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Displaying records 151 through 160 of 4000 |
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Price: $11.98
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Sale: $6.86
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Manufacturer: RCA
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Price: $21.98
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Sale: $13.38
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Manufacturer: Euroarts
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Number of Items: 1
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Description: Most of this DVD was made at a 1989 London concert filmed by the BBC. The 74-year-old Richter insisted on a darkened hall, a 40-watt gooseneck lamp trained on the music stand the only light source on stage while he played. His purpose was to focus audience attention on the music, not on the performer. Whatever the intention, the results can be compared to a mystical ceremony, the pianist as High Priest invoking musical truths. This ceremonial aspect of the concert is heightened by Richter’s austere platform manner and the black backgrounds that engulf the picture. Fortunately, the BBC crew was able to capture closeups of Richter’s hands on the keyboard, giving us lessons in finger control, dynamic gradations, and legato playing. To see how Richter accomplishes these and other effects is priceless. But whatever idiosyncrasies were part of Richter’s rare concertizing in his last years, the musical performances are extraordinary. Richter’s Mozart was unique in its tempo variations and his infusion of strong Romantic overtones, digging deep into the inner dramas of the scores. His E Flat Major Sonata, K.282, for example, begins slowly but gains depth and gravity via his powerful bass line, while In the C Major, K.545, Richter’s Andante sings soulfully. The A Minor Sonata, K. 310, perhaps Mozart’s greatest, has great cumulative power while the slow movement becomes a tragic operatic aria in all but name. The Chopin works, selected Etudes, take that composer out of the drawing room and into the larger frame of full-blooded Romanticism. In Opus 10, No. 2 we see Richter’s scintillating right hand figures while Op. 10, No. 4 is a pianistic version of shock and awe, especially after the songful No.3, and watching Richter in the finger-breaker of Op. 25, No.8 is riveting. A black-and-white bonus of three short works by Rachmaninov and Chopin show Richter 20 years younger, the playing as extraordinary, the body language and facial expressions far more mobile, making a fitting close to a DVD all admirers of great pianism will want. --Dan Davis
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Price: $16.98
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Sale: $9.98
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Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
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Description: Here, a year after her sensational Metropolitan debut as Prokofiev’s Natasha from War and Peace, comes the debut solo recital album of 30-something soprano Anna Netrebko. She hails from southern Russia, and her emergence from the life of a conservatory student has a touch of the Cinderella tale—the bit, that is, about being discovered by Gergiev mopping floors for the Kirov as a part-time job and making her way into the Kirov's ranks. Later she became a favorite at San Francisco Opera, trying on for size a swath of comic and dramatic roles. Opera Arias parades Netrebko's way through a spectrum of vocal styles and characters. This mesmerizing lyric soprano engages--at times thrillingly grips--the listener with an imagination far greater than the disc's title (couldn't someone have dreamt up a less ridiculously bland handle?), but most significantly leaves an impression that the enterprise here isn't merely about singing. Netrebko's Ilia and Donna Anna are flesh-and-blood characters in real situations, as Mozart wanted them to be. The results are a bit more uneven with her bel canto heroines, where the required balance between Netrebko's emotional identification, so obviously a forte, and the musical phrasing thereof is a delicate one. Her shading of Lucia's mood swings, vocal and emotional, isn't consistently compelling. On the other hand, Netrebko uncovers gemlike facets not just in Gounod's "Jewel Song" but particularly in her stunning, passionately realized and beautifully phrased Manon (even if her trills disappoint). A shame that samples of her Russian repertory are missing here, though Netrebko's "Song to the Moon" from Dvorak's Rusalka concentrates and sets a mood with enviable mastery. Netrebko's musical intelligence and theatrical savvy seem destined to ensure her a magnificent career, so it's no surprise that many fans are already clamoring for more than the tease of an aria collection. --Thomas May
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Price: $16.98
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Sale: $9.98
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Manufacturer: London/Decca
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Description: This vocal recital certainly lives up to its title, perhaps too well. It's a collection of arias and songs Fleming has sung for years that for some may be too much frosting and not enough cake. Surely, her performances are rich with interpretive nuances, wonder-filled portamentos and word colorings that reflect a long history with this repertoire, which ranges from Charpentier's "Depuis le jour" to Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise." Some may find Fleming a bit much, but agree with her or not, she's far more interesting than singers who keep a safe, discreet distance from the music. --David Patrick Stearns
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Price: $11.98
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Sale: $9.98
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Manufacturer: RCA
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Description: There's a plethora of single-disc Caruso collections, but this one's the preferred choice for opera fans who treasure this golden- voiced epitome of Golden Age singing. It's a Greatest Hits collection to beat all Greatest Hits collections. Selections span Caruso's career, from the lyric effusions of 1906-7 to the darker-voiced later recordings, including one of his last records, the 1920 La Juive aria, "Rachel, quand du Seigneur," which he invests with a heartbreaking poignancy that hasn't been bettered. Caruso shines brightest in the Italian repertory, capturing the pathos of Vesti la Giubba, the insouciance of the Duke's Rigoletto arias, and the hero's dilemma in Celeste Aida, among much else. But everything here is wonderful--great music, great singing. --Dan Davis
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Price: $29.98
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Sale: $20.57
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Manufacturer: Buena Vista
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Description: BABY EINSTEIN, CLASSICAL MUSIC COLLECTION is COLLECTOR'S EDITION 6 CD SET all wrapped up inside a cute little carrying case.
Perfect for that mom on the Go! Includes Baby Bach, Baby Beethoven, Meet The Orchestra, Baby Mozart, Baby Mozart 2, and Baby Galileo.
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Price: $7.98
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Sale: $3.58
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Manufacturer: Decca
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Price: $17.98
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Sale: $8.61
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Manufacturer: Sony
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Description: Wynton Marsalis may not have an easily recognizable or even particularly handsome tone, but this erstwhile jazz trumpeter is an amazing virtuoso with a fine sense of classical style. If you've never owned/heard any of his classical CDs, and you love (mostly baroque) trumpet music, this compilation--a sort of "greatest hits"--is for you. From such cruddy, sensationalistic works as Carnival of Venice to the glories of Haydn's E-Flat Concerto, this is grand entertainment. Marsalis is joined by Kathleen Battle in an exciting version of Handel's "Let the bright seraphim," and the treat there is doubled. A fine piece by Hovhaness for trumpet and organ, never before released, is another surprise. Come listen to the endless, seemingly casual roulades that come out of this guy's trumpet--they'll wake you right up. --Robert Levine
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Price: $17.98
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Sale: $10.06
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Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
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Price: $11.98
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Sale: $8.68
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Manufacturer: Denon Records
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Displaying records 151 through 160 of 4000
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