Editorial Product Review: :This performance is also available on Deutsche Grammophon in an earlier, mid-price incarnation, but this version is clearly the one to own, since the remastered sound is a definite improvement over previous issues. Herbert von Karajan always did a good job with this symphony, and his performances are quite consistent, even down to the very backward-balance of the chorus. By general consensus, though, this is the best of them. --David Hurwitz
Editorial Product Review: :This moderately priced package gives you the best of Herbert von Karajan's Tchaikovsky performances, and when he was 'on' with this composer, he was very impressive indeed. These are exceptionally well played, exciting, even noble versions of the composer's three most popular symphonies, and although Karajan recorded each of them four or five times, this least expensive edition is still the one to get. --David Hurwitz
Editorial Product Review: :These 1977-78 recordings are Karajan's best Brahms--better than his somewhat mannered digital set. The Berlin Philharmonic, as ever, is amazingly smooth and accomplished, playing with great class without losing any power--as an example, just listen to the finale of the second symphony. DG's engineers have turned this always-good recording into something truly magnificent to hear, and, at the price, this is a sure bet. --Robert Levine
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:Mstislav Rostropovich is the world's greatest cellist, and he has actually made at least five recordings of this greatest of all cello concertos. I have a certain preference for his later version, with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Erato. This version has long been a prime recommendation, and in this new remastering at mid-price, it's an even better deal now. Herbert von Karajan accompanies with his usual expertise, and the Tchaikovsky performance is quite simply the finest around. This concerto is one of those pieces of which ...
Editorial Product Review: :Among the concertos of Beethoven and Brahms, these two have always been stepchildren. One reason is their extreme difficulty; both composers were pianists, so Beethoven wrote an idiomatic part only for the piano. Brahms's friend Joseph Joachim offered advice for the violin concerto, but not for the Double Concerto, which was written as a peace offering after a falling-out. The Beethoven Triple Concerto demands utmost virtuosity, as well as intimate teamwork among the soloists, and that is exactly what these three supreme masters of their instruments bring to it. Free--indeed unaware--of technical ...
Editorial Product Review: :Among the concertos of Beethoven and Brahms, these two have always been stepchildren. One reason is their extreme difficulty; both composers were pianists, so Beethoven wrote an idiomatic part only for the piano. Brahms's friend Joseph Joachim offered advice for the violin concerto, but not for the Double Concerto, which was written as a peace offering after a falling-out. The Beethoven Triple Concerto demands utmost virtuosity, as well as intimate teamwork among the soloists, and that is exactly what these three supreme masters of their instruments bring to it. Free--indeed unaware--of technical ...
Editorial Product Review: :This commemorative reissue of music from 2001: A Space Odyssey combines the Also sprach Zarathustra theme, various Johann and Richard Strauss segments, and a ballet suite by Aram Khachaturian--all of which prove how much Stanley Kubrick's film attempts to avoid the soundtrack clichés of most science-fiction movies. Instead of the expected sci-fi effects, there is a more ironic application of music that would be otherwise incongruous to the celestial settings. Here, 'The Blue Danube' complements scenes involving weightlessness and descending spacecraft, while Gyorgy Ligeti's creepy 'monolith' music connotes Armageddon more than interplanetary ...
Editorial Product Review: :This commemorative reissue of music from 2001: A Space Odyssey combines the Also sprach Zarathustra theme, various Johann and Richard Strauss segments, and a ballet suite by Aram Khachaturian--all of which prove how much Stanley Kubrick's film attempts to avoid the soundtrack clichés of most science-fiction movies. Instead of the expected sci-fi effects, there is a more ironic application of music that would be otherwise incongruous to the celestial settings. Here, 'The Blue Danube' complements scenes involving weightlessness and descending spacecraft, while Gyorgy Ligeti's creepy 'monolith' music connotes Armageddon more than interplanetary ...
Editorial Product Review: :This commemorative reissue of music from 2001: A Space Odyssey combines the Also sprach Zarathustra theme, various Johann and Richard Strauss segments, and a ballet suite by Aram Khachaturian--all of which prove how much Stanley Kubrick's film attempts to avoid the soundtrack clichés of most science-fiction movies. Instead of the expected sci-fi effects, there is a more ironic application of music that would be otherwise incongruous to the celestial settings. Here, 'The Blue Danube' complements scenes involving weightlessness and descending spacecraft, while Gyorgy Ligeti's creepy 'monolith' music connotes Armageddon more than interplanetary ...
Editorial Product Review: :This commemorative reissue of music from 2001: A Space Odyssey combines the Also sprach Zarathustra theme, various Johann and Richard Strauss segments, and a ballet suite by Aram Khachaturian--all of which prove how much Stanley Kubrick's film attempts to avoid the soundtrack clichés of most science-fiction movies. Instead of the expected sci-fi effects, there is a more ironic application of music that would be otherwise incongruous to the celestial settings. Here, 'The Blue Danube' complements scenes involving weightlessness and descending spacecraft, while Gyorgy Ligeti's creepy 'monolith' music connotes Armageddon more than interplanetary ...
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