Chinese Garden [Import]

1. Garden Of The Angels

2. Zen

3. Silk Road

4. Chinese Impression

5. Lotos Garden

6. Thai Chi

7. Harmony Of Life

8. Chinese Garden

Tracks:

The Man from Snowy River (Bruce Rowland)
The Winds of War (Bob Cobert)
Blue Velvet (Angelo Badalamenti)
Witness (Maurice Jarre)
Raising Arizona (Carter Burwell)
Pee Wees Big Adventure (Danny Elfman)
Halloween (John Carpenter)
A Nightmare On Elm Street (Charles Bernstein)
The Fly (Howard Shore)
RoboCop (Basil Poledouris)
The Empire Strikes Back (John Williams)
The Right Stuff (Bill Conti)
The Final Conflict (Jerry Goldsmith)
The Abyss (Alan Silvestri)
Brainstorm (James Horner)
Peggy Sue Got Married (John Barry)
My Left Foot (Elmer Bernstein)
The Dead (Alex North)
Stanley & Iris (John Williams)
The Milagro Beanfield War (Dave Grusin)
Driving Miss Daisy (Hans Zimmer)

Tracks:

Steel Magnolias (Georges Delerue)
Unforgiven (Lennie Niehaus and Clint Eastwood)
Raggedy Man (Jerry Goldsmith)
The Grifters (Elmer Bernstein)
Green Card (Hans Zimmer)
City Slickers (Marc Shaiman)
Father Of The Bride (Alan Silvestri)
While You Were Sleeping (Randy Edelman)
Babe (Nigel Westlake)
The Adventures Of The Great Mouse Detective (Henry Mancini)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (Laurence Rosenthal)
The Secret Garden (Zbigniew Preisner)
A Little Princess (Patrick Doyle)
Rudy (Jerry Goldsmith)
Iron Will (Joel McNeely)
Memphis Belle (George Fenton)
Eye Of The Needle (Mikl)
Total Recall (Jerry Goldsmith)
Back To The Future Part III (Alan Silvestri)

Tracks:

To Die For (Danny Elfman)
The Player (Thomas Newman)
Black Robe (Georges Delerue)
Medicine Man (Jerry Goldsmith)
2001 (Alex North)
Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire (Joel McNeely)
The Crow (Graeme Revell)
Blade (Mark Isham)
The Omen (Jerry Goldsmith)
Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann)
Scream (Marco Beltrami)
The Sixth Sense (James Newton Howard)
Xena: Warrior Princess (Joseph LoDuca)
Air Force One (Jerry Goldsmith)
Starship Troopers (Basil Poledouris)
The Matrix (Don Davis)
The Iron Giant (Michael Kamen)
Youve Got Mail (George Fenton)
A Little Romance (Georges Delerue)
Pleasantville (Randy Newman)

Tracks:

Sunset Boulevard (Franz Waxman)
L.A. Confidential (Jerry Goldsmith)
Rounders (Christopher Young)
The Score (Howard Shore)
The Replacements (John Debney)
Gone In 60 Seconds (Trevor Rabin)
The Bourne Identity (John Powell)
Rush Hour 2 (Lalo Schifrin)
XXX (Randy Edelman)
Die Hard (Michael Kamen)
The Last of the Mohicans (Trevor Jones)
Moby Dick (Christopher Gordon)
The Mists Of Avalon (Lee Holdridge)
Cleopatra (Alex North)
Life As A House (Mark Isham)
Emma (Rachel Portman)
In The Bedroom (Thomas Newman)
Cast Away (Alan Silvestri)
One True Thing (Cliff Eidelman)
Unfaithful (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek)
Far From Heaven (Elmer Bernstein)
Ice Age (David Newman)
Shrek (Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell)

Customer Reviews:

A good value.......2007-05-17

I wasn't expecting to have 4 discs for this price, and the music is a quality selection of film music, giving a good scope of the genre, and a very listenable transfer.

The Sound Track Since Bernard Hermann.......2006-07-25

This collection is bound to capture your heart and evoke a tin ear on successive tracks. I found much to like and some duds - easy to skip over.
Very good value.

Good mix of film music.......2006-07-02

Good mix of films!
I'm a big fan of this soundtrack music and will be looking for more CD's like this.

A mixed collection of movie music.......2006-02-23

For the price, this CD is a great bargain. The musical selections, as you might expect, are mixed in quality ranging from extraordinary to so so, the balance being worthwhile and interesting. Sonically the CD is excellent.

Uplifts your soul, takes your mind into the heavens.......2006-01-06

I have been listening to great scores for many years and this collection is truly inspirational in so far as the choice of different scores takes you on a journey of listening pleasure matched by only a few collections.The price is incredibly reasonable for hours of listening pleasure. Don't pass this one up

In A Monastery Garden: The Immortal Works Of Ketelbey

Average customer rating:

Ketelbey must have influenced the great film soundtrack composers
Buy This

In A Monastery Garden: The Immortal Works Of Ketelbey

Manufacturer: Polygram Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Albert W. Ketélbey: In a Persian Market; In a Monastery Garden; etc.
Waldteufel: Famous Waltzes
Ketelbey: In a Persian Market; In a Monastery Garden; In a Chinese Temple Garden
Lehár: Waltzes
Viennese Violin: The Romantic Music of Lehár, Kreisler & Strauss

ASIN: B000004279
Release Date: 1996-01-08

Tracks:

In A Monastery Garden - Royal Philh. Orch. & Chorus
Wedgwood Blue - Royal Philh. Orch. & Chorus
In The Mystic Land Of Egypt - Royal Philh. Orch. & Chorus
Bells Across The Meadows - Royal Philh. Orch. & Chorus
In A Chinese Temple Garden - Royal Philh. Orch. & Chorus
Sanctuary Of The Heart - Royal Philh. Orch. & Chorus
'Appy' Ampstead - Royal Philh. Orch. & Chorus
The Phantom Melody - Royal Philh. Orch. & Chorus
In A Persian Market - Royal Philh. Orch. & Chorus
Hejre Kati - London Festival Orch
Berceuse De Jocelyn - London Festival Orch
Valse Sentimentale - London Festival Orch
Fetes Tziganes - London Festival Orch
Meditation - London Festival Orch
Im Chambre Separee - London Festival Orch
Garden Scene - London Festival Orch
None But The Lonely Heart - London Festival Orch
Czardas - London Festival Orch

Customer Reviews:

Ketelbey must have influenced the great film soundtrack composers .......2006-09-02

I can see how this music might have been used as accompaniment to a showing of the silent film "Thief of Baghdad", or "The Sheik", or any one of those swashbucklers. Not that the exotic was all that Ketelbey indulged in, as this CD will reveal. I recommend it highly. And for those interested in historical recordings, try the 1921 Peerless Orchestra recording of "Monastery Garden", which is part of the Library of Congress archive and which is available to listen to or to download for free as a .wav file at [...]. This is the website for Birmingham, England, the composer's birthplace.

Buy This.......2006-07-11

This music helped me to be totally relaxe and completely entertained.
Of particular interest for me was "Wedgewood Blue" and "Meditation", both performed beautifully.
I highly recommend this imported German CD and add that, due to the rarity of some of the tracks, it is a good idea to not delay.

Ketelbey: In a Persian Market; In a Monastery Garden; In a Chinese Temple Garden

Average customer rating:

An excellent piece of work. Go buy it NOW!!!!!
I listened to Ketelbey's music as a child

Ketelbey: In a Persian Market; In a Monastery Garden; In a Chinese Temple Garden

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

In A Monastery Garden: The Immortal Works Of Ketelbey
Albert W. Ketélbey: In a Persian Market; In a Monastery Garden; etc.

ASIN: B0000040VG
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

In A Chinese Temple Garden - Ambrosian Chor/John McCarthy
In A Monastery Garden - Ambrosian Chor/John McCarthy
Sanctuary Of The Heart - London Promenade Orch/Alexander Faris
Bank Holiday - London Promenade Orch/Alexander Faris
Dance Of The Merry Mascots - Michael Reeves
In A Persian Market - Ambrosian Chor/John McCarthy
In The Mystic Land Of Egypt - Laurence Dale/Ambrosian Chor/John McCarthy
Bells Across The Meadows - London Promenade Orch/Alexander Faris
The Clock And The Dresden Figures - Michael Reeves
With Honour Crowned - London Promenade Orch/Alexander Faris

Customer Reviews:

An excellent piece of work. Go buy it NOW!!!!!.......2004-11-26

I was introduced to Ketelbey's work by the late Guillermo Figueroa of the famous Figueroa Family group from Puerto Rico. In the few couple of years I worked assisting him, then the conductor for a Youth Chamber Music Orchestra, Don Guillermo helped me rediscover good classical and contemporary music, and introduced me to some great works like the one in review. The recordings are old school but the music is haunting, timeless and beautiful. I highly recommend this cd, and like Don Guillermo told me about 10 years ago: "Give it a chance, you don't have to be a great musician to appreciate great music"
How right was He!

I listened to Ketelbey's music as a child.......1999-02-22

These songs are emblazoned on my soul ever since my mother (now 82) played them for my sister and I. Each every cut (on her 33rpm album now unplayable for years of listening) left mystical moments and cherished memories for us all. Would love to be able to purchase 2 more copies if the label re-released "In a Persian Market, etc./Faris, London Proms". Anyone looking for a treasury of magical soul-lifting music should be sure to purchase this classic.

Average customer rating:

Good selections

Ballet: Greatest Hits

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0009XFJ2M
Release Date: 2005-08-09

Tracks:

Scene - Zubin Mehta
Valse - Zubin Mehta
Dance Of The Little Swans - Zubin Mehta
Scene - Zubin Mehta
Valse Lente - David Zinman
Divertissement: Pizzicati - London Symphony Orchestra
Variations De Cleopatre - David Zinman
Les Troyennes - David Zinman
Pas D'Action - Vienna Philharmonic
Waltz - Vienna Philharmonic
Prelude - David Zinman
Valse - David Zinman
Dance Of The Hours - Sir Georg Solti
The Swan - English Chamber Orchestra
Coffee (Arabian Dance) - Antal Dorati
Tea (Chinese Dance) - Antal Dorati
Trepak (Russian Dance) - Antal Dorati
Dance Of The Reed Pipes - Antal Dorati
Waltz Of The Flowers - Antal Dorati

Customer Reviews:

Good selections.......2007-01-07

The volume is very low on some sections. The music is nice otherwise.

Average customer rating:

Märta Schéle Sings

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000001668
Release Date: 1995-12-12

Tracks:

I. La Fl De Pan - Marta Schele
II. La Chevelure - Marta Schele
III. Le Tombeau Des Naiades - Marta Schele
1. La Violette/2. La Begonia/3. Les Fritillaires/4. Les Jacinthes... - Marta Schele/Elisif Lunden
I. Chanson De La Mariee - Marta Schele
II. La-bas, Vers L'eglise - Marta Schele
III. Quel Galant M'est Comparable - Marta Schele
IV. Chanson Des Cueilleuses - Marta Schele
V. Tout Gai! - Marta Schele
Auf Dem Strome - Albert Linder
I. The Big Chariot (The Book Of Songs) - Josef Holecek
II. The Old Lute (Po Chu-i) - Josef Holecek
III. The Autumn Wind (Wu-ti) - Josef Holecek
IV. The Herd-Boy (Lu Yu) - Josef Holecek
V. Depression (Po Chu-i) - Josef Holecek
VI. Dance Song (The Book Of Songs) - Josef Holecek
I. When The Morning Of Life Had Passed - Josef Holecek
II. Wrung With Anguish - Josef Holecek
III. Only In God I Trust - Josef Holecek
IV. Drink Deep, My Friend - Josef Holecek
V. Dull And Sad Is The Sky - Josef Holecek
VI. The Garden Dons A Coat Of Many Hues - Josef Holecek

Delius: Piano Concerto; Ravel: Jeux d'eau; Debussy: Clair de lune

Average customer rating:

A great Russian pianist of former times.
This series continues and adds a real rarity

Delius: Piano Concerto; Ravel: Jeux d'eau; Debussy: Clair de lune

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Moiseiwitsch Plays Rachmaninov, Medtner, Kabalevsky, Khachaturian
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Great Pianists: Moiseiwitsch 2
Moiseiwitsch: Grieg Piano Concerto

ASIN: B00007DWLO
Release Date: 2003-01-21

Customer Reviews:

A great Russian pianist of former times........2003-07-02

Unlike Artur Schnabel, who scorned the giving of encores at his recitals, Benno Moiseiwitsch was very generous in providing delectable extras at the end of his recitals. I can remember such recitals, the delight that Moiseiwitsch took in sharing favorite miniatures with his audience and, in particular, Moiseiwitsh as soloist in the best performance I have ever heard of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto.

This concerto is not heard here, but there is a sympathetic and lyrical performance of the rarely heard Delius Piano Concerto. The rest of the program comprises a cosmopolitan and interesting collection of smaller recital pieces, recorded between 1925 and 1950. Listen to the slightly abridged performance of Godowsky's "Die Fledermaus" concert paraphrase and you'll think you are listening to several pianists and several pianolas at work. I especially like the cultured, controlled performance of Debussy's "Clair de lune". Audio quality, sometimes of demonstration quality at the time the recordings were first issued, is top class in this Ward Marston restoration. Sometimes more surface noise is heard than in other reissues of these items, but that makes me feel (and believe) that I am hearing a full reproduction of the original recording. This is the sixth Moiseiwitsch CD in a Naxos "Great Pianists" series, a series I can heartily recommend.

This series continues and adds a real rarity.......2003-02-25

This is the sixth of the Moisewitsch reissues on Naxos. It contains mostly short pieces often played by him as encores. This release contains a couple of high points, for me. The Ravel 'Jeux d'eaux,' while not one of my favorite pieces, is played to a fare-the-well here by Moisewitsch.

By far the most interesting thing here is the Delius Piano Concerto with Constant Lambert conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, recorded in 1946. First of all, the Delius is a rarity in itself. Second, Moisewitsch, who championed this concerto throughout his career, plays it lovingly and makes as much as can be made of this admittedly somewhat loosely constructed piece. And if you're a Delius fan - and you know who you are - you must have this performance.

Tracks:

Symphony No. 4: Indian Rose Garden
Symphony No. 4: Chinese Witch's Lake
Symphony No. 5: Allegro --
Symphony No. 5: Allegro feroce --
Symphony No. 5: Andante --
Symphony No. 5: Allegro feroce

Customer Reviews:

A haunting "Wolfli-period" work along with the composer's most puzzling symphony.......2006-07-18

This Chandos disc contains performances of the fourth and fifth symphonies by contemporary Danish composer Per Norgard, performed by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam. "Symphony No. 4" is one of Norgard's most accessible works, eerie though it is, while "Symphony No. 5" is undoubtedly the most enigmatic of his myriad works to date.

"Symphony No. 4: Indian Rose Garden and Chinese Witch's Lake" (1981) is based on the art of Adolf Wolfli, a madman locked up in a Bern asylum from 1896 who produced hundreds of remarkable drawings in a superbly original style. Norgard's embarking on a Wolfli-inspired period in 1979 is seen as such a profound break from his writing up to that point that in order to really put the Fourth in perspective one first has to understand what came before.

In the 1970s Norgard's music was based on the "infinity series", a method of serializing melody that created fractal-like self-similarity between all instrumental lines. I'll take the the second movement of his "Voyage into the Golden Screen" as an example: Norgard writes the entirety with the infinity series: a given melody is played by the flutes in what can be called "normal time", while the oboes play every fourth note, the trumpets every 64th note, and tubular bells, trombones, and piano ever 256th note. As a result, the very same music can be heard at many different speeds depending on which orchestral group one concentrates on, and if one listens to the music as a whole one hears a blissful succession of notes that is predictable enough to be easily accessible yet contains many surprises. The unity of all elements also presented a strong spiritual feeling for this metaphysically-inclined composer.

In "Symphony No. 4", the writing has changed in a slight way that has profound consequences: there is repetition of elements, and several little motifs are heard again and again, a good reflection of the psychotic art Norgard took as a model. However, the repetition is limited to one plane, there is no overarching, slower form. With this breaking of the unity of the whole, Norgard has gone from cosmic oneness to fearful isolation, loneliness, torment, and despair. In terms of sound, the warm, fuzzy cloud of the infinity series gives way to cold, crystalline blocks of sound. The first movement, "Indian Rose Garden" is slow and meditative, and marked by a motif based on the call of the European robin which gives rise to other motifs, hides, and then appears again in full. Among the idyllic forest of orchestration, there is an unmistakable howl of pain here and there. "Chinese Witch's Lake", the second movement, breaks in violently without a pause, and is an expression of rage and catastrophe. The falling apart of the natural order is symbolised by the incoherent mixing of quotations from popular melodies, Nielsen, and other Norgard works. The Fourth is powerful stuff, and contains an wealth of new ideas to explore with each listening. The orgiastic Third is often considered Norgard's finest symphony, and justly so, but I find this hommage to the tortured soul of Wolfli to be thought-provoking and poignant enough to merit more attention that it is has received.

The "Symphony No. 5" (1986-1990, rev. 1992) is already somewhat infamous among Norgard fans. The listener at once notices that it presents brand-new concepts which up until that point had not preoccupied the composer, such as large orchestral arpeggios, tone lakes, and massive orchestral movements that bring the sound up so high it seems to dissipate like smoke. Interference tones are exploited as well, as when one of the percussionists blows through a pair of dog-whistles, producing a tone that would be inaudible on its own. There's also a significant use of quotation, for the symphony refers to the composer's third and first symphonies, and at one point the popular tune "Jingle Bells" shows up. However, while Norgard is certainly looking back here, there's no real synthesis of all his various techniques to date. Such a fusion he succeeded in making in the sixth symphony.

So the listener is immediately dazzled by the technical inventiveness and striking colour of the piece, but on hearing the form as a whole bafflement sets in. What exactly is he doing here? A common venture is that this is a symphony about writing a symphony. It consists of a series of bold musical propositions that leap out, only to collapse into shocking silences as if they form a musical dead-end. All in all, I'm left scratching my head. I like this piece, it sounds wonderful, but I just don't get it at all.

The fifth certainly should be the last symphony the Norgard fan encounters, as it assumes prior knowledge of the "Sinfonia Austera" and the Symphony No. 3, which latter work is his masterpiece and makes for an ideal introduction to the composer. Still, both the 4th and the 5th are interesting pieces, and collecting all of Norgard's symphonies are highly recommended.

Schizophrenic Fourth, Enigmatic Fifth.......2003-03-18

I've held off reviewing these two symphonies from my Norgard cache until now...mostly because after several listenings they still elude me a bit. While I found the 1st and 2nd symphonies immediately appealing...the 6th quite haunting and the 3rd overwhelming, I am somewhat of a loss on these two, particularly the 5th. After more than a dozen listenings, here is the best I can do for review.

The Norgard 4th has grown on me...it took alot of time, but it has grown. The symphony was the product of Norgard's fascination with the schizophrenic artist, poet and composer Adolf Wolfli. Wolfli was committed to an asylum early in his life and spent the remainder of his days creating a world in which he voyaged, quite literally. A search on the artist reveals almost mandala like artistic designs, maps for his inner worlds. Wolfli left sketches for a music book in his papers after he died. The musical notation has never been deciphered, but Norgard used it as a springboard for his symphony.

The work is in two movements (by now typical for Norgard) It begins with another typical Norgard gesture...the descending scale passage. Soon the first movement - the Rose Garden - begins to take shape. It is dominated by a short motif based on fourths. This motif, which is based on a bird call, is introduced by a solo violin and expanded both texturally and harmonically...blurring into what Norgard calls tone lakes. The movement is mostly light, not tonal, but light, but it is streaked with darker and more dissonant moments. By contrast, the second movement - Chinese Witch's Lake - is violent and dark, but relieved by moments of brightness recalling the first movement. As you listen and gain familiariety with the work, it becomes deeper and deeper. It ends up having almost Jungian overtones.

I wish I could say that the 5th symphony has won me over as well, but I can't. The work is enigmatic to say the least. While the orchestration reveals Norgard as one of the great colorists of the 20th century, the material is difficult. This is Norgard at his most "modern". The language is harsh and dissonant, which for me is not necessarily a condemnation. But it also is fragmented and disjointed, something that you cannot say about other Norgard works. It doesn't have the organic unity that makes the 2nd and 3rd such attractive works and keeps even the more modernist 6th together. I may change my opinion of the work over time, but right now it is my least favorite of the Norgard symphonies.

So, yes, these are symphonies worth hearing, and perhaps worth owning, as one listening will not reveal everything they have to offer. But they are not the best introduction to the composer. For that, I recommend the 3rd symphony. That is the composer's masterpiece.

Symphonies to slice your ear off to........2002-09-04

Now that the Norgard symphony cycle on Chandos has reached the end of the day, I'll slowly go back and review the previous installments. This issue is the one that will separate the men from the boys, and marks a turning point in Norgard's career, when he discovered the outsider artist Adolf Wolfli and opened himself to a world of unendurable psychic torment that couldn't be more opposed to the 3rd symphony's almost utopic celebration of the brotherhood of man. Norgard himself describes the 3rd as an "apotheosis," but quickly defuses any sense of egomania by adding that one must know when to let the moment of glory slide from view, and when to accept "more severe challenges." In other words, not everything can be Beethoven's 9th, a truism that people are still, sadly, loath to accept.

Well, the 4th symphony is pretty severe, even though it seems like a mere jog around the block in comparison to its wicked bedfellow. It is divided into two parts: "Indian Rose Garden" and "Chinese Witch's Lake," and Norgard says that the music swings between "idyll and catastrophe." A first-time listener can be forgiven for thinking, "This all sounds pretty catastrophic to me." There is an Ivesian moment in the 2nd movement when the heartstopping theme from Nielsen's Inextinguishable symphony rises up, only to be just as promptly quashed by squelching brass. This is the only predictable moment in any Norgard symphony, certainly the only feint at Schnittkean polystylism. Unlike Schnittke or most modern practictioners of queasy expressionism, however, Norgard convinces you that he is the first man since Achilles who has been allowed to return from the gates of Hades. What sets him apart, as always, is the total inevitability of every parcel of sound -- the spiritual impetus, the sheer NEED behind all this music is palpable. Unlike most avant-garde music, there is no affectation, no sense that he wants to rub your bourgeois nose in the dirt and expose you to unpleasant truths that you usually blot out with TV and junk food. However, far from being counterrevolutionary, this sense of a private act being carried out in public, of a titanic and unique individuality rising up out of the morass of stupidity that surrounds us on all sides, makes Norgard seem downright Shakespearean.

Norgard certainly confirms himself as a Prospero-like conjurer who makes invisible processes real with his 5th symphony. The 5th, despite what Norgard says, is another apotheosis, although what it apotheosizes cannot be mentioned in polite company. It ain't the hosts of heaven. It starts with one of those characteristically swirling Norgardian anti-melodies ( Norgard not unjustifiably claims to have invented a new kind of melody ) that makes you feel like the flimsy cardboard set we call "reality" has just been blown down by a gust of wind, leaving you floating in a sea of stars. Surely Norgard had another famous 5th in mind when he opened his own with such a flamboyant gesture.

What follows WILL be initially disappointing, no matter how well-disposed or open-minded you are. At first it seems to be almost a symphony about writing a symphony, with all the hesitations, false starts, and cul-de-sacs that that entails. But familiarity, far from breeding contempt, will bring abundant rewards. This free-form symphony, like Henze's 6th, takes the innovations of Varese to places Varese never dreamed of. In Henze's case, revolutionary Castro-worship; in Norgard's, to the outer limits of self-devouring paranoia and the startling visions that come with excessive solitude, when your dream-friends stand by your bedside with their large snouts and mock you in foreign tongues. It is inexhaustible, eternally mutable and the most deeply, genuinely disturbing music on earth. Hopefully no one out there relates to it like I do, but I suspect they might...

More Amazing Norgard.......2000-08-03

Here is a continuation of Chandos's marvellous series of Norgard symphonies with this orchestra and conductor. In the Fourth and Fifth symphonies, the composer ventures into new territory entirely. Although the immense range of colours and textures are familiar from the Third symphony, they are put to entirely new purposes; where the Third was single-minded and monumental, these are far more turbulent, fragmented and expressionistic. Much of the music seems to be operating in inaudible, parallel universes - there are places in the Fifth symphony, for instance, where the sounds become higher and higher in pitch until they literally vanish into the stratosphere, to appear a little later at the very bottom of the orchestra - as if the pitch spectrum were a circular, not linear at all (!). All of this goes together with a new fascination with 'unmusical' sounds like bird calls, flexatone, and unpitched sounds on conventional instruments, sounds that speak rather than singing. The playing of the Danish National RSO and the beautifully detailed sound capture every detail of Norgard's strange and highly original symphonic world.

Average customer rating:

Sounds of the Circus - Volume 19

Manufacturer: Sounds of the Circus
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Classic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Sounds of the Circus Vol. 18
Sounds of the Circus - Volume 27

ASIN: B000063XII
Release Date: 2001-01-25

Tracks:

Circus Orientale
Folies-Bergere
In A Chinese Temple Garden
Anniversary Song
Teeterboard #3 - Fantaisie Hongroise
Conquest
Siboney
A Bag of Rags
Zacatecas
They're Off Galop
Pink Panther
Blaze Away
Sabre Dance
A Night in June
El Cumbanchero
Tiger Rag
Caravan
Wichita Beacon
There's No Business Like Show Business

Album Description

Here is pure unadulterated music from the circus ring performed by 25 enthusiastic musicians. Minor inaccuracies have purposely not been corrected or edited from the original recording to give you all the spontaneity of a live performance.

Tracks:

Dumka, Op. 59 - Vladmir Horowitz
Liebestotschaft - Vladmir Horowitz
Carmen Vars - Vladmir Horowitz
Etude in e flat, Op. 10, No. 6 - Vladmir Horowitz
Etude in c, Op. 25, No. 12 - Vladmir Horowitz
Danse Macabre, Op. 40 - Vladmir Horowitz
Flirtation in A Chinese Garden - Abram Chasins
Rush-Hour In Hong Kong - Abram Chasins
A Shanghai Tragedy - Abram Chasins
Liebeswalzer, Op. 57, No. 5 - Shura Cherkassky
Rigoletto Paraphrase - Shura Cherkassky
Prld Pathetique - Shura Cherkassky
Polka De W.R. - Shura Cherkassky
Var On La Ci Darem La Mano, Op. 2 - Robert Goldsand

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