A Friend For Life

Product Description
The first album for singer, songwriter, producer Iley Dread - "A Friend For Life" has lyrics that flow through the consciousness of the listener, never irritating, never intrusive, but one hundred percent pleasing. Iley Dread’s message to the masses is of love and understanding.

A Friend For Life,Colin Levy a.k.a. Iley Dread,Kings of Kings

Average customer rating: Philip Glass' Musical Score for 'The Hours' Distilled Great music A fine addition to your Glass library. Beautiful piano Exquisite . . .

Philip Glass : Music From "The Hours" Solo Piano Manufacturer: Orange Mountain Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Film Scores | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Piano | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Glass | Glass, Philip | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | New Age | Styles | Music Solo Instrumental | New Age | Styles | Music Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music Classical | Imports | Stores | Music Soundtracks | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: The Hours (Score) Solo Piano Philip Glass : The Orphée Suite for Piano Philip Glass : Les Enfants Terribles Philip Glass : Etudes For Piano, Vol.1, No.1-10 ASIN: B00025K198 Release Date: 2004-07-20

Tracks:

1. The Poet Acts
2. Morning Passages
3. Something She Has to Do
4. "For Your Own Benefit"
5. Vanessa and the Changelings
6. "I'm Going to Make a Cake"
7. An Unwelcome Friend
8. Dead Things
9. The Kiss
10. "Why Does Someone Have to Die?"
11. Tearing Herself Away
12. Escape!
13. Choosing Life
14. The Hours

Album Description

In 2002 Philip Glass composed the soundtrack score to the Stephen Daldry film "The Hours". The film went on to receive 9 Acadamy Awards nominations, including one for `best score'.

At the beginning of the film, Daldry depicts the timelessness of small daily events, how the real elements of life are patterns that repeat across time. The movie opens with three women from three different eras intercut, all doing similar things. There's Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) in 1923, a troubled young mother (Julianne Moore) in 1951 and a woman (Meryl Streep) in 2001 making preparations for a party later that evening. In one location flowers are bought, in another displayed, in another discarded. Philip Glass' score intensely underlines the images with a sense of strangeness and sympathy.

Michael Riesman, Mr. Glass' longtime musical director and producer of the film score recordings, created solo piano adaptations of the original score and has been performing them in concert.

Orange Mountain Music is very happy to release a CD of studio recordings of this beautiful and emotional work performed by the brilliant pianist and intimate interperter of Philip Glass' work, Michael Riesman.

Customer Reviews:

Philip Glass' Musical Score for 'The Hours' Distilled.......2007-03-28

Returning to view the masterfully created cinematic production of Michael Cunningham's THE HOURS always leaves the reminder that much of the atmosphere that made the film work so well on every level was the musical score composed by Philip Glass. The soundtrack recording from the film remains for this listener a constant companion and now there is yet another extension of the eloquence of Glass' achievement.

Glass' longtime musical colleague is Michael Riesman, a gifted pianist as well as a composer who had the fine thought of distilling Glass' already minimalist score for piano solo. And in this recording Riesman performs his composer-sanctioned transcriptions with not only impeccable musical skill but also with the knowledge of both the Cunningham novel and the Virginia Woolf novel 'Mrs. Dalloway' on which it was based. The result is far more richly varied series of vignettes than most would have thought possible.

For those who are devotees of Philip Glass' compositions, from the very large symphonies and operas to the chamber ensemble and solo instrumental works, this series of piano transcriptions will prove rewarding. Reisman makes Glass' ideas crystalline, allowing us to hear the very subtle differences in the music he created for each character and each emotion.

For those less familiar with Philip Glass' music but very familiar with the film 'The Hours', this recording will provide an hour of nostalgia and clean swept elegance that can be heard at any moment (any hour!) of the day. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, March 07

Great music.......2007-02-03

This recording captures the essence of Glass minimal composition, and has the same feeling and emotion that his other solo piano recordings contain.
This is also a good recording since there is only two songs that are borrowed from other recordings, namely Floe and Metamorphosis #3. Floe is a beautiful song on solo piano, and actually sounds better without the flute in my opinion.

A fine addition to your Glass library........2006-08-21

Let's get this part out of the way: Ghastly movie, beautiful music. One of Philip Glass's richest scores transcribed for piano and ready to be re-experienced on a different, core level. Glass has always been an acquired taste. If you enjoy his work, this is worth adding to the collection.

Beautiful piano.......2005-09-21

I loved this soundtrack when I first heard it on the film and to hear it with solo piano--in it's most basic true form--is so fantastic. It has even more emotion simplified.

Exquisite . . . .......2005-08-16

masterpiece from Philip Glass, it reflects all movie emotion since movie beginning until the end. You can go from calm and quiet short periods to an inevitable rush. A barely bearable anxiety.

Average customer rating: A Timely Performance Outstanding; a soon to be classic Uninspired tedium Holocaust Cantata: A Five Star Work of Art An excerpt from my liner notes...

Holocaust Cantata Manufacturer: Albany Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Similar Items: Composers of the Holocaust: Ghetto Songs & Instrumental Works MUSIC FROM THE HOLOCAUST Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle Music in the Holocaust: Confronting Life in the Nazi Ghettos and Camps (Oxford Historical Monographs) Forbidden Music: Music from Theresienstadt ASIN: B000031VRF Release Date: 1999-11-23

Tracks:

1. The Prisoner Rises
2. Singing Saved My Life
3. Song Of The Polish Prisoners
4. The Execution Of The Twelve
5. In Buchenwald
6. A State Of Seperation
7. The Train
8. Singing From Birth To Death
9. The Striped Ones
10. There's No Life Like Life At Auschwitz
11. Tempo di Tango
12. Letter To Mom
13. Song Of Days Now Gone
14. Passacaille For Cello And Piano
15. Even When God Is Silent
16. A Child's Journey: An Accidental Meeting
17. A Child's Journey: I Once Had A Friend
18. A Child's Journey: There Are No Stars In The Sky
19. Is Not A Flower A Mystery?
20. We Remember Them

Album Description

The Holocaust Cantata uses the words and music of actual concentration camp inmates to create a wholly original and powerful work. Using material found within the archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Donald McCullough's Holocaust Cantata traverses one of the bleakest episodes in human history. Yet the piece also evokes a sense of music's life-affirming power, even in the face of absolute despair, to express what words alone cannot.

McCullough discovered the material within the vast Aleksander Kulisiewicz collection in the museum's archives. Kulisiewicz himself had performed as a kind of camp troubador during his own incarceration at Sachsenhausen, and, after the war, spent several years interviewing fellow survivors about music in the camps, gathering together the scattered remnants of this music.

As McCullough painstakingly sifted through this material-much of which was uncatalogued-the arresting melodies and compelling testimonies that make up the Holocaust Cantata gradually began to emerge. "I wanted the Cantata to speak with a sense of immediacy," says McCullough, explaining his decision to set the choral texts and spoken testimonies in English, and his hope is that the piece may "transform statistics into people in the minds of the Cantata's listeners, and perhaps be a part of making it more difficult for such a horror ever to occur again." The Washington Post, reviewing the world premiere in March 1998, called it "an experience that should linger long in the audience's memory and should be regularly revived."

Customer Reviews:

A Timely Performance.......2001-11-18

In August of 2001, the choral group I sing with began practicing this work for performance on Veteran's Day Nov 11. We rehearse on Tuesday nights. As we all know on Tuesday Sept 11 the world change forever. Of course rehearsal was cancelled. When we returned the next Tuesday - a piece that we all thought was so powerful became more so. The first song contains the words "the fires burning, the iron furnace..". The paralells to what happened were evident. As one of the reviewers noted " so this can never happen again", well it has, only much faster, in one single day. Hate caused both events. People need to hear this CD and really listen to the words of the songs and the narration, and maybe we can prevent this from happening again and again. A MUST HEAR FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD. The music and lyics came from the hearts and the lives of the prisoners.This is a beautiful tribute to them.

Outstanding; a soon to be classic.......2000-05-04

Beautifully written and performed! This recording and an encore live performance of this inspiring work were downright demanded by audiences after the premiere. I rate it a "strong buy."

Uninspired tedium.......2000-04-28

McCullough has appropriated other people's material, "choralized" it, and appears to be attempting to capitalize on a wave of political correctness to buy himself a Grammy nomination. There are a few nice tunes scattered throughout this tedious piece, but overall the interpretation is lifeless, unimaginative, and uninspired, almost clinical. Here's hoping that victims of the Shoah can find a more suitable expression of their music than McCullough has tried to give them. They deserve better than this.

Holocaust Cantata: A Five Star Work of Art.......2000-01-07

For me, the Holocaust Cantata is one of those artistic representations of that cataclysmic period that evokes an even stronger picture of the horrors of the Holocaust then do many pictures in newspapers and museum exhibits. I think this is because the Cantata is poetry-it's message sounds a spare and powerful truth. I am grateful to Mr. McCullough for his vision and energy in bringing about the Holocaust Cantata.

An excerpt from my liner notes..........1999-11-25

I was present at the March 1998 Kennedy Center premiere of this extraordinary work, and subsequently wrote the liner notes for the CD. Because of the unusual nature of this recording-which I think captures the haunting beauty of this work-I believe that others would be interested in reading an excerpt from my notes on the music. Please note that I am posting this material with the permission of the composer, Donald McCullough:

Notes on the Music

It is well-known that during the Holocaust inmates wrote music while incarcerated in concentration camps. Much of it has since been recorded. At Theresienstadt, for instance-the infamous "Paradise Ghetto"-the Nazis organized an orchestra made up of young musicians who had studied under such luminaries as Leos Janacek and Arnold Schoenberg. Most of these musicians, among them such promising students as Gideon Klein and Viktor Ullmann, perished during the Holocaust, leaving behind but a few pieces, composed under duress and co-opted by the Nazis for their own propaganda purposes. What might they have eventually accomplished had they survived? Such classical music-beautiful as it is-was the product of formally trained musicians. What about the music of the common man-music embraced by the whole community and passed secretly by aural transmission-music that carried with it powerful words revealing different aspects of camp life, or expressing the inmates' innermost feelings, of mourning, or resistance, or patriotism? Was there other Holocaust music, akin to the spirituals that sprang from slavery in America, that spoke with the same startling immediacy to express the agony of the victims of the Nazi regime?...

McCullough's [quest to answer this question] began with a call to Bret Werb, musicologist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, who revealed the existence of the Aleksander Kulisiewicz collection in the museum archives. Kulisiewicz had traveled about Europe during the postwar period collecting and preserving what he could of the music that had emerged from the Holocaust concentration camps, but little was known about the music itself.

McCullough's first task, then, was to immerse himself in the collection, playing through the hundreds of tunes. He was encouraged to find that they contained some compelling melodies, and for the first time he began to wonder whether a choral cantata-perhaps reflecting the role of music in the camps or evoking the daily lives of these people-might emerge from the material. But he still had no idea what lay within the accompanying text.

At some point, someone had added a rough, English-language index to the collection, but the materials themselves were mostly in Polish. Marcin Zmudzki, a young Pole, was engaged to sift through the mountain of texts. McCullough told the translator that he was interested in anything that had to do with camp life, especially as it related to music. As he recalls, "It was my good fortune that not only was Marcin an excellent translator, but also he had a sense for poetry and thus grasped, very quickly, the type of material I was seeking."

In addition to music, Kulisiewicz also collected interviews, articles, and letters that had anything to do with camp life. With this wealth of material, McCullough decided to place between each musical arrangement readings that also spoke of life in the camps. After considering and rejecting literally hundreds of documents, he finally decided that he had what he needed from the archives. But in a sense, the real work was just beginning. "Because I wanted the Cantata to speak with a sense of immediacy," says McCullough, "I thought it should be sung in English. But before I could arrange a single note of it, I needed to have singable translations. Here I employed the talents of lyricist Denny Clark, who at first worked with Marcin, getting a word by word translation. Knowing which words appear on which notes is important in keeping the overall impact of the song." A trained singer himself, Clark was able to make transliterations to ensure that the best vowels for singing fell on the proper notes, all while remaining faithful to the original text. It was an immensely complicated task....

A few words about the structure of the Cantata. As you listen you should not look for a plot, as such. Because each song and reading represents a different person, a different place, and a different time in the Holocaust experience, you should be wary about viewing the entire piece as a streaming narrative. Nonetheless, certain common truths will begin to emerge, and no doubt others will come to you with each successive hearing. Among these is the certainty that these are nakedly honest responses to the most unthinkable of acts. Sometimes the responses are jarring; who could find humor amid such horror? And yet humor-albeit dark in nature-undoubtedly exists within this work. Nevertheless the inmates' responses never sink to the level of triteness. For them, music functioned as something much more than just a light in the darkness; its very existence was a form of spiritual resistance in an environment where such resistance risked instant extermination.

McCullough's hope is that this work may "transform statistics into people in the minds of the Cantata's listeners, and perhaps be a part of making it more difficult for such a horror ever to occur again." In the end, for me, the work flows inexorably back to its source: it is the voice of humanity, crying out to be heard.

Average customer rating:

Animated Classics 101 Strings Orch Manufacturer: Madacy Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: 20 Years of Beautiful Music Science Fiction Movie Music Symphonic Suites of the Animated Classics ASIN: B0000663YY Release Date: 2002-04-30

Tracks:

1. The Circle Of Life
2. Colors Of The Wind
3. Go The Distance
4. A Whole New World
5. Chim-Chim-Cheree
6. When You Wish Upon A Star
7. You've Got A Friend In Me
8. Beauty And The Beast
9. Someday My Prince Will Come
10. Under The Sea
11. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

Average customer rating: Beautiful melody but lacks variety

Being Julia Various Artists Manufacturer: Varese Sarabande ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Film Scores | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Being Julia The Queen Ladies in Lavender De-Lovely Memoirs of a Geisha ASIN: B00065U0NG Release Date: 2004-11-16

Tracks:

1. Curtain Up
2. Real World - The Mills Brothers
3. Lift
4. Bei Mir Bist du Sch
5. Farewell My Love
6. Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
7. Never Seen Them Shine Like That Before
8. Birthday Presents
9. It Will Only End in Tears
10. They Didn't Believe Me
11. Charades
12. I Saw the Light On
13. Am I Late
14. Not That Sort of Girl
15. Take a Break
16. Yes, Yes - Alison Jiear
17. Avice Gets the Part
18. Reunion - The Andrews Sisters
19. Play for the Other Side
20. Mad About the Boy
21. Jimmy's Magic
22. Avice Takes a Bow
23. For Old Times' Sake
24. Laird O'Drumblair
25. Stage Is Set
26. Curtain Call
27. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
28. Quite Alone

Amazon.com

Based on Somerset Maugham's middling novel Theater, Annette Bening stars as the title character, an aging star of the London stage whose life and the melodramas she performs have come to mirror each other. Composer Mychael Danna sets those conflicts to a score that emphasizes theatrical surfaces and rigid role-playing, utilizing a finely honed classical pastiche approach with parallels to his previous period-evoking work on Vanity Fair. His cues here are rooted in the light romantic chamber music of the 19th century, though they frequently bristle with a more contemporary energy and aplomb. Offering counterpoint to Danna's dignified, oft-precious classical confections and mining the story's more sensual human dimensions are pop chestnuts from the era (The Andrews Sisters' saucy "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon" and Mills Brothers' jaunty "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries"), as well as fine contemporary takes of "They Didn't Believe Me" and Noel Coward's "Mad About the Boy" by Denzel Sinclair and Alison Jicar's elegant read of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful melody but lacks variety.......2005-04-11

Being Julia OST has a beautiful main melody which occurs over and over again throughout the tracks. I especially like "Curtain Up" and "Quite Alone". However, Being Julia OST doesn't have other strong melody to show along side with the main melody which seems a little too simple for a complete album. The movie is great too. Annette Bening's performance is outstanding.

Average customer rating: A touching English Butterfly

Puccini - Madam Butterfly / Cheryl Barker, PO, Yves Abel [in English] Giacomo Puccini , Yves Abel , Cheryl Barker , Paul Charles Clarke , and Simon Birchall Manufacturer: Chandos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Puccini | Puccini, Giacomo | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: Turandot (Chandos Opera in English) Puccini - La bohème / Haymon · O'Neill · Opie · McLaughlin · A. Miles · Dazeley · Shore · PO · Parry Verdi: La Traviata Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin / Te Kanawa · Hampson · Rosenshein · Gedda · Sir Charles Mackerras [in English] ASIN: B00005QF3K Release Date: 2001-11-20

Tracks:

1. Act I: Introduction - Cheryl Barker
2. Act I: 'So The Walls And The Ceiling...' - Ann Taylor/Stuart Kale
3. Act I: 'I Think Your Honour's Smiling' - Jean Rigby/Ann Taylor/Stuart Kale
4. Act I: 'It Can't Be Much Further Now!' - Gregory Yurisich/Stuart Kale/Ann Taylor
5. Act I: The Whole World Over - Ann Taylor/Gregory Yurisich
6. Act I: 'Fate Can't Crush Him' - Ann Taylor/Gregory Yurisich
7. Act I: 'Is The Bride Very Pretty?' - Gregory Yurisich/Stuart Kale/Ann Taylor
8. Act I: 'True Love Or Fancy' - Ann Taylor/Gregory Yurisich
9. Act I: 'See Them! They're Climbing The Summit Of The Hill!' - Gregory Yurisich/Cheryl Barker/Gregory Yurisich
10. Act I: 'We Are Honoured' - Cheryl Barker/Ann Taylor/Gregory Yurisich/Stuart Kale
11. Act I: 'The Imperial Commissioner' - Stuart Kale/Ann Taylor/Cheryl Barker/Simon Birchall
12. Act I: 'Oh, Indeed, My Friend, You're Lucky!' - Gregory Yurisich/Cheryl Barker
13. Act I: 'Come, My Beloved' - Ann Taylor/Cheryl Barker/Stuart Kale
14. Act I: 'My Fate I Have To Follow' - Cheryl Barker
15. Act I: 'Silence! Silence!' - Stuart Kale/Roland Wood/Cheryl Barker
16. Act I: 'Congratulations' - Roland Wood/Ann Taylor/Gregory Yurisich/Frances Brett/Clive Bayley/Stuart Kale
17. Act I: 'Dearest, My Dearest, Weep No More' - Roland Wood/Ann Taylor/Jean Rigby
18. Act I: 'Evening Is Falling...' - Roland Wood/Ann Taylor/Jean Rigby
19. Act I: 'Child, From Whose Eyes The Witchery Is Shining' - Ann Taylor/Cheryl Barker
20. Act I: 'Ah, Love Me A Little' - Cheryl Barker/Ann Taylor
21. Act II Part I: 'Izaghi Izanami' - Jean Rigby/Cheryl Barker
22. Act II Part I: 'One Fine Day' - Cheryl Barker

Tracks:

1. Act II Part I: 'Come, Let's Enter' - Stuart Kale/Gregory Yurisich/Cheryl Barker
2. Act II Part I: 'Yamadori, And Has your Unrequited Love Not Yet Released You? - Cheryl Barker/D'Arcy Bleiker/Gregory Yurisich/Stuart Kale
3. Act II Part I: 'Now, At Last!' - Gregory Yurisich/Cheryl Barker
4. Act II Part I: 'Just Two Things I Could Do' - Cheryl Barker/Gregory Yurisich
5. Act II Part I: 'This Child! This Child, Then!' - Cheryl Barker/Gregory Yurisich
6. Act II Part I: 'Do You Know, My Darling' - Cheryl Barker
7. Act II Part I: 'I Must Be Going' - Gregory Yurisich/Cheryl Barker/Jean Rigby
8. Act II Part I: 'Ah! Ah!' - Stuart Kale/Jean Rigby/Cheryl Barker
9. Act II Part I: 'Look, It's A Man-of-war!' - Jean Rigby/Cheryl Barker
10. Act II Part I: Flower Duet: 'Shake The Cherry Tree' - Cheryl Barker/Jean Rigby
11. Act II Part I: Humming Chorus - Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
12. Act II Part 2: Prelude - Jean Rigby/Cheryl Barker
13. Act II Part 2: Daybreak Over Nagasaki - Jean Rigby/Cheryl Barker
14. Act II Part 2: 'It's Morning' - Jean Rigby/Cheryl Barker
15. Act II Part 2: 'Who Is It?...' - Jean Rigby/Ann Taylor/Gregory Yurisich
16. Act II Part 2: 'I Know For Such Misfortune There Is No Consolation' - Gregory Yurisich/Jean Rigby/Ann Taylor
17. Act II Part 2: 'Farewell, Oh Happy Home!' - Ann Taylor/Gregory Yurisich
18. Act II Part 2: 'Then Will You Tell Her?' - Ann Taylor/Jean Rigby
19. Act II Part 2: 'Suzuki, Where Are You?' - Cheryl Barker/Jean Rigby
20. Act II Part 2: 'You, Suzuki, You're Always So Faithful' - Cheryl Barker/Jean Rigby
21. Act II Part 2: 'Viper! I Want You To Answer' - Cheryl Barker/Jean Rigby/Gregory Yurisich/Ann Taylor
22. Act II Part 2: 'Your Little Fluttering Heart Is Beating' - Jean Rigby/Cheryl Barker
23. Act II Part 2: 'Death With Honour Is Better Than Life With Dishonour' - Cheryl Barker

Amazon.com

This performance, the only one available in English, is problematic. Best is Yves Abel's leadership of the orchestra, which sounds wonderful, imbuing Puccini's lush score with just the right exoticism and emphasis. But aside from Gregory Yurisch's fine Sharpless, the singers don't please. Paul Charles Clarke as Pinkerton is lacking stylistically and vocally, and as Butterfly, Cheryl Barker sounds under strain and never pretty. While she has the power and feeling for the big second-act climax (the sighting of the ship), she never for a moment sounds fragile or girlish, not even in the all-important early scenes. English or not, this set isn't in the running. Stick with Callas or Scotto in Italian, and follow the libretto. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

A touching English Butterfly.......2002-03-27

Anyone familiar with Cheryl Barker's Butterfly will be interested in hearing this recording. I have heard her in the role twice - in Auckland and London - and her voice has filled out as the years have gone on. She hasn't a large italianate soprano; the sound is too slender somehow. Yet there is the paradox - it has great carrying power and a decent cutting edge to make itself heard above the orchestral climaxes. What really impresses is the sense of vulnerability and moral strength she imparts, making sense of the big moments of the secong act. The sound in Act one is gorgeous (and a super D flat in theentrance aria) and she differentiates impressively between the child-bride and the embittered woman of the two acts.

She is surrounded by a mixed supporting cast. Jean Rigby is maternal, warm and affecting as Suzuki. Gregory Yurisich makes Sharpless' dilemma more understandable than usual, rather than being completely ineffectual. Paul Charles Clarke perhaps illustrates Pinkerton's arrogance with a degree of vocal swagger, but the sound is rough-hewn and unlovely save for some moments in the love duet. Stuart Kale's Goro is suitable ingratiating and oily.

Abel's conducting is the other chief draw of this set. That he has experience of the score in the theatre means that his pacing is really superb, and the lush orchestration is given its due, the potent intermezzo during the overnight vigil sounding suitably ominous.

This won't replace the classic Butterfly recordings, but in the absendce of any new ones recently, and for acceptable diction in an English version, it is certainly worth the (not very high) price. Recommended.

Average customer rating: vintage Hugh Martin score a complete delight

Love from Judy Original London Cast Manufacturer: Sepia Recordings ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music Similar Items: Wish You Were Here/Paint Your Wagon (Original London Cast) and Bonus Tracks Inside U.S.A./The Band Wagon Life Upon the Wicked Stage The Likes of US Grey Gardens - A New Musical (2006 Original Broadway Cast) ASIN: B0001BRQ96 Release Date: 2005-08-09

Tracks:

1. Introduction/Mardi Gras/I Never Dream When I'm Asleep/A Touch Of Voodoo - Adelaide Hall
2. Love From Judy/Daddy Longlegs/What Do I See In You/Here We Are - Johnny Brandon
3. Go And Get Your Old Banjo/Kind To Animals/I Ain't Gonna Marry - Adelaide Hall
4. My True Love/Dum-Dum-Dum/Love From Judy - Jean Carson
5. Bonus Track: A Kiss To Build A Dream On - Bill Lowe
6. Bonus Track: Hug Me A Hug - Bill Lowe
7. Bonus Track: Barrels And Barrels Of Roses - Jean Carson
8. Bonus Track: Slow Coach - Johnny Brandon & Orchestra
9. Bonus Track: Oodles Of Noodles - Johnny Brandon & Orchestra
10. Bonus Track: Painting The Clouds With Sunshine - Johnny Brandon & Orchestra
11. Bonus Track: One For The Wonder - Johnny Brandon & Orchestra
12. Bonus Track: The Glow Worm - Johnny Brandon & Orchestra
13. Bonus Track: I'll Be Hangin' Around - Johnny Brandon
14. Bonus Track: Vanity - Adelaide Hall
15. Bonus Track: How Many Times - Adelaide Hall
16. Bonus Track: 'Hans Christian Andersen' - Part 1 - David Hughes
17. Bonus Track: 'Hans Christian Andersen' - Part 2 - Gary Miller
18. Bonus Track: 'Peter Pan' - Part 1 - Gilbert Harding
19. Bonus Track: 'Peter Pan' - Part 2 - Hermione Gingold
20. Bonus Track: Dancing With Someone - June Whitfield
21. Bonus Track: Seven Lonely Days - June Whitfield
22. Bonus Track: Bye Bye Baby - June Whitfield
23. Bonus Track: Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend - June Whitfield
24. Bonus Track: I Ain't Gonna Marry - Eve Boswell & Orchestra

Customer Reviews:

vintage Hugh Martin score a complete delight.......2004-12-23

LOVE FROM JUDY, based on Jean Webster's novel 'Daddy Long Legs', is pure vintage Hugh Martin. The show never made it to Broadway, instead enjoying a sold-out London season and an extensive provincial tour.

Jean Carson played Jerusha Abbott, an orphan at the John Grier Home who is mysteriously supported by a never-named benefactor. June Whitfield, Johnny Brandon, Adelaide Hall and Bill O'Connor round out the strong leading cast. Barbara Windsor played one of the orphans (for some interesting backstage reminisces about LOVE FROM JUDY check out Barbara Windsor's autobiography 'All of Me').

The Hugh Martin-Jack Gray score is quite lovely from what is featured on this disc (the recordings were originally designed to fit 4 sides of a set of 78's). LOVE FROM JUDY runs a scant 20 minutes, so the disc has been filled out with extensive bonus material.

We get Jean Carson singing "A Kiss to Build a Dream On", "Hug Me a Hug" and "Barrels and Barrels of Roses" (on the 2 former tracks she's joined by her then-husband Bill Lowe); Johnny Brandon singing 5 numbers including his mega-hit "Glow Worm"; and Adelaide Hall singing 2 great numbers. June Whitfield sings 5 numbers including two songs from GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES!

There are also selections from the Frank Loesser score of HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN; and a full-cast presentation of numbers from Disney's PETER PAN (both feature Jean Carson and Johnny Brandon).

Average customer rating: THE AutoHarp Master Ever Been To One of His Concerts? Very Enjoyable CD, but . . . When He's Good He's Very Good . . .

Friend for Life Bryan Bowers Manufacturer: Flying Fish Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Old-Time Country | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music General | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music General | Folk | Styles | Music Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Traditional Country | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music General | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: The View from Home By Heart Home, Home on the Road For You Bryan Bowers' Autoharp Techniques - Developing Your Skills ASIN: B00004TRXX Release Date: 2000-08-08

Tracks:

1. Friend For Life
2. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
3. Cluck Old Hen
4. Frere Jacques
5. Storms On The Ocean
6. Old Joe Clark
7. Give Me The Roses
8. Opera Reel
9. Red River Valley
10. White Coral Bells
11. Amazing Grace
12. Gospel Ship
13. Glory Land
14. Phoebe Snow
15. Shortening Bread
16. Sitting On Top Of The World
17. Banks Of The Ohio
18. Woodland Dream
19. Farther Along/Angel Band
20. Pick A Bale Of Cotton
21. Crossing The Water
22. Auld Lang Syne

Customer Reviews:

THE AutoHarp Master.......2005-06-01

OK, so Bryan Bowers' singing isn't the best, but the instrumental work is outstanding. Several tracks stand-out for listening again & again. If you've ever had the opportunity to see this musician perform live, you'd love to have this album as a lasting memory...

Ever Been To One of His Concerts?.......2004-07-16

This man is not to be believed. I say that because back in 1977,1978...I and a friend attended a concert by Bryan in Ch'ville, VA and it totally blew me away. The man is a complete artist and I dare anyone to say otherwise. For those that would be interested in the Autoharp, I mean, taking it up, as a hobby, this is the gentleman to be following. I "try" to play the 'harp like he does...and I do it service....but Bryan makes a 'harp sound like you are at the Heaven's Gates!!!

Very Enjoyable CD, but . . ........2003-01-05

I bought this CD because of Bowers' reputation as an autoharp virtuoso, so I was more than a little surprised to find so many tracks on which the singing (I'll agree that some of it is mediocre) drowns out the instrument. I was hoping for more instrumental tracks. Despite my early reservations I've come to enjoy the CD, even Twinkle, Twinkle. If you're interested in plain and unpretentious singing, and you want to hear how amazing an autoharp can sound, I think you'll enjoy this CD.

When He's Good He's Very Good . . ........2001-10-18

I love this cd, but I'll be the first to admit that it has its weak moments. Bowers' singing is often pretty awful, and I don't know why he includes "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Frere Jacques". But yes, I love most of the cd. The title track is excellent, as are "Give Me The Roses", "Cluck Old Hen", "Shortening Bread", and "Crossing the Water."
In sum, when he's good, he's very good, and with the current technology it's easy to skip the howlers. If you like the autoharp, you'll most likely love this cd.

Average customer rating: A real good selection good overview of her broadway career A Broadway legend appreciated

The Broadway Years: Till There Was You Manufacturer: Koch Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Bernstein | Bernstein, Leonard | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Rodgers, Richard | ( R ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Musical Theater | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music Similar Items: Barbara Cook - Bell Telephone Hour Appearances 1960-1965 Barbara Cook at the Met with Special Guests The Disney Album Barbara Cook - Live from London All I Ask of You ASIN: B000001SLS Release Date: 1995-06-20

Tracks:

1. He's Only Wonderful
2. Here's To Your Illusions (From Flahooley)
3. This Is All Very New To Me (From Plain And Fancy)
4. Glitter And Be Gay (From Candide)
5. Till There Was You (From Music Man)
6. Getting To Know You
7. Hello, Young Lovers (From The King And I)
8. Magic Moment (From The Gay Life)
9. Will He Like Me?
10. Dear Friend
11. Ice Cream
12. Where's The Mate For Me?/Make Believe
13. You Are Love (From Showboat)
14. Who Are You Now?
15. He Was Too Good To Me/Time Heals Everything
16. Wait Till You See Him

Customer Reviews:

A real good selection.......2006-04-27

Even if I don't own this CD (stuff I have on 33 rpm), I had to approve the other critics here. To know Barbara Cook is to participate to the Great Broadway Era with one of its essential star performer.
Cook was made for the stage and, following next, her live shows are quite impressive. Her voice can be tiny at times, but who doesn't get older?
Just listen to Glitter and be Gay: a Bernstein masterpiece, but a Cook personal creation. (Only Sumi Jo made it as good on her Carnegie Hall show).
All B'way fan should know Barbara Cook...

good overview of her broadway career.......2005-02-06

Before Barbara Cook became a cabaret performer, she was a fantastic Broadway star. This out of print cd focuses on the songs from her revivals and original productions with the omission of The Glass Harp. It goes chronologically from the beginning of her career with the shows Candide, Plain and Fancy, and Flahooley. (Sadly they were flops.) Then it reaches The Music Man where she finally became a star. Her Till There was You is marvelous. The last three songs are from her 1975 At Carnegie Hall album. I wish that this was replaced with numbers from her shows. It doesn't quite fit in with the phase. I guess this cd wanted to be an outlook on her career in general. Barbara Cook had a clear warm soprano. If only her 1958 album Songs of Perfect Propriety could be released.

A Broadway legend appreciated.......1999-07-02

Just to hear her voice intentionally break with emotion on "Dear Friend" will affect you deeply. This is a fine document of a great career and a stunning voice. You will treasure it.

Average customer rating:

Märta Schéle Sings Manufacturer: Bis ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Britten | Britten, Sir Benjamin | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Milhaud | Milhaud, Darius | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Ravel, Maurice | ( R ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Schubert | Schubert, Franz | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Debussy | Debussy, Claude | ( D ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Classical | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000001668 Release Date: 1995-12-12

Tracks:

1. I. La Fl De Pan - Marta Schele
2. II. La Chevelure - Marta Schele
3. III. Le Tombeau Des Naiades - Marta Schele
4. 1. La Violette/2. La Begonia/3. Les Fritillaires/4. Les Jacinthes... - Marta Schele/Elisif Lunden
5. I. Chanson De La Mariee - Marta Schele
6. II. La-bas, Vers L'eglise - Marta Schele
7. III. Quel Galant M'est Comparable - Marta Schele
8. IV. Chanson Des Cueilleuses - Marta Schele
9. V. Tout Gai! - Marta Schele
10. Auf Dem Strome - Albert Linder
11. I. The Big Chariot (The Book Of Songs) - Josef Holecek
12. II. The Old Lute (Po Chu-i) - Josef Holecek
13. III. The Autumn Wind (Wu-ti) - Josef Holecek
14. IV. The Herd-Boy (Lu Yu) - Josef Holecek
15. V. Depression (Po Chu-i) - Josef Holecek
16. VI. Dance Song (The Book Of Songs) - Josef Holecek
17. I. When The Morning Of Life Had Passed - Josef Holecek
18. II. Wrung With Anguish - Josef Holecek
19. III. Only In God I Trust - Josef Holecek
20. IV. Drink Deep, My Friend - Josef Holecek
21. V. Dull And Sad Is The Sky - Josef Holecek
22. VI. The Garden Dons A Coat Of Many Hues - Josef Holecek

Average customer rating:

Brahms: Life & Works Brahms Manufacturer: Naxos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Instructional | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Spoken Word | Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Life and Works of Franz Schubert The Life and Works of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky Life & Works of Bach The Life and Works of Franz Liszt Life & Works of Verdi ASIN: B00006RHPY Release Date: 2003-01-21

Tracks:

1. Destiny, Birth And Childhood
2. From Brothel To Beethoven
3. Hungarian Dance No. 1
4. A Life-Changing Tour
5. The Meeting With Joachim
6. Piano Sonata No. 3
7. Joachim Weighs In
8. Enter The Schumanns
9. Piano Sonata No. 3
10. Prophecy And Tragedy: A Double Yoke
11. Piano Trio No. 2
12. Brahms And Clara
13. Piano Sonata No. 1
14. A Triangular Bond
15. The Death Of Schumann - A Fateful Decision

Tracks:

1. The Young Messiah
2. Piano Concerto No. 1
3. The Virtuoso Takes Flight
4. Variations On A Theme By Paganini
5. Detmold And Distraction
6. Serenade No. 1
7. Birth Of The D Minor Concerto
8. Piano Concerto No. 1
9. The Taste Of Failure - And Of New Love
10. String Sextet
11. Love, Folly And A New Calling
12. Motet 'Ich Aber Bin Elend'
13. Brahms And Wagner
14. Variations And Fugue On A Theme By Handel
15. Frustrated Hopes And A Mother's Death
16. Trio For Horn, Violin And Piano

Tracks:

1. The Road To The Requiem
2. A German Requeim ('Denn Alles Fleisch Es Ist Wie Gras')
3. The Wanderer
4. Waltz In E
5. The Consummate Performer
6. Five Studies For Piano
7. Paradox Personified: The Tender Savage
8. Piano Concerto No. 2
9. A Demanding Friend
10. Variations On A Theme By Haydn (Or Variations On The St Antony Chorale
11. The Eternal Child
12. The Ghost Exorcised / Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Finale: 'Ode To Joy') / Symphony No. 1 (Finale: Opening)
13. Symphony No. 1

Tracks:

1. A Watershed In Brahm's Career
2. Symphony No. 2
3. The External Brahms
4. A Free Man At Last / Piano Sonata No. 1
5. Violin Concerto / The Rift With Joachim
6. The Composer At Work
7. Academic Festival Overture
8. Celebrity And Scholar
9. Motet 'Wenn Ein Starker Gewappneter'
10. Love, Loss And Reconciliation
11. Concerto For Violin And Cello
12. The Greatest Living Composer - But A Difficult Friend
13. The Philanthropist
14. Decline And Death
15. Piano Concerto No. 2

International Music:

1. A Little Bit of Ireland
2. Around The World, La La La La [CD-single]
3. Band of Gypsies [Import]
4. Best of the Dubliners, Vol. 1
5. Bit [Import]
6. Black Turtle
7. Blakawout [Import]
8. Burnin
9. Cantes Antiguos del Elam [Import]
10. Chinese Room [Import]

International Music

International Music