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."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very. moving, intensely personal, arranged in such a way you feel it was written. for you given what it says to you when you listen so carefully to the music."
"An exception is Destructo by Nick, for some reason its one of my favorites from TSFH."
"Powerful, compelling, inspiring, the stuff from which dreams are made."
"I have to admit, I knew nothing of "trailer" music until I started researching some alternative music selections recently."
"Finally, Halloween is a treat that I won't mind listening to any time of the year, although a couple of tracks are pretty specific in the vocals. Another reviewer wondered what a day at the office must be like for Thomas Bergersen and Nick Phoenix. A number of reviewers commented that they enjoyed listening as inspiration for their writing, and I agree."
"When i listen to Strength of a Thousand Men, you'd think this was a main theme for dudes right? It is feminine, it's beautiful, it's captivating, it's inspiring, and I want it as a main theme for my superheroine The Silver Ninja."
"If you like epic music that can accompany the scene of an ancient battle, then you'll love Two Steps' Archangel."
"I recently discovered that Guild Wars 2, one of the best MMOs in history, has a feature built into it that allows you to play playlists of your own music in the game, overriding its own built-in soundtracks."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Mix a country boy, a pop star and an opra singer and what do you have?"
"These guys are a great trio whom I heard on a show broadcasted on TV."
"Their music is excellent and it was great to know that America has great tenors."
"My Mom thinks they have beautiful voices."
"There is no,other group as good as,this one."
"i love having lots of different Xmas music to listen to during the holidays."
Best Baroque (c.1600-1750)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"So so good; a must for your collections; peaceful soothing spiritual music."
"Five stars for the music; 0 stars for the degree of difficulty in the Amazon Music app about how to re-upload downloaded music back into the Amazon Cloud."
"I grew up listening to Robert Shaw Christmas on the huge console stereo that took up half the living room!"
"As a Christmas music and classical music lover, I'm delighted by the inspired creativity and imagination shown by selecting these particular pieces. This is pretty much the very best Christmas CD I've ever heard."
"I have been forfunate to have sung with Robert during my college years-it was a truly wonderful experience to have him pop in on our rehearsals once in a while."
"The arrangements are simple, tasteful, and transparent; if you like BCM (Bombastic Christmas Music) this is not for you."
"This is some of the most beautiful Christmas music I own."
"A cappella music is difficult to sing and the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers do an amazing job of it."
Best Classical (c.1770-1830)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon""In April 2006, Vanessa-Mae was ranked as the wealthiest young entertainer under 30 in the UK in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006, having an estimated fortune of about £32 million[3] stemming from concerts and record sales of over an estimated 10 million copies worldwide. [citation needed]". "She represented Thailand at the 2014 Winter Olympics as an alpine skier with the name Vanessa Vanakorn. "Autorip" successful from Amazon cloud to PC, a nice feature. Nice insert with good pictures of VM, and some expected shameless self promo. When I throw it in my Sony Bluray player it would be nice to see a pictures folder while the music plays."
"I found the use of the drums to be uninspired and heavy-handed, relying on them to emphasize the basic time of the pieces, rather than as an instrument in their own right."
"Pretty much the most exciting violin you will ever hear!"
"Great mix of classical greats with new techno sounds."
"I am highly anticipating her next work, as I am interested to know how she is developing her violin skills - some of the compositions on this CD, although still refreshing, are around a decade old...!"
"Vanessa-Mae shines in this wonderful music CD."
"sound quality isn't as great as I expected."
"I'm stunned at the low star reviews."
Best Early Music
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I plan to buy more classical choral music as I used to sing with the choral affiliates of the Indianapolis and the Detroit Symphonies."
"CD Arrived Timely and Nicely Packaged!"
"I have admired Robert Shaw and I love Choral arrangements."
"Anyone who pursues the art of choral excellence - and with it a representation of the masterpieces will want and enjoy this CD."
"I like knowing that music I have hunted for can be found at Amazon."
"As usual, the articulation of words is such that you can hear them clearly, even sung by a large chorus."
"Robert Shaw (1916-1999) founded his Chorale in 1948 in New York City."
Best Modern, 20th, & 21st Century
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm always on the lookout for good background music to write to, and my goodness, this album is incredible."
"Blackheart is worth the price of the entire album all by itself."
"Two Steps From Hell specializes in the increasingly popular genre known as "Trailer Music"; compositions that are clearly in the style of action-adventure symphonic scores, but which are clearly not from movies you've ever seen."
"When I love a track or feel my mind creating visuals for some epic movie trailer or thrilling fight scene. It's like I mentally become a movie director and start visualizing scenes that excite my imagination to no end. But the auto tuned lyrical songs are terrible and certainly not a strong point for the Two Steps team."
"Imagine trying to find inspiration to tackle on dull chores, or even finding the drive to make yourself finish that half-block of a morning jog."
"Which is nice to have - the album flows rather well, and the tracks do lend themselves quite well to the title of Skyworld.."
"I've been a fan of TSFH for a bit now so as amazing as this album sounds to me there is some bias in my opinion."
"Since first coming to this genre after listening to their first album and finding many other offerings, I've found TSFH to not be capable of delivering consistently album to album. Their albums have two versions of each track, one with vocals and one without."
Best Renaissance (c.1450-1600)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Wonderful, relaxing holiday music."
"Gorgeous music!"
"CD had a great collection of songs!"
"Great collection."
"I gave this as a Christmas gift and the receipient was charmed by the sounds of the Middle Ages."
"A Feast of Songs is a gorgeous journey through a millennia of different cultural takes on the Christmas theme."
Best Romantic (c.1820-1910)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Songs as bleak as the Russian landscape are strangely addictive if a duo as good as Hvorostovsky and Ivari Ilya are interpreting them."
"This series is extremely well recorded with beautiful heartfelt singing and interpretations."
"", the haunting "She is as beautiful as the moon", opening with strummed arpeggios reminiscent of Schubert's "Dioskuren" and continuing with melismatas in a distinctly Polovstian minor mode, and "In the silence of the mysterious night" climaxing with a magnificent G-flat and a long-breathed piano D to conclude. This is Hvorostovsky's first recording on the Finnish Ondine label, with whom he has signed a long-term contract, and although he has recorded some of these songs before, his voice is now perfectly weighted and his artistry honed by long experience sufficient to give them his finest interpretation."
"Hvorostovsky's voice is powerful and beautiful, his musicianship is top-notch, and his interpretations are probing."
"His Rachmaninov Romances reflect his passion for dragging the listener into his music, with pure empathy."
"Fine Russian pronunciation; articulation and accent (without which singing have no power and not able to be identified as 'Russian')."
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 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."
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!"