Sing We Christmas
Christmas is the season for whipping out those holiday-specific standard recordings. This splendid gift by Chanticleer should top the list, for one will never tire of this a cappella choir's interpretations. With selections spanning the last five centuries of Latin, German, English, Spanish, and French festive fare, this recording exemplifies the sacrifice of the ego to the higher form of choral sound. Jacob Handl's 'Mirabile Mysterium' takes you on a trip into the chromatic ... Regular Price : $16.98
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Christmas with Chanticleer (Featuring Dawn Upshaw)
The absolute highlight here is Distler's setting of 'Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming', a fantasia based on the familiar tune. Dawn Upshaw's solo on the third verse is especially appealing.
Also especially notable is Healey Wilan's 'The Three Kings' with its hushed, reverent opening building to an ecstatic climax.
And also especially appealing is the 'Mary and the Baby Medley' which includes 'What Child Is This' along with a traditional German carol and two African-American ... Regular Price : $17.98
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Dreaming
He has done it again. The Dutch violinist has again brought us a wonderful upbeat CD with some light music and some more classical pieces. Especially check out 'Lost Heroes' which was composed by Andre and his brother to commemorate September 11. The words are by his wife Marjorie and the Dutch soprano Kelly God does a beautiful and sensitive rendition.
The Three Tenors Christmas
Resplendent in voice and manner, José Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti deliver 21 songs of traditional sacred music and secular numbers in a remarkable 1999 live recording from the opulent Viennese concert hall (Konzerthaus), with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and a renowned choir. The Three Tenors are practically as famous as the faces of Mount Rushmore and inspire perhaps even more awe and adulation around the world than the four presidents. The performances--whether ... Regular Price : $13.98
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Tabula Rasa
This seminal disc now almost seems like the manifesto for a whole new strain of minimalism that has found an enormously receptive audience. It represented a breakthrough for Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, whose music--like that of his European colleagues John Tavener and Henryk Górecki--pursues an austerely beautiful simplicity that suggests spiritual illumination. Fratres, given here in two versions, one for piano and violin and the other for 12 cellos, repeatedly intones a sequence ... Regular Price : $17.98
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Arias for Farinelli
'Farinelli' was the stage name for the greatest castrato--and arguably the greatest singer--of his era, the 1720s and '30s (he inspired the film of the same name ). His range was enormous--three octaves, by some reports--with a deep, resonant chest voice that was perfectly wedded to strong, sweet high notes. His breath control seemed superhuman, his ability to execute florid runs at high speeds astounded the audience, and he could leap from one octave to another as naturally and ... Regular Price : $17.98
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Sacred Treasures III: Choral Masterworks From Russia and Beyond
What could be more sublime than a wall of dark, rotund Russian voices shimmering against the rising, ornate walls of a great cathedral? Not much, and this compilation of absolutely magnificent music proves it. The label Hearts of Space returns on this third choral collection to the ominous Slavic chant of their first choral album, Sacred Treasures I, which gathered together recordings of stunning Bulgarian and Russian choirs portraying the sacred works of Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, and ... Regular Price : $16.98
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Sacred Treasures: Choral Masterworks from Russia
Although this collection intends to transport the soul, it has a tremendously potent low-end depth to it that earns high marks indeed in the worlds of vocal and liturgical music. Dmitri Bortniansky's 'Hymn of the Cherubim' is performed with a gracefulness that gets a warming fatness from the production, as does Alexander Gretchaninov's 'I Have Chosen the Blissful,' which travels with a ringing resonance. In a year of fine choral works--check out Sequentia's Hildegard cycle box, 900 ... Regular Price : $16.98
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The Pianist (Music from the Motion Picture)
I've never reviewed anything on Amazon until now. This beautiful soundtrack of the movie, The Pianist, is simply amazing. All the songs are of Frederic Chopin, except track 10. The nocturnes (meaning 'night song') in this soundtrack are filled with mystery, melancholy, remorse and even romance. Roman Polanski couldn't have found a better pianist, Janusz Olejniczak to honor Wladyslaw Szpilman and Frederic Chopin. The ballades are very uplifting, despite the darkness of the movie. ... Regular Price : $18.98
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Salvatore Licitra - The Debut
Tenor Salvatore Licitra recently made headlines when he stepped in at the last moment for the, sad to say, probably finished Luciano Pavarotti at the Metropolitan Opera's final Toscas of the season. In fact, there's little Licitra could have done wrong under the circumstances, but he was a great success, and judging from his recent Trovatore and this recital CD, he will be most welcome. The good-sized, somewhat dark-hued voice is appealing--and truly Italian--with an innate caressing ... Regular Price : $13.99
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