CD-Charts Position 1

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40 Most Beautiful Arias

from: Warner Classical & Ja

Release Date March 25, 2008

CD-Charts Position 2

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Josef Locke: Hear My Song

from: EMI

Release Date April 27, 1992

CD-Charts Position 3
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Handel: Messiah

from: Dyad

Release Date August 29, 1997
Bought this disc on the back of a rave review from one of the Sunday papers (Times, I think) but have been rather disappointed. the soloists are fine but the choral and orchestral parts sound thin and anaemic to me. I'm going to look for a more 'traditional' version like the Colin Davis perhaps. I'm untutored in music but this version seems to lack conviction, which is what I think Messiah needs. Maybe a more knowledgeable person would like this but it doesn't stir me (or it appears, the performers)the way I think The Messiah should.

CD-Charts Position 4
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John Tavener - A Portrait

by: Bjork

Release Date February 02, 2004

This is the John Tavener born in the 1940's, not the John Taverner (with an `R') of the 1490's. Their music is quite different, so the mistaken identity will only be made once in terms of CD purchases.

John Tavener was born in London in 1944, hence this double CD of his popular works being released in 2004 to mark his 60h birthday.

Much of the music here is short pieces from the full works so gives a good overview to the newcomer, to whom this is directed, of the style of music produced by the composer. The range of music is varied, at times startlingly so, from the freestyle and unpredictable `Mandelion for organ' to the slightly eerie `Prayer of the Heart' with the subtle string playing of the Brodsky quartet ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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Handel: Chandos Anthems

from: Chaconne

Release Date October 01, 1999
Newman Flower's great biography of Handel mentions `the twelve Chandos anthems'. There are 11 here, that number is explicitly confirmed in the liner note, so I suppose it must be 11, whatever Flower had in mind. The anthem was a specifically English musical form, tracing its descent apparently to the unaccompanied motets of an earlier era. It gave a role to the church choir in the latter half of certain services, and anthems came to be accompanied by either organ or small orchestra. Handel's association with the Earl of Caernarfon, later Duke of Chandos, seems to have come about through the Duke's social pretentiousness. He amassed great wealth dishonestly, and used it to build his palace Cannons at Edgware. He acquired paintings for ostentation, and he ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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I've Heard That Song Before: the Hits of Harry James

by: Harry James

Release Date October 08, 2001
This is a great album to play in the car to de-stress those rush hour journeys. Also to play in the background when friends come over. The astounding trumpet playing will make you smile; it is happy, upbeat, and above all, very cool.

CD-Charts Position 7
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The in Person and Hi-Fi Sounds of Harry James

by: Harry James

Release Date September 10, 2007
This double CD set brings together the contents of three LPs, and then some. Columbia's "One-Night Stand" (at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, in October 1952) shares the first disc with "Jazz Session" from late 1954 and early 1955. The concert material contains several highlights, including "Flight Of The Bumble Bee" (with guest accordionist Tommy Gumina), Memphis Blues, Feet Draggin' Blues, and Back Beat Boogie. Paradoxically, the concert date is more jazz-oriented than the jazz session, but with Louis Bellson on drums things could be guaranteed to swing, and they do. I particularly enjoyed Herb Lorden's extended solo on Shaw's Concerto For Clarinet.

The second CD combines Capitol's mid-1955 "Harry James In Hi-Fi" with nine tracks from the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Young Man With a Horn

by: Harry James, Doris Day

Release Date July 05, 1999
This double CD set brings together the contents of three LPs, and then some. Columbia's "One-Night Stand" (at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, in October 1952) shares the first disc with "Jazz Session" from late 1954 and early 1955. The concert material contains several highlights, including "Flight Of The Bumble Bee" (with guest accordionist Tommy Gumina), Memphis Blues, Feet Draggin' Blues, and Back Beat Boogie. Paradoxically, the concert date is more jazz-oriented than the jazz session, but with Louis Bellson on drums things could be guaranteed to swing, and they do. I particularly enjoyed Herb Lorden's extended solo on Shaw's Concerto For Clarinet.

The second CD combines Capitol's mid-1955 "Harry James In Hi-Fi" with nine tracks from the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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The Complete Harry James in Hi-Fi

by: Harry James

Release Date February 18, 2008
This double CD set brings together the contents of three LPs, and then some. Columbia's "One-Night Stand" (at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, in October 1952) shares the first disc with "Jazz Session" from late 1954 and early 1955. The concert material contains several highlights, including "Flight Of The Bumble Bee" (with guest accordionist Tommy Gumina), Memphis Blues, Feet Draggin' Blues, and Back Beat Boogie. Paradoxically, the concert date is more jazz-oriented than the jazz session, but with Louis Bellson on drums things could be guaranteed to swing, and they do. I particularly enjoyed Herb Lorden's extended solo on Shaw's Concerto For Clarinet.

The second CD combines Capitol's mid-1955 "Harry James In Hi-Fi" with nine tracks from the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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Today!

by: Harry James

Release Date September 24, 2007
This double CD set brings together the contents of three LPs, and then some. Columbia's "One-Night Stand" (at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, in October 1952) shares the first disc with "Jazz Session" from late 1954 and early 1955. The concert material contains several highlights, including "Flight Of The Bumble Bee" (with guest accordionist Tommy Gumina), Memphis Blues, Feet Draggin' Blues, and Back Beat Boogie. Paradoxically, the concert date is more jazz-oriented than the jazz session, but with Louis Bellson on drums things could be guaranteed to swing, and they do. I particularly enjoyed Herb Lorden's extended solo on Shaw's Concerto For Clarinet.

The second CD combines Capitol's mid-1955 "Harry James In Hi-Fi" with nine tracks from the ... Read More: