Editorial Product Review: :This elegantly packaged 10 disc retrospective surveys four decades of work by Philip Glass, from his earliest solo pieces to his world-renowned operas to his Oscar-nominated film scores. In music, words and pictures, it traces the evolution, as critic Tim Page puts it in his liner notes essay, of 'the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film and in popular music-simultaneously.' The long-awaited release of this set follows this past ...
Editorial Product Review: :You want relaxing classical music that'll soothe your soul but won't lull you into sleep? Here's a double CD for you. The Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World ... Ever! does its best to cover both well-worn classical favorites (Bach's 'Air on the G String,' Pachelbel's 'Cannon,' Debussy's 'Clair de Lune') and some eclectic left-field choices (an excerpt from Górecki's Symphony No. 3, Jocelyn Pook's 'Blow the Wind,' and Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. The performances of most of these excerpts are top-notch--artists ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:This album, which catapulted Polish composer Henryk Gorecki to into the international spotlight, takes texts born in pain and turns them into statements of affirmation through the use of music that ebbs and flows in mystic minimalism. The clear voice of soprano Dawn Upshaw, singing the Polish texts, is a large part of the success of this particular recording, but the music, contemporary without either dissonance or movie-music mawkishness, clarifies and uplifts the words. This is a moving and essential element of ...
Editorial Product Review: :The Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music includes professional recordings (many brand new) of all works in the anthology on two six-CD sets, of which this is volume 2.
Editorial Product Review: :The Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music includes professional recordings (many brand new) of all works in the anthology on two six-CD sets, of which this is volume 2.
Editorial Product Review: :Gorgeously recorded so that all of Shostakovich's eerieness of texture (and harps) can be heard, Haitink's performance of the Fifth symphony is pretty wonderful. The bare landscape of the first movement, with its lonely oboe solos, leads into the very Mahlerian, faux-fun second movement with creepy ease. The Largo is introverted but poignant, with handsome, sustained pianissimo playing, and the finale has great energy, but not quite enough of the grotesque--it's a bit too well-groomed. The Ninth, on the other hand, is ideal, with ...
Editorial Product Review: :Gorgeously recorded so that all of Shostakovich's eerieness of texture (and harps) can be heard, Haitink's performance of the Fifth symphony is pretty wonderful. The bare landscape of the first movement, with its lonely oboe solos, leads into the very Mahlerian, faux-fun second movement with creepy ease. The Largo is introverted but poignant, with handsome, sustained pianissimo playing, and the finale has great energy, but not quite enough of the grotesque--it's a bit too well-groomed. The Ninth, on the other hand, is ideal, with ...
Editorial Product Review: :Gorgeously recorded so that all of Shostakovich's eerieness of texture (and harps) can be heard, Haitink's performance of the Fifth symphony is pretty wonderful. The bare landscape of the first movement, with its lonely oboe solos, leads into the very Mahlerian, faux-fun second movement with creepy ease. The Largo is introverted but poignant, with handsome, sustained pianissimo playing, and the finale has great energy, but not quite enough of the grotesque--it's a bit too well-groomed. The Ninth, on the other hand, is ideal, with ...
Editorial Product Review: :Gorgeously recorded so that all of Shostakovich's eerieness of texture (and harps) can be heard, Haitink's performance of the Fifth symphony is pretty wonderful. The bare landscape of the first movement, with its lonely oboe solos, leads into the very Mahlerian, faux-fun second movement with creepy ease. The Largo is introverted but poignant, with handsome, sustained pianissimo playing, and the finale has great energy, but not quite enough of the grotesque--it's a bit too well-groomed. The Ninth, on the other hand, is ideal, with ...
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.
