Editorial Product Review:Album Description:Corresponding with Trio Mediaeval's tenth anniversary, their fourth ECM album is a powerful and compelling recording of Norwegian folk songs. Performed in concert over the years, these songs are always received ecstatically - this is the album that Trio Mediaeval's fans have been waiting for. The infectious melodies and haunting harmonies of this music will communicate across categories to a very broad listenership. Joining the trio on several selections is percussionist Birger Mistereggen, a specialist in the Norwegian folk drumming tradition. The inclusion of percussion not only widens the sonic spectrum ...
Editorial Product Review: :Modern choral music for amateur singers may be America's biggest musical underground. That's the only explanation of why Grammy-nominated composer Morten Lauridsen can claim that his works are some of the most often-performed new pieces in years, although few among the East Coast intelligentsia have ever heard of him. Like the similarly popular John Rutter, Lauridsen inhabits an extremely conservative style directed simply and single-mindedly at showing off the beauty of choral singing while it illustrates inspiring texts. Unlike many of his fellow neo-Romantic conservatives, Lauridsen displays a brand of conservatism that ...
Editorial Product Review:Album Description:Dinnerstein's Goldberg Variations was recorded in the neoclassic auditorium of the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York in March 2005. The piano she plays, a 1903 Hamburg Steinway model D concert grand, was originally owned by the town council of Hull, in Northeast England. During World War II, Hull was extensively bombed and the town hall in which the piano was housed was severely damaged. The piano, however, survived intact and was used in a series of concerts after the war to restore Hull's spirit. In 2002, it was ...
Editorial Product Review:Album Description:This is the eagerly awaited final instalment of András Schiff's acclaimed complete Beethoven cycle. Collectors can now finally explore the extraordinary interpretative and editorial qualities of this cycle in full.Schiff's much-admired art of musical characterisation is particularly evident in these last six sonatas that combine dramatic and symphonic grandeur with intimate beauty. As Schiff completed his Beethoven performances at the Tonhalle in Zurich where all 8 volumes have been recorded live, a journalist wrote 'This was a Beethoven which transfixed the audience with its Apollonian balance, its subtly hued sonic and ...
Editorial Product Review: : Constantly exhorted to 'sing,' string players naturally try to emulate that most beautiful musical instrument, the human voice; no wonder they literally want to get their fingers on the treasures of the vocal repertoire. Joshua Bell has appropriated some of its best-loved songs and operatic arias, from Mozart through the romantics to Orff. Slow, sustained, lovely and yes, singing, these beguiling melodies and wide emotional range are eminently well suited to the violin. Credit for most of the arrangements is given to J.A.C. Redford, a well-known film and television composer, and ...
Editorial Product Review: : Constantly exhorted to 'sing,' string players naturally try to emulate that most beautiful musical instrument, the human voice; no wonder they literally want to get their fingers on the treasures of the vocal repertoire. Joshua Bell has appropriated some of its best-loved songs and operatic arias, from Mozart through the romantics to Orff. Slow, sustained, lovely and yes, singing, these beguiling melodies and wide emotional range are eminently well suited to the violin. Credit for most of the arrangements is given to J.A.C. Redford, a well-known film and television composer, and ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:Yo-Yo Ma might seem like an unlikely protagonist for the tango, but this intrepid musical explorer has taken his task seriously, collaborating with experienced tango musicians. Ma even participates in a posthumous collaboration with one 1987 Piazzolla recording. Furthermore, while he's obviously the headliner here, he doesn't dominate the arrangements nearly as much as he does the billing and photography of the disc. While the result isn't your essential Piazzolla album (that would have to include more of the composer's own playing), it's an atmospheric and convincing collection, perhaps a ...
Editorial Product Review:Album Description:Two of today's most charismatic and original violinists join forces for an all-new album of Vivaldi double concertos. This exciting repertory is given new life and energy by the two thrilling musicians. Giuliano Carmignola's last Vivaldi album of unrecorded violin concertos, released in 2006, went on to become a sparkling success. He continues to give revealing performances of Vivaldi that are both viscerally exciting and musically adventurous. As in previous releases, Carmignola is joined by Andrea Marcon and the Venice Baroque Orchestra--one of the finest Baroque ensembles performing today.
Editorial Product Review:Album Description:Two of today's most charismatic and original violinists join forces for an all-new album of Vivaldi double concertos. This exciting repertory is given new life and energy by the two thrilling musicians. Giuliano Carmignola's last Vivaldi album of unrecorded violin concertos, released in 2006, went on to become a sparkling success. He continues to give revealing performances of Vivaldi that are both viscerally exciting and musically adventurous. As in previous releases, Carmignola is joined by Andrea Marcon and the Venice Baroque Orchestra--one of the finest Baroque ensembles performing today.
Small and light enough for a shirt pocket, Samsung's Helix YX-M1 is a one-stop audio entertainment center with an XM radio, a digital music player, and room for 50 hours of tunes, but it comes up short on battery life.
