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Fiddler on the Roof - 30th Anniversary Edition

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Original Soundtrack

October 15, 2001
I have come to adore Fiddler on the Roof, and the infectious nature of the music has to be heard to be believed.

This new edition with various unheard before moments this is worth purchasing by anyone who loves musicals.

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Carols from King's

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
from: EMI Classics

November 17, 1997
Having just heard the CD, I am warmed by the quality of ALL the tracks, the singing is beautiful and sung so professionally.
If you are looking for a traditional Carol CD, then I would definately recommend this one,

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Elgar: Cello Concerto

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Natalie Clein

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.

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The World's Greatest Mozart Album

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
from: Decca

May 08, 2000

Putting a title like `Worlds Greatest' on the front of a CD is obviously a bold claim, and one which many people have become so familiar with that they tend to take it with a pinch of salt. There are so many ways of trying to catch the buyers interest that very few titles like these really jump out at the buyer.

This one did jump out at me, though not so much for the choice of tracks, more for the quality of artists who perform them. Considering this is only a 2CD set, far too short for any Mozart compilation, the list of performers reads like a roll call for the best `Last Night of the Proms' ever staged.

A simple list of some of the orchestras, conductors, singers and soloists sums up this gem of an album:

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Elizabeth 1: The Virgin Queen

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Martin Phipps / Various

February 06, 2006
I was trying to read a book while my wife was watching the TV with 'the Virgin Queen' going - and the music kept pulling me out of my book. In the end I just had to get the soundtrack, and some of these tracks are absolutely great. Not all of them - there are a couple of instrumentals that leave me quite neutral - but the ones with the singing are superb. Through this CD I discovered that the singers are the Medieval Baebes, and I have been buying more CDs of *them*. But I still like some of these tracks best of all - 'Virgin Queen', 'Miserere nomine', 'Say it's not so' are quite mesmerizing. The first is based (loosely) on a poem written by Queen Elizabeth I and that adds a frisson. But even without that there are plenty of frissons - music with inbuilt ... Read More:

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Bach - Cello Suites

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
from: EMI Classics

August 02, 2004
I currently own recordings of the Bach cello suites by Rostropovich, Casals, Yo-Yo Ma and Fournier and have heard many others. Tortelier's recording is my firm favourite. The pace is just right; slow enough to express feeling, but fast enough to realise the no doubt intended flow to the pieces. Tortelier is completely at one with the Bach Cello Suites in these recordings, and plays them beautifully. Highly recommended.

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A Flowering Tree

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: John Adams

September 22, 2008
I currently own recordings of the Bach cello suites by Rostropovich, Casals, Yo-Yo Ma and Fournier and have heard many others. Tortelier's recording is my firm favourite. The pace is just right; slow enough to express feeling, but fast enough to realise the no doubt intended flow to the pieces. Tortelier is completely at one with the Bach Cello Suites in these recordings, and plays them beautifully. Highly recommended.

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Pärt: Tabula Rasa

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
from: ECM New Series

July 01, 1988
Arvo Part's "Tabula Rasa" is an absolutely astonishing piece of music. It is part prayer, a part meditation and a part love letter, burning with passion and sufferring. It is at the same time filled with yearning and longing for a higher state of being and every listening puts my mind in a very unique, spiritual and meditative state. I can't recommend this CD more, for the perfromances on it are all absolutely astounding, especially the live recording of the title track, with its sounds of the audience and the resonances from the hall where it was recorded. Its like a piece of music made in heaven and completely transcends our normal mundane experiences........

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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

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
from: Sony

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.

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Schoenberg: Violin Concerto / Sibelius: Violin Concerto op.47

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Hilary Hahn, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

March 10, 2008
I found her interpretation of the Sibelius violin concerto less than exciting. To be sure, she plays technically very well, but it all lacks intensity and her playing is overly lyric/romantic/sweet, which does not fit the piece at all IMO. The devilish intensity and despair that should be in the concerto at times is just not there. I can't comment on the Schoenberg - it is not to my taste (which is not Hahn's fault, to be sure, she probably produced the most accessible interpretation of this ugly beast!).