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Vaughan Williams: Orchestral Works

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
from: British Composers

September 09, 1991
I JUST WANT TO AGREE WITH EVERY WORD THAT MR JORDAN HAD SAID ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR RECORDING, NOT JUST OF 'THE LARK', BUT OF SERENADE TO MUSIC ALSO. IN FACT I JUST LOVE EVERYTHING ON THIS ALBUM! I BOUGHT MY VINYL COPY IN THE EARLY 70'S AND IT IS NOW SO WORN OUT THAT I DECIDED TO LOOK TO SEE IF A CD WAS AVAILABLE. WHAT JOY! NOT ONLY HAVE I BEEN ABLE TO FIND A CD OF MY TREASURED RECORDING, BUT WITH BONUS TRACKS, AND AT AN INCREDIBLY LOW PRICE. FOR ME THIS IS THE PURCHASE OF THE MONTH.

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Vaughan Williams: Choral Works

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
from: British Composers

August 23, 1993
Neither work is particularly well known, even among enthusiasts for Vaughan Williams music. Don't let that put you off. Both are original and gripping works and Sancta Civitas is an extraordinary piece unlike any other work I know. It is the work in which the composer found the unique colours and dissonance that would lead to works like Job and the Fourth Symphony and is, perhaps, even finer than those great works. It is certainly original. The only previous recording that came anywhere near to doing the work justice was that conducted by Sir David Willcocks. This new account is in the same class and has the benefit of a superb modern recording that the earlier record cannot match. I genuinely believe that Sancta Civitas is one of Vaughan Williams' ... Read More:

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Karl Jenkins: Stabat Mater

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
by: Karl Jenkins

March 10, 2008
Some of the previous Reviews seem to imply that this is just Karl Jenkins again (Ho Hum). I wonder if they would say the same about Beethoven "Oh I've heard all nine Symphonies and they are all terribly Beethoven". Well yes and that is their glory as are the works of Karl Jenkins. I have sung both the 'Armed Man' and the 'Requiem' and both moved me beyond measure. I imagine that this will do the same when my Choral Society (inevitably) performs it. Like most Of Jenkins Music the first listening gives the result of "very nice but I am not sure what it's all about'. The second listening gets the juices flowing and by the third listening you are totally hooked. The harmonies of the Ave Verum and the use of Arabic for the Incantation are positively ethereal. ... Read More:

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The Best Gregorian Chant Album In The World... Ever!

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
by: Monks & Choir Boys Of Downside Abbey

April 19, 2004
My wife (for whom I bought it) says that this CD set is very restful and soothing and I have to say that I quite like to hear the singing in the background whilst I slave away at the computer. And, of course, the great thing is that we got two CDs for about the price of one. Excellent!

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Vaughan Williams: The Collectors Edition

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
by: Various Artists

April 28, 2008
EMI's new 30-disc box-set is one of the truly outstanding contributions to Vaughan Williams' 50th anniversary celebrations. In one collection listeners now have virtually his entire output in recordings ranging from the very good to the exceptional: this set is a tribute of EMI's long-standing commitment to British music (now sadly curtailed).

Vernon Handley's magisterial cycle of the symphonies is beautifully played and recorded, and the major choral works and operas are all presented in excellent performances and recordings. There are some omissions (of course, since EMI did not record absolutely everything Vaughan Williams wrote) but these can be easily rectified through the additional purchase of the opera 'The Poisoned Kiss' and the original ... Read More:

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Vaughan Williams - Complete Symphonies

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
by: London Philharmonic Orchestra

September 20, 2004
and I like the box too: I can always pick it out among the other VW sets ;-)
A wonderful evocative 3rd, a tense war study. Not very pastoral, nor bucolic or lyrical: I do not agree much with Vernon Handley's interpretation. Rather it is the past remembered, resigned melancholy that something is not quite right, yet with self-discovery and steely determination that is discussed and evolved by the soloists. Never forget that a war demands and makes a different mindset we do not understand. I find Rued Langgaard's deeply disturbing 4th Symphony, "Leaf Fall" 1916, to be in good company here.
Haitink's take on things generally differs just a bit from the English conductors, but I think "In the Fen Country" in particular justifies buying the set. Yeah, ... Read More:

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Holst: The Planets / Elgar: Enigma Variations

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
from: EMI Classics

March 11, 2002
This version of The Planets has replaced my recent LSO version.
Why? Well, the balance between the contributing elements is the best i've heard so far: The bass is thunderous analogue and the high woodwind/strings are like crystal in equal measure. This is a superb achievement and exceptionally important for, 'large orchestra' where Dynamics become a recording engineer's delight or problem depending on how good they are. And these people are the best: Abbey road have done a fantastic job on the remastering of a late 70's classic, although there is one thing they could never tackle: Is this as Holst intended?

Bolt was a friend of Holst and was given the opportunity to first conduct the piece; Bolt read and heard the original 'two piano' score and must have got the full S.P. ... Read More:

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The Best of Arvo Pärt

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
from: EMI Classics

May 03, 2004
This is a music from the another dimension. Absolute clearity of the mind. A fragile balance you are looking... A touch of something beautiful that's uncomparable bigger than you.

Simple, but in very different way.

Must have!

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Nigel Kennedy - A Very Nice Album

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
by: Nigel Kennedy

June 16, 2008
This is definitely not a classical album,for Kennedy has thrown off the shackles of very conservative genre of music and produced an album that he can be very proud of,he even played this at that bastion of the establishment "The Proms", all the tracks are self penned,and are played with gusto and panache,the quintet are superbly talented kennedy drawing from the new young lions of Polish jazz,as Poland is now his adoptive home,this album will grow in stature and do Kennedy no harm at all.

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The Complete Flanders and Swann: at the Drop of a Hat/at the Drop of Another Hat/the Bestiary of Flanders & Swann

Childrens Toy Shop > Music > All EMI Classics
by: Flanders & Swann

October 14, 1991
... of buying three CDs of two men singing comic songs.

Don't be.

Flanders and Swann's "comic songs" are different from most. They have bite, wit, character, fire and - just below the surface - sometimes profound meaning. These are no "ordinary" comic songs.

Neither is Swann's accompaniment at the piano ordinary.

These are CDs that contain true gems. Buy them.