Evocation

Track Listings

1. Fruhling

2. Old Trees

3. The Whale's Lament

4. Strolling

5. Blues

6. Evocation

7. Elegy

8. Wind Dance

9. Blues Too

10. Nocturne

11. Poem

12. Epilogue

Tracks:

Les Choristes
In Memoriam
L'Arrivee a L'Ecole
Pepinot
Vois sur ton Chemin
Les Partitions
Caresse sur L'Ocean
Lueur d'Ete
Cerf-Volant
Sous la Pluie
Compere Guilleri
La Desillusion
La Nuit
L'Incendie
L'Evocation
Les Avions en Papier
Action Reaction
Seuls
Morhange
In Memoriam A Cappella
Nous sommes de Fond de l'Etang

Amazon.com

Already a box office sensation with a million-selling soundtrack in its native France, writer/director Christopher Barratier's tale of a post-war music teacher's lasting impact on his young charges rode its formulaic Hollywood roots all the way to Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations as Best Foreign Language Film, as well as an Oscar nod for Best Song ("Look To Your Path [Vois Sur Ton Chemin]," a collaboration between the director and film composer Bruno Coulais). Taking his inspiration from the boy's chorus at the center of the film's drama, Coulais has concocted a masterful, classically rooted score that showcases the crystalline, youthful harmonies of Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc Choir. The composer bridges the baroque and modern eras in a collection of mostly Latin choruses and chants, a skillful, often haunting fusion that also netted Coulais' compelling score BAFTA and Cesar Awards in Britain and his native France, respectively. -- Jerry McCulley

Album Description

The Chorus (Les Choristes), written and directed by Christophe Barratier, is already a French cinema phenomenon. The modestly budgeted film about a music teacher in a post-war France who wins over the troubled students at a boarding school arrived in French theatres last summer with little advance hype. Defying industry expectations, this affecting tale proceeded to break box-office records. The soundtrack to The Chorus (Les Choristes) features performers by the Lyon-based Petits Chanteurs de Saint Marc and several haunting solo turns by 13 year-old boy soprano Jean-Baptiste Maunier, who also portrays the youthful protagonist of the film.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing children's voices.......2007-05-14

This CD has been in the player in my kitchen ever since it arrived and has been played many times, and no one in the family is tired of it. The children's voices are wonderful, the pieces are beautiful, the harmonies haunting. A longtime favourite for sure.

Great Music.......2007-05-11

The CD is so enjoyable. The music is beautiful. I can not say enough good about it. The orchestra and choir are outstanding. The move is also wonderful, French with subtitles. I heard the CD when I was visiting a friend in Germany. I ordered the CD and movie as soon as I arrived back in the States. Such beautiful melodies and performance quality of the highest standard.

THE CHORUS CD.......2007-05-07

Excellent CD! Good sound reproduction and excellent music. Makes you feel like you are watching the movie again! Angelic young voices singing beautiful French choral pieces. Beautiful and relaxing.

Great music, but missing some songs from the movie.......2007-02-25

I rented this movie last year, and really enjoyed it. However, when I bought the CD, I discovered it was missing my favorite song from the movie. However, the songs on the album are absolutely beautiful.

a wonder.......2007-01-19

this collection of music is one of the finest things which i have ever listened to. the movie is equally beautifull.

Leonard Bernstein Conducts Barber & Schuman

Average customer rating:

Classic Bernstein recordings of American music, in best sound
Same as "Bernstein Century" Title

Leonard Bernstein Conducts Barber & Schuman

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Alban Berg: Violin Concerto "To the Memory of an Angel" (1935) / Wolfgang Rihm: "Time Chant" Music for Violin & Orchestra (1991-92) - Anne-Sophie Mutter
Schuman: Symphony No8; Symphony No3
Hilary Hahn - Barber & Meyer: Violin Concertos
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 [Hybrid SACD]
Mozart: The Great Piano Concertos, Vol. 2

ASIN: B0000CD5GJ
Release Date: 2003-09-30

Tracks:

Adagio For Strings - Leonard Bernstein
I. Allegro - Isaac Stern
II. Andante - Isaac Stern
III. Presto In Moto - Isaac Stern
To Thee Old Cause - Harold Gomberg
Vigoroso - Leonard Bernstein
Lento (Bar 185) - Leonard Bernstein
The Unanswered Question - William Vacchiano
Molto Deliberato - Leonard Bernstein

Customer Reviews:

Classic Bernstein recordings of American music, in best sound.......2006-06-16

Sony's reissue machine tries to entice us to buy some classic Bernstein performances by giving us mid-price, excellent sound, and a jam-packed CD. As Mr. Richman notes below, the main part of this disc appeared in the Bernstein Century series, but two items have been added, Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man and Ives' Unanswered Question, both performed with all of Bernstein's infectious energy and insight.

I also give Sony the benefit of the doubt that their current DSD (Direct Stream Digital) technology is a step ahead of the last improvement, 20-bit SBM (Super Bit Mapping) technology. Who knows for sure?

Anyway, Bernstein and Stern have never been bettered in their 1964 reading of the Barber Violin Concerto. Their secret is twofold: the superb orchestral playing by the NY Phil. at its height (Harold Gomberg's oboe solo that opens the slow movement couldn't be more tender), and Bernstein's unqiue ability to conduct American rhythms. He was both a jazz baby and a swing kid, and it shows even when he is handling the delicate tracery of the concerto's first movement. Stern keeps his tone relatively dry, which is also a good idea when the melody is this luscious.

Gomberg is back center stage for William Schuman's evocative 'To the Old Cause,' a combination of oboe concerto and brooding elegy for the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy. A cultural era was ending, and Schuman gives dark, painful testimony to it. The same is true for the even darker, jagged 'In Praise of Ben Shahn,' with its rough-hewn brass interjections and turbulent unease. Schuman's idiom dates from the Forties and here is getting its last stand in a moving way.

Once you throw in the Copland and Ives fillers, the net result is a terrific 74 min. memento of Bernstein at his very best and a high-water mark in Aerican music.

Same as "Bernstein Century" Title.......2003-10-02

This recent Sony reissue of the music of American composers Samuel Barber and William Schuman is exactly the same as a CD featured in the "Bernstein Century" series. Included here are Leonard Bernstein and the NYPO's 1971 account of the "Adagio for Strings," 1964 recording of Barber's Violin Concerto, 1968 performance of Schuman's "To Thee Old Cause," and "In Praise of Shahn" from 1970. The music is terrific, but my reason for rewarding only four stars (other than being annoyed at Sony for investing so much energy in a straight reissue with new packaging when so many other classic recordings remain unissued) is this release is obviously aimed at casual fans looking for a good performance of the "Adagio." And boy will they be surprised by the dissonance of the Schuman pieces! This is another Sony reissue that leaves me scratching my head.

Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain / Albeniz: Iberia

Average customer rating:

First Rate!
Pride Of Spain

Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain / Albeniz: Iberia

Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Beethoven: Concertos For Piano And Orchestra
Chopin: Piano Concertos nos. 1 & 2 / Dutoit, Argerich
Martha Argerich: Live from the Concertgebouw, 1978 & 1992

ASIN: B000005E67
Release Date: 1992-02-03

Tracks:

Nights in the Gardens of Spain: En el Generalife: Allegretto tranquillo e misterioso
Nights in the Gardens of Spain: Dansa lejana
Iberia: Iberia, Evocation
Iberia: El Puerto
Iberia: El Albaicin
Iberia: Iberia, Fete - Dieu a Seville
Iberia: Triana

Customer Reviews:

First Rate!.......2005-01-04

Being a rabid Martha Argerich fan, I was attracted to this CD when
Reiner's masterful recording of Falla's "El Amor Brujo" kindled my interest in Falla's music. What could be better? Two of Argentina's leading musicians lending their talents to Falla's music. Was I in for surprises!
This recording is nowhere near as romantic as the Laroccha or Rubinstein versions which have become the industry standards. Instead, what we have here is a drier, more sober approach which seeks to get at the core of Falla's music first, and only then at the impressions behind it. Here we hear a totally different aspect of Argerich's artistry. Instead of the firey temperment and mind-boggling virtuousity one usually associates with her playing, she forms a rather classical conception of the piece with conductor Barenboim, which is dead-on-the-mark at every turn. Despite its constant brilliance, there is never anything showy in Martha's playing here. It's all right to the point, and the more you listen to it, the more you fall in love with this piece. "Nights In the Gardens of Spain" is NOT a piano concerto: it is an orchestral piece with a major part for solo piano, and that's the way Argerich and Barenboim play it. They allow the genius of Falla's composition to emerge on its own terms. Only then, do we see the visual splendors, hear the birdsongs, smell the aromas and feel the repose of the gardens. As with her handling of Ravel's piano music, Argerich's playing of her part here is assured and instinctively right throughout. Rather than give you HER impressions of "Nights In the Gardens of Spain," she allows you to develop your own. It's a very subtle artistry.
This is also the first recording I've heard in which Daniel Barenboim's conducting impressed me as much as his piano playing has. His insight into both the Falla and Albeniz pieces are equally astounding. His ear for orchestral detail and his ability to assign the correct weight to each one is crucial to the performance of both these pieces, and he never fails to get things right.
Leave your preconceptions about this music and the artists at the door, and allow them to ASTOUND you. Simply WONDERFUL!

Pride Of Spain.......2000-12-11

Along with Rodrigo's "Concerto de Aranjuez," Falla's "Nights In The Garden Of Spain" and Albeniz's "Iberia" have to be three of those most beloved orchestral works in the Spanish classical canon. This CD, with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Orchestre De Paris and featuring Martha Argerich on piano, couples these two major statements of Spanish nationalism. The performances on, and the sound of, this live recording are phenomenal. Martha Argerich's playing is first rate, and who better to partner with than Barenboim, a virtuoso pianist in his own right. There are other classic performances of these pieces available (Rubinstein & Reiner's "Nights" on RCA Living Stereo comes to mind), but surely none are better than this title.

Average customer rating:

5 stars subtracting 3 stars
Spiritual!
Warning: NOT a keeper!
The Barber is cathartic beyond measure.
Best Shaw Recording Ever

Evocation of the Spirit

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

O Magnum Mysterium
Górecki: Miserere
Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard/Bartok: Cantata profanna/Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem
Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna, etc. / Salamunovich, Los Angeles Master Chorale
Cathedral Classics

ASIN: B000003D19
Release Date: 1995-03-28

Tracks:

Gorecki: Totus Tuus
Magnificat
I. Kyrie
II. Gloria
III. Credo
IV. Sanctus
V. Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei
Friede Auf Erden

Customer Reviews:

5 stars subtracting 3 stars.......2003-11-25

I have to agree with Randolph Wagner. This CD gets 5 stars for the choral pieces minus 3 stars for the recording quality. It sounds like the recording was transferred from an 8-track tape. This CD should have been sent back and remastered. If you have other Shaw CD's, you can hear for yourself the difference. This is NOT a quality recording. Why did they let this slip out the door?

Spiritual!.......2002-04-26

This is a magnificent recording. Even though, a capella CD's can sometimes be hard to stomach, I find myself listening to this disc again and again. This recording will literally lift your spirits. Gorecki's Totus Tuus is epitome of sublime, easing effortlessly across the span of 11 minutes. Part's Magnificat is a little darker in tone, but if you are patient it will blossom repeatedly. Martin's Mass is somewhere between ethereal and madrigal. Barber's Agnus Dei, based on his Adagio for Strings, is uncannily eerie, yet powerfully cathartic at the same time. Finally, Schoenberg's Peace on Earth is emotionally buoyant, absolutely gorgeous, and sadly, just as relevant now as it was when it was written almost a century ago. The aural depth captured by Telarc will engulf you in sound. Shaw conducts each of these modern masterpieces with aplomb and the Festival Singers sing their lungs out. An exciting album, it is definitely worth being a part of anyone's collection.

Warning: NOT a keeper!.......2001-11-22

Having had the privilege of singing with Shaw on many occasions, I know and honor him as a passionate choral technician and teacher who could always bring out better than the best in an amateur group. Nearly all the choral directors I've ever sung under pull "Shawisms" from their bag of tricks to improve pitch and accuracy. However, in today's era where we can choose from a plethora of professional groups (Montiverdi Singers, Tallis Scholars, Dale Warland Singers, etc.), sadly, Shaw's recordings usually don't compete.

Particularly in his final years when he would hold his Summer Festivals in Southern France (attracting a huge flock of choral directors), the recorded product (released on a series of Telarc recordings) has been consistently mushy and lugubrious - this one in particular! The usually fine Telarc engineers should be ashamed (as well as their marketers who where obviously trying to ride the Shaw band wagon as far as they could)!

The Barber Agnus Dei (for which I've yet to find a satisfying recording) sounds like the singers are submerged in molasses! The tempo is unbelievably slow and there is a total lack of clarity in the inner parts. I recently was driving through Colorado during the NPR fund-raising week and heard a pair of well-meaning NPR announcers slavering over this recording - I thought I was going to puke!

Much better recordings exist of the Gorecki, Pärt and Martin. With due deference to the master, I wouldn't touch this recording with a ten-foot pole. If you simply must purchase Shaw recordings, stick with the larger choral repertoire - you're guaranteed to get good choral singing and excellent soloists (but usually coupled with a less-than-electric performance).

The Barber is cathartic beyond measure........2001-09-15

I write this review three days after the tragic September 11 events in New York and Washington, three days which left me numbed, during which I searched and searched for music having cathartic value - "music of healing" - largely in vain. For most of that time, the value of listening to music seemed to have eluded me. (Given the circumstances, this must have happened to others as well, even others for whom music is a large part of their lives, as it is for me.)

This was not a state of affairs destined to go on open-ended. I knew that a major part of breaking this "blockage" would somehow involve the recorded work of Robert Shaw, whose recorded performances have in the past led me out of such "wildernesses." And so it was that his recording of the Bach B-Minor Mass (reviewed elsewhere at Amazon.com by me) provided the "lion's share" of healing-through-music. One need only listen to Shaw's performance of the closing "Dona nobis pacem" of this Mass to be instantly uplifted.

But his performance of Barber's Agnus Dei, a choral arrangement by Barber of his Adagio for Strings (which in turn is a string orchestra arrangement of the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11), provided me with a healing of an entirely different nature: A searing work guaranteed to cauterize and thereby provide emotional catharsis and release.

One cannot fathom what was going through a very youthful Sam Barber's mind when he wrote this Op. 11 second movement. But we should be thankful that Arturo Toscanini, in 1936, encouraged Barber to arrange it for string orchestra, and that much later (in 1967) Barber chose to arrange it yet again for chorus. And that Maestro Shaw saw fit to include it on this Evocation of the Spirit choral compilation.

I don't mean to sell the rest of this album short in any way whatsoever. I found, after listening to the Barber, that I could then go on and listen once again to the rest of the album. ALL of these choral masterpieces can be said to be "music of healing." While the Górecki and Pärt works are probably the best known, there are hidden pleasures as well in the Frank Martin Mass and in Arnold Schoenberg's seldom-heard, but totally accessible, Friede auf Erden ("Peace on Earth").

But it was the Barber that I needed to hear today. Tuck this album away for that rainy day; it will lift your spirits as it did mine. And, hopefully, your circumstances - your need - will not be of a magnitude that mine (and of course millions of others) had been in these recent days.

Bob Zeidler

Best Shaw Recording Ever.......2001-06-20

This CD was an introduction of 20th century music for me. There is not a SINGLE TRACK on this CD that is not exceptional. The Martin Mass is wonderful and the Barber is Orgasmic! GET THIS CD!

Average customer rating:

Organ Music of Franz Liszt

Manufacturer: Gothic Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Average customer rating:

Virgil Fox would have loved him!
Ridiculous indeed
Great JOB Wayne!!!!!!!!!!!!! Out of this WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heroic
This is ridiculous

Symphonie

Manufacturer: EMI Records [All429]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000F1V2
Release Date: 2000-05-20

Tracks:

I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Intermezzo
IV. Cantabile
V. Finale
Pastorale Regis Prodeunt
Vexilla Regis Prodeunt
I. Prelude
II. Intermezzo
III. Toccata
Poeme Symphonique: III. Allegro Deciso

Customer Reviews:

Virgil Fox would have loved him!.......2006-01-17

Having just finished listening, once again, to Mr. Marshall's lively reading of the Finale from Widor's Symphonie No.6, I counted myself extremely fortunate for having placed my bet with Gramophone Classical Good CD Guide's recommendation, and not that of certain Amazon aesthetes whose observations can be rendered down to and encapsulated by the following: "... eccentric, presumptuous, and ostentatious... indulging in caprices...striving merely to be absolutely different from other people..." This scathing, 19th century review was directed at Beethoven. How dare he be different! Indeed, how dare Mr. Marshall? Quite easily... since he possesses the technical brilliance and creative backbone to offer the intelligent, open-minded listener much more than just further standard treatments of works that have become grizzled through repetition and petrified interpretation. I feel no sorrow for those who can point to any artistic form and insist that it must be done one way, and no other way. Such people kill art.

And for those who complain that Mr. Marshall's notes fly by too quickly to be discerned or played properly... nonsense! For you unfortunate folk, allow me to offer the following recommendations. First, have your hearing checked by a good otolaryngologist, and second, replace your current sound system. If doing so does not alleviate your problem, then I recommend that you get yourself quickly to a colorectal surgeon; I understand that harboring insects in the lower GI tract can be fatal.

For the rest of you whose hearing, speakers, and intestinal workings are in fine order, I unreservedly recommend this CD. Throughout, Mr. Marshall's playing displays the boldness, panache, and energy not heard since Virgil Fox (or -- since we're on the subject of keyboards -- Glenn Gould). And we all (well, most of us) know what fine company that is.

Ridiculous indeed.......2004-05-07

I too feel this is a majorly flawed performance of the works represented. The playing is rushed, has no sense of musical line or style, is outside the bounds of good musical taste, and is loaded with mistakes galore. If you are interested in hearing an accurate, musically aware performance, do not purchase this recording.

Great JOB Wayne!!!!!!!!!!!!! Out of this WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2003-05-27

I must say this is a fantastic CD. Wayne is a very bold musician with brilliant and out of this world technique. He is a true master of the ORGAN. The only constructive criticism I have is that he played the first movement of Symphony 6 (Widor) a little to fast. As a young person myself I wish, and hope that we have many other organ musicians coming up like my self. Many teens my age show no interests in the Great ORGAN. So it is your jobs to inspire young people like myself about the ORGAN. Make it know that it is the KING OF INTRUMENTS and that it is here to stay and will not fade away, but will be populated among all peoples of the 21 Century. Make us want to learn how to play this Instrument and maybe we can incorporate it into the new age and have more GREAT and NEW works created.

Heroic.......2003-03-10

Wayne is a bold musician with incredible technique. I heard him at a recital he gave in Barbados and was very impressed. To all the old fuddy duddies out there, this is the 21st century and you guys need to get with it or leave it alone.

This is ridiculous.......2002-09-16

There's a kind of unwritten rule amongst musicians that you only play music at excessive speeds if the music can take it and if you can manage it without making any noticeable mistakes. Wayne Marshall breaks the rule on both counts. It is simply unreasonable for the music market today to push recordings like this one, which can be evaluated without hearing a single note: no serious performer could fit all that music into the 74 minutes of a CD. And to make it worse, it's not all fast: the slow movements of the Widor symphony are painfully slow with the most tortured pseudo-rubato histrionics imposed on music that doesn't even sound worthy of a fairground under that treatment. Delivering yet another recording of the last movement of 'Evocation' out of context he treats us to more totally insensitive playing: pedal notes too quick to be heard, idiotic changes of tempo just before cadences and total disregard for the idea that listeners might be after some music to listen to. The Hakim piece was unavoidable on a disc by Wayne, and is predictable enough. Bizarrely the one section of music on this disc that Wayne's crazy playing should embrace, the 'as fast as possible' section in the Roger-Ducasse Pastorale, is curiously subdued. Only buy this disc if you want to hear lots of very fast notes going by with no particular sense of direction. But it's really not worth the money, even at a knock-down price.

Average customer rating:

Great ballet at a bargain price.

Adam: Giselle

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Delibes: Coppélia (complete in three acts) / La Source (suites)
Minkus: Don Quixote
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (complete ballet); Wolfgang Sawallisch; Philadelphia Orchestra
Herman Severin Løvenskiold: La Sylphide, Ballet
Adam - Giselle (complete ballet) ~ Offenbach - Gaîté Parisienne ~ Strauss Graduation Ball / Fistoulari, Dorati

ASIN: B0000013XU
Release Date: 1996-01-04

Tracks:

Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Introduction
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Entrjoyeuse des vendangeurs et vendangeuses
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Entrde Loys
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Entrde Giselle
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Retour de la vendange et valse
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: La chasse
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Sc d'Hilarion
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Marche des vignerons
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Pas seul; Pas de deux des jeunes paysans
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Polacca
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Andante
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Pesante
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Allegretto
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Allegretto pesante
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Valse; Pas des vendanges
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Andante
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Moderato
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Allegro moderato
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Allegro un peu lour
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Galop gral
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 1: Finale du 1er Acte et Sc de folie

Tracks:

Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Introduction, halte des chasseurs et apparition des feux follets
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Apparition de Myrthe et cation magique
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Pas des premis Wilis
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Apparition de Giselle
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Entrdes paysans
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Entrdu Prince et apparition de Giselle
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Entrd'Hilarion, sc et fugue des Willis
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Adage
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Variation I: Andante
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Variation II: Andante moderato
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Valse
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Ensemble des Wilis
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Finale
Giselle ou les Wilis : Ballet-Pantomime In Two Acts: Act 2: Lever du soleil et arrivde la cour

Customer Reviews:

Great ballet at a bargain price........2002-07-07

Giselle -- composed in 1841 -- was the first great ballet, and it is a marvel of charm and beauty. Later ballets by Delibes and Tchaikovsky are perhaps more sophisticated than Giselle, but they do not surpass it in beauty and appeal. Everyone who loves great ballet music -- or, indeed, beautiful music in any genre -- should get to know this enchanting masterpiece. Personally I've loved Giselle since I first heard excerpts from it on LP several decades ago, and I love the complete ballet, presented on this 2-CD set, even more. I suspect that Andrew Mogrelia shares my love for this very special masterpiece. If you're already a Giselle fan but don't yet have it on CD, please treat yourself to this bargain set. If you haven't yet heard this lovely work, but love beautiful music, please get Giselle now. Once you've heard it, I think that it will capture your heart as it has captured mine.

Barber: Adagio for Strings/Violin Concerto/Schuman: To Thee Old Cause/In Praise Of Shahn

Average customer rating:

Good Early Bernstein Interpretations Of American Music
VERY sloppy playing
Barber's Violin Concerto not up to today's standards...
Great cd, but still quite a bit of room for improvement
Barber works are great, but Schuman's music is incredible.

Barber: Adagio for Strings/Violin Concerto/Schuman: To Thee Old Cause/In Praise Of Shahn

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Brahms: Symphony No. 4 / Overtures
Bernstein Century: Bach & Vivaldi:Concertos
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 7
The Bernstein Century - Beethoven: Symphony no 3 'Eroica' / Bernstein, New York PO

ASIN: B0000029XL
Release Date: 1997-10-28

Tracks:

Adagio For Strings: Molta Adagio
Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 14: I. Allegro
Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 14: II. Andante
Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 14: III. Presto in moto
To Thee Old Cause
In Praise of Shahn: Vigoroso
In Praise of Shahn: Lento (Bar 185)

Amazon.com

Barber's Violin Concerto is so pretty that you feel almost guilty enjoying it so much. Curiously, it's very beauty and simplicity caused the composer great difficulty. The performer who commissioned the work claimed that the first two movements were too easy, so Barber wrote a dazzling finale, which he then claimed was unplayable! It wasn't, of course, and the piece has been an international favorite ever since Isaac Stern and Leonard Bernstein demonstrated once and for all that it belongs squarely in the long line of great Romantic works for violin and orchestra. This classic performance has been newly remastered and sounds better than ever. The couplings are apt and interesting. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Good Early Bernstein Interpretations Of American Music.......2003-09-05

This CD will most likely be of interest to those who collect historical recordings; of which the Isaac Stern performance of the Barber violin concerto will be most appealing. However, I believe the best performances are of Barber's Adagio for Strings and the lesser works of Schuman. Bernstein does a splendid job coaxing as much emotion as he can out of the New York Philharmonic's string sections in Barber's Adagio. The Barber concerto sounds okay, but I have not heard any of the more recent interpretations mentioned by other reviewers to state definitely whether this performance is vastly inferior to recent releases. Still, the sound quality of all these recordings sounds a bit dry by contemporary standards, even with the latest in digital-bit-imaging technology.

VERY sloppy playing.......2002-02-12

The music presented on this album is simply glorious. Barber's violin concerto and Adagio for Strings are both brilliantly written works (in many spots deceptively simple). In many respects Bernstein truly understands how the pieces are supposed to sound and feel. You can really sense the growing arc in the Adagio for Strings, as well as the dripping romanticism of the violin concerto.

However, it sounds as though he never actually rehearsed the pieces. The violin concerto's third movement is disappointing. Understood, it's an...athletic movement, to say the least, but that does not excuse Bernstein, NYP, and Stern for sounding as though they were sight-reading! In the Adagio for Strings, the climax is so poorly executed that it almost sends the entire piece crashing down - the strings do not function together.

It saddens me that Sony released this album, because I don't feel this does justice to Bernstein, Stern, the NYP or to Barber and Schumann. The music is glorious, and the performances sometimes prove it. But as a whole, I don't think it lives up to being what it should be.

Barber's Violin Concerto not up to today's standards..........2001-02-26

While it's true that this recording of Barber's Violin Concerto helped bring the work into the mainstream repertoire, several recent recordings are even better.

The first of these new recordings features Shaham accompanied by Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra. Shaham's performance is brash and VERY extrovert, bringing a sense of excitement to the music. Bell (accompanied by Zinman and the Baltimore) also plays the piece very well in his recording. Unlike Shaham, Bell's introvert performance brings out the more thoughtful and mystical qualities of the music. This approach also works well, and I actually prefer it to the Shaham. Oh, as a side note, Bell won the 1997 Gramophone Concerto Award (not the pointless Grammy, mind you) for this recording.

Finally, there is the new Hahn (accompanied by Wolff and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) recording. Her approach is somewhere between the Shaham and the Bell. Generally, her playing is cooler and more aristocratic, which works very well in the first movement. In addition, her third movement is absolutely breathtaking. This is my favorite recording of the Barber Concerto, though others tend to prefer either the Bell or the Shaham for their more extreme interpretations.

In any case, these new recordings all surpass the old Stern recording in turns of technical prowess, lyricism, and recording quality. Buy the Stern for solely historic reasons.

Great cd, but still quite a bit of room for improvement.......2000-11-05

I enjoyed this cd very much. The violin concerto was played amazingly well and beautifully. However, the Barber Adagio I thought was not played well at all. I had to go back to check my cd to see if it really was the New York Philharmonic playing it. The orchestra was not always together, it sounded rushed, and sloppy. I have played the Barber Adagio, and quite frankly the small group that I played it in that was comprised of high schoolers played it much better.

Barber works are great, but Schuman's music is incredible........1999-10-13

This CD is a terrific opportunity to purchase Barber's famous "Adagio" and his Violin Concerto--with the duo of Bernstein and Isaac Stern, no less. But don't stop it after the Concerto: the best music is yet to come. William Schuman's startling and glorious works follow. Schuman's flair for the unconventional holds serve in "To Thee Old Cause" from 1968 and "In Praise of Shahn" from 1969. Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic handle Schuman's long lyrical lines ("Old Cause") and unconventional rhythms ("Shahn") with jaw-dropping precision and power. It is Bernstein's great tribute to a great friend, and a must-buy for any Schuman enthusiast.

Average customer rating:

Classics Explained: Rite of Spring
Stravinsky , Rahbari , and Brt Po Brussels
Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Instructional | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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Symphony 9: Introduction to Dvorak

ASIN: B00007FPFN
Release Date: 2003-07-15

Average customer rating:

The genius ` incandescence!
The legendary Kapell
Genius
Great Performance
Brilliant performances

William Kapell

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

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Rosalyn Tureck 2
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ASIN: B00001XDL1
Release Date: 1999-10-12

Tracks:

Piano Concerto No.2 In C Minor,Op 18: Moderato
Piano Concerto No.2 In C Minor,Op 18: Adagio sostenuto
Piano Concerto No.2 In C Minor,Op 18: Allegro scherzando
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation I
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Introduction
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation II
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation III
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation IV
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation V
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation VI
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation VII
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation VIII
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation IX
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation X
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XI
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XII
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XIII
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XIV
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XV
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XVI
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XVII
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XVIII
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XIX
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Varaition XX
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XXi
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XXII
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XXIII
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XXIV
Piano Concerto No.3 In C,Op.26: Andante - Allegro
Piano Concerto No.3 In C,Op.26: Tema Con Variazion
Piano Concerto No.3 In C,Op.26: Allegro ma non Troppo

Tracks:

Patita No.4 In D, BMV 828: Overture
Patita No.4 In D, BMV 828: Allemande
Patita No.4 In D, BMV 828: Courante
Patita No.4 In D, BMV 828: Aria
Patita No.4 In D, BMV 828: Sarabande
Patita No.4 In D, BMV 828: Menuet
Piano Sonata No.3 In B Minor: Allegro Maestoso
Piano Sonata No.3 In B Minor: Scherzo.Molto Vivace
Piano Sonata No.3 In B Minor: Largo
Piano Sonata No.3 In B Minor: Finale.Presto non Tanto
Iberia, Book 1: Evocacion
Annees de pelerinage: Deuxieme annee. Italie: Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
Hungarian Rhaosody No.11
'Memphisto' Waltz No. 1

Customer Reviews:

The genius ` incandescence! .......2005-07-20

Kapell ' s twinkling pianism joined to his febrile temperament, accurate expressiveness and elegant tune made of him a genius of major level.
He played every piece of the piano repertoire with conviction power based in a careful analysis of the score and its further intention, that' s why his sound was the final result from the circuit soul-mind-finger.
All you have heard about this legendary performances may sin of passionate, because he played in that mood.
Try to get all what you can from this outstanding pianist that still continues amazing and astonishing the new audiences.

The legendary Kapell.......2005-03-06

William Kapell (1922-1953) died tragically when only thirty-one, in a plane crash coming back to the US from a recital in Sydney. He was without question the most famous American pianist of the era and there is also no question that he was destined for a magnificent career. His early death has enhanced his status as a legend, but close listening to these recordings gives us additional reasons to think he was one of the 'Great Pianists of the 20th Century' and that he deserves, no matter how short his career, inclusion in this redoubtable collection from Philips. Other reviewers have commented primarily on his performances, on disc 1, of the Rachmaninoff Second Concerto and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, as well as Prokofiev's Third Concerto. I won't comment on them particularly except to note that his virile (some say steely, but never harsh) tone is coupled with a romantic sensibility that gives these performances world-class prominence.

However, at the time of his death he was moving away from the showy showpieces such as the Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev (and the Khachaturian D Flat Concerto, with which he'd made his first splash and which he had come to abhor as Rachmaninoff had long abhorred his own Prelude in C Sharp Minor ('they won't let me play anything else') and immersed himself more and more in the central European literature of Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and the like. And thus of particular note is his traversal of Bach's D Major Partita, BWV 828, preserved here. The Partita is missing its final Gigue and the Partita is listed in the booklet simply as 'incomplete,' but apparently the real story is that he never approved for release the Gigue, which he DID record, because of his fanatical perfectionism. No matter. This is marvelous Bach and the pity is that we don't have much more of his Bach on records. His performance of the Chopin Third Sonata in B Minor is both titanic and superbly nuanced. The Scherzo is quicksilver, the Largo so tender it almost brings tears. The Finale is a virtuosic whirlwind that takes one's breath away. (His recordings of many of the Mazurkas are also worth seeking out.)

The disc is filled out by a movement from Albéniz's Iberia, Book I, 'Evocación' and three Liszt works: Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, the 11th Hungarian Rhapsody, and the First Mephisto Waltz. Each is special in its own way: Albéniz atmospheric, sultry, erotic; the Sonetto lyrical and poetic, the Hungarian Rhapsody evocative, in both its moods, of a wild Gypsy cimbalom ensemble; the Mephisto Waltz (recorded early in his career) taken at breakneck speed with utter élan.

This is a treasurable release. Many of these performances, when first issued, were immediate classics and they remain so today.

Scott Morrison

Genius.......2000-05-13

I have 10 wishes I wanted fulfilled before I died. One of them was to have William Kapell's genius reissued. At long last, I am a contented and happy woman. Kapell is the greatest pianist of our or any time. I get goosebumps when I hear his 2 Rachmanioffs and the Prokofiev -- in fact, anything he plays. There is no one like William Kapell. I suspect Franz Liszt could not have matched his brilliance at the keyboard

Great Performance.......1999-12-30

This performance given by Kapell is very good. The recording of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is one of the best that I've heard so far. Although the keyboard work from Rachmaninoff's Second and Prokofiev's Third were handeled magnificintly, the mixing in some areas were horrible, taking greatly from the moment of the respective section. However, if you can handle that poor mixing in some areas, the CD is a really good purchase and well worth the money.

Brilliant performances.......1999-11-06

Having heard and read a great deal about the Kapell Edition from BMG, I was very interested in this set from the "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" series. Kapell's performances of the Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Cto and the Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini are justifiably legendary. The Prokofiev is excellent, too. I have found that I am listening to these performances much more than I normally would with a historical reissue. The remastered sound is quite good---full, warm mono from the early 50s. But it's the perfomances that win over the listener, especially the Rhapsody, which is often described as demonic. Kapell brought an urgency to these Romantic warhorses, but never at the expense of their fundamental lyricism. The listener is left with a profound sense of sorrow that he died so young, as well as extreme gratitude that we have these recordings with which to remember him.

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