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George Gershwin - Porgy & Bess / Trevor Nunn · Sir Simon Rattle · W. White · C. Haymon · Glyndebourne Opera
(more) »rank: 11414starring: Willard White, Cynthia Haymon, Gregg Baker (II), Cynthia Clarey, Marietta Simpson
directed by: Trevor Nunn
: :This powerful production originated on the stage of the Glyndebourne Festival. It was restaged and filmed on location for the BBC telecast preserved in this video recording. Director Trevor Nunn takes full advantage of the realism, fluidity of movement, and precision of small details that are difficult to achieve when televising a staged performance but easy and natural in a movie treatment. Nunn's vision, conveyed by an unusually talented cast, is constantly touching and rises to overwhelming intensity at climactic points. For example: the crap game and fight that end in Robbins's death, the hurricane ...
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The World's Favorite Piano Music
(more) »rank: 3655from: RCA
: :This powerful production originated on the stage of the Glyndebourne Festival. It was restaged and filmed on location for the BBC telecast preserved in this video recording. Director Trevor Nunn takes full advantage of the realism, fluidity of movement, and precision of small details that are difficult to achieve when televising a staged performance but easy and natural in a movie treatment. Nunn's vision, conveyed by an unusually talented cast, is constantly touching and rises to overwhelming intensity at climactic points. For example: the crap game and fight that end in Robbins's death, the hurricane ...
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Puccini - La Bohème / Freni, Pavarotti, Harwood, Ghiaurov, Karajan
(more) »rank: 4067by: Giacomo Puccini, Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan, Elizabeth Harwood, Rolando Panerai, Nicolai Ghiaurov
: essential recording:The score for La Bohème comes to glowing life under Herbert von Karajan's baton, and Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti make beautiful music together as the ill-fated lovers. The smaller parts are wonderfully sung, the comedy sharply profiled, and the pathos contained in such a way that the opera's ending proves remarkably gripping. London's sound is excellent. --Ted Libbey
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Echoes: The Einaudi Collection
(more) »rank: 3836by: Ludovico Einaudi
:Album Description:2003 compilation for the symphonic composer & world music star features 17 tracks including 3 tracks, 'Behind The Window', 'White Night', & 'Cadenza', recorded for this collection. BMG.
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Angel Voices
(more) »rank: 7661from: EMI Classics
: :There's very little to say about this recording of ethereally beautifully singing by the 24 young English lads who make up the group Libera. Enormously popular in Asia, the group is part of a parish choir in South London that has been around for many years, with of course, changes in personnel as voices change. There are a couple of pieces here by well-known composers--Pachelbel, Sibelius, Holst, Dvorak--but to their music have been added words and, of course, it's all been 'arranged.' Texts, translations from Latin, and arrangements as well as original music are by ...
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Philip Glass - Songs & Poems for Solo Cello - Wendy Sutter
(more) »rank: 17880from: Orange Mountain Music
: :There's very little to say about this recording of ethereally beautifully singing by the 24 young English lads who make up the group Libera. Enormously popular in Asia, the group is part of a parish choir in South London that has been around for many years, with of course, changes in personnel as voices change. There are a couple of pieces here by well-known composers--Pachelbel, Sibelius, Holst, Dvorak--but to their music have been added words and, of course, it's all been 'arranged.' Texts, translations from Latin, and arrangements as well as original music are by ...
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Mozart: Violin Concertos
(more) »rank: 3951by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Raymond Leppard, Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Arrigo Pelliccia, Arthur Grumiaux
: essential recording:At the ripe old age of 19 Mozart wrote five violin concertos, and they represent his coming of age as a composer of orchestral music. From here on, it's basically one masterpiece after another. Though not difficult works, technically speaking, they partake in full measure of Mozart's uniquely sensual brand of melody. That means that successful performances must know how to spin out a singing musical line, while at the same time making the most of the rare opportunities for soloistic display. Taste and musicianship are more important qualities than virtuosity, and that ...
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Henryk Gorecki: Symphony 3 'Sorrowful Songs'
(more) »rank: 2290from: Nonesuch
: essential recording:This album, which catapulted Polish composer Henryk Gorecki to into the international spotlight, takes texts born in pain and turns them into statements of affirmation through the use of music that ebbs and flows in mystic minimalism. The clear voice of soprano Dawn Upshaw, singing the Polish texts, is a large part of the success of this particular recording, but the music, contemporary without either dissonance or movie-music mawkishness, clarifies and uplifts the words. This is a moving and essential element of the modern repertoire. --Sarah Bryan Miller
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Trio Mediaeval: Folk Songs
(more) »rank: 10658from: Ecm Records
:Album Description:Corresponding with Trio Mediaeval's tenth anniversary, their fourth ECM album is a powerful and compelling recording of Norwegian folk songs. Performed in concert over the years, these songs are always received ecstatically - this is the album that Trio Mediaeval's fans have been waiting for. The infectious melodies and haunting harmonies of this music will communicate across categories to a very broad listenership. Joining the trio on several selections is percussionist Birger Mistereggen, a specialist in the Norwegian folk drumming tradition. The inclusion of percussion not only widens the sonic spectrum of the group, ...
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The Italian Opera Collection
(more) »rank: 23230starring: Luciano Pavarotti, Metropolitan Opera
:Description:This specially priced 3-DVD set (three for the price of two) features Luciano Pavarotti at the Met in three of the legendary Italian tenor's greatest roles: * His Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore is 'a blend of rustic innocence with a warm, amorous side, and a bit of virtuosic hamminess.' (New York Times) * As Rodolfo in La Bohème, 'he was in peak form in 1977...funny, warm, touching, believable, and a consummate vocal stylist.' (Fanfare) * In Pagliacci, Pavarotti 'was singing Canio for the first time on stage, and he does so magnificently, dramatically as well ...
