Admirable

1. Gloria a Dios

2. El buen Samaritano

3. Deja ir

4. Saca, saca

5. Cantad aleluya

6. Ven a El

7. Admirable

8. No hay condenacion

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Christian salsa from the best, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz in the 80's.

Customer Reviews:

It's wonderful to have Bernstein back, but the performances fall short.......2006-11-26

These 1953 mono recordings catch Bernstein a decade after his famous debut with the NY Phil. and five years before he became their youngest-ever condcutor. It's great to hear that warm, comforting voice again, although his analyses--especially the longest one devoted to the Brahms Fourth--aren't as polished as they would become. He gets pedagogical at times and runs us through a rote example-and-explanation formula. Even then, howeer, colorful Bernstein touches peek out, and we are reminded of the man who taught an entire generation to venerate classical music.

For me, the performances themselves fall short. They were often recorded in a rush, sometimes late at night after a summer concert. I know that the Stadium Sym. is actually the NY Phil., but they don't sound particularly fine, and Bernstein's interpreatations, though vigorous, often border on the slapdash. Plowing through Beethoven's 3rd, Dvorak's 9th, Schumann's 2nd, Brahms' 4th and Tchaikovsky's 6th, I found few sparks of originaity, much less genius. This is a tough admission from one of LB's geat admirers, but there you are. The original recorded sound is also a bit thin and harsh.

Come back Lennie, we need you.......2006-02-22

This box is worth its price just for the five talks. Bernstein at this stage had a teaching style rather more stilted than the chatty sage of later years, but the combination of authority, insight and infectious enthusiasm is unique. Entertainingly offhand about the New World, he's at his best on the music he reveres most, i.e. Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms, the first movement of whose Fourth Symphony gets a particularly in-depth analysis that left me yearning for more. Practically anyone could enjoy and learn from these talks - they're fascinating fun without a whiff of down-dumbing. When the classical and the popular cross over nowadays, the results are usually compromised and crass, but with Bernstein there doesn't even seem to be a gap to be crossed over - just a passion to share these wonders with as many people as possible. We need his all-embracing talent and vision today more than ever.

Then there are the performances. I'm not the biggest fan of mono symphonic recordings, but these positively leap down your ears, unmannered, committed and electric. It's hard to believe what was achieved under the hasty recording conditions described in the booklet. The sound is a little fierce, but good enough to make this set a wonderful gift for any open-minded but symphonically ignorant acquaintance. I can easily imagine it turning someone on to classical music.

For Bernstein enthusiasts, it's like owning a gold mine.......2005-06-19

This new album set is something that I had heard of, but never dared to hope would be released on CD. It consists of Leonard Bernstein's very first recordings of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (the "Eroica"), Dvorak's "New World Symphony", Schumann's Symphony No. 2, Brahms' Fourth Symphony, and Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" Symphony. They are all conducted by Bernstein and played beautifully by an orchestra which bills itself as the New York Stadium Symphony Orchestra, but which is really the great New York Philharmonic, using the name that they gave themselves during summer concerts.

The performances are a revelation, because they demonstrate conclusively that Bernstein did not always "exaggerate" or "overinterpret" great music, as critics frequently claim. His performances here are very, very direct and straightforward, more like Fritz Reiner or Toscanini than like Bernstein.

If this album contained only Bernstein's early performances of these symphonies, it would be interesting, but it might not really attract that much attention, since he re-recorded all of these pieces in stereo in later years, and with the same orchestra.

What makes this set so valuable is that it contains his long out-of-print lectures on these symphonies, and far from what the previous reviewer claims, they never become boring and monotonous. No musician in our time, or maybe even in the history of music, was a better or more articulate and sensitive lecturer on music than Leonard Bernstein. His legendary appearances on the "Young People's Concerts" did more for the appreciation of classical music than all the "Beethoven's Wig" albums combined. (If you don't know what "Beethoven's Wig" is, check it out and shudder at how far music appreciation has fallen since Bernstein's death.)

Bernstein had a unique ability to make classical music accessible to everybody, without ever condescending to the listener or cheapening the music. His lectures on this album, previously only available to 1950's Book of the Month Subscribers (except for part of the Beethoven lecture, which is the only one that Bernstein did re-record in stereo), are invaluable both to music students and to those who are willing to listen. All of the lectures included cover all four movements of the symphonies discussed, except for the Brahms; that one is just as extensive as the others, but it covers only the first movement of the symphony.

However--be warned, the lectures do have a flaw that the symphonies themselves do not, and that is why I have subtracted one star.

The symphony recordings are obviously remastered from magnetic tape, but the lectures have been transferred from LP's. Thus, you will be able to hear an occasional click or pop from time to time, and there is a clearly audible "skip" on the Brahms lecture. It is NOT the CD being defective, or the laser beam on your player skipping; it is clearly the lecture recordings themselves. Deutsche Grammophon, which released this CD set, is very honest about the source of the transfers to compact disc, and is to be commended for this. (They mention it in the last page of the accompanying booklet.) But this shouldn't deter anybody from buying this enormously important Bernstein set.

Bernstein's Early American Recordings.......2005-04-02

The most recent batch of DG's "Original Masters" box sets boasts several titles that will leave classical collectors rejoicing, "Leonard Bernstein: The 1953 American Decca Recordings" foremost among them. This 5CD set features Lenny in his earliest recorded performances of some of his trademark works -- Beethoven's 3rd, Dvorak's 9th, Schumann's 2nd, Brahms' 4th and Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphonies. Bernstein would later re-record all of five these symphonies with the NYPO (btw, the Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York IS the NYPO) to greater acclaim for Columbia, but these early accounts capture a brilliant young conductor at the threshold of greatness. Also after each performance, Bernstein offers a musical analysis, simplifying what the listener just heard as only he could, which is again something the conductor would become famous for in years to come. Well then, if this is such a great set, why the four-star rating? First, while the performances sound very good, these are 1953 mono recordings and the casual fan needs to be aware that analog and digital stereo recordings of these works by the conductor do exist, and are generally preferable. Second, the musical analysis is a nice touch, but certainly does not warrant repeated listenings, as does the music. In fact, nearly half of the contents of these five discs is LB talking, and it could have been filled with music instead, or simply sold as a less expensive 3CD set. However, these shortcomings aside, "Leonard Bernstein: The 1953 American Decca Recordings" is another outstanding release in a fine series.

Average customer rating:

Only a couple enjoyed
A most pleasant journey.

The Film Music of Richard Addinsell

Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Film Music
Warsaw Concerto
The Music Of Richard Addinsell
Film Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Vol. 2
Film Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold, Vol. 1

ASIN: B000089HC1
Release Date: 2003-03-25

Tracks:

Goodbye Mr. Chips [Main Titles]
In the Mountains [Goodbye, Mr. Chips]
Finale [Goodbye, Mr. Chips]
Warsaw Concerto [Dangerous Moonlight] - BBC Philharmonic, Martin Roscoe
Love on the Dole (Main Titles)/Sally Awakes
Courting Couples [Love on the Dole]
Blackpool Outing [Love on the Dole]
Love on the Dole (End Titles)
Prelude [Blithe Spirit]
Waltz [Blithe Spirit]
Black Rose (Main Titles and Opening Scene)
In Theempress's Palace [The Black Rose]
Black Rose Theme [The Black Rose]
Suite from "Scrooge"
Overture [Tom Brown's Schooldays]
Polka and Galop [The Admirable Crichton]
Waltz Sequence [The Admirable Crichton]
Flame Tango [Out of the Clouds]

Customer Reviews:

Only a couple enjoyed.......2007-01-10

I guess I expected more music from the classic SCROOGE, with Alister Syms. But, I did like the music from GOODBYE MR. CHIPS. Otherwise, not very much more on this CD.

A most pleasant journey........2003-12-09

This cd is one of a series of film music productions by Chandos. Others include the works of Vaughan Williams, Dmitri Shostakovich, Malcolm Arnold, Nino Rota etc. All are conducted by Rumon Gamba with the BBC Philharmonic. If this disc containing the music of Richard Addinsell is any indication of what to expect from the others, then, indeed, the series may constitute a very fine one. The playing is excellent---clear, dynamic, tuneful, just right (sentimentally speaking) and atmospheric in the usual motion picture soundtrack manner. The recorded sound aids significantly in sustaining the favorable overall impression. The Warsaw Concerto (from "Dangerous Moonlight") is probably the best known piece here, however melodies from a number of the other works provide a very welcome measure of enjoyment. The Suite from "Goodbye Mr. Chips" is particularly lovely and memorable. "Love on the Dole" offers a charming elegance. "The Black Rose" , which starred Tyrone Power, has an open air spirit of exoticism and adventure. The wonderful "Scrooge" music restores the vivid memories associated with Alastair Sim's outstanding and deservedly famous portrayal of the title character. There is a moving tune, which is played in the movie during a meeting between Scrooge, as a young man , and his ill fated sister. It also appears when Scrooge visits his nephew to seek forgiveness and acceptance after he has learned a lesson from the three spirits that he will never forget. Though the Suite runs for fourteen minutes, one still wishes for more...The Overture from "Tom Brown's Schooldays" is both pleasantly playful and nostalgic. (Oh how that violin sometimes brings tears to one's eyes.)..."The Admirable Crichton" , for which Addinsell refused to take credit, displays continental flair...Finally, The Flame Tango from "Out of the Clouds" and the Suite from "Blithe Spirit" also give melodic satisfaction. Clearly, Richard Addinsell stands as one of the most engaging movie score composers of a bygone generation, as this cd attests. Most satisfying and warmly recommended.

Average customer rating:

German psalms and Missa Duplex

Thomas Stoltzer: German (4) Psalms

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Psalms | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0000029VO
Release Date: 1997-06-03

Tracks:

Psalm 37: Fret Not Thyself
Octo Tonorum Melodiae, Ton V
Psalm 12: Help Lord, For The Faithful Fail
Psalm 13: How Long Wilt Thou Forget Me, Lord?
Octo Tonorum Melodiae, Ton III
Psalm 86: Bow Down Thine Ear, O Lord
Missa Duplex Per Totum Annum: Kyrie
Missa Duplex Per Totum Annum: Gloria
Missa Duplex Per Totum Annum: Sanctus
Missa Duplex Per Totum Annum: Agnus Dei
O Wondrous Exchange
In God's Name We Go Forth
King And Lord Of All

Customer Reviews:

German psalms and Missa Duplex.......1999-04-19

Stoltzer is one of the earliest German composers to have set Psalms in his own language. You won't find here the celestial disco which is the effect of Schutz's Psalmen Davids, rather you get a sober account half way between Latin motet and Lutheran chorale (what you would expect in other words). The recording has dated a little, but the reserve is more in the pieces than the performers.

Tracks:

Journey To The End Of Night: I
Journey To The End Of Night: II
Journey To The End Of Night: III
Journey To The End Of Night: IV
Between Categories
Intervals: I
Intervals: II
Intervals: III
Intervals: IV
Three Clarinets, Cello And Piano
Four Songs To E.E. Cummings: !Blac
Four Songs To E.E. Cummings: Air
Four Songs To E.E. Cummings: (Sitting In A Tree-)
Four Songs To E.E. Cummings: Moan
Four Instruments
The O'Hara Songs: I
The O'Hara Songs: II
The O'Hara Songs: III

Customer Reviews:

Mostly minor Feldman.......2004-01-01

This disc is a follow-up to the Barton Workshop's earlier 'Ecstasy of the Moment' disc, released on the Etcetera label. It is based largely around works from the 1960s, with four works from that period, two early vocal works and one piece from 1971.

The early works sound almost nothing like the Feldman we're used to. Influenced by Webern and the composer's teacher Stephan Wolpe, they are brief serial works. Journey to the End of Night, for soprano, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and bassoon, a 1949 work based on Louis-Ferdinand Celine's novel, moves from Webern to Wolpe in its four short movements. The 1951 composition, Four Songs to e. e. cummings, is scored for soprano, cello and piano and strike me as considerably more sophisticated, if still nothing like the mature Feldman.

All the 1960s works on this disc are composed using a technique Feldman made much use of at the time: all the musical parts start at the same time, but they are not co-ordinated between each other and progress at independent speeds--usually both slowly and quietly. Of the four works from this period recorded here, the two earlier ones both feature a solo bass-baritone. In Intervals, from 1961, his vocal part--which contains only the Hebrew word for love--is accompanied by trombone, cello, vibraphone and percussion; the following year's O'Hara songs have an ensemble of chimes and piano quartet. Both of these works are largely dissonant, with almost Webernian harmonies, but the low dynamics and slow pace takes the edge of the discords. In contrast, the works from the later 1960s are more consonant, with Between Categories, a 1969 work for two antiphonally separated groups of chimes, piano, violin and cello, featuring near-arpeggio figures along with single notes. Four Instruments, written in 1965 for a single group of chimes, piano, violin and cello, is longer and more diffuse.

The single work on the disc in Feldman's 1970s style is Three Clarinets, Cello and Piano. Lasting about ten minutes, it's fairly typical of Feldman's strictly notated 1970s music in its somewhat Webernian harmonies and gentle, slow flow.

This disc is likely to appeal to most Feldman fans, as many of the works on it are unavailable otherwise. Nonetheless, I found it something of a disappointment--none of the pieces here strike me as essential Feldman, and while the performances are good, I found the rather distant, low-volume sound somewhat offputting. However, others may enjoy this disc more than I did.

They don't care if you hear.......2002-11-04

As in the previous "The Extasy of the Moment" these musicians play softly, very softly, sometimes beyond the threshold of audibility. In some instances one wonders whether they play the notes or just think about it. I do not remember any reference in Feldman's essays to inaudibility as an aesthetic experience in his own music. I like very much Feldman's music and I want to hear it (softly but) clearly.

It's Fulkerson's next Feldman installment.......2002-08-30

In my review of the disc "The Ecstacy of the Moment" I stated at the end that I look forward to Fulkerson's next installment. Well, here it is and I am glad. The order of the pieces is interesting as he alternates voice and instrument pieces with strictly instrumental pieces (and there has the clarinet, 'cello and piano work in between the two piano trio and chimes pieces (Bewteen Catagories is double the ensemble)). Four out of the seven works date from the 1960's, with a piece from the '40's (Journey to the End of Night), the '50's (cummings songs) and the '70's (Three Clarinets...) added. The earliest work, Journey to the End of Night, has Feldman fresh from his tutelege with Stefan Wolpe. (There are some moments in that piece which remind me of Stravinsky, but that's just my ears.) The cummings songs shows Feldman at his most Webernesque, with the wide leaps in the vocal line, the spare accompaniment from the 'cello and piano, and brevity, the four songs finished in less than four minutes. Intervals and The O'Hara Songs date from the early 1960's and continue the writing style similar to the Durations cycle, where the value of each note is determined by each player. Four instruments (1965) closely resembles the Vertical Thoughts cycle where while the durations are still more or less free, the sounds do not overlap as much as Durations. Between Catagories combines these two. Written for two equal groups of violin, 'cello, piano and chimes (with the stereophonic spacial separation similar to Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta), both ensembles begin at the same time (although one group begins with silence) then proceed as if alone. (Listen for the piano arpeggio midway through that was also used in False Relationships on CRI's Viola in My Life CD.) Three Clarinets, 'Cello and Piano was written in standard notation and investigates opposing sonrities (sustained unattacked notes vs. short attacked notes).

The only downside of this disc is the sound quality, which sounds it bit distant, but I have forgiven all that for the fact that these are the only commercial recordings of most of these items (as of this writing, of course). According to Sir Chris Villar's Morton Feldman website, Fulkerson's next Mode release project will be a survey of Feldman's large ensemble graph pieces. (Final note: there are still but a baker's dozen or so of Feldman chamber works still unrecorded; let's get busy, eh?)

Admirable
Average customer rating:
Admirable

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | International | Styles | Music
General | International | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0000524AI
Release Date: 2000-10-16

Tracks:

Gloria a Dios
El buen Samaritano
Deja ir
Saca, saca
Cantad aleluya
Ven a El
Admirable
No hay condenacion

Album Description

Christian salsa from the best, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz in the 80's.

Pop Music:

Pop Music