Editorial Product Review: :It is only natural that players of instruments with a limited repertoire should resort to transcriptions, citing a long line of arrangers from Bach to Liszt to Heifetz. However, the suitability of the material is as important as the skill of the transcriber, and you don't have to be a 'purist' to object to some of Balsom's choices. Some of the transcriptions are her own, some are by Julian Milone, a violinist, who also provided the orchestrations of the non-orchestral accompaniments. Unfortunately they sound unnatural compared to Mozart's, in an aria from his ...
Editorial Product Review: : This 2-CD set is the first of eight projected volumes of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas in chronological order, to be released over two years. András Schiff, renowned for his interpretations of (among others) Bach, Mozart, and Schubert, deliberately waited to 'grow into' the Beethoven sonatas, which Hans von Bülow described as the piano literature's 'New Testament.' Volume I, comprising the Sonatas Op. 2 and 7, leaves no doubt that Schiff has not only mastered these works but been mastered by them. Beethoven's early sonatas, very different from one another and ...
Editorial Product Review: : This 2-CD set is the first of eight projected volumes of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas in chronological order, to be released over two years. András Schiff, renowned for his interpretations of (among others) Bach, Mozart, and Schubert, deliberately waited to 'grow into' the Beethoven sonatas, which Hans von Bülow described as the piano literature's 'New Testament.' Volume I, comprising the Sonatas Op. 2 and 7, leaves no doubt that Schiff has not only mastered these works but been mastered by them. Beethoven's early sonatas, very different from one another and ...
Editorial Product Review: : This 2-CD set is the first of eight projected volumes of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas in chronological order, to be released over two years. András Schiff, renowned for his interpretations of (among others) Bach, Mozart, and Schubert, deliberately waited to 'grow into' the Beethoven sonatas, which Hans von Bülow described as the piano literature's 'New Testament.' Volume I, comprising the Sonatas Op. 2 and 7, leaves no doubt that Schiff has not only mastered these works but been mastered by them. Beethoven's early sonatas, very different from one another and ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:Richter was one of the those great virtuoso egomaniac genius types who was so insecure that he practiced for something like 10 hours a day, even before a scheduled performance. But it wasn't just getting the notes right that he was after. He was looking for the way to somehow get an entire work 'into his hands,' and trying to figure out the relationships between all of its different parts. That's why his performances--even the very slow one--have such an inevitable sounding organic unity. This performance isn't one of the ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:Richter was one of the those great virtuoso egomaniac genius types who was so insecure that he practiced for something like 10 hours a day, even before a scheduled performance. But it wasn't just getting the notes right that he was after. He was looking for the way to somehow get an entire work 'into his hands,' and trying to figure out the relationships between all of its different parts. That's why his performances--even the very slow one--have such an inevitable sounding organic unity. This performance isn't one of the ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:Richter was one of the those great virtuoso egomaniac genius types who was so insecure that he practiced for something like 10 hours a day, even before a scheduled performance. But it wasn't just getting the notes right that he was after. He was looking for the way to somehow get an entire work 'into his hands,' and trying to figure out the relationships between all of its different parts. That's why his performances--even the very slow one--have such an inevitable sounding organic unity. This performance isn't one of the ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:Richter was one of the those great virtuoso egomaniac genius types who was so insecure that he practiced for something like 10 hours a day, even before a scheduled performance. But it wasn't just getting the notes right that he was after. He was looking for the way to somehow get an entire work 'into his hands,' and trying to figure out the relationships between all of its different parts. That's why his performances--even the very slow one--have such an inevitable sounding organic unity. This performance isn't one of the ...
Editorial Product Review:Album Description:Dinu Lipatti- The Master Pianist plays Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, Grieg, Schumann, Bartok and Schubert on this seven CD set. Dinu Lipatti (1917- 1950 ) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was tragically cut short by his death from Hodgkin's disease at age 33. Despite his short career and a relatively small recorded legacy, Lipatti is considered one of the finest pianists of the 20th century.
Editorial Product Review: :For those who want the most remembered passages of classical music's best-loved works, here's a package for you. On this bargain priced double-CD, you'll find music from 40 different classical composers; for the most part, the recordings excerpted here are some of the very best. Of course, you only get one Bach sampling (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, played by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra) and one Mozart (A Little Night Music conducted by Herbert von Karajan), but this is still a nice collection--perhaps the starting point for a budding collection of classical ...
On paper, the Mio DigiWalker P550 looks to be an attractive gadget for the mobile professional, combining the capabilities of a PDA and GPS into one device. However, its poor battery life and subpar navigation skills tell a different story.
Though it won't appeal to the masses quite yet, the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is a nice, portable device for on-the-go Web browsing, and it has some worthy upgrades.
Though it's expensive, the Sony VAIO VGN-TX670P delivers a great combination of business and entertainment features, long battery life, and unparalleled connectivity in an incredibly ultraportable package.