classical music: highlights

classical music: highlights

classical music:

Highlights

Richard Wagner, Lorin Maazel, ...

Telarc, 1990

The best synthesis of orchestral music from the Ring
If you're looking for a single CD of orchestral music from Wagner's Ring, I'd like to recommend this one. Here's why. Wagner's tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen contains some of the most magnificent, most stirring, most imaginative music ever written (along with ...

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Complete); The Sleeping Beauty (Highlights)

Kenneth Heath, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, ...

Philips, 1994

so HOT, it set my speakers on fire...
I bought this CD from over 30 different choices because of the Philips label; their digital remastering of old stereo recordings is first rate and I expected no less from this recording. Having never heard of the orchestra or the conductor, I was reluctant and unsure ...

Pearl Fishers (Highlights)

Bizet, Evans, ...

Chandos, 2008

A beautifully performed set of extended highlights of the original score - but I still wonder why it needs to be in English
I have never been fully convinced of the necessity of translating operas and performing them English, especially if the original is in French, which, owing to its stress patterns and vowels, is a particularly intractable and problematic language both to fit ...

Puccini: Madama Butterfly Highlights
Giacomo Puccini, Herbert von Karajan, ...

Decca, 1990

The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach

William Woolf, P.D.Q. [pseudonym of Peter Schickele] Bach, ...

Vanguard Records, 1993

I store it in the CD changer in my car.
My favorite single line of music from this is from "The Unbegun Symphony". Who would think to combine "You are my sunshine", a tune I have always thought of as sappy sweet, played on violins, with a background of horns, (I don't know what piece, but it makes me thing ...

Gilbert & Sullivan - Highlights from The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Yeomen of the ...

Nicholas Folwell, Arthur Sullivan, ...

Telarc, 1996

Fine Intro to G&S
This is the perfect CD for those who may not be familiar with G&S, or for the initiated who want a smattering but don't have the mother of all CD changers. The difficulty with any G&S Greatest Hits CD is determining which pieces to leave off; while one could easily ...

Baryshnikov - Live at Wolf Trap

Gelsey Kirkland, Mikhail Baryshnikov

Kultur Video, 2004

Baryshnikov at the Wolf Trap...a DVD featuring one of the best, at his best
Another historical gem from Kultur; this DVD features Mikhail Baryshnikov's 1976 American debut at the Wolf Trap Theatre. Because this was 'live recording', the disc is quite short; it is only 50 minutes long. However it is filled with an exhibition of talent and ...

Oistrakh, Menuhin & Rostropovich Play Bach, Brahms & Mozart (EMI Classic Archive 18)

David Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin

EMI Classics, 2004

O wondrous russian music making.
When I commented for this website the VHS tape release of the Bruno Monsaingeon film on David Oistrakh ("Artist of the people?"), I made reference to a short segment included in that film of a 1965 public performance of Brahms' Op. 102 in which Oistrakh partners with ...

Follies (Highlights from the 1971 Original Broadway Cast)

Stephen Sondheim, Dorothy Collins, ...

Angel Records, 1992

Incredible
Sondheim produces music that I can never get out of my head. I don't always catch onto the tunes and rhythms right away, but with time they become embedded in my mind. "Follies" is one of my favorites and sadly, one of the Sondheim plays I'm dying to see but think I ...

Verdi - La Traviata / Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci, Solti, Covent Garden (Special Edition with Highlights CD)

Angela Gheorghiu, Frank Lopardo

Decca, 2005

Brava Gheorghiu & cast!
WOW!!! That's the only word I can say after watching this incredible live version of "La Traviata". So much so that I watched it twice in a row. There have been so many fabulous sopranos singing Violetta - my personal favorite is still Anna Moffo. Unfortunately, the ...

Puccini - La Bohème / Freni, Pavarotti, Harwood, Berlin Phil., Karajan [Highlights]

Giacomo Puccini, Elizabeth Harwood, ...

Decca, 1990

One of the best recordings ever of a magnificent voice that will be missed. Thanks Mr Pavarotti!
I am writing this review a few days after the death of Luciano Pavarotti. Even if I do not know music, I like opera, and I love Puccini. This recording is one of the most beautiful I ever heard, and will make it clear, if ever there was any doubt, that we just lost one ...

Great Orchestral Highlights from The Ring of the Nibelungs / Szell, Cleveland Orchestra (SACD)

Wagner, Cleveland Orchestra, ...

Sony, 2000

A classic Szell recording beautifully restored
There is very little to add to the excellent preceding review on this recording. I would just add an observation that the DSD transfer onto SACD brings a far greater level of realism and transparency as compared to the original LP or any subsequent CD transfer. We get ...

West Side Story: Highlights (1985 Studio Recording)

Leonard Bernstein, Jose Carreras, ...

Deutsche Grammophon, 1998

How it should be
For those of you who think that Mr. Carreras and Dame Te Kanewa are miscast, why in the world would the composer himself chose them for the recording he conducted? I'll tell you why. Because Mr. Bernstein knew that only singers of their caliber could fully display ...

Georges Cziffra Plays Chopin, Liszt & Franck (EMI Classic Archive)

Georges Cziffra, Benno Moiseiwitsch

EMI Classics, 2004

Awesome pianism from two keyboard masters
It became a commonplace for many music critics to dismiss Georges Cziffra as a brainless noisemaker. Many of his recordings are controversial, claimed by some to be showy and unmusical. I personally believe it to be professional jealousy. In any case there is generally ...

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro / Pace, de Carolis, Frontali, Morandi [Highlights]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, ...

Naxos, 2000

Terrific value, beautiful quality.
This CD is a wonderful value with top-notch recording. The Cherubino character (mischievous lovestruck youth) is especially delightful on this CD. I fell in love with "Sul Aria" in The Shawshank Redemption, and later saw this opera live. Though it's only a ...