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Verdi - Requiem

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

October 08, 2001
Well I would have to disagree with the previous reviewers. Of course, it's all a matter of personal taste, but I was quite disappointed (having read the first review before I purchased) with this recording. I thought the pace a little slow -- ponderous, even -- at times, especially the "Te decet hymnus" passage. And the soloists, who look so promising on paper, failed to deliver, to my mind. The singers are supposed to serve the music, not the other way around. Having said that, Gheorghiu does hit some beautiful notes. I'm afraid that Daniela Barcellona's voice has a tinny quality, and Roberto Alagna may have been having an off day. Picky of me? Probably, but I expect more of such a line-up.
The orchestra and the chorus, on the ... Read More:

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Schubert Lieder - Bernarda Fink

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Bernarda Fink (mezzo soprano), Gerold Huber

August 25, 2008
Well I would have to disagree with the previous reviewers. Of course, it's all a matter of personal taste, but I was quite disappointed (having read the first review before I purchased) with this recording. I thought the pace a little slow -- ponderous, even -- at times, especially the "Te decet hymnus" passage. And the soloists, who look so promising on paper, failed to deliver, to my mind. The singers are supposed to serve the music, not the other way around. Having said that, Gheorghiu does hit some beautiful notes. I'm afraid that Daniela Barcellona's voice has a tinny quality, and Roberto Alagna may have been having an off day. Picky of me? Probably, but I expect more of such a line-up.
The orchestra and the chorus, on the ... Read More:

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Great Inventors and Their Inventions: Archimedes, Gutenberg, Franklin, Nobel, Bell, Marconi, The Wright Brothers, Edison (Junior Classics)

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: David Angus

October 02, 2006
This audio CD book, alongside with other Naxos educational CDs for children, is absolutely fantastic. It contains loads of information, so adults interest is guaranteed as well as children's fascination. It's a must for curious little minds. Presented in an easy listening format, it educates and enterntains at the same time. Boring car journeys became a highly enjoyable and educational experiences in our family since Naxos CDs were purchased. Being non-fiction, they can be listened to over and over again, offering a chance for the child to remember and/or understand more details each time.

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Puccini: La Bohème

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

August 05, 1987
In a recent BBC3 "CD Review" broadcast, Alexandra Wilson made a gallant attempt to achieve the impossible task of choosing amongst forty or so recordings of "La Boheme" - and while I agreed with her ultimate choice of the Beecham recording with Bjorling, Merrill and De Los Angeles, I have rather more regard for this discarded Karajan recording simply because Pavarotti's voice, in its prime, as she herself put it, "runs through the recording like a golden seam". The rest of the cast is wonderful, too, although Karajan's love for the score is manifested in a rather deliberately "beautiful" approach and thereby slightly undercuts the drama. I cannot be without either recording of this eternally youthful and moving opera, and although Freni was captured in slightly ... Read More:

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Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 29, 33, 35 "Haffner", 38 "Prague", 41 "Jupiter"

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Orchestra Mozart Claudio Abbado

July 14, 2008
In a recent BBC3 "CD Review" broadcast, Alexandra Wilson made a gallant attempt to achieve the impossible task of choosing amongst forty or so recordings of "La Boheme" - and while I agreed with her ultimate choice of the Beecham recording with Bjorling, Merrill and De Los Angeles, I have rather more regard for this discarded Karajan recording simply because Pavarotti's voice, in its prime, as she herself put it, "runs through the recording like a golden seam". The rest of the cast is wonderful, too, although Karajan's love for the score is manifested in a rather deliberately "beautiful" approach and thereby slightly undercuts the drama. I cannot be without either recording of this eternally youthful and moving opera, and although Freni was captured in slightly ... Read More:

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
from: Deutsche Grammophon

April 17, 1989
This marvellous suite is the very embodiment of the Henrik Ibsen's unparalelled work of fantasy. The music is more than an accompaniment to the play, it is essential to a successful performance, enabling both the actors and the audience alike to become completely absorbed by Ibsen's stunning world.

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Sweeney Todd

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Original Broadway Cast Recording

May 28, 2007
Although the amazon site includes the wrong sound samples above (they are from the LaPone revival), this item is indeed the original cast recording with Lansbury and Cariou. Even better, it's been remastered and includeds 2 bonus track not featured on the original (and much more expensive) RCA double disc. What a find!

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Local Hero

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Mark Knopfler

March 24, 1997
Still my favourite film almost twenty-five years after its release. Nice to see so many other people also rate it so highly. Makes you wish you were there on Scotland's west coast.

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Mozart: Symphonies 38-41

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Scottish Chamber Orchestra

February 25, 2008
It is the mark of a fine conductor that s/he treat Mozart and Haydn symphonies with he same reverence as, say, Beethoven or Bruckner. In his last four symphonies Mozart establishes a standard for symphonic writing that later composers, Beethoven included, were to respond to and build on. Mackerras has long been a Mozartian par excellence, although his earlier recordings of these symphonies are not, in this reviewer's opinion, of the best. These new recordings with the SCO certainly are.

Mackerras adopts a modern approach to these works that is informed by 'period instrument' performances, while still allowing the sort of spaciousness one tends to find in the performances of more 'old school' conductors - Bohm and Bernstein, for example, are both worth hearing ... Read More:

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Vaughan Williams - Folksong Arrangements

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Ralph Vaughan Williams

June 02, 2008
Every so often a CD comes along where just one track takes your breath away, and no matter what the disc cost it immediately becomes priceless in your collection. Here the track in question is 21), an arrangement by VW for voice, violin and piano of the folksong "How cold the wind doth blow", also known as "The Unquiet Ghost". I'd never heard this arrangment by VW before (he arranged it a number of times), and was literally blown away. The singing, by the wonderful Robert Tear, and the equally wonderful accompaniment from Hugh Bean and Philip Ledger (the former made the best recording EVER of The Lark Ascending, with Boult, by the way), allied to the timeless melody and tragic words, will break your heart. It is as simple as that.

The rest of the disc is almost ... Read More: