Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by Sullivan | Sullivan, Arthur | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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The Early Minstrel Show

Good For What Ails You: Music of the Medicine Shows 1926-1937

Real Ragtime: Disc Recordings from Its Heyday

Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry 1891-1922

The Sound of Vaudeville

ASIN: B000FKO0UG
Release Date: 2006-05-30

Tracks:

The Minstrel Parade (Victor Orchestra)
Mobile Minstrels (Victor Minstrel Company)
Turkey Specialty (Golden and Hughes)
Down on the Mississippi (Levee & Steamboat Scenes) (American Quartet)
Any Rags? (Burt Shepard)
Lily of Laguna (Eugene Stratton)
Old Time Minstrel Scene (Tom Lewis)
The Song Birds are Singing of You (James McCool)
My Sweetheart's the Man in the Moon (Manuel Romain)
Hippodrome Minstrel Medley (Manuel Romain)
Don't Be An Old Maid Molly (Harry Ellis)
Ring Down the Curtain, I Can't Sing To-Night (Francklyn Wallace)
"Boxing Scene" (Neil O'Brien and James J. Corbett)
Roll Them Roly Boly Eyes (Al Bernard)
Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider (Eddie Leonard)
Brass Band Ephraham Jones (Al Jolson)
Dear Old Girl (Richard Jose)
Silver Threads Among the Gold (Richard Jose)
Everybody Works But Father (Lew Dockstader)
Uncle Quit Work, Too (Lew Dockstader)
Fiddle, Dee, Dee (Lew Dockstader and Vocal Quartette)
Roll on Silvery Moon (Matt Keefe)
In the Good Old Summer Time (William Redmond)
When You and I Were Young, Maggie (Will Oakland)
"Reminiscing about Minstrel Days" (Will Oakland)
Evalyne (Will Oakland and Billy Murray)
The Belle of the Barber's Ball (Ada Jones and Billy Murray)
Oh, You Coon (Ada Jones and Billy Murray)

Product Description

Professor Allen Debus takes us on a fascinating journey into the late 19th century, when the minstrel show was in its last stages of popularity. He shows us that the final big-name minstrel shows were a different affair than their predecessors of one and two generations before. The difference? Whereas racist caricatures continued to dominate the minstrel First Part, minstrel celebrities such as Richard Jose and Manuel Romain dominated the Olio portion of the minstrel show, singing sentimental ballads and moving the minstrel show toward the personality-based aesthetic that characterized vaudeville. Fortunately for us today, a handful of minstrel veterans committed their voices to wax at the dawn of the recording industryÂ—and one former minstrel, Billy Murray, became the biggest acoustic-era personality and the singer most called upon to sing minstrel songs when original cast members were unavailable.

Customer Reviews:

The basis of the Broadway musical, but an unpleasant reminder of racism in the past.......2007-05-01

Students of the American musical theatre have always been told about the Minstrel shows that set the tone for not only American musical comedies but also Vaudeville and the popular song. The trouble is that authentic recordings have only rarely been available; and one had to be content with recreations by artists who had nothing on which to base the style of their presentations.

Some of that problem has vanished now that Archeophone, that amazing storehouse of antique recordings lovingly reproduced on CDs, has issued "Monarchs of Minstrelsy: Historic Recordings by the Stars of the Minstrel Stage."

The single disc is divided thus. Part One is "A Miniature Minstrel Show in Four Acts," offering 4 selections from 1905 and 1910 of music and routines heard on stage prior to those dates. Part Two deals with "Early and Obscure Minstrel Performers" who left their voices on cylinders and ancient 78-rpm discs from 1903 to 1924: Burt Shepard, Eugene Stratton, Tom Lewis (all three comedians), and James McCool (tenor).

Part Three is a collection of songs that were heard in "Lew Dockstader's Minstrel Show," while Part Four does the same for "Cohan and Harris' Minstrels."

Among the familiar songs are "Ida, sweet as apple cider," "In the good old summertime," and "In the light of the silvery moon." Many of the other songs contain a good deal of racist words, many of them used by Black singers themselves, that make the entire history of the Minstrel Show an embarrassment to us today. However, as the notes put it, "These tracks are included here for their historical significance." One must judge for oneself the pros and cons of preserving even the uncomfortable parts of our American past.

The booklet, as is always true with Archeophone, is packed with background information, details of each selection, and wonderful pictures.

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Eloquent expression!
Brilliant Recordings Rescued From The Vaults

Historic Philips Recordings, 1953-1962

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00008CLMG
Release Date: 2003-05-13

Customer Reviews:

Eloquent expression! .......2006-01-21

In this formidable album you will realize Artur Grumiaux is in top form. His lyricism and expressiveness is quite evident since the first bar you listened. He possessed that admirable and inimitable phrasing, supported by the most fervent passion and commitment.

This is a fundamental and excellent selection of his interpretative art. His Lekeu and Debussy violin Sonata do not know about rivals, even the elapsed time. I miss the exclusion of his Häendel works Op. 1 and several violin Sonatas of Mozart (specially the K. 376), but this artistic document well deserves its immediate acquisition.

Grumiaux was -undeniably- the best Belgium violinist after Ysaye, and one of the eternal icons of this instrument.

Brilliant Recordings Rescued From The Vaults.......2003-06-09

Now that Decca, Philips and Deutsche Grammophon, among others, are all part of Universal, we have seen some interesting things happen, and not all of them bad. What I'm referring to in this case is the new "Original Masters" Limited Edition Box Set series. Finally, the classical music world has taken a page out of the jazz reissue handbook -- put out a quality product featuring rare recordings but make its availability limited, and people will snatch it up. In the "Original Masters" series, first DG and now Decca/Philips have each reissued five box sets, of 4 to 7 CDs each, in distinguished, space-saving slim paper boxes, though the style of packaging is different. The DG sets feature 50s style graphics design on their covers, while the Decca/Philips ones have a distinctive rainbow/spectrum pattern on the spines and banners, and a black-and-white photo of the artist in question on the face of the box.

This particular set features the historical Philips recordings of the great violinist Arthur Grumiaux from 1953-62. As the track information is non-existent above, I will try to be of assistance. The first two discs contain the complete Mozart Violin Concertos, including K271i which is now regarded as doubtful (to be composed by Mozart), with Bernhard Paumgartner and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (VSO) from 1953-55. It is wonderful to compare these performances to Grumiaux's stereo Mozart VC Cycle on Philips with Colin Davis (see my review). Disc three is all works for violin and piano (with pianist Istvan Hajdu) -- Debussy, Ravel and Faure (No. 1) Sonatas, Ravel's Piece en Forme de Habanera, Faure's Les Berceaux, Saraste's Zigeunerweisen, Fiocco's Allegro, Granados' Andaluza, and Albeniz's Tango (all from 1962). Disc four features shorter works for violin and orchestra -- Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, Chausson's Poeme, Ravel's Tzigane, Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and Havanaise. All are with Jean Fournet conducting the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux (OCL) from 1954, except the Capriccioso which is 1956. Lastly, CD Five returns to concertos with the Mendelssohn (Rudolf Moralt/VSO, 1954) and Paganini No. 4 (Franco Gallini/OCL, 1954), and concludes with Paganini's I Palpiti and Le Streghe with pianist Riccardo Castagnone (1958). Despite the fact that the recordings on four of the five discs are in mono (CD3 is in stereo), the first rate performances more than compensate for any audio shortcomings. Well, I guess the consolidation of the music industry isn't so bad after all, as long as I can look forward to more reissues like this.

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Historic Recordings 1930-1947
Albert Einstein
Manufacturer: British Library
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Relativity | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
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Einstein: His Life and Universe

ASIN: 0712305211
Release Date: 2006-01-02

Tracks:

Einstein on E=Mc2
Savoy Hotel Fund Raising Dinner: Bernard Shaw's Speech
Savoy Hotel Fund-Raising Dinner: Einstein's Speech 'Jewish Community'
Einstein Speeches and Broadcasts: At the Royal Albert Hall, London
Einstein Speeches and Broadcasts: I'm an American
Einstein Speeches and Broadcasts: The Common Language of Science
Post-War World

Album Details

68 Minutes of Rare BBC Recordings.the Celebrated Physicist Talks About his Life and Work, the Jewish People and the World of Science. Includes Deluxe 24 Page Booklet with Rare Photos, Extensive Historical Liner Notes and Translations Where Necessary.

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Feeling Blue? Try Some Gershwin!
Classically American

Historic Gershwin Recordings

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Gershwin Plays Rhapsody in Blue

ASIN: B00000D9VR
Release Date: 1998-10-13

Tracks:

Rhapsody in Blue
An American in Paris
Porgy And Bess: Act 1: Lullaby (Summertime)
Porgy And Bess: Act 1: Summertime & Crap Game, A Woman is a Sometime Thing
Porgy And Bess: Act 1: My Man's Gone Now
Porgy And Bess: Act 2: I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
Porgy And Bess: Act 2: The Buzzard Song
Porgy And Bess: Act 2: Bess, You Is My Woman Now
Porgy And Bess: Act 2: It Ain't Neccesarily So
Porgy And Bess: Act 3: Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?
Strike Up The Band
Rhapsody in Blue

Tracks:

An American In Paris
Rhapsody in Blue
Prelude No. 1 In B Flat
Prelude No. 2 In C Sharp Minor
Prelude No. 3 In E Flat
Solo From Porgy And Bess
Suite From Porgy And Bess

Customer Reviews:

Feeling Blue? Try Some Gershwin!.......2005-05-14

Need to hear something that is virtually GUARANTEED to brighten your day? This 2-disc "Historic Gershwin Recordings" set from BMG does it for me EVERY time I hear it. Here's a rundown:

Track 1. The all-time GREATEST Gershwin recording ever made! This is the ORIGINAL 1924 acoustic recording of Gershwin himself playing "Rhapsody In Blue" with Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. This is simply the snappiest, jazziest, most thrilling account EVER recorded. It's abridged and runs just a little over 9 minutes (originally designed to fit two sides of a 78rpm disc). Gershwin didn't have time to orchestrate Rhapsody before its premiere, so this is the very FIRST band arrangement by Ferde Grofe (of later "Grand Canyon Suite" fame). Grofe would re-orchestrate it for Gershwin's 1926 electrical re-make, also abridged, and would do so again in 1942. Nobody does the opening clarinet glissando like Ross Gorman (it was arranged specifically for him), and the whole performance just trots along with incredible commitment and sincerity. If this wonderfully spunky performance doesn't lift your spirits immediately, perhaps you need to see a doctor! By the way, you'll be simply amazed at how GOOD this transfer sounds.

Track 2. Probably the second-greatest Gershwin recording ever made: the ORIGINAL 1929 account of "An American In Paris," conducted by Gershwin's boyhood friend Nathaniel Shilkret. Gershwin himself plays the small parts for piano and celeste! As Charles Levin writes in the notes for another Gershwin set on Pearl CDs, "Apparently Gershwin became such a pest during rehearsals, offering incessant suggestions to Shilkret as to precisely how this or that passage could go, that he was awarded the instrumental parts on condition that he absent himself from the studio until the actual recording!" Shilkret here uses the actual taxi horns that Gershwin brought back from Paris. For me, no other recording comes even close to this one for sheer pizzazz and giddy fun.

Tracks 3-10 feature the original 1935 "Porgy and Bess" excerpts with soprano Helen Jepson & the great American baritone Lawrence Tibbett, and conducted by Alexander Smallens. I find Jepson sympathetic but a little uneven (her "Summertime" doesn't quite compare with Eleanor Steber's on LP, let alone Ella Fitzgerald with Louis Armstong on a London CD called "George Gershwin: The Ultimate Collection"). But Tibbett's wonderfully masculine voice is a real joy to hear (what great diction!). If you still need to cheer up, just listen to his "It ain't necessarily so" and the marvelous "I got plenty o' nuttin."

Track 11. Arthur Fiedler plays "Strike Up The Band." What can I say? At least it's mercifully short (2:17).

Track 12. While a fascinating comparison, the 1927 re-make of "Rhapsody In Blue," again with Gershwin on piano, doesn't have quite the same electricity as the performance on track 1. Still, it's quite delightful (really excelled only by the 1924 version).

That's CD 1. The other CD is generally of lesser interest: 1) Bernstein's first recording of American In Paris is quite similar to his stereo version - neither, to my ears, is as appealing as what's heard on track 2 of the first CD, 2) Morton Gould both plays & conducts Rhapsody in Blue - like everybody else's, it doesn't match Gershwin's 1924 account, but it's jazzier than most and is one of my three favorite modern accounts (the others: Jeffrey Siegel, with Charles Gerhardt conducting, on a deleted Reader's Digest CD set with utterly fabulous recorded sound, and Leonard Pennario with Felix Slatkin on an Angel CD that's still obtainable elsewhere on the internet), 3) the last 5 tracks feature Gould playing three preludes, a solo from Porgy, and then conducting a 30-minute Porgy suite. The latter is very pleasant, but the music really needs the inclusion of singers to make it work most effectively.

An essential part of any Gershwin collection.

Highly recommended.

Classically American.......2000-06-19

I bought this cd after seeing Woody Allen's Manhattan. I love Rhapsody in Blue, and this collection's three recordings are diverse and excellent. An American in Paris is also well represented with two distinct and pleasant recordings. This collection loses some points because these "historic" recordings are available only from vynil source, and some static is in the background of some of the older recordings. As well, there is not alot of diversity in the selections. If, however, you like these songs alot, listening to different interpretations of these songs can be a facinating study of some of the greatest classical music of the modern day.

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Hanns Eisler: Historic Recordings

Manufacturer: Berlin Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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Eisler: The Hollywood Songbook

ASIN: B0000035V8
Release Date: 1996-10-15

Tracks:

I. Lieder Und Balladen: 1. Ballade Vom Nigger Jim Op.18/6
I. Lieder Und Balladen: 2. Ballade Von Den Baumwollpfluckern Op.22/1
I. Lieder Und Balladen: 3. Ballade Von Der Wohltatigkeit Op.22/2
I. Lieder Und Balladen: 4. Lied Der Bergarbeiter Op.23/3
I. Lieder Und Balladen: 5. Ballade Von Den Sackeshcmeissern Op.22/4
I. Lieder Und Balladen: 6. Solidaritatslied Op.27/1
I. Lieder Und Balladen: 7. Stempellied, Lied Der Arbeitslosen Op.28/6
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 1. Wie Die Krahe - Carola Braunbock/Ernst Busch
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 2. Das Lied Von Der Suppe - Edith Weiss
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 3. Der Zerissene Rock
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 4. Bericht Vom 1. Mai - Helene Weigel/Carola Braubock/Ernst Busch/Ernst Kahler/Kurt Sperling/Gerd Schafer/Friedrich Gnass...
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 5. Lob Des Kommunismus - Helene Weigel
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 6. Lob Des Lernens
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 7. Lob Eines Revolutionars
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 8. Im Gefangnis Zu Singen
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 9. Lob Der Wlassowas - Ernst Kahler
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 10. Lob Der Dritten Sache - Helene Weigel
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 11. Grabrede Uber Einen Genossen, Der An Die Wand Gestellt Wurde
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 12. Steh Auf
II. Die Mutter Op.25: 13. Lob Der Dialektik
III. O Fallada, Da Du Hangest: Ein Pferd Klagt An - Kate Kuhl
IV. Vier Wiegenlieder Op.33: 1. Als Ich Dich In Meinem Leib Trug - Kate Kuhl/Ernst Busch
IV. Vier Wiegenlieder Op.33: 2. Als Ich Dich Gebar - Kate Kuhl/Ernst Busch
IV. Vier Wiegenlieder Op.33: 3. Ich Habe Dich Ausgetragen - Kate Kuhl/Ernst Busch
IV. Vier Wiegenlieder Op.33: 4. Mein Sohn, Was Immer Auch - Kate Kuhl/Ernst Busch

Legendary Jams 1976-1980 - Historic Live Recordings

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Legendary Jams 1976-1980 - Historic Live Recordings
Bug Henderson , Roy Buchanan , Freddie King , Ted Nugent , and Johnny Winter
Manufacturer: Taxim
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000EI7EAC

Product Description

Bug Henderson - Legendary Jams 1976-1980- Historic Live Recordings/ Featuring Roy Buchanan - Freddie King - Ted Nugent and Johnny Winter //Recorded live at The Texas Opry HouseHouston 1976//At the Panther Hall Fort Worth, TX 1978// At The Palladium Dallas, TX 1979//at The Rox Lubbock, TX 1980// 1.Boogie on Down /Bugs Henderson and Freddie King guitar (8:45) 2.Green Onions /Bugs Henderson and Roy Buchanan guitar (12:03) 3.Talk to Your Daughter/Bugs Henderson and Johnny Winter guitar (7:11) 4.It's My Own Fault, Baby /Bugs Henderson and Johnny Winter guitar (8:53) 5.Don't Want No Woman /Bugs Henderson and Ted Nugent (12:12) 6.Bluetex /Bugs Henderson and Ted Nugent guitar (17:11) 7.Stranglehold /Bugs Henderson and Ted Nugent guitar (4:13) 8. Audio Line Notes (4:02)

Tipping the Velvet: 24 Historic Music Hall Recordings

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Tipping the Velvet: 24 Historic Music Hall Recordings
Various Artists
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music

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Tipping the Velvet

ASIN: B00006IRKH
Release Date: 2007-05-08

Album Description

24 tracks. CD41 are pleased to announce the release of Tipping the Velvet, a full length CD of archive music hall tracks inspired by the acclaimed lesbian historical novel by Sarah Waters. Tipping the Velvet features original recordings made between 1915 and 1938 by several key artists, including Norah Blaney, Gwen Farrar, Cicely Courtneidge, Hetty King, Douglas Byng, Ella Shields and Vesta Tilley. As 78 rpm shellac discs claimed their corner of the entertainment market in the 1920's, lesbian and gay artists also made records, although in the wake of Oscar Wilde's earlier notoriety performers had usually to resort to novelty and caricature. Some of these sides are by male impersonators, such as King and Tilley, others by more overtly camp performers like Douglas Byng. Tracks include: Masculine Women! Feminine Men!, The Moon is Low, If I Had a Girl Like You, Piccadilly, Give Me a Million Beautiful Girls, I'm a Bird, Ukelele Lady and What Angeline Says, Goes. The CD has been edited by Andrew Simons, jazz curator at the British Library National Sound Archive. In his sleevenote he explains: ''In the Victorian era the music hall was the mass entertainment. There the heroines of Tipping the Velvet, Nan King and Kitty Butler, were social prisoners of the era, with modern conveniences such as public transport and mass media, but none of the enlightenment regarding diversity that we enjoy today. Reverse gender impersonators were no doubt an inspiration to the hidden lesbian and gay community.'' A major BBC television adaptation of the novel will be screened in three parts in September 2002. Running for 74 minutes and featuring extensive sleevenotes, the disc is a must for all students of left-field music hall, jazz, variety, and hidden social history.

The King Kong Compilation: The Historic Reggae Recordings

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Kong promises enjoyment!
Most excellent reggae anthology

The King Kong Compilation: The Historic Reggae Recordings
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Mango
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music

Dub | Reggae | International | Styles | Music

General | Reggae | International | Styles | Music

Rocksteady | Reggae | International | Styles | Music

1960s | By Decade | Pop | Styles | Music

1970s | By Decade | Pop | Styles | Music

Ska General | Ska | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Israelites - Desmond Dekker And The Aces
Monkey Girl - The Maytals
Sweet Sensation - The Melodians
Freedom Street - Ken Boothe
Let Them Say - Tyrone Evans
Samfie Man - The Pioneers
It's My Delight - The Melodians
Peeping Tom - The Maytals
Rivers Of Babylon - The Melodians
Gave You My Love - Delroy Wilson
Bitterness Of Life - Bruce Ruffin
Sentimental Journey - Ansell Collins
Long Shot Kick De Bucket - The Pioneers
(Ah) It Mek - Desmond Dekker And The Aces
Why Baby Why - Ken Boothe
Monkey Man - The Maytals

Customer Reviews:

Kong promises enjoyment!.......2005-12-23

I taped some of this collection from a friend years ago, and listened to it til the tape failed. It is a fun, danceable, upbeat slice of truly enjoyable music from a great reggae producer.

Most excellent reggae anthology.......1998-11-28

I became familiar with this album on vinyl approximately 10 years ago. These recordings were done in the studio of Leslie Kong in Jamaica. He ran one of the only studios to treat the artists fairly, which explains the large number of top-notch artists that he recorded. There is great variety on this album. The level of polish is fairly high, but the sense of immediacy has not been lost at all. Probably the best reggae album that I know of. Sadly, Kong died at an early age, almost cetainly limiting the spread of this type of music.

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Leon Kirchner Historic Recordings

Manufacturer: Music & Arts Program
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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American String Quartets, 1950-1970

ASIN: B00000JIPD
Release Date: 1999-07-20

Tracks:

Piano Sonata: I. Lento - Doppio Movemento
Piano Sonata: II. Adagio
Piano Sonata: III. Allegro Risoluto
String Quartet No. 1: I. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
String Quartet No. 1: II. Adagio
String Quartet No. 1: III. Divertimento
String Quartet No. 1: IV. Adagio
Sonata Concertante For Violin And Piano: I. Andante Maestoso
Sonata Concertante For Violin And Piano: II. Grazioso
Piano Concerto No. 1: I. Allegro
Piano Concerto No. 1: II. Adagio

Tracks:

Piano Concerto No. 1: III. Rondo
Trio For Violin, Cello, And Piano: I.
Trio For Violin, Cello, And Piano: II. Largo
String Quartet No. 2: I. Moderato
String Quartet No. 2: II. Adagio
String Quartet No. 2: III. Allegro molto
String Quartet No. 3 For Strings And Electronic Tape
Lily, For Soprano And Chamber Orchestra

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SHURA CHERKASSKY - more 1940s delights resurrected!

The Historic Recordings

Manufacturer: Ivory Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

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Horowitz in Moscow

ASIN: B00005B196
Release Date: 2001-04-17

Amazon.com

Few, if any, historic releases are as charming as Ivory Classics' Shura Cherkassky--The Historic 1940s Recordings. For Cherkassky--as for his teacher, Josef Hofmann--music was a vehicle for self-expression. Stories about Cherkassky's personal eccentricities are the stuff of legend, but he was not so much an eccentric pianist as an individualistic one. Unlike individualists of our own day, who seem to play "differently" simply to provoke and who merely sound quirky, the miracle about Cherkassky is that he usually sounded natural. You'll surely never hear a Brahms F Minor Sonata more original than the one reissued here. In the finale, the pianist discovers inner voices whose existence would have astonished Brahms himself. But despite the pianist's interest in luscious tone, polyphonic texture, and details within individual phrases, he never loses grasp of the overall shape of the work. Much of the rest of what's contained in these two discs is simply magical. In short, familiar pieces by Chopin and Liszt and, particularly, in lesser-known works by Medtner, Rebikov, Chaminade, and Scriabin, Cherkassky's pianism evokes the elegance and melancholy of a vanished era. --Stephen Wigler

Customer Reviews:

SHURA CHERKASSKY - more 1940s delights resurrected!.......2001-05-19

This excellent duo of CDs contains the same collection of early Vox and Swedish Cupol label recordings as on Pearl's `Piano Masters' series that Cherkassky made in 1946 and 1949. {see my review}. In addition to these rare and wonderful bonbons by Khachaturian, Shostakovitch, Liadov, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Rebikov, Glinka,Scriabin and Medtner etc., Ivory Classics also gives us the HMV historic 1940s recordings. Disc 1 begins with Saints-Saëns `Prelude and Fugue in F minor' in which the repeated chords of the Prelude shimmer delightfully at all dynamic levels from pianissimo through to fortissimo and the following Fugue sweeps along energetically with some brilliant octave playing. Cherkassky's Brahm's Sonata in F minor {a Vox recording} is also full of youthful passion, exuberance and grandeur. The Liszt `Liebesträume'{Electrola } is played with Cherkassky's full-throated cantabile and the HMV Chopin selection consists of: two Mazurkas, performed with a delightful feeling for their rhythmical dance origins - the second Impromptu in F sharp major played with Cherkassky's ravishing singing tone; the right hand scale passages fairly sparkle, as do those in the famous `Fantasie - Impromptu; Chopin's great Fantasie in F minor and two Etudes Op.10 {No: 12 & 4} which end disc 2 are brilliantly executed. Some critics have found Cherkassky's playing to be either `wilful' or `mannered'. On the contrary, these 1940s recordings are full of character and imagination - a quality that is in short supply these days! So do you purchase this Ivory Classics two CD set or the Pearl single CD? If you can afford it - buy both. The Pearl has a `live' recording of the second and third movts of Tchaikovsky's second piano concerto with Stokowski and the Hollywood Bowl SO . The Ivory Classics transfers are very good and their booklet is exemplary. Not only does it give detailed biographical notes of Cherkassky and all the composers featured but it also includes a fascinating selection of very rare photos of the great pianist as a boy and also at the time these recordings were made. I particularly like the photos taken of Cherkassky seated at the keyboard in his Hollywood home and one taken of him as a 13 year old wearing knee length boots and a large flat cap! An absolutely delightful tribute to a unique artist.

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