A Little Night Music (1973 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Perhaps best known for the hit "Send In the Clowns," Stephen Sondheim's glamorous 3/4 waltz-time musical recalls enchanted evenings, white kidskin elbow gloves, and romance of the green-eyed bittersweet and bed-hopping sort. The ruse is that these folks lead "ordinary lives": the father is widowed, remarries, and briefly rekindles a sack-side former flame; the son flirts with the maid; the child bride is cuckolded yet loves and is loved by the son; and the maid has a romp with the butler. Adapted from a mid-'50s Ingmar Bergman film, the play debuted in America in the early '70s and is set in Sweden's turn-of-the-century well-to-do society. Now remastered and heard at the dawn of the millennium, Night Music is a dated yet charmingly affected period piece, abundant in its sweeping theatricality. As an unhappily chaste newlywed, Len Cariou, Broadway's glistening middle-aged dandy, is smashing as Fredrick. Glynis Johns (who always sounds congested and quite cosmopolitan) steals focus as the delightful actress Desiree. Night Music is a foolishly fanciful, twinkly score swathed in plucky harp, sweeping strings, and coolly elegant conversational tunes. --Paige La Grone

Tracks:

Overture And Night Waltz
Now/Later/Soon
The Glamorous Life
Remember?
You Must Meet My Wife
Liaisons
In Praise Of Women
Every Day A Little Death
A Weekend In The Country
Night Waltz I-The Sun Won't Set
Night Waltz ll-The Sun Sits Low
It Would Have Been Wonderful
Perpetual Anticipation
Send In The Clowns
The Miller's Son
Finale
The Glamorous Life

Amazon.com essential recording

Perhaps best known for the hit "Send In the Clowns," Stephen Sondheim's glamorous 3/4 waltz-time musical recalls enchanted evenings, white kidskin elbow gloves, and romance of the green-eyed bittersweet and bed-hopping sort. The ruse is that these folks lead "ordinary lives": the father is widowed, remarries, and briefly rekindles a sack-side former flame; the son flirts with the maid; the child bride is cuckolded yet loves and is loved by the son; and the maid has a romp with the butler. Adapted from a mid-'50s Ingmar Bergman film, the play debuted in America in the early '70s and is set in Sweden's turn-of-the-century well-to-do society. Now remastered and heard at the dawn of the millennium, Night Music is a dated yet charmingly affected period piece, abundant in its sweeping theatricality. As an unhappily chaste newlywed, Len Cariou, Broadway's glistening middle-aged dandy, is smashing as Fredrick. Glynis Johns (who always sounds congested and quite cosmopolitan) steals focus as the delightful actress Desiree. Night Music is a foolishly fanciful, twinkly score swathed in plucky harp, sweeping strings, and coolly elegant conversational tunes. --Paige La Grone

Customer Reviews:

A Little Night Music (1973 Original Broadway Cast) - Sondheim.......2007-07-04

I saw the original Broadway play in New York with this cast. It was definitely off beat for the time and I wasn't so sure as the play started with operatic-like songs, but it took very little time for me to get fully into the mood of this musical. This is a tidy, sophisticated play with wonderfully nuanced lyrics and music. The pieces come through well on this recording. Thoroughly enjoyable.

A Wonderful Score- One of Sondheim's Best.......2007-07-02

I recently purchased this album after being taken by many of Sondheim's works, such as SWEENEY TODD, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, and FOLLIES. And I am so glad I purchased it.

It's a fantastic score, with a great cast. The melodies are sweeping and irresistable, the lyrics are witty and clever.

And how can you top this cast? Len Cariou turns in a great performance as Fredrick Egerman, and Glynis Johns is perfection as Desiree Armfeldt. Hermione Gingold is also fabulous as Mme. Armfeldt.

The best tracks on the CD are:

Now/Later/Soon
The Glamorous Life
Every Day A Little Death
Liasons
A Weekend in the Country
Send in the Clowns
The Miller's Son

Go out and buy A Little Night Music, you will not be dissapointed.

Sondheim's Best Musical.......2007-06-04

The beauty of the score sneaks up on you. The lyrics are Sondheim's most clever (The hands on the clock turn, but don't sing a nocturne just yet...) The singers do more than just sing the songs... They convey what they are feeling and thinking with their voices (which is wonderful for a broadway recording - we want to have the experience of being seated in a theatre watching the musical as well as listening to it). The music is magical, transporting us to wherever the characters want us to go (their memories, their hearts, their thoughts, their desires). The style of the music is a mixture of impressionistic (Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc, Satie, etc...), Classical (Bach - the only music to which Sondheim claims now to listen) and of course, Waltz. This mixture is exquisite. Send In The Clowns is NOT the best song in this musical, by far. The songs I will never tire of in this musical:
1)Overture and Night Waltz
2)Now
3)Soon (my favorite)
4)Every Day A Little Death (reminiscent of The Sound of Music's "How do solve a problem like Maria")
5)Night Waltz I
6)Night Waltz II
7)The Miller's Son (One Sondheim's own favorites)

The music and lyrics are brilliant. The performances by both the actors and orhestra are superb. Everything about this musical is amazing and wonderful. Enjoy.

Not that exciting.......2007-02-17

Seems silly, but the only reason I purchased this album was because my favourite version of SEND IN THE CLOWNS is sung by Glynis Johns.
I can understand why this did not have a long run on stage. It is based on an Ingmar Bergman play and he isn't the most cheerful writer. That is not to say I don't like Bergman. Stephen Sondheim made a mistake here but I now have one of my favourites, and it was written for the voice of Glynis Johns. Frank Sinatra also sings it but with a kind of couldn't care less attitude. Whoops now I have upset someone.

Goregous, Glorius, Genius...Sondheim!.......2006-08-02

After a long wait, I was finally able to own A Little Night Music, and I instantly fell in love with it. Although the show is known due to the huge hit "Send in the Clowns", the entire score is grand and spectacular. This is probably Sondheim's "prettiest" score due to the constant 3/4 waltz theme. The Night Waltz overture alone pulls the listener in with the subtle strings. The orchestrations just get better as the score continues. Highlights are probably "Now/Later/Soon", which cascades into a wonderful montage, "Every Day A Little Death", "It Would Have Been Wonderful", "The Miller's Son", and, of course, the congested wonder Glynis Johns with "Send in the Clowns". A true must-have for any lover of Sondheim.

Little Night Music - Ultimate Mozart Collection [20 CD Set]

Average customer rating:

A Wonderful Collection
Celebrate Mozart's 250th at a Budget Price

Little Night Music - Ultimate Mozart Collection [20 CD Set]

Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00012QLTG
Release Date: 2003-12-09

Tracks:

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K.525: Allegro - Herbert Kraus, Vienna Mozart Ensemble
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K.525: Romance. Andante - Herbert Kraus, Vienna Mozart Ensemble
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K.525: Menuetto. Allegretto - Herbert Kraus, Vienna Mozart Ensemble
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K.525: Rondo. Allegro - Herbert Kraus, Vienna Mozart Ensemble
Divertimento in D, K.136: Allegro - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.136: Andante - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.136: Presto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in B Flat, K.137: Allegro Di Molto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in B Flat, K.137: Andante - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in B Flat, K.137: Allegro Assai - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in F, K.138: Allegro - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in F, K.138: Andante - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in F, K.138: Presto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in E Flat, K.113: Allegro - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in E Flat, K.113: Andante - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in E Flat, K.113: Menuetto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in E Flat, K.113: Allegro - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V

Tracks:

Serenata Notturna in D, K.239: Marcia. Maestoso - The Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Peter Wohlert
Serenata Notturna in D, K.239: Menuetto - The Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Peter Wohlert
Serenata Notturna in D, K.239: Rondeau. Allegretto - The Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Peter Wohlert
Divertimento in D, K.131: Allegro - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.131: Adagio - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.131: Menuetto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.131: Allegretto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.131: Menuetto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.131: Adagio- Allegro Molto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.205: Largo-Allegro - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.205: Menuetto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.205: Adagio - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.205: Menuetto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V
Divertimento in D, K.205: Finale. Presto - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V

Tracks:

Symphony No. 34 in C, K.388: Allegro Vivace - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 34 in C, K.388: Andante Di Molto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 34 in C, K.388: Finale. Allegro Vivace - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 35 in D, K.285, Haffner: Allegro Con Spirito - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 35 in D, K.285, Haffner: Andante - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 35 in D, K.285, Haffner: Menuetto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 35 in D, K.285, Haffner: Presto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 36 in C, K.425, Linz: Adagio/Allegro Spiritoso - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 36 in C, K.425, Linz: Poco Adagio - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 36 in C, K.425, Linz: Menuetto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 36 in C, K.425, Linz: Presto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus

Tracks:

Symphony No. 38 in D, K.504, Prague: Adagio/Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 38 in D, K.504, Prague: Andante - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 38 in D, K.504, Prague: Finale. Presto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 39 in E Flat, K.543: Adagio/Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 39 in E Flat, K.543: Andante Con Moto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 39 in E Flat, K.543: Menuetto. Allegretto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 39 in E Flat, K.543: Finale. Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus

Tracks:

Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K.550: Molto Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K.550: Andante - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K.550: Menuetto. Allegretto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K.550: Allegro Assai - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 41 in C, K.551, Jupiter: Allegro Vivace - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 41 in C, K.551, Jupiter: Andante Cantabile - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 41 in C, K.551, Jupiter: Menuetto. Allegretto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 41 in C, K.551, Jupiter: Molto Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus

Tracks:

Symphony No. 9 in C, K. 73 (75a): Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 9 in C, K. 73 (75a): Andante - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 9 in C, K. 73 (75a): Menuetto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 9 in C, K. 73 (75a): Molto Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 10 in G, K.74: Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 10 in G, K.74: Andante - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 10 in G, K.74: Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 10 in D, K. 81 (73l): Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 10 in D, K. 81 (73l): Andante - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 10 in D, K. 81 (73l): Allegreo Molto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 11 in D, K. 84 (73g): Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 11 in D, K. 84 (73g): Andante - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony No. 11 in D, K. 84 (73g): Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony in D, K. 95 (73a): Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony in D, K. 95 (73a): Andante - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony in D, K. 95 (73a): Menuetto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony in D, K. 95 (73a): Molto Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony in F, K.75: Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony in F, K.75: Menuetto - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony in F, K.75: Andante - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Symphony in F, K.75: Allegro - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus

Tracks:

Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414: Allegro - Capella Coloniensis, Marian Migdal
Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414: Andante - Capella Coloniensis, Marian Migdal
Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414: Allegretto - Capella Coloniensis, Marian Migdal
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, K.503: Allegro Maestoso - Capella Coloniensis, Marian Migdal
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, K.503: Andante - Capella Coloniensis, Marian Migdal
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, K.503: Allegretto - Capella Coloniensis, Marian Migdal

Tracks:

Piano Concerto No. 13 in C, K.415: Allegro - Capella Coloniensis, Nicholas Kraemer, Linda Nicholson
Piano Concerto No. 13 in C, K.415: Andante - Capella Coloniensis, Nicholas Kraemer, Linda Nicholson
Piano Concerto No. 13 in C, K.415: Allegro - Capella Coloniensis, Nicholas Kraemer, Linda Nicholson
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488: Allegro - Capella Coloniensis, Nicholas Kraemer, Linda Nicholson
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488: Adagio - Capella Coloniensis, Nicholas Kraemer, Linda Nicholson
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488: Allegro Assai - Capella Coloniensis, Nicholas Kraemer, Linda Nicholson

Tracks:

Flute Concerto in G Major, K.313: Allegro Maestoso - Hungarian State Orchestra, , Ervin Lukacs
Flute Concerto in G Major, K.313: Adagio Non Troppo - Hungarian State Orchestra, , Ervin Lukacs
Flute Concerto in G Major, K.313: Rondo: Tempo Di Minuetto - Hungarian State Orchestra, , Ervin Lukacs
Flute Concerto in D Major, K.314: Allegro Aperto - Hungarian State Orchestra, , Ervin Lukacs
Flute Concerto in D Major, K.314: Andante Ma Non Troppo - Hungarian State Orchestra, , Ervin Lukacs
Flute Concerto in D Major, K.314: Rondo. Allegro - Hungarian State Orchestra, , Ervin Lukacs
Concerto for Flute and Harp in C, K.299: Allegro - Cologne Concerto, Saskia Kwast, Martin Sandhoff
Concerto for Flute and Harp in C, K.299: Andantino - Cologne Concerto, Saskia Kwast, Martin Sandhoff
Concerto for Flute and Harp in C, K.299: Rondo. Allegro - Cologne Concerto, Saskia Kwast, Martin Sandhoff

Tracks:

Clarinet Concerto in A, K.622: Allegro - English Chamber Orchestra, David Glasser, Geoffrey Simon
Clarinet Concerto in A, K.622: Adagio - English Chamber Orchestra, David Glasser, Geoffrey Simon
Clarinet Concerto in A, K.622: Rondo. Allegro - English Chamber Orchestra, David Glasser, Geoffrey Simon
Oboe Concerto in C, K.314: Allegro Aperto - C.P.E. Bach Chamber Orchestra, Burkhard Glaetzner, Hartmut Haenchen
Oboe Concerto in C, K.314: Adagio Non Troppo - C.P.E. Bach Chamber Orchestra, Burkhard Glaetzner, Hartmut Haenchen
Oboe Concerto in C, K.314: Rondo, Allegretto - C.P.E. Bach Chamber Orchestra, Burkhard Glaetzner, Hartmut Haenchen
Bassoon Concerto in B Flat, K.191: Allegro - Klaus Hellman, Herbert Kraus, Vienna Mozart Ensemble
Bassoon Concerto in B Flat, K.191: Andante Ma Adagio - Klaus Hellman, Herbert Kraus, Vienna Mozart Ensemble
Bassoon Concerto in B Flat, K.191: Rondeau, Tempo Di Minuetto - Klaus Hellman, Herbert Kraus, Vienna Mozart Ensemble

Tracks:

String Quartet in a Major K.464: Allegro - Petersen Quartett
String Quartet in a Major K.464: Menuetto - Petersen Quartett
String Quartet in a Major K.464: Andante - Petersen Quartett
String Quartet in a Major K.464: Allegro - Petersen Quartett
String Quartet in C Major K.465 Dissonant: Adagio, Allegro - Petersen Quartett
String Quartet in C Major K.465 Dissonant: Andante Cantabile - Petersen Quartett
String Quartet in C Major K.465 Dissonant: Menuetto. Allegro - Petersen Quartett
String Quartet in C Major K.465 Dissonant: Allegro - Petersen Quartett

Tracks:

Vioin Concerto No. 3 in G, K.216: Allegro - Christian Altenburger, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Vioin Concerto No. 3 in G, K.216: Adagio - Christian Altenburger, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Vioin Concerto No. 3 in G, K.216: Rondo. Allegro - Christian Altenburger, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Vioin Concerto No. 4 in D, K.218: Allegro - Christian Altenburger, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Vioin Concerto No. 4 in D, K.218: Andante Cantabile - Christian Altenburger, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Vioin Concerto No. 4 in D, K.218: Rondeau. Andante Grazioso - Christian Altenburger, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Fantasy in F Minor, K.608 - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sandor V

Tracks:

Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K.219: Allegro Aperto - Christian Altenburger, Wolfram Christ, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K.219: Adagio - Christian Altenburger, Wolfram Christ, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K.219: Rondeau, Tempo Di Minuetto - Christian Altenburger, Wolfram Christ, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Sinfonia Concertante in E Flat for Violin and Viola, K.364: ... - Christian Altenburger, Wolfram Christ, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Sinfonia Concertante in E Flat for Violin and Viola, K.364: Andante - Christian Altenburger, Wolfram Christ, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann
Sinfonia Concertante in E Flat for Violin and Viola, K.364: Presto - Christian Altenburger, Wolfram Christ, German Bach Soloists, Helmut Winschermann

Tracks:

Requiem, K.626: Requiem - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Dies Irae - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Tuba Mirum - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Rex Tremendae - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Recordare - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Confutatis - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Lacrimosa - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Domine Jesu - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Hostias - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Sanctus - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Benedictus - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Agnus Dei - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Requiem, K.626: Lux Aeterna - Aldo Baldin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gerhard Faulstich, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Edith Wiens
Laudate Dominum - Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Ivan Fischer, Jeunesses Musicales Chorus, Maria Zadori

Tracks:

Missa Solembis in C Minor, K.139: Kyrie - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach
Missa Solembis in C Minor, K.139: Gloria - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach
Missa Solembis in C Minor, K.139: Credo - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach
Missa Solembis in C Minor, K.139: Sanctus - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach
Missa Solembis in C Minor, K.139: Benedictus - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach
Missa Solembis in C Minor, K.139: Agnus Dei - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach
Misericordias Domini, K.222 - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach
Inter Natos Mulierum, K.72 - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, K.273 - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach
Venite Populi, K.260 - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, , Werner Hollweg, Celina Lindsley, Rias Chamber Chorus, Gabriele Schreckenbach

Tracks:

Ave Verum Corpus, K.618 - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marcus Creed, Rias Chamber Chorus
Exsultate, Jubilate, K.165 - Gabrielle Fuchs
Church Sonata in C, K.328 - Robert Kuppelwieser
Laudate Dominum - Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Gabrielle Fuchs, Ernst Hinreiner
Fantasy in F Minor, K.608
Ah, Lo Previdi...Ah, T'Invola Agl'occhi Miei, K.272 - Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, Ervin Lukacs, Sylvia Sass

Tracks:

Magic Flute, K.620 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Marriage of Figaro, K.492 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Ascanio in Alba, K.111 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Idomeneo, K.366 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Impresario, K.486 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Cosi Fan Tutte, K.588 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Finta Giardiniera, K.196 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Lucio Silla, K.135 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Clemenza Di Tito, K.621 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Don Giovanni, K.527 - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk

Tracks:

Five Minuets, K.461: No. 1 in C - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Five Minuets, K.461: No. 2 in E Flat - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Five Minuets, K.461: No. 3 in G - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Five Minuets, K.461: No. 4 in B Flat - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Five Minuets, K.461: No. 5 in F - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six Contredances, K.462: No. 1 in C - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six Contredances, K.462: No. 2 in E Flat - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six Contredances, K.462: No. 3 in B Flat - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six Contredances, K.462: No. 4 in D - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six Contredances, K.462: No. 5 in B Flat - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six Contredances, K.462: No. 6 in F - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Two Quadriles, K.463: No. 1 in F - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Two Quadriles, K.463: No. 2 in B Flat - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six German Dances, K.509 - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Contredanse, K.534, Das Donnerwetter - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Contredanse, K.535 la Bataille - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Contredanse, K.587 Der Sieg Vom Helden Koburg - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six German Dances, K.600: No. 1 in C - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six German Dances, K.600: No. 2 in F - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six German Dances, K.600: No. 3 in B Flat - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six German Dances, K.600: No. 4 in E Flat - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six German Dances, K.600: No. 5 in G, The Canary - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Six German Dances, K.600: No. 6 in D - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Two Contredanses, K.603: No. 1 in D - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Two Contredanses, K.603: No. 2 in B Flat - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Three German Dances, K.605: No. 1 in D - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Three German Dances, K.605: No. 2 in G - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus
Three German Dances, K.605: No. 3 in C, The Sleighride - Hans Graf, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra & Chorus

Tracks:

Magic Flute, K.620 Highlights: Overture - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Magic Flute, K.620 Highlights: Der Vogelfer Bin Ich Ja, ... - Bratislava Philharmonic, Hermann Prey
Magic Flute, K.620 Highlights: O Isis and Osiris, The Priest's Chorus - Bulgarian National Choir, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Svetoslav Obretenov Bulgarian Choir
Magic Flute, K.620 Highlights: Der H Rache, Queen of the ... - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sumi Jo, Roberto Paternostro
Magic Flute, K.620 Highlights: Ies Bildnis Ist Bezaubernd Sch... - Kurt Eichhorn, Munich Radio Orchestra, Josef Protschka
Magic Flute, K.620 Highlights: Ein Mhen Oder Weibchen, ... - Bratislava Philharmonic, Hermann Prey,
Magic Flute, K.620 Highlights: Heil Sei Euch Geweihten, Final Chorus - Bulgarian National Choir, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Svetoslav Obretenov Bulgarian Choir
Idomeneo, K.366 Highlights: Vedrommi Intorno, Idomeneo's Aria - NHK Chamber Soloists, Roberto Paternostro, Giuseppe Sabbatini
Idomeneo, K.366 Highlights: Ballet Music - NHK Chamber Soloists, Roberto Paternostro, Giuseppe Sabbatini
Idomeneo, K.366 Highlights: Il Padre Adorato, Idamente's Aria - NHK Chamber Soloists, Roberto Paternostro, Giuseppe Sabbatini
Idomeneo, K.366 Highlights: d'Oreste, d'Ajace, Electra's Aria - Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, Ervin Lukacs, Sylvia Sass
Idomeneo, K.366 Highlights: Torna la Pace, Idomenco's Aria - Kurt Eichhorn, Munich Radio Orchestra, Josef Protschka

Tracks:

Don Giovanni, K.527 Highlights: Overture - Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Vonk
Don Giovanni, K.527 Highlights: Madamina, Il Catalogo Questo, ... - Renato Bruson, NHK Chamber Soloists, Roberto Paternostro
Don Giovanni, K.527 Highlights: Li Darem la Mano, Duet ... - Renato Bruson, Sona Ghazarian, NHK Chamber Soloists, Roberto Paternostro
Don Giovanni, K.527 Highlights: Dalla Sua Pace, Don Ottavio's Aria - Kurt Eichhorn, Munich Radio Orchestra, Josef Protschka
Don Giovanni, K.527 Highlights: Mi Traduell'alma Ingrata, ... - Sona Ghazarian, NHK Chamber Soloists, Roberto Paternostro
Don Giovanni, K.527 Highlights: Il Mio Tesoro, Don Ottavio's Aria - Kurt Eichhorn, Munich Radio Orchestra, Josef Protschka
Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384: Ich Baue Ganz Auf Deine ... - Kurt Eichhorn, Munich Radio Orchestra, Josef Protschka
Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384: Singt Dem Gron Bassa Lieder, ... - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rias Chamber Chorus, Hanns Martin Schneidt
Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384: Wenn Der Freude Trn ... - Kurt Eichhorn, Munich Radio Orchestra, Josef Protschka
Cosan Tutte, K. 588: Come Scoglio, Fiordiligi's Aria - Bulgarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vassil Stefanov, Anna Tomowa Sintow
Cosan Tutte, K. 588: Un'aura Amorosa, Ferrando's Aria - NHK Chamber Soloists, Roberto Paternostro, Giuseppe Sabbatini
Clemenza Di Tito, K.621: Ah Se Fosse Intorno Al Trono, Tito's Aria - NHK Chamber Soloists, Roberto Paternostro, Giuseppe Sabbatini

Album Description

Enjoy a little night music with Mozart and this ultimate collection of his music. This incredible 20-CD set presents the listener with all of Mozart's most famous works, from Symphonies and Concertos, to highlights of his best operas The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni. Take in his Missa Solemnis, Ave Verum and Requiem and don't forget Eine Kleine Nachtmusik...this set truly is the most definitive Mozart collection ever assembled!

Customer Reviews:

A Wonderful Collection.......2007-04-11

As a selection, this is highly representative of Mozart's music. Just seeing the volume of work makes one marvel at Mozart's genius. Hear everything from piano to woodwinds, symphonies to concertos as well as religious pieces and operas. On my cd player, which is not a very expensive model, I get fine tonal quality and dynamics. I would highly recommend this box set to any fan of Mozart's work.

Celebrate Mozart's 250th at a Budget Price.......2006-01-11

This month will mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of the giants of the classical music world. While I am certainly not a classical music snob (the only Mozart piece I can identify is "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," and what little I know of his life came from the 1984 movie "Amadeus"), I recognize his genius and the significance of his music.

This 20-CD box set gathers all of his major symphonies, concertos and operas into one massive collection. All of the selections are performed by European musicians (eg. the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berliner Kammerorchester, etc.). While not household names, the music is uniformly excellent.

If you're looking for an inexpensive purchase (I got mine at a national retailer that rhymes with "Clam's Tub" for under $20!) to kick off your "Rock Me Amadeus" party, this is a great choice. RECOMMENDED

A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night

Average customer rating:

Schmilsson for Lovers
Supurb Departure to the Classics
FANTASTIC !!
The import is arranged for a better listen.
You Must Remember This...

A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night
Harry Nilsson
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Son of Schmilsson
Nilsson Schmilsson
As Time Goes By
Harry / Nilsson Sings Newman
Harry Nilsson - Greatest Hits

ASIN: B000EQ47WM
Release Date: 2006-05-23

Tracks:

Lazy Moon
For Me And My Gal
It Had To Be You
Always
Makin' Whoopee!
You Made Me Love You
Lullaby In Ragtime
I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now
What'll I Do
Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You)
This Is All I Ask
As Time Goes By
I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
Make Believe
Trust In Me
It's Only A Paper Moon
Thanks For The Memory
Over The Rainbow

Customer Reviews:

Schmilsson for Lovers.......2007-05-27

My wife and lost the vinyl record of this music that we had and enjoyed for many years. We loved it dearly,and missed it. We were delighted to find it in CD.It was like finding a lost friend.The music has enhanced our relationship almost from the beginning for over 30 years. For a lovely romantic evening (or any time of day). you cannot beat this CD. We both highly recommend it.

Supurb Departure to the Classics.......2007-01-23

Nilsson sings some of THE classics. One of the best albums ever recorded. There are no breaks between songs and the London Philharmonic has a dreamy score backing him up. If you are looking to woo someone, this is the album for you.

FANTASTIC !!.......2007-01-10

If you like "old standards" this is the CD for you. It is without a doubt the best I have ever heard. Not just the soulful and mellow singing but the bridges between songs, the way it is compiled, just everything about it. I have been buying and gifting this album since its first release as an LP, then cassette, now CD. Every single person I have ever given it to falls in love with it. If I could give it more than 5 stars I certainly would.

The import is arranged for a better listen........2006-09-17

I've reviewed this album twice before on the Amazon site, first for the Australian import version entitled, "As Time Goes By," and then some while later when the British import version became available here.

THERE ARE DIFFERENCES here that may be of interest to someone who has not yet discovered this magnificent collection, and these differences may be important enough for you to consider one version over another. The audiophile with an especially capable system will prefer the British pressing.

First, and perhaps most importantly, the new domestic remaster simply adds the bonus tracks to the end of the album after following the original 13-song LP sequence. In my opinion, this is something of a disservice since it appears to me (and to some professional critics) that the song, "As Time Goes By," is intentionally placed at the end of the album -- in either the truncated original 1973 release or the expanded British and Australian imports -- because the artist intended the song to be an epilogue expressing the theme of the album as a whole. The tune emphasizes the importance of the various phases of many interpersonal relationships as they evolve from courtship ("Lazy Moon") through marriage ("For Me & My Gal"), infidelity ("Makin' Whoopee") and irreconcilable differences ("Thanks For The Memories"). Along the way, Nilsson is mindful of the importance of introspection ("This Is All I Ask) and his own mortality ("Over The Rainbow").

Not only does this new remaster merely append the five additional tunes omitted from the original release, there are two non-essential asides that are attached to two songs, but not indexed (one from an engineer telling Nilsson that he has "all the time he needs but not a second extra." The other is a request from Nilsson that he is provided with a cigarette, some whiskey and some drugs.). These two instances on the domestic remaster are placed within the bonus tracks segment so that the album loses its continuity -- breaking a spell, perhaps. On the British import, the engineer's remarks precede the album in its entirety. Nilsson's request for drugs and whiskey was omitted from the British import altogether, but it appears at the end of "Over The Rainbow" on the domestic remaster. This results in a somewhat devalued effect for many listeners, myself included. Some may note that the revised lyrics for two song selections on the album might suggest the artist's nonchalant attitude toward this album; personally I consider them as comic relief.

Second in importance is the artwork that accompanies these two releases. While both the British import and the newer remaster provide the original jacket photo, only the British import follows the inner illustrations of the original gatefold, and in full color, just like the original. The new domestic release provides us with some sense of what was there (black and white only), but moves the musicians' credit to the back of the booklet. Both versions include producer Derek Taylor's introduction to the album, but beyond that is where the real differences are found. There is a more extensive set of notes to the domestic release. Curtis Armstrong wrote these notes in February 2006; the British import features an essay written by Andrea Sheridan in January 2002. Both are informative for the completist.

You Must Remember This..........2006-05-30

The remastered release of Harry Nilsson's Touch is cause for celebration. In a time when American Idols reign supreme, and faded pop singers try to resurrect ailing careers singing standards, yielding excruciating results, this CD reminds us that Mr. Nilsson was perhaps the first rocker to successfully record an album of standards. Along with Willie Nelson's 1978 Stardust, these two lps introduced an entire generation to its own musical heritage. But Mr. Nilsson's lp was first, and finest.
I purchased it back then (1973) and was transported by its romantic lyricism. Like many Beatles generation's kids, I was not enamored with the 70's music. Disco was on the horizon, jazz was becoming fusion, and country was becoming pop with a southern accent. The only place to go was to the past. And Mr. Nilsson must have known this. He didn't undertake this project to resurrect his own career, as he was on top at the time. It was a risky move; some warned of career suicide. The results, both commercially and critically, thankfully proved otherwise.
The album itself is composed mainly of prewar, (WW11 that is,) standards written by the likes of Gus Kahn, Herman Hupfield, and Irving Berlin. The lesser known jewels "Lazy Moon" and "Lullaby In Ragtime" glimmer just as much as the more familiar "Always", "Making Whopee", and "As Time Goes By". Mr. Nilsson employs a respectful approach, preventing a degeneration into camp, a la Tiny Tim. The renditions are joyous, and full of vitality, but not overdelivered (unlike so much of the bellowing we hear today). His vocals caress each lyric, and being who he is, Mr. Nilsson avoids the solemnity that often mars so many of these projects, while simultaneously rejecting the whimsey that was beginning to stereotype him.
Much of the credit for the album has to go to Gordon Jenkins for his arrangements and direction of the 39 piece orchestra. For many of us, the past sounds like Gordon Jenkins: sumptious, elegant, and full of grace. This lp stands alongside Mr. Jenkins best work, including the lp "Where Are You".
For me, Touch served as a launching pad, albeit into the past, and led me down a path where I discovered those singers and artists before the Beatles, and before Elvis. Jo Stafford, Jeri Southern,and Hoagy Carmichael became favorites; then I happened upon jazz, where the standards, particularly since Mr. Nilsson's lp, seem to be valued and constantly reinterpreted. I like to think Touch had something to do with that. Finally, I have come to rest where all paths in popular music inevitably lead- to Frank Sinatra's doorstep. And waiting in the wings- much to my surprise- with Mr.Sinatra, was Gordon Jenkins and the aforementioned "Where Are You". Mr. Sinatra's seminal 1957 lp emanates with much of the same sense of longing and sweet sadness that haunts Mr. Nilsson's. My musical route, circuitous as it was, and some 30 years in the making, had come full circle. And now, a few years later, the lp that started it all-Touch- has finally been remastered and released, sending me back in time once more...This is all I ask, this is all I need...

Average customer rating:

Not for the average listener
A thoroughly enjoyable trip through Central Asia and a few other places.
Silk Road Journey
A Detailed Review From A Non-expert Music Lover
Silk Road student

Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet
Yo-Yo Ma , and Silk Road Ensemble
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone

ASIN: B0000641CG
Release Date: 2002-04-16

Tracks:

Mongolian Traditional longsong
Legend of Herlen (Byambasuren Sharav)
"Blue Little Flower" (Chinese Traditional)
"Mido Mountain" (Chinese Traditional)
Moon over Guan Mountain (Zhao Jiping)
"Miero vuotti uutta kuuta" from Five Finnish Folk Songs (Michio Mamiya)
"Joiku" from Five Finnish Folk Songs (Michio Mamiya)
Avaz-e Dashti (Persian Traditional)
Habil-Sayagy (In Habil's Style) for cello and prepared piano (Franghiz Ali-Zadeh)
Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur (Kayhan Kalhor)
Chi passa per'sta strada (Filippo Azzaiolo)
Desert Capriccio (Music from the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Tan Dun) (Bonus Track)

Amazon.com

This disc introduces Yo-Yo Ma's latest and most ambitious adventure, the Silk Road Project. It explores the cultures that flourished along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that for centuries connected Europe and the East. Founded by Ma in 1998, the project aims to create connections, mutual trust, and cultural interchange between people from different parts of the world through their only shared language: music.

This recording includes music from Mongolia, China, Persia, Japan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and an improvisation on an Italian Renaissance street song, performed by musicians from all those countries, as well as America, on both Eastern and Western instruments. Ma, who participates in every piece either as soloist or part of the ensemble, plays cello and a Mongolian "horse-head fiddle." There is also a Mongolian soprano, who sings a traditional song native to her region. For the uninitiated Western listener, the music requires some getting used to. Much of it is based on rhythmic ostinatos. The melodies use Oriental scales; the intonation is untempered; the music seems all color, texture, and atmosphere, without what might be called themes; and repetition takes the place of development. Contrast is achieved through sudden change, buildup by adding instruments. However, the music is often beautiful, delicate, dreamy, or peaceful; every listener will find his or her own favorite pieces. The playing is splendid, with much inventive improvisation. Inevitably, Ma's tone and personality stand out, but he never dominates in fact or spirit. The booklet offers essays by Ma and the project's musicologist, Theodore Levin, photographs of the players, and drawings of the Eastern instruments. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Not for the average listener.......2007-03-20

I was going to give it 2 stars, but then again i only listened to it once.
I was looking forward to this, but the music is plodding in many parts,
like a dreary symphony. There are fine moments, but I was looking for something a bit more accesible, rhymic, and lyrical. This is a mixed bag that seems to miss more often than hit.

A thoroughly enjoyable trip through Central Asia and a few other places........2007-03-15

I have just added this to my musical library and am enjoying it. From the first beat of the first note of Khongozurl's long song you are transported to central Asia - the land of horses and gers. Of all the pieces I was most interested in listening to the second piece - Legend of Herlen. This to me, was the real silk road. The morin khuur has a very rich and unusual tone that made we want to listen to the it over and over again. Each piece is different and reminds one of the many parts that make up the whole of central asia's culture be it music or diesel trucks competing for road space with camels. The music captures the variety that makes up the region. The Finnish Folksong tracks are a nice touch. I have a friend who was at a trade conference and met a man from Mongolia. Neither could talk to one another until they discovered a common language - Finnish! My friend's family is Finnish and his new Mongolian friend had lived for several years in Finland where he learned enough of the language to communicate. Listening to the Finnish Folksongs reminds me of the Finnish-Mongolian connection that my friend had described. It is a nice touch and complements the other pieces very well. Please don't neglect to read the information insert as this gives a wealth of information on the music and it's origins as well as some of the difficulties experienced by western players playing traditional middle Asian musical instruments. Ma's difficulties with his instrument are particularly interesing to read. The concludig track - Desert Capriccio is a very nice ending to a very rich musical experince. The music from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the perfect ending to this trip through central Asia. I highly recommend this CD to everyone.

Silk Road Journey.......2007-02-19

I saw a performance of the Silk Road Ensemble and was absolutely enthralled. So I bought the CD. But it was a big disappointment. It's not the type of music you can comfortably listen to in your living room - I'm sure it would be much more enjoyable in a concert hall. There was far too much that just sounded like "screeching" to me. However, some of the pieces that were much like what we heard at the performance were beautiful. So - a mixed review, but I disliked more than I liked.

A Detailed Review From A Non-expert Music Lover.......2007-01-12

In this review I will give my opinion on each of the 12 selections in this CD, and will also talk about some general themes related to the title "The Silk Road Project".

To anyone who has heard of the Silk Road in Ancient China, the title of this CD immediately brings up images of exotic peoples and their cultures in your mind. I think Yo-Yo Ma's efforts in creating such a culturally diversified recording are definitely welcomed in this era of globalization.

But after listening through this CD I felt that something was missing from the selections. One of the most important areas on the Silk Road is the Uyghur region in northwestern China. Their music is quite unique. Inclusion of their music in this CD would be really interesting. Also in this CD not all of the selections are chosen from those regions directly related to the Silk Road. So I guess the title is just a metaphor of "when strangers meet", but is not directly about the cultures along the Silk Road.

Now I will review each of the selections.

1. Mongolian Traditional Long Song

I am somewhat familiar with their culture and land. So to me this song is very beautiful and enchanting. One of the most important factors in conducting any cross-cultural communications is context! You really cannot take it out of context. The Mongolian Long Song might sound monotonous and drawling to a person who is more used to the Western tradition of chant, choral, or opera music. Yet if you know the traditional nomadic lifestyle of the Mongolian people on the vast rolling greens of the Mongolian grassland embellished with winding creeks and rivers, you would probably hear such long-singing voices reverberating between the green of the grass and the blue of the sky. The Mongolian people have some of the most beautiful songs that I know of.

2. Legend of Herlen

There are probably two broad categories of non-western ethnic musics. One is the authentic folksong tradition of the people, the other is westernized works composed by westernized local musicians. I guess Legend of Herlen might fall into the second category. It has some interesting tunes in it. But the overall listening experience is too dramatic. I guess the dynamics used in this piece might even go beyond the ppp and fff. In the Mongolian traditional music, dynamics are sometimes used quite dramatically, with sharp difference between two adjacent notes or phrases. So this piece here is probably not very surprising. Nonetheless I find it a little too dramatic, sometimes even disturbing. Again I am not familiar with the background of this piece, so that might explain the unusual drama.

3. Blue Little Flower

I am not sure what fusion should really sound like. But in this piece it does seem to me that a lot of musical traditions are intertwined in it: western music, Chinese folksong from Shaanxi, and probably Iranian or Indian drums. Somehow the only part of this song that I liked is the beginning line. It's very beautiful and delicate, reminding me of the theme music from the Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But it is westernized, not authentic Chinese folksong. If this is still not a problem, then the drum used in this piece does cause a lot of funny effects. The drum sounds so distinctive and it represents some of the central or western Asia cultures. The images such drum beats conjure up are very incompatible with this northwestern Chinese folksong. So in this piece there are at least three threads: western, Chinese, and Iranian/Indian (I am not sure which one). But they do not converge. There is also the funny part of the singing included in this piece. It is out of place and unnecessary. The singing itself is just too frivolous to me.

4. Mido Mountain

I like this piece, especially the part played by the Sheng. Again there are some elements that sound a little bit too foreign to me, especially the percussion part. They use the same percussion/drum in this piece as in the previous one. But the overall effect of the arrangement does sound authentic and pleasant to me.

5. Moon Over Guan Mountains

If you know that Zhao Jiping is famous for his scores for films, you will probably understand this piece better. But of course understanding does not mean you will like it. This piece falls into the second category that I described above. For a lot of non-Western countries, the influence of western music is definitely immense. Many local composers are trained in both the western tradition and the local tradition. But there is probably a general feeling among composers in these countries that western music is richer in theory and methods. Many of these composers will use themes from folk songs to compose westernized music. I will give this piece a B+. It does include some themes from northwestern China, which sound really unique. As I said in this CD there is no selection from the Uyghur region in China, this piece might make up for that, since some of the themes seem to me to be from that region. But this piece is still too dramatic too, like a film score.

6. Five Finnish Folksongs No. 3

I love this one! The theme melody is so beautiful, and maybe a little bit nostalgic, and maybe a little bit romantic also? But this piece is straightly western music. There is nothing ethnic about it.

7. Five Finnish Folksongs No.5

This one is ok, but not very impressive. The overall structure of this piece sounds like very loose. There is not memorable melody either. But it does not have the maddening drama like in the two pieces I have just talked about. This is good.

8. Avaz-e Dashti
I am not familiar with Persian music. But there are indeed some very Persian melodies in this piece. The instruments used in this piece are all traditional Persian instruments. Maybe this is why it sounds so authentic to me. I like the haunting, floating tunes in this piece. They sound very ethereal to me.

9. Habil-Sayagy

Again this piece falls into the second category like the Legend of Herlen and Moon Over Guan Mountains. Such music is probably interesting to the performers, since they can let loose their inner floodgate of emotions and resort to pure artistic connections. But the problem for such music is that they are just too dramatic, and it's really hard to understand them without fairly good knowledge of the context and their unique cultural backgrounds. I am sure all these three pieces might sound profound, meaningful, and artistic once we know the cultural backgrounds better. But for the general listener, they are too abstract and too emotionally charged. Another problem for such western-traditional combination pure art form of music is that tradition might be distorted and represented in the wrong way.

10. Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur

I like this one better that the previous one, especially the middle part beginning at around 5 min 30 sec into the music. The melody is quite unique, and memorable. The bassline is very interesting too. It conjures up the image of merchants traveling on camel back through the desert. The pulse of the bass sounds like the steps of camels walking. One the instruments used, I am not sure which one, santur or kemancheh, is quite successful in bringing out the authenticity of the music style.

11. Chi passa per'sta strada

This one has the same problem as the Blue Little Flower: it does not sound like anything! It is not Italian, nor is it Iranian, nor Chinese, nor anything else. What is it? Who knows. The ethnicity of world music is tied to their unique musical instruments closely. I remember there was one year the Chinese traditional orchestra had a New Year's Concert at Vienna, and when they played the Radetzky March at the end of the concert, I was quite unimpressed.

12. Desert Capriccio

Tan Dun is similar to the composers I mentioned above like Zhao Jiping. Tan's music is unique and interesting to both western and Chinese audience, because of the same thing: they are both unfamiliar with Tan's music. To the Chinese audience, his music sounds western, but to the Western audience, his music sounds exotic. Nonetheless I still like some of this music, like the Couching Tiger and Hidden Dragon. Some of the melodies are really great. Again this piece makes up for the lack of Uyghur music in this album, since the "desert" in this piece is in the Uyghur region. But the music is not Uyghur at all.

There you have it. That's all for my detailed review of this CD. I would give it a B+ for its efforts and some of the really good tunes. As I am not an expert, I might be wrong in many of the points that I make in this review. So feel free to comment on my review.

Silk Road student.......2007-01-05

Each story is complete within itself and offers insight into the life and hard times. I found the stories very believeable.

The Best of Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)

Average customer rating:

Some interesting choices, indeed
Great CD
Great selections, but bad transfers
Yes this is Some of the Best of Broadway!
The music of Broadway comes alive

The Best of Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)

Manufacturer: Decca Broadway
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Very Best Of Broadway Musicals
Only Broadway CD You'll Ever Need
Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)
The Best Of Broadway (Cast Recording Anthology)
Ultimate Broadway

ASIN: B0002W4T9E
Release Date: 2004-10-05

Tracks:

There's No Business Like Show Business
Swanee
Ol' Man River
You're The Top
Oklahoma
Luck Be A Lady
I Could Have Danced All Night
America
My Favorite Things
People
If I Were A Rich Man
The Impossible Dream
Cabaret
Let The Sunshine In
Send In The Clowns
One
Tomorrow
Memory
The Music Of The Night
Good Morning Baltimore
Defying Gravity

Amazon.com

A companion to the fabulous PBS series, the 21-song, 77-minute The Best of "Broadway: The American Musical" provides about as good a single-disc compilation as anyone could hope for. (There's also a five-CD version.) What sets it apart from so many other "best of Broadway" collections is its breadth--because it had access to a variety of record-label vaults it doesn't have to try to disguise gaps by using revivals or solo recordings. Here you get all the authentic stuff, including: Paul Robeson singing "Ol' Man River" from the first modern American musical, Show Boat; Ethel Merman singing "You're the Top"; the title song from Oklahoma!; Julie Andrews singing "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady; West Side Story's "America"; Betty Buckley singing "Memory" from Cats; Hairspray's "Good Morning Baltimore"; and "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, the newest show discussed in the PBS series. And it's hard to argue with the songwriters represented: Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Frank Loesser, Lerner and Loewe, Leonard Bernstein, Bock and Harnick, Kander and Ebb, Stephen Sondheim, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, among others. Obviously, no single-disc compilation could ever please everyone (did we really need two ALW songs?), but as a sampler intended for people who watched the series and want to hear more of the Great White Way, The Best of "Broadway: The American Musical" can't be topped. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

Some interesting choices, indeed.......2006-03-02

This is a pretty good compilation, but I have to wonder at some of the choices that went into it.
"Good Morning Baltimore" is almost the least impressive song from Hairspray. "You Can't Stop the Beat" was a much more anthemic song from that show.
I agree that it's too bad Les Mis didn't make it in. I would have traded that for anything Sondheim, although that's a personal preference :) .
Still, the opportunity to hear the original performers and orchestras perform these works, all in one place, is a great deal.

Great CD.......2005-11-01

This one plays in the car, on the ipod and in the house. When the kids were little they would ask if we could take them to "The Street". That is what they called Broadway (little did they know at that time how famous that street is). They still love it and we can not get enough of it. This CD covers the best and makes you want to go and see a live performance. You can not beat that.

Great selections, but bad transfers.......2005-07-27

This is a great taste of broadway. If you enjoyed the B'Way series at all, then you will probably enjoy this CD. My problem with it is that some of the songs sound like they were not remastered at all- the transfer to CD is terrible. The orchestrations in "You're the top" by Ethel Merman are muffled, and the song sounds like it was taken straight from an old record and slapped onto the CD without fixing it up. It doesn't sound very clear, which is a bit upsetting and annoying. Maybe this is just because that particular recording is older than some of the songs chosen to be on this CD. The more modern songs sound crisp and new and beautiful. "Swanee" is also very low quality as if it were just taken off of a record and put on the CD without any restoration. I just feel that these songs deserved better treatment and that we as customers deserve better treatment. Decca could have restored these songs and made them sound really good, but they decided just to slap them on the CD without touching them up.

I am surprised that nothing was chosen to be on this recording from Les Miserables since it had been on Broadway for 16 years and its tour is running until 2006. There were selections from Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Wicked, so I am not sure why nothing was chosen from Les Miserables.

Other than these few nit pickings, I think that this is a great introduction to musicals. It gives a little taste across the spectrum. Try getting the cast recordings of the songs that you really like on this collection. It's worth buying if you're a huge broadway fan.

Yes this is Some of the Best of Broadway!.......2005-04-08

This CD from Decca Broadway is a wonderful selection of some of

the "Greatest Hits" of the Broadway stage. Decca and Sony have

done an excellent job of remastering the various recordings, some

of which still show some of their age, but come across quite

well. Are there a lot of songs that I would have put on this

disc? Yes, but the ones on here are good choices. I may have to

get a copy of the Five disc set and the DVD's just to see if any

more of my favorites made it on the list. What this disc seems to

try to do is show the evolution of the Broadway song from it's

early days to the present. It succeeds quite well I think.

If you enjoy Broadway theater this CD is a must!

The music of Broadway comes alive.......2004-10-07

I loved listening to this CD. The music from Broadway's best loved musicals are on this album. I recogized most of these songs, even though I've only seen a few of them on the local stage. I have so many favorites on this CD. It is hard to pick one. I'm a big fan of Barbara Streisand. I loved her performance of People from Funny Girl. Memory is the hit song from the musical Cats. Betty Buckley's performance of this song is so emotional and sincere.

I loved the song Annie. It is a wonderfully optimistic song performed by the original Annie Andrea McArdle. Another highlight for me is the song One performed by the cast of a Chorus Line. Luck Be A Lady Tonight is another of my favorite broadway songs on this CD from Guys and Dolls. The music of the night is a beautiful song by Michael Crawford from Phantom of the Opera. Richard Kiley has such a strong and powerful voice. He sounds so inspirational singing The Impossible Dream from Man from La Mancha. My dream is to see some musicals on Broadway someday and listen to these songs performed live.

I'm surprised that there isn't any music from Miss Saigon or Jesus Christ Superstar included here. I think they are classic musicals with great songs Maybe they will appear on a future compilation from PBS.

Average customer rating:

Great to Hear All those great Voices from the Past
A Good One!

Greatest Hits: Broadway

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

The Best Of Broadway (Cast Recording Anthology)
Only Broadway CD You'll Ever Need
Greatest Songs from the Musicals
The Best of Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)
Very Best Of Broadway Musicals

ASIN: B0000029PM
Release Date: 1996-10-29

Tracks:

Oklahoma!: Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin' - John Raitt/Franz Allers
On The Town: New York, New York - Michael Kermoyan/Adolph Green/John Reardon/Cris Alexander & Chorus/Leonard Bernstein
Annie Get Your Gun: I Got The Sun In The Morning - Doris Day/Franz Allers
Fiddler On The Roof: If I Were A Rich Man - Topol/Gareth Davies
West Side Story: Tonight - Larry Kert/Carol Lawrence/Max Goberman
The Sound Of Music: The Sound Of Music - Mary Martin/Frederick Dvonch
My Fair Lady: On The Street Where You Live - Jerry Lanning/Theodore Saidenberg
Annie: Tomorrow - Andrea McArdle/Peter Howard
The Music Man: Seventy-Six Trombones - The Boston Pops Orchestra/John Williams
Anything Goes: You're The Top - Eileen Rodgers/Hal Linden/Julian Stein
Bye Bye Birdie: Put On A Happy Face - Dick Van Dyke/Elliot Lawrence
Mame: Open A New Window - Angela Lansbury & Cast/Don Pippin
Strike Up The Band: Strike Up The Band - The Chestnut Brass Co.
Sweet Charity: Hey, Big Spender - Helen Gallagher/Thelma Oliver/Fan-Dango Girls/Fred Werner
Bells Are Ringing: Just In Time - Judy Holliday/Sydney Chaplin/Milton Rosenstock
Gypst: Together, Wherever We Go - Ethel Merman/Jack Klugman/Sandra Church/Milton Rosenstock
Cabaret: Cabaret - Jill Haworth/Harold Hastings
Phantom Of The Opera: The Music Of The Night - The Boston Pops Orchestra/John Williams
Show Boat: Ol' Man River - William Warfield/Franz Allers
A Chorus Line: What I Did For Love - Priscilla Lopez & Cast/Don Pippin
A Little Night Music: Send In The Clowns - Glynis Johns/Harold Hastings

Customer Reviews:

Great to Hear All those great Voices from the Past.......2007-07-05

I just wanted to confirm what the first reviewer had to say about this CD. To hear Ethyl Merman, Mary Martin, Andrea McCardle etc. singing their trademark songs brought a lot of memories from the mid-centry musical theater back again. The last song by Glynis Johns is especially poignant.
You certainly can't beat the price!

A Good One!.......2006-11-10

This is a very good CD, mostly because it's the original artists. I've had some that were re-recorded by no name artists that were ghastly. This one is a really good one--including the sound quality. If I had one wish, I would wish it were longer!

Average customer rating:

What is all the hype about?
great cd
My girls listen to this every night
I would give it more than 5 stars....
Great CD: soothing music by best performers. Worth every penny.

Baby Sleep

Manufacturer: Erato
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Build Your Baby's Brain
Sweet Dreams
Baby's First Mozart
Parents: The Lullaby Album
UltraSound - Music for the Unborn Child

ASIN: B000005E5H
Release Date: 1997-04-22

Tracks:

Scenes Form Childhood: Foreign Lands And People
Scenes Form Childhood: Dreaming
Scenes Form Childhood: Child Falling Asleep
Dream Of Children: Andante
Dream Of Children: Allegretto Piacevole
Sicilienne
Study No. 5: Moderato
The Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a: Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy - Tchaikovsky
Notebooks Of Anna Magdalena Bach: Minuets 4 and 5
The Indian Queen: Adagio
Album Leaves: Lullaby
Album Leaves: Cradlesong
Prelude In C Major - Bach
The Carnival Of Animals: The Swan
Gymnopedie I
Gymnopedie III
Album for the Young: Morning Prayer - Tchaikovsky
Album for the Young: My Dear Little Mother - Tchaikovsky
Album for the Young: Sweet Reveries - Tchaikovsky
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Nocturne No. 7 - Mendelssohn
Contes D'Hoffmann: Barcarolle
Piano Concerto No. 26 In D Major: Larghetto
Melody
Lullaby

Amazon.com

I think this music is intended for adults, though the photo on the cover is of a sleeping baby. In any event, Schumann's work, Scenes From Childhood, Op. 15, featured here is more likely to bolt you out of bed than put you to sleep, as the mike is far too close to the piano being played by Cyprien Katsaris. Purcell's Adagio from The Indian Queen is magnificent, performed by John Elliott Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists. The Weird Award goes to triple harpist Tim Hobrough and lutenist Stephen Barber for their bizarre, spiky rendition of Minuets Nos. 4 and 5 from the Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach. I would like to meet Bill Holland, producer of all these Atlantic Records classical compilations. He's programmed Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1 on three different CDs, billed alternately as sensuous, romantic, and now here: good for a long snooze. --Gwendolyn Freed

Customer Reviews:

What is all the hype about?.......2007-07-09

I purchased this CD on the basis of the reviews written on Amazon. I have to say I am terribly disappointed. My son hates the CD, I listened to it and I am not all that impressed either. It is ok but nothing like described by other users.

great cd.......2007-06-26

We play this cd every night at bedtime. It not only helps my baby stay asleep, but helps me fall asleep. The only issue I have is that one of the tracks near the end of the cd is a little louder than the tracks before it, so I just make sure I keep it on very quiet and it's wonderful.

My girls listen to this every night.......2006-11-10

My girls (ages 3 & 5) have a hard time winding down at night. We have a regular bedtime routine (bath, snack, teeth brushing, books, hugs), but they still take forever to settle down and sleep. Adding this CD to the bedtime routine has really helped.

I would give it more than 5 stars...........2005-11-18

I had this CD when my daughter was born 5 years ago, and it gave us such a soothing environment in which to bond during quiet times. We also put it on shortly before we'd put her down to sleep, and by 6 weeks she was sleeping through the night in her own crib. I think it was her sanctuary, and the music helped her feel comforted. We've since then completely worn out the CD (she listened to it through her 3rd year), and will have to buy a new one for our next little addition (coming soon!). I found it on this site and just listened to the samples from each track. Aahhh... very soothing for Mommy, too!
I also plan to get it as a baby gift for a friend. :)

Great CD: soothing music by best performers. Worth every penny........2005-08-05

I listened to this CD countless times ever since I first bought it from BMG music service back in 1997. Compositions of this CD are popular classical hits. That is, you will likely recognize at least some of them if you listen to the sampler.

What sets this CD apart is supreme music performance. Every composition is performed flawlessly, with real feeling and passion. There is a good reason why this CD that was released in 1997 is still around and costs over ten dollars. This reason is called quality.

Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)

Average customer rating:

Fabulous for any Broadway-lover
Top Shelf
TERRIFIC CD'S
Great Collection of Broadways greatest Songs
Great Compilation!

Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Best of Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)
Broadway: The American Musical
Broadway: The American Musical
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Somewhere over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals

ASIN: B00064ADMK
Release Date: 2004-10-19

Tracks:

Give My Regards To Broadway- Joel Grey
Swanee- Al Jolson
When The Moon Shines On The Moonshine- Bert Williams
A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody- John Steel
My Man- Fanny Brice
Fascinating Rhythm- Fred Astaire, Adele Astaire
If You Knew Susie (Like I Know Susie)- 78rpm Version Eddie Cantor
Someone To Watch Over Me- Gertrude Lawrence
Bill- 78 rpm Version Helen Morgan
Ol' Man River- Paul Robeson
Ain't Misbehavin'- Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
Ten Cents A Dance- Ruth Etting
Body And Soul- Libby Holman
Brother, Can You Spare A Dime- Bing Crosby
Night And Day- Fred Astaire
Heat Wave- Ethel Waters
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes- Tamara
You're The Top- Ethel Merman
Summertime- Anne Brown
September Song- Walter Huston
My Heart Belongs To Daddy- Mary Martin
It Never Entered My Mind- Shirley Ross
Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered- Vivienne Segal
Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning- Irving Berlin
Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'- Alfred Drake

Tracks:

New York, New York- Cris Alexander,Adolph Green,John Reardon
If I Loved You- John Raitt,Jan Clayton
Come Rain Or Come Shine- Ruby Hill,Harold Nicholas
There's No Business Like Show Business- Ensemble
How Are Things In Glocca Morra? From "Finian's Rainbow"- Ella Logan
Once In Love With Amy- Ray Bolger
Wunderbar- Alfred Drake,Patricia Morison
Some Enchanted Evening- Ezio Pinza
Lost In The Stars- Todd Duncan
Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend- Carol Channing
Luck Be A Lady- Robert Alda,Guys
Getting To Know You- Gertrude Lawrence
Who Cares?- Jack Carson,Betty Oakes
Stranger In Paradise- from " Kismet" Doretta Morrow,Richard Kiley
Ballad Of Mack The Knife- Gerald Price
Hey There- from "The Pajama Game" John Raitt
Whatever Lola Wants- Gwen Verdon
I Could Have Danced All Night- Julie Andrews
Standing On The Corner- from "The Most Happy Fella, 1956" Shorty Long,John Henson,Alan Gilbert
The Party's Over- Judy Holliday
Glitter And Be Gay- Barbara Cook
Tonight- Larry Kert, Carol Lawrence

Tracks:

Seventy-Six Trombones- Robert Preston
I Enjoy Being A Girl- from "Flower Drum Song, 1958" Pat Suzuki
Everything's Coming Up Roses- Ethel Merman
My Favorite Things- from "The Sound Of Music" Mary Martin
Put On A Happy Face- from "Bye Bye Birdie" Dick Van Dyke
Try To Remember- Jerry Orbach
Camelot- from "Camelot" Richard Burton
Love Makes The World Go 'Round- Anna Maria Alberghetti
I Believe In You- Robert Morse And Co.
The Sweetest Sounds- Diahann Carroll,Richard Kiley
Comedy Tonight- Zero Mostel
What Kind Of Fool Am I?- Anthony Newley
As Long As He Needs Me- Georgia Brown
Hello, Dolly!- Carol Channing,Cast
People- Barbra Streisand
Anyone Can Whistle- from "Anyone Can Whistle" Lee Remick
If I Were A Rich Man- Zero Mostel
Night Song- Sammy Davis, Jr.
The Impossible Dream- Richard Kiley
If My Friends Could See Me Now- Gwen Verdon
Open a New Window- from Mame Voice

Tracks:

Willkommen- from "Cabaret" Joel Grey
Let The Sunshine In- James Rado,Lynn Kellogg,Melba Moore,Cast
I'll Never Fall In Love Again- Jill O'Hara,Jerry Orbach
The Ladies Who Lunch- from "Company" Elaine Stritch
Tea For Two- Roger Rathburn,Susan Watson
I'm Still Here- Yvonne De Carlo
I Don't Know How To Love Him- Yvonne Elliman
We Go Together- Adrienne Barbeau,Barry Bostwick,Walter Bobbie,Cast
Corner Of The Sky- John Rubinstein
Send In The Clowns- Glynis Johns
Ease On Down The Road- Stephanie Mills,Tiger Haynes,Ted Ross,Hinton
One- from "A Chorus Line" Cast
All That Jazz- Chita Rivera,Ensemble
Tomorrow- Andrea Mcardle
Don't Cry For Me Argentina- Patti Lupone
Come Follow The Band
Lullaby Of Broadway- Jerry Orbach
And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going- Jennifer Holliday
The Bells Of St. Sebastian- Raul Julia

Tracks:

Memory- Betty Buckley
I Am What I Am- George Hearn
Move On- Bernadette Peters,Mandy Patinkin
Do You Hear The People Sing?- Michael Maguire,Cast
The Music Of The Night- Michael Crawford
You're Nothing Without Me- James Naughton,Gregg Edelman
The American Dream- Jonathan Pryce,Cast
Doctor Jazz- Gregory Hines,Company
With One Look- Glenn Close
On Broadway- Adrian Bailey,Frederick B. Owens,Ken Ard,Victor Trent Cook
Le Jazz Hot- Julie Andrews,Ensemble
Seasons Of Love-
Hakuna Matata- Max Casella,Tom Alan Robbins,Scott Irby-Ranniar,Jason Raize
I Wanna Be A Producer- Matthew Broderick,Ensemble
Dancing Queen- Louise Plowright,Jenny Galloway
Good Morning Baltimore- Marissa Jaret Winokur
Movin' Out- Michael Cavanaugh,Band
I Go To Rio- Hugh Jackman,Company
Defying Gravity- Kristin Chenoweth,Idina Menzel

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous for any Broadway-lover.......2007-01-30

Packs into 5 CD's a sampling of Broadway tunes from the 20's thru (almost) today, mostly from original cast recordings. Includes not just well-known hits, but also some lesser-known gems. Sound quality is first rate, booklet is informative too. Have given this as a gift to several friends with rave reviews.

Top Shelf.......2007-01-04

This is THE definitive collection of Broadway hits. I have other collections, and none of them measure up. A great deal of care was obviously taken in compiling and presenting this box set. It covers a lot of ground, starting with some long-forgotten but still very enjoyable hits from the days of yore, and finishing with present-day favorites. To the best of my knowledge, the recordings are by those who made them famous. You won't be disappointed.

TERRIFIC CD'S.......2006-03-23

THESE BROADWAY MUSICALS CD'S ARE A BROADWAY LOVERS DREAM. WITH EACH SONG, MEMORIES COME FLOODING BACK. BOTH THE FAMILIAR AND THE FORGOTTEN SONGS ARE A TRUE LISTENING PLEASURE. IF YOU LIKE BROADWAY, YOU'LL LOVE THIS SET.

Great Collection of Broadways greatest Songs .......2005-06-14

This Collection was perfectly made it has almost all the most famous Broadway songs on this 5 cd set. The Music is great and has Broadways greatest treasures like "Memory""People""With One Look""Give my regards Too Broadway" just to name a few of this numerous cd set with over 100 songs. This is a great buy if you like musicals or The music of Broadway

Great Compilation!.......2005-01-17

If you are a fan of the Broadway Musicals, this is a collection that you should purchase. Since I got the 5 disc set I've enjoyed listening to it. The majority of the songs are done by the original singers. The collection is priceless considering that you will have over 100 songs from popular musicals since the beginning of Broadway

Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops Play the Beatles

Average customer rating:

Could have been better
awesome music
AMAZING!
Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops do the Beatles
Some Moments - but doesn't live up to expectations

Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops Play the Beatles

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Fiedler Greatest Hits
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ASIN: B00004KH76
Release Date: 2000-03-07

Tracks:

Eleanor Rigby
And I Love Her
Ob-La-Di, Ob-la-da
Hey Jude
With A Little Help From My Friends
Yellow Submarine
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Penny Lane
A Hard Day's Night
The Fool On The Hill
Yesterday
Michelle
I Want To Hold Your Hand
And I Love Her
A Hard Day's Night
I Want To Hold Your Hand

Customer Reviews:

Could have been better.......2006-08-22

Not the best treatment of Beatles music from the classical point of view. London Symphony was much better.

awesome music.......2006-03-10

Hearing the Beatles music arranged in classical format shows what great musicians and composers Lennon and McCartney were.

AMAZING!.......2005-01-08

I cannot help but smile when I listen to the beautiful arrangements on this album. It blends the Beatles' genius for melody with the great percussive sound and incredible energy of Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. I've heard other orchestral versions of Beatles songs, but none has compared to this one (if anyone has found a better CD, please post a note here). Any Beatles or Pops fan should definitely own this CD. I can't stop listening!

Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops do the Beatles.......2005-01-01

As conductor of the Boston Pops for almost half a century, Arthur Fiedler brought popular classical music and pop music with a classical twist to the people. Leonard Bernstein was providing an intellectual and more glamorous musical education for Americans, but Fielder was coming into our living rooms on a weekly basis with his Boston Pops concerts. Fielder and the Boston Pops produced a lot of records, mostly with RCA in the 1950s through the 1970s, most of which offered everything from classical overtures and ballet pieces to movies themes and the hits of the Beatles.

It was inevitable that with over a hundred albums the Boston Pops would do the Fab Four. They were the first orchestra to perform the songs of the Beatles in 1964 when Fiedler returned from a trip to Liverpool ("I Want to Hold Your Hand" was the first one they ever did). These are not just these songs played by a classical orchestra but rather arrangements done for this purpose. You will notice that one of the standard ways of arranging these songs is to use the chorus as the introduction for the song (e.g., "Eleanor Rigby," "Hey Jude"). If you can guess from the drumming at the beginning of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" or "Yellow Submarine" what those songs are then you are way ahead of me, but that is the sense of fun that Fiedler brought to these songs by giving them the John Phillip Sousa treatment.

Sometimes it is such the simple elegance of doing the guitar parts with strings, as with "And I Love Her," or even the staccato strings of "Penny Lane," that makes the songs enjoyable. Then there are the mood chances invoked by turning "A Little Help From My Friends" into a work of minor chords. My assumption is that if you pick up this album you will know the songs, but not these arrangements, so you should just forget about looking at the play list and just listen to the music.

There are a quartet of bonus tracks on the album, featuring live versions of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "And I Love Her," and "A Hard Day's Night." These are not different versions of these songs, which is too bad because I thought it would be interesting to see if the Pops arrangers could come up with different classical ways of doing the same songs. The final track is actually Fiedler talking about how the Pops came to play the Beatles music, as a "novelty." I have not listened to this sort of music for a while, but it makes for nice background music and there are more albums out there. Remember "Saturday Night Fiedler"?

Some Moments - but doesn't live up to expectations.......2004-09-30

During the 20th century, Arthur Fiedler was one of the most celebrated conductors of orchestral music. He is most famous for being the longtime conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. As someone who is a novice to classical music, I have found Arthur Fiedler's music very easy to get into. Namely, Fiedler made classical music easy - for the everyday fan to enjoy. One way Fiedler accomplished this is through doing popular tunes in the classical style. Fiedler's style often added a new gusto to classical music concerts by including not only popular music, but also Broadway tunes, jazz, folk, and advertising jingles - all done in the classical style (in the late 70s, he even did Saturday Night Fever tunes - 'Saturday Night Fiedler'). One might get very excited to hear that there is a collection in which Fiedler does Beatles tunes. I've always thought the Beatles' music would lend itself perfectly in the classical music arena - especially their later works. On this particular collection "Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra play The Beatles", it does have it moments where things work very well. However, overall this collection did fall short on my high expectations that I had.

There are several things that disappoint me about this collection. For starters, there is only a total of two songs from the Beatles best three albums: "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" has one song ("With a Little Help From My Friends"), The "White Album" has one song ("Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da"), while there is no songs from "Abbey Road". As mentioned above, I thought the Beatles' later material lent itself well to being played with an orchestra. These albums are really the cornerstone of this period, yet there is two songs between these three albums. I understand that Fiedler's "Play the Beatles" was put together in 1969, but I still expected much more of a presence from these albums. I think many of the tunes on these albums could have lent itself very easily to classical music. For example, songs such as "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", "When I'm Sixty-Four", "Day in the Life", "Come Together", "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", "Birthday", and "Helter Skelter" would have sounded wonderful being played under the classics. I don't know if the Fiedler and the Boston Pops ever did these songs, but if they did - they should have been included. If they were done, it would be nice to hear them on an updated version of this collection. Some of these tunes are available on other classics collection, but Fiedler's Orchestra was the best at playing this music, so I would have liked to have heard it here.

The other thing that disappoints me are some of the selections themselves. Most of the tunes do keep to the sound you would expect from the Beatles, but some do not sound as good as I would expect. "With a Little Help From My Friends" just doesn't sound much like the original tune. The song that I consider the signature song by the Beatles - "Hey Jude" is an extreme disappointment - it just doesn't capture the magic of the original song. Songs like "Michelle" and "And I Love Her" do keep to the Beatles sound, but they somehow miss the mark. Perhaps these two songs aren't the best songs to be done with a Classical Orchestra.

However, this collection is not all bad. There are some positive points that do shine. There are several songs which surprise me on how well they sounded being played in the classical sense. "Eleanor Rigby" is one of those. You can feel a lot of power and emotion with that song. Another song that surprises me how well it sounds being played as a classical piece is "Penny Lane". Fiedler is also able to demonstrate a lot of power by playing by playing "Penny Lane' as a classical piece. In "Yellow Submarine", Fiedler puts a military and marching band spin on the song. It gives the song a whole new dimension. As for my favorite piece on the collection - it has to be "Fool on the Hill". Somehow I almost like "Fool on the Hill" played as a classical piece better than how the Beatles do it. Other songs that sound good are a couple of the Beatles' earlier tunes - "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "A Hard Day's Night"

It is worth noting that there are some live versions of these songs included with Fiedler's studio recordings. In particular there are live versions of "And I Love Her" and "A Hard Day's Night". There are also multiple versions of the same song included. You will hear three different recordings of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (one from 1964 and two from 1969 - you will hear a change in tempo). There are also two versions of "A Hard Day's Night" (the live 1965 version and a 1969 studio recording). Counting the live and studio versions - there are also two versions of "And I Love Her".

It is also worth noting that on the final song (the third version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand"), there is a spoken introduction by Arthur Fiedler which is about 1 minute long in which Fiedler explains why he started playing Beatles music. The liner notes contain a one panel writeup by Peter Dellheim that discuss a little more background about the success Fiedler has had playing the Beatles.

Overall, this isn't a bad collection. I had higher expectations knowing how good a conductor Arthur Fiedler is as well as knowing how good many of the Beatles' songs would have sounded. This might appeal to the Beatles fan wanting to hear songs Classical, and possibly even vice versa - but if you want to go deeper with the Beatles being played classical, you may have to go elsewhere.

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Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00006O0NT
Release Date: 2002-12-03

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

Tracks:

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

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

Tracks:

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

Tracks:

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

Tracks:

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

Tracks:

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

Customer Reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The one complaint I have is the last CD. This deals with the orchestra. I wanted more of a tour of how the orchestra has been used through history up to the present. Instead, it was a tour of how different groups of instruments sound. I thought it could have been better. The other 6 CDs are excellent.

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