Editorial Product Review: :Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus (Twenty Ways of Looking at the Infant Jesus) is just that--20 intense miniatures in which the composer explores his religious, spiritual, and musical convictions. Over the course of its two hours, you'll hear birdsongs, a bit of Liszt, and plenty of dissonance, along with some genuine moments of tenderness and even sensuality. It's easily Messiaen's greatest work for the piano, and playing its many facets effectively is a challenge few musicians have accomplished. Despite stiff competition from Hakon Austbo and the composer's wife (Yvonne Loriod), Pierre-Laurent ...
Editorial Product Review: :Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus (Twenty Ways of Looking at the Infant Jesus) is just that--20 intense miniatures in which the composer explores his religious, spiritual, and musical convictions. Over the course of its two hours, you'll hear birdsongs, a bit of Liszt, and plenty of dissonance, along with some genuine moments of tenderness and even sensuality. It's easily Messiaen's greatest work for the piano, and playing its many facets effectively is a challenge few musicians have accomplished. Despite stiff competition from Hakon Austbo and the composer's wife (Yvonne Loriod), Pierre-Laurent ...
Editorial Product Review: :Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus (Twenty Ways of Looking at the Infant Jesus) is just that--20 intense miniatures in which the composer explores his religious, spiritual, and musical convictions. Over the course of its two hours, you'll hear birdsongs, a bit of Liszt, and plenty of dissonance, along with some genuine moments of tenderness and even sensuality. It's easily Messiaen's greatest work for the piano, and playing its many facets effectively is a challenge few musicians have accomplished. Despite stiff competition from Hakon Austbo and the composer's wife (Yvonne Loriod), Pierre-Laurent ...
Editorial Product Review: :Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus (Twenty Ways of Looking at the Infant Jesus) is just that--20 intense miniatures in which the composer explores his religious, spiritual, and musical convictions. Over the course of its two hours, you'll hear birdsongs, a bit of Liszt, and plenty of dissonance, along with some genuine moments of tenderness and even sensuality. It's easily Messiaen's greatest work for the piano, and playing its many facets effectively is a challenge few musicians have accomplished. Despite stiff competition from Hakon Austbo and the composer's wife (Yvonne Loriod), Pierre-Laurent ...
Editorial Product Review: :Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus (Twenty Ways of Looking at the Infant Jesus) is just that--20 intense miniatures in which the composer explores his religious, spiritual, and musical convictions. Over the course of its two hours, you'll hear birdsongs, a bit of Liszt, and plenty of dissonance, along with some genuine moments of tenderness and even sensuality. It's easily Messiaen's greatest work for the piano, and playing its many facets effectively is a challenge few musicians have accomplished. Despite stiff competition from Hakon Austbo and the composer's wife (Yvonne Loriod), Pierre-Laurent ...
Editorial Product Review: :André Previn's 1975 EMI recording of Carmina Burana sounds better than ever in this new transfer. The analog tape hiss has been tamed, yet there's more 'air' between the notes and a greater sense of dynamic and timbral definition. Engineering-wise, the mid-70s were golden years for EMI, and the rhythmic verve, dramatic momentum, and unbuttoned joy that Previn and his brilliant forces project still pack a sonic wallop. The soloists especially are outstanding. Thomas Allen navigates Orff's cruelly high tessitura with no effort, and Sheila Armstrong wraps her warm, flexible pipes around ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:Remember all of the year-2000 nervousness in the latter part of 1999? That was nothing. As the year 1000 approached, people all over the Christian world were convinced that the Apocalypse--as depicted in the biblical Book of Revelation--and the end of the world were at hand. In one of the more interesting musical program ideas to be inspired by the turn of the calendrical odometer, Anonymous 4 revisits the original 'millennium madness' with a disc of chant from around the year 1000--specifically, a Mass for the Feast of the Ascension, ...
Editorial Product Review: :This compilation features excerpts from some of the greatest sacred works in the literature--including Bach's Mass in B Minor, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, and Verdi's Requiem--all led by Robert Shaw. The selections, from recordings made between 1983 and 1997 by Shaw and various ensembles including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, are presented more or less in order of their composition, from Vivaldi's Gloria to Arvo Pärt's Magnificat. Especially thrilling is the complete 'Gloria' from the Missa solemnis, 17 minutes of sheer grandeur, and the Sanctus movements from the Requiems of ...
Editorial Product Review: :This compilation features excerpts from some of the greatest sacred works in the literature--including Bach's Mass in B Minor, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, and Verdi's Requiem--all led by Robert Shaw. The selections, from recordings made between 1983 and 1997 by Shaw and various ensembles including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, are presented more or less in order of their composition, from Vivaldi's Gloria to Arvo Pärt's Magnificat. Especially thrilling is the complete 'Gloria' from the Missa solemnis, 17 minutes of sheer grandeur, and the Sanctus movements from the Requiems of ...
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.