Best Classical
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"2014 saw them release their sophomore album The Rosary, and for a few years, I thought that was all they were going to release...NOPE! This gave people about a month to pick up this Christmas album. We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It's said in the music business that you haven't made it until you put out a Christmas album. There are many Christmas albums that flood the market every year that completely miss the point of Christmas, so it was refreshing to see this holy album be released that focuses on the real reason for the season. However, I also loved that there were titles on this album that I was unfamiliar with, as it helped broaden my catalog of great Christmas songs. Listening to this album in my car has been a relaxing endeavor, as it has helped me focus on Jesus with my commute to and from work."
"Beautiful."
"We have played this CD every day, and are sad to have to put it away until next year."
"Fantastic."
"This is one of the most beautiful Christmas CDs that I have ever heard."
"Heard of this album on the radio."
"Great choice of songs for the album."
"This CD was given to two of my friends!"
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The new album, Last Leaf by the Danish String Quartet (ECM New series,) is the kind of music that beckons one to listen in wonder, like a child. Besides the odd moment of untraditional dissonance, there are times when the album invokes classical minimalism, inviting one to think of Terry Riley’s string quartets – in more reflective moments I hear snippets of Arvo Part at his most spare."
"Really pretty."
"Absolutely amazing album."
"Enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed Woodworks (their first CD)."
"I loved Wood Works by the Danish String Quartet, and this collection takes the work even farther in the use of folk songs as a genesis for the music created by this talented group."
"Because they’re from ECM also, the record jackets are clean and attractive, and the liner notes (for the classical albums only) are copious and extraordinarily helpful in understanding the background and musical affiliations of the composers (the Silvestrov and Weinberg albums) and three backgrounds of the songs selected and performed (Danish String Quartet album). I also purchased an album of vocalist-pianist Shirley Horn, recorded live in Vegas in 1988. I was especially interested to listen to this album because (1) Esther and I were fortunate to hear Shirley live once at Yoshi’s in Berkeley and (2) with Shirley dead, new opportunities to hear massage a song can only happen if someone lese taped her way back when. Sorensen, the first violinist, doubles on piano once, harmonium (in the first piece, a Lutheran hymn), and glockenspiel, and the cellist, Sjolin, on bass."
"I heard an article on NPR about this band they decided to look into it more."
"Some of the pieces are uplifting, some pensive, some will set your toe tapping, and some just reach into your soul the way that only truly special music by gifted musicians can do."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The enthusiasm of these exceptionally talented performers was abundantly clear when I saw them perform live, and this recording brings backs the excitement of that evening for me everty time I listen to it."
"Right up there with Appalachian Journey...Edger Myer is a genius."
"The CD / DVD Deluxe Edition provide music that is a toe-tapping delight."
"You need to get a spare copy for the car."
"I have been a big fan of Turtle Island String Quartet."
"The one problem is that the album is slightly frontloaded, with the energetic stuff within the first couple tracks, and then more emotive and slower pieces in the middle, sandwiched by a fun song or two at the end."
"This one is Fine; obviously NOT a cool!"
Best Ballets & Dances
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm a sucker for sentiment, so I particularly love Appalachian Spring: Doppio movimento (sometimes called Variations on a Shaker Tune or Simple Gifts), but it's all wonderful."
"Considering that this is played in the car with the road noise, and player electronics, this recording was a nice relief to commute traffic."
"This CD must be in every American music collection!"
"A classic set of recordings."
"What more could you ask for -- Copland and Bernstein."
"On the last part of Appalachian Spring track 8 Moderato - Coda, the phrasing of the string section is absolutely gorgeous, and every note is played with such feeling and clarity."
"This recording of Hoe Down is sharper and clearer than is the Boston Pops rendition, but I do prefer the slightly slower pace of that recording."
Best Chamber Music
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"2014 saw them release their sophomore album The Rosary, and for a few years, I thought that was all they were going to release...NOPE! This gave people about a month to pick up this Christmas album. We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It's said in the music business that you haven't made it until you put out a Christmas album. There are many Christmas albums that flood the market every year that completely miss the point of Christmas, so it was refreshing to see this holy album be released that focuses on the real reason for the season. However, I also loved that there were titles on this album that I was unfamiliar with, as it helped broaden my catalog of great Christmas songs. Listening to this album in my car has been a relaxing endeavor, as it has helped me focus on Jesus with my commute to and from work."
"Beautiful."
"We have played this CD every day, and are sad to have to put it away until next year."
"Fantastic."
"This is one of the most beautiful Christmas CDs that I have ever heard."
"Heard of this album on the radio."
"Great choice of songs for the album."
"This CD was given to two of my friends!"
Best Compilations
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"After a day or so, I couldn't listen to more news and I decided to play this CD over and over again with the thought that it was going straight to heaven as a benediction to the members of the AME Church. The actual titles of the selections are (in order): Mercy, Strength, Hope, Compassion, Grace, Innocence, Forgiveness, Benediction and Faith."
"Listening to it now as I write this review, the track "hope" begins and I am moved to tears by the angelic voice and feel of this, flowing through my soul. Do someone else a favor.... Share it with them."
"The experience for me is made even more poignant by not knowing the literal sense of the words (except for the few sections in English and Hebrew). I hear struggling, questioning, demanding voices, passionate with love and with pain, with defiance, with acceptance, with serenity, victory and failure."
"The American Boychoir and its featured soloist are terrific, the English chamber group are perfection, the main singers exquisite and each the right voice for their part."
"I have had the joyous opportunity to listen to this amazing composition about ten years ago and it is on something of a continuous loop in my head, forever, gleefully."
"I think this recording would lend itself well to background music for meditation as the voices are not distracting enough to pull you from deep thought; in fact, I found that the recording produced cleansing thoughts and a feeling of invigoration."
"Second time I bought this."
"This is tremendous, soulshqping music."
Best Forms & Genres
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm a sucker for sentiment, so I particularly love Appalachian Spring: Doppio movimento (sometimes called Variations on a Shaker Tune or Simple Gifts), but it's all wonderful."
"Considering that this is played in the car with the road noise, and player electronics, this recording was a nice relief to commute traffic."
"This CD must be in every American music collection!"
"A classic set of recordings."
"What more could you ask for -- Copland and Bernstein."
"On the last part of Appalachian Spring track 8 Moderato - Coda, the phrasing of the string section is absolutely gorgeous, and every note is played with such feeling and clarity."
"This recording of Hoe Down is sharper and clearer than is the Boston Pops rendition, but I do prefer the slightly slower pace of that recording."
Best Historical Periods
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"These songs were first introduced to my ears on my father's old collection of 45 rpm records."
"The song selection and choral and orchestral renderings are beautiful and so fitting for the Christmas season."
"I think the Robert Shaw singers are the quintessential coral singer for Christmas songs, none better."
"I ordered this album to approximate an old 33 LP record by the same-named choir (probably different singers many years later) that my parents had when I was a child in the '50s and '60s."
"Great compilation of Christmas carols, all beautifully done in acapella."
"My feeling after listening to this several times is that most of the songs are simply too short, clocking in at well under two minutes."
Best Instruments
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"These songs were first introduced to my ears on my father's old collection of 45 rpm records."
"The song selection and choral and orchestral renderings are beautiful and so fitting for the Christmas season."
"I think the Robert Shaw singers are the quintessential coral singer for Christmas songs, none better."
"I ordered this album to approximate an old 33 LP record by the same-named choir (probably different singers many years later) that my parents had when I was a child in the '50s and '60s."
"Great compilation of Christmas carols, all beautifully done in acapella."
"My feeling after listening to this several times is that most of the songs are simply too short, clocking in at well under two minutes."
Best Symphonies
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I feel queasy whenever I see a photograph of Alfred Cortot - the Vichy High Commissioner of Fine Arts. Even so, just as salvation was vouchsafed to the Good Thief, is redemption possible for our swish, goosestepping friend? If the likes of Horowitz and Richter have a rival in this domain, it is surely Cortot. Every sentiment and state of being in Schumann's lexicon is given utterance and vibrantly so. Repeats are also sparse, particulary in Davidbundlertanze (Frisch in particular - my favourite - is disappointingly truncated). One almost raises a votive offering to Cortot when the Poet at last falls silent."
"After having played Appassionata's first movement in front of Anton Rubinstein, A.R told him: "Beethoven's music must not be studied. Consider besides, the happy meeting with two legend musicians as Thibaud and Casals; I mean, in despite of the fact the natural gifts, Cortot was surrounded for wisdom companies. & March 1929, Small Queen Hall) have been one of the main battle horses and most beloved preferred compositions by the most of high caliber pianists (as in the case of Frau Carreño, for instance) ; while Kempff gives a dreamy approach, Cortot makes a mesmerizing, disturbing and nervous performance, plenty of electricity and sublimate passion. It owns an overflowing poetry and is to my mind the nearest composition related with the autumnal approach of Franz Schubert in his last days. 2 (rec.4 July 1935) we find seriously less gifted pianist but at the meantime, a wiser man , this admirable set of variations are played with hat sense of elusiveness and dreams so typical of the youth years. 4 July 1935) - conceived by Schumann as " Souvenirs for those who have grown up" - is a superb poetic homage to those years of the childhood seen through adult eyes. We have to recognize and acknowledge the impressive and notable Engineering process about the clean and almost imperceptible hiss for Music & Arts personal."
"Cortot brings his own well-thought-out views to several of Schumann's central piano works, including Kreisleriana, Kinderszenen, and Symphonic Etudes."