CD-Charts Position 181
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Strauss, R.: Four Last Songs, etc.

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Jessye Norman Gewandhausorchester Leipzig Kurt Masur

Release Date June 11, 2007
If you find this on Youtube and listen to im Abendrot, she seems to sing for just about a whole minute from about 2:20 to 3:20, without any significant chance to breathe. No strain, just a great sound that keeps on coming. I could listen to this record every day.

CD-Charts Position 182
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Prokofiev - Peter and the Wolf

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Philharmonia Orchestra

Release Date February 05, 2007
I had the Peter and the Wolf album, with Richard Baker narrating, when I was little and it is one of the best things that I can remember from my childhood. It is still one of my favourite pieces of classical music and listening to it still makes me feel slightly scared of that wolf! Together with Richard Baker's calm narration it is just brilliant. I would recommend this to any parent for their child - it will keep them quiet for hours!

CD-Charts Position 183
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Elgar: Cello Concerto

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Natalie Clein

Release Date September 24, 2007
About 13 years ago, Natalie Clein won the BBC Young Musician of the year with a memorable performance of the Elgar. She has lived with it some years now and this recording is no disappointment. It is a wonderfully sombre reading of the piece that Elgar intended as a requiem to the dea of the First World War. More restrained than Du Pre's wonderful version, I wonder if it didn't hit an even deeper note at times. But comparisons are odious. Both have great music making to enjoy. One slight disappointment is in the fairly meare fill-up of salon pieces. Would have liked to hear Clein in another concerto. But this record also acts as a memorial to the fine British conductor, the late Tod Handley, so that's another reason for buying it.

CD-Charts Position 184
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Rutter - Gloria - Sacred Choral Works

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: John Rutter

Release Date September 05, 2005
About 13 years ago, Natalie Clein won the BBC Young Musician of the year with a memorable performance of the Elgar. She has lived with it some years now and this recording is no disappointment. It is a wonderfully sombre reading of the piece that Elgar intended as a requiem to the dea of the First World War. More restrained than Du Pre's wonderful version, I wonder if it didn't hit an even deeper note at times. But comparisons are odious. Both have great music making to enjoy. One slight disappointment is in the fairly meare fill-up of salon pieces. Would have liked to hear Clein in another concerto. But this record also acts as a memorial to the fine British conductor, the late Tod Handley, so that's another reason for buying it.

CD-Charts Position 185
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96 Degrees In The Shade

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Third World

Release Date September 12, 1990
This is some of the most soothing reggae you're likely to hear ( sort of 'night nurse' ( Greg Isaacs ) like in a way ) and yet has the menacing rhythm of the slaver british system skanking in the backyard.
If you want to chill to intelligent music not for de babylon people. This is the one for you, true; sticks to the soul like glue. Harmony mon !

CD-Charts Position 186
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Mozart: Sonata for 2 Pianos in D Major, K. 448; Schubert: Fantasia for Piano, 4 Hands in F Minor, D 940

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Sony

Release Date September 30, 2003
Nothing Murray Perahia does is ever bad. In this case the performance of the Schubert is magical. I heard it in the car on the way to work and was captivated - a dangerous driver for a while. If you like Schubert and Perahia this is a must-buy recording. The sound is slightly old and the audience noise is not ideal, but when the music grabs you then you no longer notice these slight snags. The Mozart is well worth having too, but not in quite the same, unmissable, class as the Schubert.

CD-Charts Position 187
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Britten: War Requiem

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Galina Vishnevskaya Peter Pears Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau The Bach Choir London Symphony Chorus The Melos Ensemble Of London London Symphony Orchestra Benjamin Britten

Release Date May 15, 2006
This was the piece of music that first really turned me on to classical music, listening to the very first performance from Coventry Cathedral on a small tranny radio. What I failed to realise then was that this massive impact was achieved by brilliant structural simplicity.

The whole work is effectively a study on the tritone, the 'diabolus in musica', that most disturbing and unstable of intervals. From the bells at the start to the harmonically ambiguous endings of the first and second movements and of the entire work; from the alternating tonics of the boys' Te Decet Hymnus to the alternating tintinnabulations of the soprano's Sanctus; from the fanfares of the Dies Irae to the two halves of the tenor's ineffable Dona Nobis Pacem at the end ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 188
Average Rating:

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Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan (D'Oyly Carte Opera Company)

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Gilbert and Sullivan

Release Date February 09, 2004
I agree wholeheartedly with the review by J.J.Rhodes, but feel I should make the point that the whole set is recorded in full glorious MONO! Once you have got over the shock of the sound stage collapsing into a point source however, the music really is delightful, and takes me back to the days when I used to pay 9d to sit up in the gods at the Golders Green Hippodrome to hear the D'Oyly Carte company sing their way through all those charming numbers. This set has a distinctly dated feel about it, and makes one realise just how much performing styles, as well as recording techniques, have changed in half a century (and some of the artists were clearly chosen for their ability to act rather than their ability to sing!). But for all that, I'm glad I bought it. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 189
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The Very Best of Bach

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Naxos

Release Date October 03, 2005

This Naxos double CD is effectively a reworking of the original single CD release `The Best of Bach', expanded to include more of the composer's music then attractively packaged with new artwork and a card slip-case cover showing an amusing caricature of the composer.

As with any `Best Of' compilation much of the composers work will inevitably be omitted - Bach incidentally wrote around 650 works so the 27 pieces on these CDs represent only a small proportion of his lifetime works. There are however over 2 hours of music here to be enjoyed and it's a good cross-section of Bach's style.

The sleeve notes are helpful for those wanting a little more than these highlights, for they provide recommended further listening (all Naxos label ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 190
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Mozart: Requiem, K626 - Hogwood

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: L'Oiseau Lyre

Release Date July 13, 1998
Brilliant performance, gripping, double-dotted strings give a real edge to Rex Tremendae, while Kirkby and Watkinson's pure sound blend wonderfully with the fruity Knabenchor sound of Westminster Cathedral. The 'authentic' instruments really make this recording stand out, from the military-sounding timpani to the warm tones of the brass chords in the Tuba mirum. The inclusion of the Amen chorus is a controversial choice, and will probably offend some, but to my ears this sounds entirely in place - simultaneously plaintive and infused with Todesangst. This is a brilliant attempt to peel back the Süssmayr's modifications and get back to Mozart's original intentions. Dropping in Mozart's Amen chorus is a daring and explicit break with previous interpretations of this ... Read More: