Traditional Voices

1. Acoma Song of the Sky City - Ed Lee Natay

2. Taos Pueblo Horse Tail Dance

3. Zuni Buffalo Dance

4. Prisoner's Song [Tewa]

5. Hopi Basket Dance

6. Hopi Butterfly Dance

7. Navajo (Dine) Gift Dance Song - Joe Lee

8. Navajo (Dine) Yei-Be-Chai Chant

9. Ute Bear Dance - Eddie Box, , ,

10. Mescalero Trail [San Carlos Apache] - Murphy Cassa, Patsy Cassadore

11. Apache Mountain Spirit Dance

12. Mountain by the Sea [Pima]

13. Song of the Green Rainbow (Tohono O'Odham)

14. Peyote Ceremonial Song

15. Shawnee Stomp Dance

16. Four Corners [Shawnee]

17. Kiowa Round Dance

18. Kiowa Medium Fast War Dance

19. Past Cheyenne War Dance (Southern Cheyenne)

20. Oklahoma Round Dance [Southern Cheyenne]

See all 30 tracks on this disc

Tracks:

Carmen Suite Medley
Snow Maiden, Dance Of The Birds
William Tell Overture, 'Lone Ranger'
Flight Of The Bumblebee
Humpty Dumpty/Child's Verse Medley
The Bartered Bride, Furiant
Minute Waltz
Gaite Parisienne, Vivo
Hey Diddle Diddle
Wellington's Victory, Op.91, 'England'
Wellington's Victory, Op.91, 'Victory Finale'
Swan Lake, Waltz
Old MacDonald Had A Farm
Happy Farmer
Farmer In The Dell
Jack & Jill
Symphony No.4
Dance Of The Hours
The Bartered Bride, Skokna
Voices Of Spring, Waltz

Product Description

The Playtime Music Box music CD is a 20-track, 31-minute concert featuring a collection of up-beat classical melodies and traditional song favorites to inspire your little one to dance, clap and play! Each delightful piece was specially selected and produced to bring musical fun to any activity - playtime, travel time, tummy time and more. Playtime Music Box includes classical pieces such as Rossini's ?Ç£William Tell Overture?Ç¥ and Schumann's ?Ç£Happy Farmer,?Ç¥ as well as ?Ç£Old MacDonald Had a Farm.?Ç¥Musical Selections:1. Carmen Suite, Medley, G. Bizet2. Snow Maiden, Danse des Oiseaux, N. Rimsky-Korsakov3. William Tell Overture, G. Rossini4. Flight of the Bumblebee, N. Rimsky-Korsakov5. Humpty Dumpty, W. Weisbach (traditional verse)6. The Bartered Bride Suite, Furiant, B. Smetana7. Minute Waltz, F. Chopin8. Gaite Parisienne, Vivo, J. Offenbach9. Hey Diddle Diddle, W. Weisbach (traditional verse)10. Wellington's Victory, Op 91, England, L. Beethoven11. Wellington's Victory, Op 91, Victory Finale, L. Beethoven12. Swan Lake, Waltz, P. Tchaikovsky13. Old MacDonald Had a Farm, traditional14. Happy Farmer, R. Schumann15. Farmer in the Dell, traditional16. Jack & Jill, W. Weisbach (traditional verse)17. Symphony No. 4, Italian, F. Mendelssohn18. Dance of the Hours, A. Ponchielli19. The Bartered Bride Suite, Skocna, B. Smetana20. Voices of Spring, Waltz, J. Strauss IIAge: birth +

Customer Reviews:

Woo Hoo!.......2007-05-07

This is by far the best CD in the Baby Einstein collection--it will put your toddler in hyperactive playful mode and exhaust you as you try to keep up. But for today's overweight, tv- and game- addicted children, this is great!

Einstein.......2007-04-09

Anything that has an Einstein in the title my twins love. I used to play this for them at night while they slept.

The baby danced........2007-03-09

I gave Baby Einstein: Playtime Music Box to a little boy on his first birthday. He loves it and dances and dances to the music.

A Lot of Fun for Playtime.......2006-01-04

This CD is a lot of fun. The music is bubbly and upbeat and makes you want to get up and dance or just jump around. It's a great way to spend some play time with your kids. And the classical music exposure is a bonus.

Synthesized dreck.......2005-08-13

Why did the producers use synthesizers for this music? It's awful. It's possible to hook kids on classical music using the actual instruments written for it - that's how I got hooked. That's what Mel Blanc and Disney did in their cartoons, Bugs Bunny and Fantasia. I do NOT recommend this CD to anyone. It was a shower gift. If you are not familiar with classical music, then I recommend "Baby Needs Beethoven", which is a collection of music using real instruments (albeit shortened - no full length symphonies here).

Average customer rating:

An old favorite of mine.
folk ambrosia straight from the taproot - drink deep, my friend.
An amazing album
One of Nanci's best
One of My Very Favorite Albums of All Time

Other Voices, Other Rooms
Nanci Griffith
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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From a Distance: The Very Best of Nanci Griffith
Flyer
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The Last of the True Believers

ASIN: B000002HCF
Release Date: 1993-03-02

Tracks:

Across The Great Divide - Emmylou Harris
Woman Of The Phoenix - Vince Bell
Tecumseh Valley - Arlo Guthrie
Three Flights Up
Boots Of Spanish Leather
Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness - John Prine
From Clare To Here - Pete Cummins
Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound
Do Re Mi - Guy Clark
This Old Town
Comin' Down In The Rain - Lee Satterfield
10 Degrees and Getting Colder
Morning Song For Sally
Night Rider's Lament
Are You Tired Of Me Darling
Turn Around
Wimoweh - Odetta

Amazon.com essential recording

During the '80s, Texas singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith graduated from modest folk celebrity to find herself signed to a major label and making thoughtful, better-heeled studio albums that were critical favorites but commercial anomalies in the country market where she was initially positioned. This 1993 project finds her returning to her roots, reunited with the producer behind his earlier folk triumphs, Jim Rooney. Taking its title from Truman Capote's first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms is a gentle but whip-smart anthology of excellent songs from acknowledged masters (Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Woody Guthrie, the Carter Family, the Weavers, Gordon Lightfoot) and lesser-known but hardly less-skilled writers including Kate Wolf, Frank Christian, and Vince Bell. Griffith's clear-eyed vocals and unswerving intelligence are well served by members of her own band, augmented by vocal cameos from a roomful of fellow folk veterans including Prine, Arlo Guthrie, the Indigo Girls, and John Gorka, among others. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews:

An old favorite of mine........2007-05-12

I discovered this album in my Aunt's car on a camping trip. It has some really good songs on it. After acquiring my original copy of "Other Voices/Other Rooms," I eventually bought all of Nanci's other albums, but I still think that this is her best album. It's a great album to listen to when cooking in the kitchen, taking a nap, doing housework, riding in the car, or just about anytime.

I really love the songs on this album. "Night Rider's Lament," is one of my favorite songs to sing around the campfire when I go camping.

"Turn Around," was written by the late Malvina Reynolds. And before Nanci sang it, it used to be part of a Kodak ad on TV. I submitted Nanci's version of that song to my High School's "Senior Slide Show," and although they didn't like it, my Aunt used that very same version for her daughter's graduation slide show.

I actually saw Nanci in concert at the Kennedy center in 2001, 3 years after discovering her. It was worth the wait!

So go ahead and buy yourself a copy of this album. You will not be sorry.

folk ambrosia straight from the taproot - drink deep, my friend........2006-05-17

This music is soul balm. Every song here is searingly gorgeous. Each an American classic, simply yet elegantly delivered by one of the lushest female voices in the business. With just a touch of Texas twang.

I own Nanci's greatest hits album, as well. It's good, but I have to say that this album is better, since the songs here are just transcendant. I'm unfamiliar with her other albums, but based on these two, I can assure you I intend eventually to collect everything she's ever done.

I really encourage you to buy this album. If you like folk or country, you absolutely will not regret it.

An amazing album.......2005-04-29

Need I say more? I adore this CD - not only do you get Nanci Griffith at her best, you also get guesting with her - Emmylou Harris, the Indigo Girls, Arlo Guthrie, Odetta, John Prine and even Bob Dylan on harmonica on her brilliant version of the Dylan classic BOOTS OF SPANISH LEATHER! This is her first covers album and the better of the two I think, but only just! ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE, a Kate Wolf song, has some beautiful harmonies in the vocals. TECUMSEH VALLEY is another of the strongest tracks and is both a joy but heart-wrenching as well as you listen to the lyrics. If you read Nanci's book OTHER VOICES - A PERSONAL HISTORY OF FOLK MUSIC then you will appreciate these songs even more and maybe be inspired to check out the original versions. DO RE MI is a fun, uptempo track orignally done by Woody Guthrie. SPEED OF THE SOUND OF LONELINESS has been much covered and is another live favourite with a repetitive but infectious riff throughout. FROM CLARE TO HERE is a true classic - orginally done by Ralph McTell, which shows there's more than just the Streets of London for this guy - this one has some Celtic sounds thrown in for effect and works well. NIGHT RIDER'S LAMENT is an old cowboy song done well, but watch out for the yodelling! This is fun, however, done by one Don Edwards. The CD closes with WIMOWEH, a familiar tune which was massacred by Tight Fit in 1982 under the guise of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, itself a 1960s pop hit - WIMOWEH in its proper form, a protest song sung by waiters back in Africa in the 1940s so it would seem, is far better! This CD is recommended to anybody with a love for old folk music done by perhaps the finest female vocalist to ever come from Texas!

One of Nanci's best.......2005-04-14

I feel that this shines through as an exceptionally well crafted album - Nanci endeavours to highlight that she owes a lot to individuals who have paved the way for folk musicians such as herself. She includes songs by giants like Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan(she sings this particular song as it is the one that he requested she perform at his historic Madison Garden 30th anniversary concert), Townes Van Zandt, Tom Paxton and many more. But my favourite song on this album is one by a lesser known, but equally as qualified, singer-songwriter - Kate Wolf: "Across The Great Divide" pulls at the heart strings and is treated with tenderness by Nanci, as Wolf would have wanted.

As a 17 year old Nanci fan with nearly every album of hers, I feel that some reviewers are being slightly unreasonable in their criticism of this one and its sequel. I concede that her voice is not quite as strong as when she started out making records but with age has come depth, as is illustrated in her albums subsequent to this, which I advise you to have a listen to(particularly "Clock Without
Hands").

Listen to this album and I guarantee you you'll want to hear more, and her other albums are superb as well. She has a warmth that will reel you in and capture your interest. Her storytelling equals that of some of the individuals being covered on this record, which is something special. Once you've heard Nanci, their's no going back!

One of My Very Favorite Albums of All Time.......2004-12-29

If you want to get a great first exposure to folk music and to Nancy Griffith, it doesn't get much better than this.

Average customer rating:

Not for the average listener
A thoroughly enjoyable trip through Central Asia and a few other places.
Silk Road Journey
A Detailed Review From A Non-expert Music Lover
Silk Road student

Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet
Yo-Yo Ma , and Silk Road Ensemble
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000641CG
Release Date: 2002-04-16

Tracks:

Mongolian Traditional longsong
Legend of Herlen (Byambasuren Sharav)
"Blue Little Flower" (Chinese Traditional)
"Mido Mountain" (Chinese Traditional)
Moon over Guan Mountain (Zhao Jiping)
"Miero vuotti uutta kuuta" from Five Finnish Folk Songs (Michio Mamiya)
"Joiku" from Five Finnish Folk Songs (Michio Mamiya)
Avaz-e Dashti (Persian Traditional)
Habil-Sayagy (In Habil's Style) for cello and prepared piano (Franghiz Ali-Zadeh)
Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur (Kayhan Kalhor)
Chi passa per'sta strada (Filippo Azzaiolo)
Desert Capriccio (Music from the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Tan Dun) (Bonus Track)

Amazon.com

This disc introduces Yo-Yo Ma's latest and most ambitious adventure, the Silk Road Project. It explores the cultures that flourished along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that for centuries connected Europe and the East. Founded by Ma in 1998, the project aims to create connections, mutual trust, and cultural interchange between people from different parts of the world through their only shared language: music.

This recording includes music from Mongolia, China, Persia, Japan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and an improvisation on an Italian Renaissance street song, performed by musicians from all those countries, as well as America, on both Eastern and Western instruments. Ma, who participates in every piece either as soloist or part of the ensemble, plays cello and a Mongolian "horse-head fiddle." There is also a Mongolian soprano, who sings a traditional song native to her region. For the uninitiated Western listener, the music requires some getting used to. Much of it is based on rhythmic ostinatos. The melodies use Oriental scales; the intonation is untempered; the music seems all color, texture, and atmosphere, without what might be called themes; and repetition takes the place of development. Contrast is achieved through sudden change, buildup by adding instruments. However, the music is often beautiful, delicate, dreamy, or peaceful; every listener will find his or her own favorite pieces. The playing is splendid, with much inventive improvisation. Inevitably, Ma's tone and personality stand out, but he never dominates in fact or spirit. The booklet offers essays by Ma and the project's musicologist, Theodore Levin, photographs of the players, and drawings of the Eastern instruments. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Not for the average listener.......2007-03-20

I was going to give it 2 stars, but then again i only listened to it once.
I was looking forward to this, but the music is plodding in many parts,
like a dreary symphony. There are fine moments, but I was looking for something a bit more accesible, rhymic, and lyrical. This is a mixed bag that seems to miss more often than hit.

A thoroughly enjoyable trip through Central Asia and a few other places........2007-03-15

I have just added this to my musical library and am enjoying it. From the first beat of the first note of Khongozurl's long song you are transported to central Asia - the land of horses and gers. Of all the pieces I was most interested in listening to the second piece - Legend of Herlen. This to me, was the real silk road. The morin khuur has a very rich and unusual tone that made we want to listen to the it over and over again. Each piece is different and reminds one of the many parts that make up the whole of central asia's culture be it music or diesel trucks competing for road space with camels. The music captures the variety that makes up the region. The Finnish Folksong tracks are a nice touch. I have a friend who was at a trade conference and met a man from Mongolia. Neither could talk to one another until they discovered a common language - Finnish! My friend's family is Finnish and his new Mongolian friend had lived for several years in Finland where he learned enough of the language to communicate. Listening to the Finnish Folksongs reminds me of the Finnish-Mongolian connection that my friend had described. It is a nice touch and complements the other pieces very well. Please don't neglect to read the information insert as this gives a wealth of information on the music and it's origins as well as some of the difficulties experienced by western players playing traditional middle Asian musical instruments. Ma's difficulties with his instrument are particularly interesing to read. The concludig track - Desert Capriccio is a very nice ending to a very rich musical experince. The music from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the perfect ending to this trip through central Asia. I highly recommend this CD to everyone.

Silk Road Journey.......2007-02-19

I saw a performance of the Silk Road Ensemble and was absolutely enthralled. So I bought the CD. But it was a big disappointment. It's not the type of music you can comfortably listen to in your living room - I'm sure it would be much more enjoyable in a concert hall. There was far too much that just sounded like "screeching" to me. However, some of the pieces that were much like what we heard at the performance were beautiful. So - a mixed review, but I disliked more than I liked.

A Detailed Review From A Non-expert Music Lover.......2007-01-12

In this review I will give my opinion on each of the 12 selections in this CD, and will also talk about some general themes related to the title "The Silk Road Project".

To anyone who has heard of the Silk Road in Ancient China, the title of this CD immediately brings up images of exotic peoples and their cultures in your mind. I think Yo-Yo Ma's efforts in creating such a culturally diversified recording are definitely welcomed in this era of globalization.

But after listening through this CD I felt that something was missing from the selections. One of the most important areas on the Silk Road is the Uyghur region in northwestern China. Their music is quite unique. Inclusion of their music in this CD would be really interesting. Also in this CD not all of the selections are chosen from those regions directly related to the Silk Road. So I guess the title is just a metaphor of "when strangers meet", but is not directly about the cultures along the Silk Road.

Now I will review each of the selections.

1. Mongolian Traditional Long Song

I am somewhat familiar with their culture and land. So to me this song is very beautiful and enchanting. One of the most important factors in conducting any cross-cultural communications is context! You really cannot take it out of context. The Mongolian Long Song might sound monotonous and drawling to a person who is more used to the Western tradition of chant, choral, or opera music. Yet if you know the traditional nomadic lifestyle of the Mongolian people on the vast rolling greens of the Mongolian grassland embellished with winding creeks and rivers, you would probably hear such long-singing voices reverberating between the green of the grass and the blue of the sky. The Mongolian people have some of the most beautiful songs that I know of.

2. Legend of Herlen

There are probably two broad categories of non-western ethnic musics. One is the authentic folksong tradition of the people, the other is westernized works composed by westernized local musicians. I guess Legend of Herlen might fall into the second category. It has some interesting tunes in it. But the overall listening experience is too dramatic. I guess the dynamics used in this piece might even go beyond the ppp and fff. In the Mongolian traditional music, dynamics are sometimes used quite dramatically, with sharp difference between two adjacent notes or phrases. So this piece here is probably not very surprising. Nonetheless I find it a little too dramatic, sometimes even disturbing. Again I am not familiar with the background of this piece, so that might explain the unusual drama.

3. Blue Little Flower

I am not sure what fusion should really sound like. But in this piece it does seem to me that a lot of musical traditions are intertwined in it: western music, Chinese folksong from Shaanxi, and probably Iranian or Indian drums. Somehow the only part of this song that I liked is the beginning line. It's very beautiful and delicate, reminding me of the theme music from the Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But it is westernized, not authentic Chinese folksong. If this is still not a problem, then the drum used in this piece does cause a lot of funny effects. The drum sounds so distinctive and it represents some of the central or western Asia cultures. The images such drum beats conjure up are very incompatible with this northwestern Chinese folksong. So in this piece there are at least three threads: western, Chinese, and Iranian/Indian (I am not sure which one). But they do not converge. There is also the funny part of the singing included in this piece. It is out of place and unnecessary. The singing itself is just too frivolous to me.

4. Mido Mountain

I like this piece, especially the part played by the Sheng. Again there are some elements that sound a little bit too foreign to me, especially the percussion part. They use the same percussion/drum in this piece as in the previous one. But the overall effect of the arrangement does sound authentic and pleasant to me.

5. Moon Over Guan Mountains

If you know that Zhao Jiping is famous for his scores for films, you will probably understand this piece better. But of course understanding does not mean you will like it. This piece falls into the second category that I described above. For a lot of non-Western countries, the influence of western music is definitely immense. Many local composers are trained in both the western tradition and the local tradition. But there is probably a general feeling among composers in these countries that western music is richer in theory and methods. Many of these composers will use themes from folk songs to compose westernized music. I will give this piece a B+. It does include some themes from northwestern China, which sound really unique. As I said in this CD there is no selection from the Uyghur region in China, this piece might make up for that, since some of the themes seem to me to be from that region. But this piece is still too dramatic too, like a film score.

6. Five Finnish Folksongs No. 3

I love this one! The theme melody is so beautiful, and maybe a little bit nostalgic, and maybe a little bit romantic also? But this piece is straightly western music. There is nothing ethnic about it.

7. Five Finnish Folksongs No.5

This one is ok, but not very impressive. The overall structure of this piece sounds like very loose. There is not memorable melody either. But it does not have the maddening drama like in the two pieces I have just talked about. This is good.

8. Avaz-e Dashti
I am not familiar with Persian music. But there are indeed some very Persian melodies in this piece. The instruments used in this piece are all traditional Persian instruments. Maybe this is why it sounds so authentic to me. I like the haunting, floating tunes in this piece. They sound very ethereal to me.

9. Habil-Sayagy

Again this piece falls into the second category like the Legend of Herlen and Moon Over Guan Mountains. Such music is probably interesting to the performers, since they can let loose their inner floodgate of emotions and resort to pure artistic connections. But the problem for such music is that they are just too dramatic, and it's really hard to understand them without fairly good knowledge of the context and their unique cultural backgrounds. I am sure all these three pieces might sound profound, meaningful, and artistic once we know the cultural backgrounds better. But for the general listener, they are too abstract and too emotionally charged. Another problem for such western-traditional combination pure art form of music is that tradition might be distorted and represented in the wrong way.

10. Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur

I like this one better that the previous one, especially the middle part beginning at around 5 min 30 sec into the music. The melody is quite unique, and memorable. The bassline is very interesting too. It conjures up the image of merchants traveling on camel back through the desert. The pulse of the bass sounds like the steps of camels walking. One the instruments used, I am not sure which one, santur or kemancheh, is quite successful in bringing out the authenticity of the music style.

11. Chi passa per'sta strada

This one has the same problem as the Blue Little Flower: it does not sound like anything! It is not Italian, nor is it Iranian, nor Chinese, nor anything else. What is it? Who knows. The ethnicity of world music is tied to their unique musical instruments closely. I remember there was one year the Chinese traditional orchestra had a New Year's Concert at Vienna, and when they played the Radetzky March at the end of the concert, I was quite unimpressed.

12. Desert Capriccio

Tan Dun is similar to the composers I mentioned above like Zhao Jiping. Tan's music is unique and interesting to both western and Chinese audience, because of the same thing: they are both unfamiliar with Tan's music. To the Chinese audience, his music sounds western, but to the Western audience, his music sounds exotic. Nonetheless I still like some of this music, like the Couching Tiger and Hidden Dragon. Some of the melodies are really great. Again this piece makes up for the lack of Uyghur music in this album, since the "desert" in this piece is in the Uyghur region. But the music is not Uyghur at all.

There you have it. That's all for my detailed review of this CD. I would give it a B+ for its efforts and some of the really good tunes. As I am not an expert, I might be wrong in many of the points that I make in this review. So feel free to comment on my review.

Silk Road student.......2007-01-05

Each story is complete within itself and offers insight into the life and hard times. I found the stories very believeable.

Average customer rating:

I hate to be rude, but . . .
Outstanding
Sacred Songs
My favorite of Fleming's CDs so far
Inspiring and beautiful

Sacred Songs

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000AM6OXK
Release Date: 2005-09-27

Tracks:

Ave Maria
Jesu bleibet meine Freude
Dank sei dir, Herr
Ave Maria, D839
Laudamus te
Panis Angelicus
Air: "He shall feed his Flock"
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Domine Deus
Laudate Dominum omnes gentes
Air: Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion
Abends will ich schlafen gehn
L'Adieu des bergers
Mariiegenlied, Op.76/52
Amazing Grace

Amazon.com

This lovely CD features Renée Fleming singing religious music in an unaffected, lovely manner. Many favorites are here: both the Bach/Gounod and Schubert versions of "Ave Maria," each offered with long breaths and soft tone; "Rejoice Greatly" from Messiah, delivered with virtuosity and gleaming sound, and "He Shall Feed His Flock," also from Messiah, sung in a smooth, laid-back manner. Bits of the Fauré Requiem and Poulenc Gloria are welcome, as is the gorgeous "L'Adieu des Bergers" from L'Enfance du Christ. In the prayer from Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel, Fleming is joined by the splendid Susan Graham, and a version of "Amazing Grace" features Mark O'Connor on violin. Two excerpts from Mozart's Mass in C Minor, pieces by Reger and Franck, and a few surprises round out this devotional CD. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

I hate to be rude, but . . ........2007-05-06

As stated earlier, I hate to be rude. However, Renee Fleming is not one of the greatest singers that I have heard. At many times, it sounds as if she is drunk, sliding into her notes at times. She also has a habit of hitting a note, and then quickly moving up or down for "dramatic effect". I'm sorry, but I just cannot listen to this. I know that everyone has their own opinions, and this is mine.
She is still a beautiful woman, and always will be. I have seen her concerts online, and she ISN'T bad, it's just that she doesn't have what I'm looking for in an opera singer!

Outstanding.......2007-03-07

I had seen this program on PBS and wanted the CD. Wonderful selection
of music and Renee Fleming's outstanding voice.

Sacred Songs.......2007-01-21

I always look for new presentations of Christmas songs. Rene Flemming did an excellent job in this recording. She has a super voice but sometimes the words of the song get lost in her singing style

My favorite of Fleming's CDs so far.......2006-12-07

There are only two cuts on this CD I tend to flip past (Amazing Grace and the Leonard Bernstein cut), but other than them, I totally love the rest! The cuts in German are divine! I could listen to this CD over and over again.

Inspiring and beautiful.......2006-07-20

I've always loved Renee Fleming's singing and this most recent album is just beautiful in every way. A rich voice, beautiful singing and a devout and magnificent artist. She makes even the most notorious evergreens come to life anew. I enjoyed it very much.

The Best of Luciano Pavarotti: 20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection

Average customer rating:

uplifting

The Best of Luciano Pavarotti: 20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection

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Luciano Pavarotti - Passione - Neapolitan Songs
Luciano Pavarotti - Nessun dorma (Arias & Duets)
Romantica: The Very Best Of Luciano Pavarotti
20th Century Masters: The Best of the Three Tenors (Millenium Collection)

ASIN: B0002KQOB2
Release Date: 2004-08-03

Tracks:

Santa Lucia
Vieni Sul Mar'
La Danza
La Donna E Mobile
M'appari
Libiamo Ne'lieti Calici
Caro Mio Ben
Lunge De Lei - De' Miei Bollenti Spiriti
Mattinata
Torna A Surriento
Funiculi, Funicula
O Paradiso
Amor Ti Vieta
Una Furtiva Lagrima
Core 'Ngrato
Ave Maria
Nessun Dorma!

Customer Reviews:

uplifting.......2007-02-15

Pavarotti's voice will lift your spirit and fill your home with rich sound. He is the best.

Average customer rating:

Music for Meditation
Be Thou My Vision
Reverent, beautiful

Prayer: A Windham Hill Collection

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Adagio: A Windham Hill Collection
Thanksgiving: A Windham Hill Collection
A Windham Hill Christmas: The Night Before Christmas
Windham Hill Christmas: I'll Be Home for Christmas
Touch-Windham Hill 25 Years of Guitar

ASIN: B0000AM6L0
Release Date: 2003-09-09

Tracks:

Sanctus from Requiem (Gabriel Faur-Tim Story piano, synthesizers
The 23rd Psalm (Condit Atkinson) - Steve Erquiaga guitar
Be Thou My Vision (Irish trad.) - Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning with John Fitzpatrick
Holy, Holy, Holy (trad.) - Jim Brickman piano
The Lords Prayer (Albert Hay Malotte) - Paul McCandless English horn, keyboards
Alisas Prayer (Deborah Henson-Conant) - Deborah Henson-Conant electric Celtic harp
Meditation (Thea Suits) - Thea Suits flute
Ave Maria (J.S. Bach/Gounod) - Steve Erquiaga guitar
Go Gently (Suzanne Ciani & Jeremy Lubbock) - Suzanne Ciani piano
Offering (Tracy Silverman) - Tracy Silverman & Thea Suits
Spanish Stairs (Paul McCandless) - Rosalba Bentivoglio voice
Ave Verum Corpus (W.A. Mozart) - Philip Aaberg solo piano

Customer Reviews:

Music for Meditation.......2007-01-04

This is a delightful collection of music appropriate to meditative prayer. It is often my prayer companion, and I like the style and performance found on this CD. I highly recommend it to people who enjoy deeper reflection with a wordless musical background.

Be Thou My Vision.......2005-10-19

Track 3, Be Thou My Vision, was a surprise as the song was the final song played at my father's funeral. It set the closing mood most fittingly. While Be Thou My Vision is my favorite the entire collection is wonderfully mellow. I recommend it for for the mellow moods.

Reverent, beautiful.......2003-09-21

After criticizing Windham Hill in the past for often recycling the same songs over and over in various collections, I have to hand it to them with the new "Prayer" CD. It's a fine set of all-new acoustic versions of hymns or spiritual songs, plus a good number of original compositions. Producer Dawn Atkinson has done an excellent job of lining up a bunch of top-drawer people for "Prayer," and in working with the artists on the song selection.

Tracks:

Overture To 'Tannhauser'
Domna, Pos Vos Ay Chausida
We Don't Merely Use Instruments, We Play On Them. And They Play On Us.
Hungarian Dance No.7
The Violin Is One Of The Most Tender And Beautiful Instruments Ever Invented.
Violin Concerto In D Major (Adagio)
But For A Long Time It Was Seen As The Instrument Of The Devil.
The Soldier's Tale: Triumphal March Of The Devil
The Manipulative Seductiveness Of The Gypsy Violin.
Csardas Music
The Violin And The Initiation Of Nature
The Four Seasons (Spring, Mvt 1)
Birds Are Again Evoked In The Second Concerto, Especially Music's Natural Favourite.
The Four Seasons (Summer, Mvt 1)
Like The Devil, The Violin Is A Master Of Disguise.
Old Viennese Dance No.3 'Schon Rosmarin'
The Menacing Sensuality Of Ravel's Tzigane: A Very Different Side Of The Violin:
Tzigane
Do We Now Have The True Measure Of This Instrument? Not Just Yet.
Caprice No.24
The Many Effects Of The String Tremolando: Brandenburg Concerto No.4 (Last Mvt)/From Joy To Fright/Quartettsatz In C Minor/The String Tremolo Practically Spells The World Agitato.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No.7)
Prokofiev's Tremolo In Romeo And Juliet Should Not Be Heard Just Before Bedtime.
Romeo And Juliet: Act IV
Vivaldi Use It To Illustrate The Shivering Of Travellers Crossing The Ice.
The Four Seasons (Winter, Mvt 1)
The Violin Muted
Clair De Lune
The Gentleness Of Muted Strings Persists Even When A Whole Orchestra Plays.
Piano Concerto No.21 In C Major, K.467 (Slow Mvt)
The Pizzicato Violin
Pizzicato Polka
In Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto, The Accompaniment Is Pizzicato.
Violin Concerto No.2 In G Minor (Slow Mvt)
Varieties Of Pizzicato: Colas Breugnon (The People's Feast)/Now A Drier, Leaner, Hungrier Pizzicato. There's Not A Lot Of Comfort Here./Capriol Suite (Tordion)/The Use Of Pizzicato As 'Percussion'/Romeo And Juliet (Act I)/Mahler Used Pizzicato...
The Planets (Mars - The Bringer Of War)
The Technique Of Double-Stopping Enables The Violin To Play Duets With Itself./Sonata No.3 In C Major For Unaccompanied Violin (Fugue)/Now A Later Example Of The Same Technique
Hungarian Dance No.4
Double-Stopping Is A Standard Feature Of A Lot Of Folk Music.
The Four Seasons (Autumn, Mvt 1)
Now The Same Technique, But The Sound Might Have Come From Another World.
Bolero
Double-Stopping Can Only Approximate The Sound Of A Real Violin Duet.
Cadenza To The Violin Concerto By Brahms
Now Compare That With A Real Violin Duet.
Forty-Four Duos (No. 1: Teasing Song)
Another Duo By Bartok, Demonstrating The Violin's Rich Lower Register
Forty-Four Duos (No.2: Maypole Dance)
And Now What May Be The Most Beautiful Accompanied Violin Duet In History
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
The Soul Of The Violin Is In Song; But What About This Weird Passage?
Violin Concerto No.1 In D Major (Mvt 2)
The Use Of Harmonies In The Orchestra Can Be Both Magical And Unsettling.
Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 1, Opening)
Tchaikovsky's Use Of Harmonics In The Sleeping Beauty Is Both Strange And Darling.
The Sleeping Beauty (Act II, No.15: Entr'Acte)
Ravel's Harmonics In Mother Goose Effect A Magical Transformation.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
Stravinsky's Harmonics In The Firebird Transport Us Almost Into Another World./The Firebird (Introduction)
The Natural Upper Notes Of The Violins Have A Unique Emotional 'Grab'.
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Of The Afterworldsmen)
Still In Their Upper Register, The Violins Unleash The Energy Of A Young Colt.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No. 4)
Elsewhere, Britten Uses The Same High Register To Create A Very Different Mood.
Four Sea Interludes (Dawn) From 'Peter Grimes'
To End This Outing With The Violins, A Charming Little Elfin Dance
Elfenreigen

Tracks:

Introduction To The Viola
Viola Concerto (Mvt 1)
Khatchaturian Gets A Very Different Sound From It: Fuller, Fruitier, More Exotic.
Gayane Suite No.1 (Armen's Solo)
Very Nearly The Whole Of The Violin's Upper Register Is Also Available To The Viola.
Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'
The Viola Can Bring A Special, Rich Twanginess To Pizzicato That The Violins Lack./Don Quixote/Berlioz Drew Sounds From It That Retain Their Metallic Strangeness Even Today.
Harold In Italy (Mvt 4)
The Muted Viola: Intimate, Gentle, Poignant In Dvork
Cypresses (No.9)
The Massed Violas Of The Modern Symphony Orchestra In Mahler
Symphony No.4 (Mvt 3)
The 'Period' Viola In Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No.6 (Last Mvt)
The Cello: A Voice Of Unique Nobility
Suite No.1 For Unaccompanied Cello (Prelude)
Brahms And The 'Soul' Of The Cello
Piano Concerto No.2 In B Flat Major (Mvt 3)
Most Orchestral Composers Tend To Emphasize The Cello's Lower Register.
Cantata 'Herz Und Mund Und Tat Und Leben', BWV 147 (Soprana Aria: Bereite Dir, Jesu)
In The Time Of Beethoven The Cello Remained As Fundamental As Ever.
Symphony No.3 'Eroica' (Finale)
But The Cello Is Not Condemned To Spend Its Life In The Basement.
Elfentanz, Op.39
Not Only In Recital Showpieces Like That Is The Cello Is Used In Its Highest Register.
The Protecting Veil (Opening)
A Cello With An Identity-Crisis: The Pizzicato Flamencan
Flamenco
Double-Stopping In The Lower Reaches Of The Cello's Range
Solo Suiet For Cello And Piano (Sardana)
It's In The Middle Register That The Cello Really Comes Into Its Own.
Oriental Dance, Op.2 No.2
It Was To The Cellos That Beethoven Gave Two Of His Most Famous Themes./Symphony No.5 (Mvt 2)/Still More Famous Than That Theme Is This One From The Ninth Symphony.
Symphony No.9 (Finale)
Introduction To The Double-Bass
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Elephant)
But The Double-Bass Can Be Intensely Expressive And Graceful.
Elegy No.1 In D Major
The Range Of The Double-Bass Is The Greatest Of All The String Instruments/Allegro Di Concerto, 'Alla Mendelssohn'/And It's Also Capable Of Very Considerable Virtuosity.
Capriccio Di Bravura
Double-Bass Solos In Orchestral Scores Are Rare But Often Memorable./Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 3)/In His Third Symphony Mahler Makes A Very Different Use Of The Instrument./Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1)
The Double-Bass Muted In Prokofiev/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Kije's Wedding)/In Another Work Prokofiev Uses The Double-Bass To Enhance The Winds./Romeo And Juliet (Act III)/And He Combines The Bass Clarinet With A Shivering Tremolo From The Double-Basses....
Symphony No.5 (Mvt 3)/So Much For The Strings/On Now To The Winds

Tracks:

The Antiquity And Magic Of The Flute
Prelude A L'Apres-Midi D'Un Faune
The Versatility And Agility Of The Flute
Orchestral Suite No.2 In B Minor (Badinerie)
The Flute In Fifteenth-Century Spain
Sa'Dawi
Other Flutes: The Bass And Alto
Chamber Music No.II
The Piccolo - Aptly Named
La Naissance D'Osiris (Mvt 6)
From A Piccolo Of The Eighteenth Century To One Of Its Descendants In The Twentieth
Suite No.1 For Small Orchestra (Valse)
A Variety Of Techniques
Chamber Music No.II
Flutter-Tonguing. But Tchaikovsky Got There Eighty Years Before.
The Nutcracker (Act II, No.2: Scene)
From The Transverse To The Vertical: The Baroque Recorder
Recorded Suite In A Minor (Menuet II)
An Unfamiliar, Early Vision Of The Instrument
Naelden, Naelden
The Bachian Oboe
Cantata 'Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott', BWV 80 (No.7: Duetto)
Introduction To The Cor Anglais Or 'English Born'
Symphony No.9 'From The New World' (Mvt 2)
The Loneliness Of The Cor Anglais
The Swan Of Tuonela
The Cor Anglais Joins The French Horn In Haydn.
Symphony No.22 'The Philosopher' (Opening)
Introduction To The Oboe D'Amore, Beloved Of Bach - But Also Of Ravel
Bolero
The Clarinet Family: Boxing The Compass, From The Depths Of The Bass Clarinet.../The Egyptian (Violence)/...To The Raucous And Squealy.../Taras Bulba (The Death Of Ostap)/...To The Shrill And Complaining...
Petrushka (No.8: Peasant With Bear)/...To The High Sprits Of A Playful Puppy./Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)/And To The Downright Jazzy/Romeo And Juliet (Act II)
As The High Clarinets Tend To Be Loud, So The Bass Tends To Be Soft:
Gayane Suite No. 1 (Mvt 5)
The Bass Clarinet Is Used By Most Composers Mainly As A Colouring Agent.../Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/...But It Does Occasionally Get A Whole Tune To Itself./Iberia (Almeria).
The Range Of The Normal Clarinet Parts Goes Quite High...
The Snow Maiden (Scene 5: Melodrama)
...And Quite Low.
Peter And The Wolf (The Cat)
The Clarinet As Concerto Soloist
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
But That's Not The Instrument Mozart Wrote It For; This Is:
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
Introduction To The Saxophone
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 4)
The Soprano Saxophone Has Quite A Different Feel To It.
L'Arlesienne Suite No.1 (Minuet)
The Little Sopranino Sax Goes Even Higher.
Bolero
The Most Famous Use Of The Saxophone Is In An Orchestration By Ravel.
Pictures At An Exhibition (The Old Castle)
The Saxophone Can Be Quite Contagiously Good-Humoured.
Sax-O-Phun
The Puffa-Puffa Image Of The Bassoon
Peter And The Wolf (Grandfather)
The Bachian Bassoon, In Accompanimental Mode
Cantata 'Weichet Nur, Betrubte Schatten' ('Wedding Cantata'), BWV 202 (Aria No.1)
Bizet Leaves The Puffa-Puffa Image Out, Allowing The Bassoon To Sing./Carmen Suite No.1 (Les Dragons D'Alcala)
And Ravel, Also In Spanish Mode, Does Likewise.
Bolero
The Bassoon As A Voice Of High Seriousness, Indeed Desolate Loneliness
Symphony No.3 (Opening)
The Eerie Bassoon In Its Highest Register
The Rite Of Spring (Opening)
Stravinsky Now Draws On Its Lowest Register, Lonely And Melancholy.
The Firebird Suite (1919, Berceuse)
The Bassoon As Concerto Soloist, Avoiding All Exaggeration
Bassoon Concerto In G Minor (Finale)
The Deep-Voiced Contra-Bassoon, As A Fairy-Tale Beast
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
The French Horn Under Its Woodwind Hat
Wind Quintet, Op.43 (Last Mvt)
Now A More Prominent Role, In A Woodwind Quintet From An Earlier Era
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Mvt 2)
The Horn In Harmonious Blend With Strings In Another Quintet
Horn Quintet, K.407 (Finale)

Tracks:

The Trumpet As Virtuoso Soloist
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Last Mvt)
The Special Brillance Of Paired Trumpets
Concerto In C For Two Trumpets, RV537 (Mvt 1)
The Ceremonial Trumpet
Fanfare For The Common Man
Trumpets And Drums - An Incomparable Alliance
Messiah (The Trumpet Shall Sound)
The Versatility Of The Trumpet, From The Most Public To The Most Lonely
Piano Concerto In F (Slow Mvt)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of The City/An American In Paris/The Trumpet As Recruitment Officer/The Soldier's Tale (The March)/The Trumpet As Swaggerer
Carmen Suite No.2 (Habanera)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of Strength And Courage
Carmet Suite No.2 (Toreador's Song)
The Trumpet Muted/Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Opening)/The Trumpet As The Voice Of Weariness
Billy The Kid
The Trumpet As Character Actor
Pictures At An Exhibition (No.6)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of God
Mass In B Minor ('Et Exspecto')
The Birth Of The Trombone
Aenmerckt Nu Hier
The Birth Of The Brass As A Family
Canzon 12 In Double Echo
The Trombone In The Eighteenth Century
Trombone Concerto In B Flat Major (Finale)
The Tone Of The Tenor Trombone/Romance For Trombone And Organ/The Memorable Voice Of The Bass Trombone/Requiem (Mvt 2)/But The Bass Trombone Is More Than An Instrumental Bullfrog.
Hosannah
The Trombones Become Part Of The Orchestra.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
The Wagnerian Trombone:/Overture To 'Tannhauser'
The Trombone As Caricaturist
Pulcinella (No.19: Vivo)
The Trombone As Raspberry/Concerto For Orchestra (Intermezzo)
The Horn And The Hunt
Horn Concerto No.4 In E Flat, K.495 (Finale)
The Challenging Horn Of The Baroque
Abaris Ou Les Boreades (Menuet)
The Scarcity Of First-Rate Players In Handel's Time
Walter Music (Minuet 1)
The Horn As Magician/The Firebird Suite (1919, Finale)
Horns And The Sound Of Nobility
Overture To 'Tannhauser' (Opening)
The Special Sound Of The Horn In Its Higher Register
Mass In B Minor ('Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus')
The Trumpet-Like Sound Of Massed Horns
Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1, Opening)
The Tuba - Unfairly Maligned?
Symphony No.6 (Mvt 3)
The Tuba Perfectly Cast By Ravel
Pictures At An Exhibition (Bydlo)

Tracks:

Introduction. And We Begin With A Bang.
Fanfare For The Common Man/The Bass Drum On The Battlefields/Wellington's Victory, Op.91 (Opening)
At The Opposite Extreme Is The Triangle.
Piano Concerto No.1 In E Flat (Scherzo)
Categories Of Percussion: Tuned And Untuned. The Side Drum
Overture To 'La Gazza Ladra' - The Thieving Magpie (Opening)
The Side Drum In An Effective But Unexpected Role/Clarinet Concerto (Mvt 1)
The Tambourine. One Of The Oldest Instruments In The World
Den Hoboecken Dans
Even Older Is The Originally Oriental Gong.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
No Single Instrument Can Match The Gong In Evoking The Breaking Of Waves./Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'/But Gongs Don't Have To Be Struck To Be Effective.
Gymnopedie No.2
The Cymbals Are Generally Discovered Early In Life./The Sanguine Fan/And They Do More Than Clash Together Loudly. They Can Be Clashed Together Softly./Studio Example: But They Needn't Be Clashed Together At All/Studio Example: They Can Be Lightly...
Other Untuned Percussion Instruments Include The Whip.: Piano Concerto In G Major (Opening)/And Here Are No Fewer Than Twenty, Cracked By Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Act I, Scene 5)
More Versatile Than The Whip Are The Wood Blocks.../Studio Example/...Which Crop Up All Over The Place In Twentieth-Century American Music.
Rodeo (Hoe-Down)
Related To The Wood Blocks, By Sound, Are The Castanets./Jota Aragonesa/But The Castanets Were Also Used By Monteverdi Back In The Seventeenth Century.
Scherzi Musicali (Damigella Tutta Belle)
A Still Earlier Example From Fifteenth-Century Spain
Yo M'Enamori D'Un Aire
The Birth Of The Bongo
Symphonic Dances From 'West Side Story'
From The Streets Of New York To The Blacksmith's Shop/Il Trovatore ('Anvil Chorus')
Desert-Island Decibels: Grand Canyon Suite (On The Trail)/Arcana
From One Vegetable To Another: The Humble Squash, Or Marrow/Huapango
Onwards To The Tuned Percussion. First, The Timpani
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Introduction)
But The Drum Roll Can Be More Effectively Frightening Than The Big Bang.: Symphony No.2 'Resurrection' (Mvt 3)
Not One Drum Roll, But Many/Grand Canyon Suite (Sunrise)/Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)
Taking Advantage Of Tunability
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Mvt 2)
The Russian Composer Rodion Shchedrin Takes A Downward Turn./Carmen Suite (Changing Of The Guard)/Tuned, Yes; But For The Truly Melodic We Must Look Elsewhere.
Introducing The Glockenspiel/Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Saint-Saens And The Xylophone
The Carnival Of The Animals (Fossils)
Ravel And The Xylophone
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
Introducing The Marimba/Carmen Suite (First Intermezzo)
Introducing The Vibraphone
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Narange Dolce)
The Vibraphone Goes Russian.../Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)/...And Is Joined By The Marimba./Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Introducing The Hungarian Cimbalom
Folk Dances
The Cimbalom And The Symphony Orchestra
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 3)
Introducing The Tubular Bells
Hary Janos Suite (Viennese Musical Clock)
A More 'Up-Front' Approach From Rodion Shchedrin
Carmen Suite (Introduction)
But The Bells Can Also Make The Sinister Even More Sinister./Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Introducing The Celeste
The Nutcracker (Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy)
Magic, In The Use Of Collective Percussion
Miroirs (La Vallee Des Cloches)
Plucked Instruments: The 'Undercover Percussion'/Carmen Suite (Scene)
A Prime Case In Point Is The Harp, Irresistible To The Romantics./The Nutcracker (Act II, No.1: Scene)/The Non-Solo Harp As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Hungarian Rhapsody No.1
The Traditionally Subservient Role Of The Harpsichord In The Baroque Orchestra
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Slow Mvt)
The Piano: King Of The Tuned Percussion/Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Mvt 3)/And A Quarter Of A Century After That:
Petrushka (Russian Dance)
The Anti-Romantic Piano As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Last Mvt)

Tracks:

Keyboard Instruments In The Orchestra - The Most Powerful Of Them All:
Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Finale)
But Things In Handel's Day Were Very Different.
Organ Concerto In B Flat, Op.4 No.3 (Last Mvt)
The Organ Is Difficult To Classify.
An Unexpected, Organ-related Guest
Concerto Pour Zampogna (Last Mvt)
Peasant-Fancying... And A Touch Of The Roaming Cowboy
Les Miserables (Drink With Me)
Outside Artefacts And The Power Of Association
Mahler's Sleighbells
Symphony No.4 (Opening)
A Roll-Call Of Some Unusual Guests/The Typewriter/Parade
Chains, And More/Integrales/An American In Paris/Sandpaper Ballet
Purpose-Built Oddities: Wind Machines/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Opening)
Don Quixote (Variation VIII)
National Calling Cards: The Guitar For Spain/Concierto De Aranjuez (Finale)
And The Guitar's Poor American Relative, The Banjo/Washington Breakdown
And Poorer Still, The Mouth Organ/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Packing Up)
The Balalaika For Russia/Romeo And Juliet (Act II: No.14)
The Maracas For Mexico/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (El Desayuno)
The Bongos And Congas And A Whole Wealth Of Other Drums For Africa And Central America/Studio Example
The Sitar Of India/Evening Raga: Bhapoli
The Accordion For France (Especially Paris)/Paris Canaille
The Zither For Vienna/The Third Man (Theme)
The Cimbalom For Hungary/Folk Dances
The Guitar As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Rondena
There Are Whole Orchestras Of Balalaikas./Sveit Mesiats
The Effect Of The Wordless Human Voice, Used Purely As An Instrument/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Nocturnes
Instruments And the Imitation Of Nature. The Clarinet As Cuckoo
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Cuckoo)
The Flute As An All-purpose Aviary
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aviary)
The Oboe As Duck
Peter And The Wolf (The Duck)
The Recording Of Reality. Does It Work As Well?
The Pines Of Rome (The Pines Of The Janiculum)
The Recording Of Reality Electronically Reborn In New Guises
Cantus Articus - Concerto For Birds And Orchesra (Mvt 2)
Beethoven Turns Avian: Cuckoo, Nightingale, And Quail
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral' (Andante Molto Mosso)
Some Improbable Casting: The Violin As Braying Donkey
The Carnival Of The Animals (Persons With Long Ears)
A Truly Orchestral Hee-haw To Be Reckoned With
Overture To 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
A Thunderstorm In A Million
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral (Allegro-Allegretto)
the Instrumental Depiction Of A Silent World
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aquarium)
Saint-Saens' Menagerie Takes A Curtain Call.
The Carnival Of The Animals (Finale)

Tracks:

The Grouping Of Instrumental Families. An Additive Approach. First, Two Violins
Forty-Four Duos (No.4)
A Great Contrast, Of Both Pitch And Character: Violin And Viola
Duo For Violin And Viola In B Flat Major, K.424 (Finale, Vars 1 & 2)/Studio Example
Arrival Of The Standard String Trio: Violin, Viola, And Cello
String Trio In B Flat (Menuetto)
The String Quartet: Two Violins, Viola, And Cello
String Quartet In F, Op.18 No.1 (Mvt 3)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Viola
String Quartet No.5 In D, K.593 (Adagio)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Cello
String Quintet In C (Mvt 3)
The String Sextet: Two Violins, Two Violas, And Two Cellos
String Sextet In B Flat (Mvt 2)
The String Octet: The Standard String Quaret Times Two
Octet In E Flat, Op.20 (Mvt 1)
Double The String Octet: A Fully Fledged String Orchestra
String Symphony No.2 (Finale)
The Massed Strings Of A Symphony Orchestra
Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis
Contrasts Of Pitch And Instrumental 'Colour' In The Woodwind Section
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Theme)
In The First Variation It's The Horn That Gets The Lion's Share.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 1
In Variation Two The Torch Is Handed To The Bassoon.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 2
In Variation Three The Oboe Leads.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 3
Variation Four: Conversation Before Returning To A Solo-dominated Texture
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 4
And Variation Five is Dominated By The Clarinet.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 5
The Next To Be Featured Is The Virtuoso Flute.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 6
Individual Farewells And A Closing Chorus
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 7
A Mixed Group: Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, String Quartet, And Double-Bass
Octet In F (Mvt 3)
The Early Classical Symphony Orchestra Of Haydn And Mozart
Symphony No.29 In A, K.201 (Finale)
Strings, Wind, But No Brass. What Haydn And Mozart Never Knew
Canzon 28
Beethoven's Fifth: Two Horns, Two Trumpets, And Three Trombones Join The Team.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
From Beethoven To The Massive Orchestras Of Berlioz, Wagner, And Mahler
Beethoven Changed The Face Of The Symphony And The Orchestra Forever
Symphoy No.6 'Tragic' (Mvt 1)
The Cult Of Orchestral Elephantiasis Reaches Its Peak.
Symphony No.1 'Gothic' (VI: Te Ergo Quaesumus)
When Large Doesn't Necessarily Mean Loud: Debussy
Images (Gigues)
A Crisis Of Confidence; The Orchestra's Survival Hangs In The Balance, But It Still Develops. The Ondes Martenot:
Turangalila Symphony (Chant D'amour 1)
The Advent Of The 'Early Music' Movement Brings A New Vitality And Freshness.
Balle De Xerxes (Gavotte En Rondeau)
Computer And Synthesiser: Friends Or Foes?
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
A Speculative Look Ahead/Mass In B Minor ('Dona Nobis Pacem')

Customer Reviews:

Instruments of the Orchestra - Great Reference Material!.......2007-04-04

This set lends itself to greatly enhancing one's knowledge of the orchestra, instruments in it, and their usage. I am a huge music buff, and I still picked up a great deal I previously did not know. I highly recommend this for all who wish to understand the origin of music, as well as the processes that are employed to create music!

Beginner or Expert.......2007-03-12

This CD is excellent for the beginner or expert! To be able to haear the instrumets separately and then together really provides a good education. and/or refresher. The book thaty comes with the CD is alomost worth the price by itself!

Very Informative and Enjoyable.......2006-11-20

Whether you're a music novice or pro, "The instruments of the Orchestra" is a very worthwhile purchase. The 7 CDs, with a total of 8 hours, are expertly narrated by Jeremy Siepmann. He's a great speaker, very much like the late Leonard Bernstein was. Mr. Siepmann takes you on an unforgetable musical journey covering the origins and use of the various orchestral instruments throughout musical history. The balance between his narration and a wealth of musical examples, which range from snippets to entire movements, is superb. The comprehensive enclosed booklet is excellent and faithfully follows the 7 CDs in content. Even with my 40+ years of music training I still learned new things from this wonderful collection. Considering the excellence of the content, and a cost that translates to about $5 per disc, this collection is a great value. Grab it, you won't regret that you did. Five solid stars!

Frank's view.......2006-08-19

This boxed set of CD's with booklet achieved all I had hoped that it would. There are good samples of individual instruments and well done commentary on each. The only drawback was that some of the samples were too brief and could have been longer, hoiwever I guess this fits in with time constraints of the medium. It has given me a lot of clues as to future purchases of CD's for listening to individual instruments. Altogeth a satisfactory purchase and a welcome addition to my collection.

Excellent Intro for Those Not Familiar with the Orchestra.......2003-11-08

I've listened to classical music for years and am interested in composition. I bought this CD set to learn how an orchestra and its instruments work. I thought the CDs would be a nice but boring lecture. They aren't! Not only are they FUN but they are informative as well. I learned a huge amount from each CD and couldn't wait to listen to the next one.

The narrator and writer is a great speaker and holds your attention well. He is definitely knowledgeable. He provides musical examples for each point he makes, so you get to "hear" what he just talked about. I'd say the CDs are about 65% music and 35% narration. You'll learn about the range of instruments, some history, different ways to play them, how they sound, and how they are used in the orchestra. This CD set was a great learning experience and is sold at such a low price!

I recommend this CD for those who want to learn about classical music and those who know about it but are interested in learning more about the inner workings of an orchestra. You'll learn much useful information. For instance, the Rite of Spring (with that eerie start) is written for bassoon! I never knew a bassoon could sound like that but now I do.

Tracks:

The Peanut Vendor
Shenandoah
Cherry Ripe
Summertime
Time Was
Scarborough Fair
None But The Lonely Heart
Linstead Market
The Oak And The Ash
Wives And Lovers
Blow Away The Morning Dew
The Green Leaves Of Summer
What Kind Of Things

Amazon.com

As the line in the opening track, "The Peanut Vendor", says: "Fifty million monkeys can't be wrong." And back in 1971, the purchasers of this debut LP (originally The King's Singers: By Appointment) found overwhelming proof in its vinyl grooves that a refreshingly new quality product was on the market. Soon the unlikely lads known as The King's Singers were all over television screens in the company of the likes of Val Doonican, Shirley Bassey, and Nana Mouskouri--also, of course, performing bucketloads of serious repertoire in concerts. For those who rushed to buy the original, this re-release is a real trip down memory lane, the excellent sound enhanced by the extra detail and color in the CD transfer (though, please note, there's less than 35 minutes of music). "Cherry Ripe," "Scarborough Fair," and Bacharach's "Wives and Lovers" are here, along with lots more, performed with that familiar mix of vocal perfection and effortless poise and complemented by the discreet contribution of the Gordon Langford Trio. --Andrew Green

Customer Reviews:

King's Singers Debut.......2007-01-12

I am a real fan of the King's Singers, and this album was very well received. I loved it. Recommend it to anyone.

Thirty years old: still terrific.......2003-02-02

We have loved this album for 30 years. We are so pleased it has been released on CD. It was originally part of a very small collection of gramophone records, and is now one of hundreds of CDs, but it is one we keep playing and playing.

The singing is flawless, the songs are wonderful and the arrangements are very clever. What more could you want?

It includes The Kings' Singers theme song, "What Kind of Things (do the Kings' Singers sing?)" which is a humorous description of the variety in their music and in their vocal ranges.

Other highlights are:
Summertime, which is quite close to the orignal sheet music, carefully arranged for 6 voices.

The folk song Scarborough Fair adheres quite closely to the Simon and Garfunkel arrangement, whereas The Oak and the Ash and Blow Away the Morning Dew are special creations for the group by Gordon Langford.

Time Was and The Green Leaves of Summer show the group's ability to create a wonderful mood through slow, soulful singing.

Highly recommended. Timeless music.

This is vintage King's Singers!.......2001-06-09

In the thirty or more years that the King's Singers have been going, they've released dozens of CDs. And as much as I adore some of their recent recordings, I still regard this first album as some of their best work.

This performance is both of a very high quality and is also a magnificent showcase of the variety of things the King's Singers sing. I doubt you would find many other recordings which contain works by Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, Bacharach as well as traditional folksongs from the British Isles and America - especially not recordings that are of such a high standard. The vocal harmonies are just delicious, and the Gordon Langford Trio also provides a brilliant accompaniment and gives songs like The Peanut Vendor, Shenandoah and Summertime a delightful relaxed feeling. Then there is also the lighthearted and whimsical What Kind of Things - a song all about what sort of music the King's Singers sing!

Tracks:

If Ye Love Me
A New Commandment
O Vos Omnes
O Magnum Mysterium
O Magnum Mysterium
O Magnum Mysterium
Praise The Name Of The Lord
Der Entfernten
Wondrous Love
Amazing Grace
Sometimes I Feel Like Moanin'
Totus Tuus

Amazon.com

The trademark qualities of a Robert Shaw-trained chorus included perfect tonal blend and balance, expressive phrasing, and superb tuning. As an interpreter, Shaw hewed to the middle road, steering clear of eccentricities and honoring the composer's intentions. On this tribute disc, we hear these virtues coalesce in works such as Poulenc's austere Christmas hymn "O magnum mysterium," one of three settings of the text here. Shaw was at his best in works whose fervent spirituality he shared, and the selection from Rachmaninov's Vespers, with its repeated alleluias, is a highlight, both radiant and passionate. But then, virtually everything here is a highlight: the Schubert part song done to a turn with soft singing projected in rounded tones; the curve of "Wondrous Love"'s melody perfectly traced; and "Amazing Grace" in Shaw's arrangement all the more moving for its calm dignity. The longest piece, Górecki's Marian hymn "Totus tuus," is otherworldly in an enthralled reading that never loses focus. Like all of Shaw's Telarc recordings, the sonics are first-class. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

This is an amazing, amazing product.......2007-02-07

The only part of the CD I would quibble with is the selection from Rachmaninov's Vespers, but I'm really lucky and have heard that performed live several times and heard multiple recordings, and decided on one that I liked best early on.

If you aren't blown away by the performance of the Tallis, you'll probably still cry when you hear the Lauridsen later in the CD. One thing about this CD is that after hearing it, my standard for what I could expect in a recording became a lot higher.

a voice teacher and early music fan.......2007-01-17

When Robert Shaw retired in 1988 as Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra he returned to the conducting of unaccompanied choral music, that he had been involved with in the Robert Shaw Chorale in the 1950's and early 60's.
The selections on this disc are taken from several different Telarc recordings that were made at summer festivals he directed during the last decade of his life.
The Poulenc "O Magnum Mysterium" is one of the four motets on a Christmas album made in 1989. "Wondrous Love", "Amazing Grace", and "Sometimes I Feel Like a Moanin' Dove" are from the collection of 'American Hymns and Spirituals', performed and recorded in 1992. Gorecki's motet "Totus Tuus" appeared on 'Evocation of the Spirit' recorded in 1994.
In the Summer of 1989, the first year of Shaw's choral festivals in France yielded an impressive array of unaccompanied music which included Rachmaninoff's 'Vespers' or 'All Night Vigil', Op.37, the 2 Thomas Tallis pieces and the two in Latin by Vittoria.
"Der Entfernten" comes from a collection of 'Schubert Songs' for Male Chorus taped in the Summer of 1992. Morton Luridsen's 'O magnum mysterium', the most recent composition on this disc as well as the last recorded (1997), was included on 'A Robert Shaw Christmas'.
It is interesting to note that there are no less than three settings of the anonymous medieval text "O Magnum Mysterium". Shaw, a deeply spiritual man, often lamented about the commercialism that had pervaded the celebraton of the American Christmas. He retained a sincere awe for the miraculous details of the Nativity story, and it was natural that he should return again to music having this text, with its wondrous mixture of the homespun and the mystical, the lowly and the most high.

This is a truly interesting variety of compositions featuring a diversified group of fine composers!!!!.Any choral group that Shaw conducted always sang with much emotion and always great skill. There is never a 'ragged' entrance OR exit; there is never poor balance between the voices; the diction is crisp and clear and never 'muddied'; and the sound is ethereally beautiful. I would have liked to know who the personnel were in each of his 2 groups on this disc, but they were not listed, so I guess I never will know. Just a fabulous recording!!!!!

Incredible.......2005-08-02

Who can listen to this without being humbled, yet enriched, as if walking through the courts of sacred and simple places?

Very inspiring for this Christian (Catholic).......2004-07-22

I'd swear that Robert Shaw must have visited heaven and come back to write his rendition of O Magnum Mysterium (particularly track #5 with the chamber singers). It's my favorite classical piece, especially among choral works. I'd love to be in a great gothic cathedral like Notre Dame or Cologne and hear this piece. Even though you'll likely only be hearing this recording through your headphones in your room, it'll take you to the cathedrals and heaven itself.

I read somewhere that Robert Shaw was deeply religious/spiritual. I have no reason to doubt this...his faith shines through on this disk. I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." - Revelation 21

Amazing!.......2004-02-10

In my choir at school, we are singing O Magnum Mysterium; I can't help from sinking into its soft harmonies. How to describe this feeling?--each bar more poignant than the last; dynamically profound; crystal clear tone; that clash between tenors in the chorus...it makes me believe in love and god all at once! Spectacular, this CD is--how lucky I am to have found it. Recommended to anyone with hearing.

Praise to the Lord - Hymns From St. Paul's Cathedral

Average customer rating:

a voice teacher and early music fan
Hymns for every one
Super Praise!

Praise to the Lord - Hymns From St. Paul's Cathedral

Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

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The Music of St. Paul's Cathedral
Hymns Triumphant 1 & 2
Be Still My Soul: The Ultimate Hymns Collection
Abide With Me
Hymns Through the Centuries

ASIN: B00002EIUG
Release Date: 1999-10-12

Customer Reviews:

a voice teacher and early music fan.......2007-02-09

'The HYMN-a word derived from the Greek 'hymnos'-has been defined as 'a term of unknown origin applied from ancient times to a wide variety of songs in honor of gods, heroes or notable men.'
The founder of English hymnody is Isaac Watts (1674-1748), whose work in reforming congregational song texts culminated in the publication of his 'Hymns and Spiritual Songs' in 1707. Watts' collection was as complete and comprehensive a set of hymns as had ever been proposed for English worship and it raised the profile of the hymn sufficiently to overcome the prevailing psalmody. The great flowering period of English hymnody began with the work of the Methodist hymn-writers John Wesley (1703-1791) and his brother Charles (1707-1788). The Wesleys gave great prominence to hymns within their Methodist worship and published many books.
The modern hymn book is a collection of hymns drawn from various times and places. This most accomplished recording by St. Paul's Cathedral Choir presents 16 well-loved hymns from 'The New English Hymnal'. A great number of the hymns, which originate from many different eras and traditions, are given an extra musical dimension by John Scott's original descants and thrilling brass arrangements.
Over the years, I have found myself purchasing mostly the recordings of English choirs. They seem to have incredible vocal skills, perfectly executed phrases, flawless diction and some unidentifiable ingredient that makes them very appealing to hear. Of course, I personally enjoy the all male choirs sound; boy sopranos and male altos make the difference. This is a very appealing group of hymns!!!!!

Hymns for every one.......2002-12-01

As I have said already..I am from espiscopal church..these my songs are well know by me...these songs give encouragement when it seems that all hope is lost..these are tunes that are well received....they are also very simple for the every day person to gain strength from day to day..they will become your daily prayer.....

Super Praise!.......2000-06-10

Praise The Lord offers the listener traditional hymns in the English/British tradition. the clarity of the voices make it possible for the listener to follow the words distinctly. The organ soars as accompaniment. the CD provides organ and choral quality for the novice and the experienced musician.

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