Modern, 20th, and 21st Century


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Buy Now	Brahms: The Complete Symphonies / Karajan, Berlin PO (more) »rank: 6384 from: Deutsche Grammophon : :These 1977-78 recordings are Karajan's best Brahms--better than his somewhat mannered digital set. The Berlin Philharmonic, as ever, is amazingly smooth and accomplished, playing with great class without losing any power--as an example, just listen to the finale of the second symphony. DG's engineers have turned this always-good recording into something truly magnificent to hear, and, at the price, this is a sure bet. --Robert Levine	Buy Now	Carl Orff: Carmina Burana (more) »rank: 4758 from: Telarc : :As much as critics--and many musicians--love to hate this work, Carmina Burana is a uniquely entertaining and justly popular theatrical masterpiece. This collection of 13th-century secular poems, originally found in a Bavarian monastery, were selected, set to original music, and arranged for a large modern orchestra, vocal soloists, and choirs by German composer Carl Orff. Orff ingeniously used these large forces to create a work of astonishing and powerful simplicity. The simplest melodies, primal rhythms, and rudimentary orchestration combine for an unforgettably dynamic musical and dramatic experience. This is one of the first digital recordings of the work, and one of the more ...
Buy Now	Britten: A Ceremony of Carols (more) »rank: 5970 from: Hyperion UK : essential recording:Of the many accounts of Britten's Ceremony of Carols in the catalog, this one is the best. This was the first work Britten wrote for boys' voices, and with his keen ear and extraordinary imagination, he achieved many wondrous and memorable effects. At the heart of this 1986 performance are the boys of the Westminster Cathedral Choir, obviously a well-trained group. With their outstanding intonation and hearty sound, these London boys outclass all the competition. Their singing is free and expressive, yet very disciplined, even in the triple canon of 'This Little Babe,' which has a way of bringing all but ...	Buy Now	Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 (more) »rank: 3982 from: Philips : essential recording:Byron Janis' celebrated recordings of these two concertos have never sounded better than in this new remastering by Mercury's Wilma Cozart Fine. Talk about recordings usually focuses on the artists and composers, and rightly so, but there are some people in the industry whose names you should know, producers and engineers whose work is as artistically excellent as the performers they record. During the late 50s and early 60s the Fines, husband and wife, created a catalog of recordings, which, when all is said and done, is probably title for title the finest in existence. There isn't a single one that ...
Buy Now	Holiday Pops (more) »rank: 10135 from: RCA : essential recording:Byron Janis' celebrated recordings of these two concertos have never sounded better than in this new remastering by Mercury's Wilma Cozart Fine. Talk about recordings usually focuses on the artists and composers, and rightly so, but there are some people in the industry whose names you should know, producers and engineers whose work is as artistically excellent as the performers they record. During the late 50s and early 60s the Fines, husband and wife, created a catalog of recordings, which, when all is said and done, is probably title for title the finest in existence. There isn't a single one that ...	Buy Now	Bedtime Beats: The Secret to Sleep (more) »rank: 16409 from: Rhino / Wea :Album Description:Created to meet the needs of more than 40 million sleep sufferers and light-eyars beyond lullabies, Bedtime Beats: The Secret To Sleep is the first classical music collection available as a true sleep remedy, an effective alternative to medication and sleepless nights. Carefully programmed in accordance with recent research from Case Western Reserve University--which discovered that classical and soft jazz music played at 60-80 beats per minute induces sound sleep.
Buy Now	Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan (more) »rank: 15505 by: Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala, Carlo Maria Giulini, Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Ettore Bastianini, Silvio Maionica, Luisa Mandelli, Arturo La Porta : essential recording:This live recording of the 1955 Visconti production at La Scala is the best of the available Maria Callas Traviatas. Aside from a minor pitch problem or two, she's in great voice, coloring phrases to reveal character and investing the coloratura with variety and passion. Her 'Addio del passato' is heart-breaking. She fully captures Violetta's pride and vulnerability in the scene with Germont, though her partner, Ettore Bastianini, sings insensitively, if beautifully. Giuseppe Di Stefano is all one could ask for as Alfredo. Carlo Giulini conducts a performance that delivers all the lyricism and drama of the score. The recorded sound ...	Buy Now	Bach: The Goldberg Variations (more) »rank: 10890 by: Johann Sebastian Bach, Glenn Gould : essential recording:The clear-cut rhythms, riveting articulation, and contrapuntal acumen of Glenn Gould's 1955 debut Goldberg Variations characterize this 1981 remake to strikingly different results. This later version is more deliberate in pacing, stark in expression, thoughtful with ornamentation, and tightly organized (if a mite theatrical) in terms of tempo relationships. Whereas there are no repeats from 1955, Gould now observes 'A' section repeats in the canons, the Fughetta, and other fugue-like variations. The rapid, cross- handed sequences still dazzle with pinpointed fingerwork, yet the slower tempos better serve the music's dance-like qualities. Unlike Sony Classical's better sounding Glenn Gould Edition transfer, the ...
Buy Now	Dvorák: Cello Concerto; Tchaikovsky / Karajan, Rostropovich, (more) »rank: 9615 from: Deutsche Grammophon : essential recording:Mstislav Rostropovich is the world's greatest cellist, and he has actually made at least five recordings of this greatest of all cello concertos. I have a certain preference for his later version, with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Erato. This version has long been a prime recommendation, and in this new remastering at mid-price, it's an even better deal now. Herbert von Karajan accompanies with his usual expertise, and the Tchaikovsky performance is quite simply the finest around. This concerto is one of those pieces of which you'll want to have five or six copies. Just make sure ...	Buy Now	Amore: Romantic Italian Love Songs (more) »rank: 5357 from: Decca : :From Calaf's 'Nessun dorma' from Turandot, in which the singer exclaims his love for the ice princess and the victory he will have over her, through Lionel's realization that he will have a new life and be happy with Lady Harriet in Martha ('M'appari'), and on to Rodolfo's falling in love with Mimi in La Bohème when he touches her hand ('Che gelida manina'): here we have some of opera's most beautiful love songs, sung by Pavarotti when he was in his golden-voiced prime. His 'Una furtiva lagrima' is touching and gentle, while his rendition of the Neapolitan song 'Core 'ngrato'--a diatribe against ...