Top Ten Classical Music Sales |
Top Ten Classical Music
One Chance by Paul Potts
Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts has spent most of his life feeling 'insignificant'. Bullied at school for being 'different', he realized growing up that he had one true friend and that was his voice. Singing was his escape. He was able to lose himself in his own little world - the vicious words of his tormentors replaced by hauntingly beautiful lyrics and melodies that lifted his heart and spirit. It was a love, a passion, a lifeline that would follow Paul into adulthood and help him through many more periods of adversity. Though it's fair to say that when Paul strolled awkwardly - almost apologetically - onto the Cardiff stage for his first Britain’s Got Talent audition a week before that final, in his now infamous £35 Tesco suit, and announced to Simon and fellow judges Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan that he was going to sing opera, they never thought for one minute they were looking at their winner. Until he opened his mouth and started to sing. Paul Potts Photos
Paul Potts Photos
The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere by Andrea Bocelli, Nathan East, Paolo Bighignoli, David Foster, Walter Afanasieff, Pierpaolo / Luciani, Paolo Guerrini, Elio Isola, Mauro Malavasi, Gloria Malise / Nuti, Francesco Sartori
Release Date: 30 October, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $18.98 Our Price: $9.99 
Italia by Chris Botti
Release Date: 25 September, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $12.99 
![Vivere Live in Tuscany [DVD/CD] by Chris Botti](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21s8VpCeEGL.jpg)
Vivere Live in Tuscany [DVD/CD] by Chris Botti
Release Date: 29 January, 2008 DVD More Info... List Price: $24.98 Our Price: $24.98 
![Vivere Live in Tuscany [CD/DVD] by David / Botti, Chris Foster, Elio Isola, Mauro Malavasi, Franco / Malavasi, Mauro Marino, Tony / Guantini, Massimo / Testa, Alberto Renis, Francesco Sartori, Francesco / Foster, David / Quarantotto, Lucio / Sartori, Various Composers, Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/217xi50Nq6L.jpg)
Vivere Live in Tuscany [CD/DVD] by David / Botti, Chris Foster, Elio Isola, Mauro Malavasi, Franco / Malavasi, Mauro Marino, Tony / Guantini, Massimo / Testa, Alberto Renis, Francesco Sartori, Francesco / Foster, David / Quarantotto, Lucio / Sartori, Various Composers, Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli
Release Date: 29 January, 2008 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $24.98 Our Price: $21.99 
Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich, Grand Valley State University New Music
Release Date: 16 October, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $21.98 Our Price: $21.98 
The Best Of Andrea Bocelli Vivere (CD & DVD Deluxe Edition) by Andrea Bocelli, Nathan East, Paolo Bighignoli, David Foster, David / Afanasieff, Walter Foster, Pierpaolo / Luciani, Paolo Guerrini, Elio Isola, Mauro Malavasi, Gloria Malise / Nuti, Francesco Sartori
Release Date: 30 October, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $24.98 Our Price: $17.99 
Voce D'Italia: Arias For Rubini by Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Roberto Abbado, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Juan Diego Flórez
Release Date: 22 January, 2008 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $16.98 Our Price: $12.99 
Luciano Pavarotti: The Best (Farewell Tour) by Eric Garrett, Rolando Panerai, Cesare Andrea Bixio, Eduardo di Capua, Salvatore Cardillo, Robin Centonze Michele / Smith, Ernesto de Curtis, Lucio Dalla, Gaetano Donizetti, Luciano Pavarotti
Anyone discovering this album who had never heard or heard of Luciano Pavarotti would immediately recognize greatness, a one-of-a-kind, one-per-generation (maybe) talent and personality that commands attention, respect, and yes, even love. These 35 selections are an astonishing achievement: Taken, for the most part from the tenor's prime--the 1970s and '80s (although there are four earlier and three from 2003)--what we hear is golden tone, impeccable diction, an innate sense of style and line and where the music should be going, absolutely natural phrasing, an evenness of production from C to (shining) C, and an ability to communicate warmth, passion, and the sheer love of music-making. The first CD is devoted to opera, with a dazzling "La donna e mobile," a smooth-as-silk "Una furtive lagrima," the famous aria from "La fille du regiment" with nine high Cs, "Nessun dorma" and many more. The second CD is mostly songs ("Torna a Surriento," "La danza," "O sole mio," etc.) sung with élan and flawless style, plus a couple of ghastly pop tunes (from 2003); to make up for them, we get a bonus--the three arias from Pavarotti's first EP from Decca, recorded in 1964--"E lucevan le stelle" and two arias from Rigoletto. Bravo, Pavarotti--we miss you already. --Robert Levine Anyone discovering this album who had never heard or heard of Luciano Pavarotti would immediately recognize greatness, a one-of-a-kind, one-per-generation (maybe) talent and personality that commands attention, respect, and yes, even love. These 35 selections are an astonishing achievement: Taken, for the most part from the tenor's prime--the 1970s and '80s (although there are four earlier and three from 2003)--what we hear is golden tone, impeccable diction, an innate sense of style and line and where the music should be going, absolutely natural phrasing, an evenness of production from C to (shining) C, and an ability to communicate warmth, passion, and the sheer love of music-making. The first CD is devoted to opera, with a dazzling "La donna e mobile," a smooth-as-silk "Una furtive lagrima," the famous aria from "La fille du regiment" with nine high Cs, "Nessun dorma" and many more. The second CD is mostly songs ("Torna a Surriento," "La danza," "O sole mio," etc.) sung with élan and flawless style, plus a couple of ghastly pop tunes (from 2003); to make up for them, we get a bonus--the three arias from Pavarotti's first EP from Decca, recorded in 1964--"E lucevan le stelle" and two arias from Rigoletto. Bravo, Pavarotti--we miss you already. --Robert Levine Release Date: 13 September, 2005 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $17.98 Our Price: $12.99 
Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years by Eric Garrett, Rolando Panerai, Cesare Andrea Bixio, Eduardo di Capua, Salvatore Cardillo, Robin Centonze Michele / Smith, Ernesto de Curtis, Lucio Dalla, Gaetano Donizetti, Luciano Pavarotti
Release Date: 05 October, 2004 DVD More Info... List Price: $34.99 Our Price: $27.99 |
Imports
Glenn Gould: The Complete Original Jacket Collection - Amazon.com Exclusive by Glenn Gould
Release Date: 25 September, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $221.98 Our Price: $221.98
Brahms: Sonatas, Op. 120 by Jon Manasse, Johannes Brahms, Jon Nakamatsu
Release Date: 08 January, 2008 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $21.98 Our Price: $21.98
![Paul Potts [United Kingdom]: One Chance by Paul Potts](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21D8JefjRWL.jpg)
Paul Potts [United Kingdom]: One Chance by Paul Potts
Release Date: 31 July, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $22.98 Our Price: $22.98
Glass: Book of Longing by Daniel Keeling, Wendy Sutter, Andrew Sterman, Philip Glass, Michael Riesman, Eleonore Oppenheim, Kate St. John, Megan Marolf, Tara Hugo, Dominique Plaisant
Release Date: 11 December, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $19.99 Our Price: $19.99
Mozart Edition: Complete Works (170 CD Box Set) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Bruce Abel, Christian Tchelebiev, Christof Fischesser, Ezio Maria Tisi, Gottfried Hornik, Hermann-Christian Polster, Klaus Mertens, Manfred Bittner, Peter Schneyder
Release Date: 25 October, 2005 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $149.98 Our Price: $114.97
The Chopin Collection by Fryderyk Chopin, Artur Rubinstein
Release Date: 07 October, 1991 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $29.98 Our Price: $29.98
Music for Compline by Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, John Sheppard, Hugh Aston, Robert White, Plainchant, Stile Antico
Release Date: 16 January, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $21.98 Our Price: $16.97
Eric Whitacre: Cloudburst and Other Choral Works by Eric Whitacre, Polyphony, Robert Millett, Stephen Betteridge, Stephen Layton
Eric Whitacre is one of the leading lights of the choral music scene. The 14 text-centered, emotionally-charged works on this well-filled disc suggest why. Outwardly conservative, his music is full of fascinating harmonic explorations, dynamic shifts, and rhythmic nuances that make them fun to sing and absorbing to listen to. The texts are drawn from poets of the stature of e.e. cummings, Octavio Paz, Garcia Lorca, and Emily Dickinson, among others. And they pack emotional power, as in When David Heard, whose Biblical text is illuminated by powerful tiered dynamics. He’s adept at tonal contrasts as well, the soaring sopranos in Sleep have their counterparts in a firm bass line. In Cloudburst he adds piano and percussion to the unaccompanied chorus to dramatic effect, and in some works, such as Cummings' "hope, faith, life, love" he chooses to set only a handful of the poem's text, with harmonic movements and other unexpected twists focusing attention. The fine English chorus, Polyphony, is at their best here, clearly relishing the inventiveness of the music, and the sound is from Hyperion's top drawer. --Dan Davis Eric Whitacre is one of the leading lights of the choral music scene. The 14 text-centered, emotionally-charged works on this well-filled disc suggest why. Outwardly conservative, his music is full of fascinating harmonic explorations, dynamic shifts, and rhythmic nuances that make them fun to sing and absorbing to listen to. The texts are drawn from poets of the stature of e.e. cummings, Octavio Paz, Garcia Lorca, and Emily Dickinson, among others. And they pack emotional power, as in When David Heard, whose Biblical text is illuminated by powerful tiered dynamics. He’s adept at tonal contrasts as well, the soaring sopranos in Sleep have their counterparts in a firm bass line. In Cloudburst he adds piano and percussion to the unaccompanied chorus to dramatic effect, and in some works, such as Cummings' "hope, faith, life, love" he chooses to set only a handful of the poem's text, with harmonic movements and other unexpected twists focusing attention. The fine English chorus, Polyphony, is at their best here, clearly relishing the inventiveness of the music, and the sound is from Hyperion's top drawer. --Dan Davis Release Date: 14 February, 2006 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $23.98 Our Price: $23.98
Haydn: Piano Sonatas by Franz Joseph Haydn, Marc-André Hamelin
Release Date: 10 April, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $23.98 Our Price: $23.98
Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Rene Jacobs, Freibruger Barockorchester, Johannes Weisser, Lorenzo Regazzo, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Olga Pasichnyk, Kenneth Tarver, RIAS Kammerchor Sunhae Im , Alessandro Guerzoni Nikolay Borchev
Release Date: 09 October, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $45.98 Our Price: $35.97 |
Top Ten Symphonic Music
Romance of the Violin by Joshua Bell, Giacomo Puccini, Claude Debussy, Fryderyk Chopin, Camille Saint-Saens, Franz Schubert, Vincenzo Bellini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Alexander Borodin
Every track on this CD contains a beautiful melody, many of them easily recognizable, all of them exuding tranquility. "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi opens the disc, with Bell delicately accompanied by a harp and spinning the long melody with great sensitivity. Bellini's "Casta diva" from Norma lives up to its reputation as the epitome of bel canto in Bell's hands; his violin sings. The middle movement of Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto takes well to the violin, and Debussy's "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" is played with great warmth and sensuality. It would be easy to turn a recital like this into treacle, but Bell is wise enough to realize that the music is already sweet enough and he plays with great reserve and a minimum of sentimental slides. The light accompaniments always support, with woodwinds prominent but used with grace. This CD, in short, is a beauty: a fine gift, a lovely mood setter. --Robert Levine Every track on this CD contains a beautiful melody, many of them easily recognizable, all of them exuding tranquility. "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi opens the disc, with Bell delicately accompanied by a harp and spinning the long melody with great sensitivity. Bellini's "Casta diva" from Norma lives up to its reputation as the epitome of bel canto in Bell's hands; his violin sings. The middle movement of Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto takes well to the violin, and Debussy's "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" is played with great warmth and sensuality. It would be easy to turn a recital like this into treacle, but Bell is wise enough to realize that the music is already sweet enough and he plays with great reserve and a minimum of sentimental slides. The light accompaniments always support, with woodwinds prominent but used with grace. This CD, in short, is a beauty: a fine gift, a lovely mood setter. --Robert Levine Release Date: 28 October, 2003 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $18.97 Our Price: $12.97
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone by Yo-Yo Ma, Ennio Morricone, Ennio / Tommasi, Amedeo Morricone, Ennio Morricone, Roma Sinfonietta, Gilda Buttà
Ennio Morricone is well-known to moviegoers. His soundtracks for The Mission, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America, Cinema Paradiso, and others are invariably warmly melodic and superbly suited to the films they grace. They not only add atmosphere; they help tell the story. For this CD Morricone has created new orchestrations for many of his scores, adding a solo cello part for the indefatigable Yo-Yo Ma, whose musical curiosity seems to be endless. Outside the films, these pieces tend to be lovely melodies, mostly pretty sentimental stuff, and, in the best way, gorgeous aural wallpaper. The most moving are the two selections from The Mission, but fans of Morricone's music will find plenty to enjoy here. Ma's playing, as always, is exquisite---warm, deeply felt (given the circumstances), and entirely idiomatic within the context. Perhaps not quite for the classical music lover, but an affectionate reworking of music by an important film composer. --Robert Levine Ennio Morricone is well-known to moviegoers. His soundtracks for The Mission, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America, Cinema Paradiso, and others are invariably warmly melodic and superbly suited to the films they grace. They not only add atmosphere; they help tell the story. For this CD Morricone has created new orchestrations for many of his scores, adding a solo cello part for the indefatigable Yo-Yo Ma, whose musical curiosity seems to be endless. Outside the films, these pieces tend to be lovely melodies, mostly pretty sentimental stuff, and, in the best way, gorgeous aural wallpaper. The most moving are the two selections from The Mission, but fans of Morricone's music will find plenty to enjoy here. Ma's playing, as always, is exquisite---warm, deeply felt (given the circumstances), and entirely idiomatic within the context. Perhaps not quite for the classical music lover, but an affectionate reworking of music by an important film composer. --Robert Levine Release Date: 28 September, 2004 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $18.97 Our Price: $12.97
Sarah Brightman Classics by Sarah Brightman, Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, Francisco Tarrega, George Frideric Handel, Fryderyk Chopin, Sergey Rachmaninov, Giacomo Puccini, Antonin Dvorak, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ludwig van Beethoven
Have some friends who still haven't discovered what the Sarah Brightman fuss is all about? You'll find the perfect introduction to make converts of them all in Classics, so they'll have no more excuses to remain clueless. Sporting a Botticelli-inspired image of the platinum-selling soprano on the cover, Classics is a classy anthology including highlights from three of Brightman's chart-topping releases along with seven new tracks. Songs personally selected by the diva as her favorite classical interpretations are culled from her previous blockbusters: Time To Say Goodbye, Eden, and La Luna. And whether you're a fan already in the fold or one in the making, the new material here shows the diva at the top of her form, in new renderings of "O Mio Babbino Caro" and "Nessun Dorma" (accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic)--fascinating displays of the operatic confidence she's developed over her career. Other new offerings include a touching version of Schubert's "Ave Maria,' "Winter Light," a fresh take on her signature song "Pie Jesu" (from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem). "Alhambra" and "Dans La Nuit"--a real treat, bathing the listener in Brightman's silky, sensuous vocalism--add two original titles to her famous adaptations of classical melodies to new lyrics (using Chopin's haunting E major Etude in the latter case). All told, a lovely affirmation of the directions Brightman has boldly taken in her career to date. -Sarah Chin Have some friends who still haven't discovered what the Sarah Brightman fuss is all about? You'll find the perfect introduction to make converts of them all in Classics, so they'll have no more excuses to remain clueless. Sporting a Botticelli-inspired image of the platinum-selling soprano on the cover, Classics is a classy anthology including highlights from three of Brightman's chart-topping releases along with seven new tracks. Songs personally selected by the diva as her favorite classical interpretations are culled from her previous blockbusters: Time To Say Goodbye, Eden, and La Luna. And whether you're a fan already in the fold or one in the making, the new material here shows the diva at the top of her form, in new renderings of "O Mio Babbino Caro" and "Nessun Dorma" (accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic)--fascinating displays of the operatic confidence she's developed over her career. Other new offerings include a touching version of Schubert's "Ave Maria,' "Winter Light," a fresh take on her signature song "Pie Jesu" (from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem). "Alhambra" and "Dans La Nuit"--a real treat, bathing the listener in Brightman's silky, sensuous vocalism--add two original titles to her famous adaptations of classical melodies to new lyrics (using Chopin's haunting E major Etude in the latter case). All told, a lovely affirmation of the directions Brightman has boldly taken in her career to date. -Sarah Chin Release Date: 20 November, 2001 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $17.98 Our Price: $10.97
![Most Relaxing Classics 100 by José Van Dam, Han-Na Chang, Jacqueline du Pré, Jonathan Williams [horn], Laszlo Varga, Sabine Meyer, Tomaso Albinoni, Gregorio Allegri, Johann Sebastian Bach, Samuel Barber](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21eJL50UXdL.jpg)
Most Relaxing Classics 100 by José Van Dam, Han-Na Chang, Jacqueline du Pré, Jonathan Williams [horn], Laszlo Varga, Sabine Meyer, Tomaso Albinoni, Gregorio Allegri, Johann Sebastian Bach, Samuel Barber
Release Date: 15 January, 2008 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $14.99
Best Romantic Classics 100 by Han-Na Chang, Jacqueline du Pré, Natalie Clein, Sabine Meyer, Isaac Albeniz, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein, Georges Bizet, Luigi Boccherini, Alexander Borodin
Release Date: 15 January, 2008 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $14.99
Ludwig van Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies - Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra by Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Arturo Toscanini (Conductor), NBC Symphony Orchestra
Release Date: 09 December, 2003 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $29.98 Our Price: $19.97
The Most Soothing Lullabies In The Universe by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Fryderyk Chopin, Arcangelo Corelli, Claude Debussy, George Frideric Handel, Franz Liszt, Gustav Mahler, Francesco Onofrio Manfredini
Release Date: 06 April, 2004 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $11.98 Our Price: $8.97
Baby Einstein: Baby Mozart by Various Artists
Of all the reasons you'll click the Add to Shopping Cart button next to Baby Einstein's Baby Mozart--and there are many--the best one is that playing this record for babies doesn't feel weird. Instead of subjecting tiny, tender ears to the kind of Mozart that can make adult classical fans wilt when tackled by a maestro who means business, this is Mozart lite, mixed and mastered by a dad, Bill Weisbach, who's clearly hung around for his share of crib-side cooing. The slightly tinny sound of a child's piano sweeps the sting out of Piano Sonata in B Flat's third movement; the first movement of Concerto for Flute and Harp in C floats by, birdlike; variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" translate to a fancy-sounding (but adorable) "Twinkle, Twinkle"; and Piano Sonata in F's third movement snuggles so deeply into its childlike setting that if you close your eyes, you'll see a pastel parade of animals floating by overhead. Other pieces (more aptly called fragments, since only one track stretches beyond the three-minute mark), like Symphony No. 41's fourth movement, wander into more robust Mozart territory, but it's here the claims about classical music enhancing young kids' abstract reasoning skills and spatial intelligence crystallize. Babies strapped in for a roller coaster of sounds that gracefully dips, swerves, and high-jumps like this version, do have to process what they're hearing somehow (and a case could be made that the instruments Weisbach's chosen--the vibraphone, glockenspiel, and music box among them--make it more appealing for them to do so). Followers of Julie Aigner-Clark's Baby Einstein empire, many of whom opted out of the fan club once Disney bought the company in 2001, won't trip over a single Mickey Mouse-ified sound here. This is pure, plugged in, and muted Mozart, and if it doesn't make your baby smarter, it'll at least sound awfully sweet issuing from your nursery's speakers. --Tammy La Gorce Of all the reasons you'll click the Add to Shopping Cart button next to Baby Einstein's Baby Mozart--and there are many--the best one is that playing this record for babies doesn't feel weird. Instead of subjecting tiny, tender ears to the kind of Mozart that can make adult classical fans wilt when tackled by a maestro who means business, this is Mozart lite, mixed and mastered by a dad, Bill Weisbach, who's clearly hung around for his share of crib-side cooing. The slightly tinny sound of a child's piano sweeps the sting out of Piano Sonata in B Flat's third movement; the first movement of Concerto for Flute and Harp in C floats by, birdlike; variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" translate to a fancy-sounding (but adorable) "Twinkle, Twinkle"; and Piano Sonata in F's third movement snuggles so deeply into its childlike setting that if you close your eyes, you'll see a pastel parade of animals floating by overhead. Other pieces (more aptly called fragments, since only one track stretches beyond the three-minute mark), like Symphony No. 41's fourth movement, wander into more robust Mozart territory, but it's here the claims about classical music enhancing young kids' abstract reasoning skills and spatial intelligence crystallize. Babies strapped in for a roller coaster of sounds that gracefully dips, swerves, and high-jumps like this version, do have to process what they're hearing somehow (and a case could be made that the instruments Weisbach's chosen--the vibraphone, glockenspiel, and music box among them--make it more appealing for them to do so). Followers of Julie Aigner-Clark's Baby Einstein empire, many of whom opted out of the fan club once Disney bought the company in 2001, won't trip over a single Mickey Mouse-ified sound here. This is pure, plugged in, and muted Mozart, and if it doesn't make your baby smarter, it'll at least sound awfully sweet issuing from your nursery's speakers. --Tammy La Gorce Release Date: 07 May, 2002 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $6.98 Our Price: $5.47
25 Classical Favorites by Frank Morelli, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georges Bizet, Johannes Brahms, Fryderyk Chopin, George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergey Rachmaninov, Maurice Ravel, John Philip Sousa
Release Date: 23 January, 1996 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $4.98 Our Price: $4.98
Appassionato by Yo-Yo Ma, Paquito D'Rivera, Jacob do Bandolim, Johannes Brahms, Cesar Franck, George Gershwin, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Michio Mamiya, Felix Mendelssohn, Edgar Meyer
Any new compilation CD starring Yo-Yo Ma is certain to please. This master of the cello takes the listener through so many types of music that the ear and mind never tire. The present selection is billed as a sort of "musical autobiography," and, indeed, it gives us a tour of Ma's musical life. The Silk Road Project is represented by Zhao's "Swallow Song," with its eerie, fascinating soundscape (specially re-recorded for this CD). We also accompany Ma on his excursions into the world of the baroque cello with Vivaldi or of the Finnish folk song (by Mamiya, a first recording). There are Gershwin's languid Second Prelude, with its intimations of the song "Summertime," and an all-new recording of a nine-minute heart-breaker by Astor Piazzolla ("Soledad"). Ma also gives us more familiar Brahms, Franck, and Saint-Saens. The compilation's mellow 65 minutes offer relaxing, beautiful music, all exquisitely played. Ma is joined by the best: Emanuel Ax, Kathryn Stott, John Williams (who plays piano on his own "Going to School" from Memoirs of a Geisha), Isaac Stern, and Claudio Abbado. This is a veritable Who's Who of superb musicians. --Robert Levine Any new compilation CD starring Yo-Yo Ma is certain to please. This master of the cello takes the listener through so many types of music that the ear and mind never tire. The present selection is billed as a sort of "musical autobiography," and, indeed, it gives us a tour of Ma's musical life. The Silk Road Project is represented by Zhao's "Swallow Song," with its eerie, fascinating soundscape (specially re-recorded for this CD). We also accompany Ma on his excursions into the world of the baroque cello with Vivaldi or of the Finnish folk song (by Mamiya, a first recording). There are Gershwin's languid Second Prelude, with its intimations of the song "Summertime," and an all-new recording of a nine-minute heart-breaker by Astor Piazzolla ("Soledad"). Ma also gives us more familiar Brahms, Franck, and Saint-Saens. The compilation's mellow 65 minutes offer relaxing, beautiful music, all exquisitely played. Ma is joined by the best: Emanuel Ax, Kathryn Stott, John Williams (who plays piano on his own "Going to School" from Memoirs of a Geisha), Isaac Stern, and Claudio Abbado. This is a veritable Who's Who of superb musicians. --Robert Levine Release Date: 09 January, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $18.97 Our Price: $13.99 |
Top Ten Instrumental
Romance of the Violin by Joshua Bell, Giacomo Puccini, Claude Debussy, Fryderyk Chopin, Camille Saint-Saens, Franz Schubert, Vincenzo Bellini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Alexander Borodin
Every track on this CD contains a beautiful melody, many of them easily recognizable, all of them exuding tranquility. "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi opens the disc, with Bell delicately accompanied by a harp and spinning the long melody with great sensitivity. Bellini's "Casta diva" from Norma lives up to its reputation as the epitome of bel canto in Bell's hands; his violin sings. The middle movement of Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto takes well to the violin, and Debussy's "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" is played with great warmth and sensuality. It would be easy to turn a recital like this into treacle, but Bell is wise enough to realize that the music is already sweet enough and he plays with great reserve and a minimum of sentimental slides. The light accompaniments always support, with woodwinds prominent but used with grace. This CD, in short, is a beauty: a fine gift, a lovely mood setter. --Robert Levine Every track on this CD contains a beautiful melody, many of them easily recognizable, all of them exuding tranquility. "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi opens the disc, with Bell delicately accompanied by a harp and spinning the long melody with great sensitivity. Bellini's "Casta diva" from Norma lives up to its reputation as the epitome of bel canto in Bell's hands; his violin sings. The middle movement of Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto takes well to the violin, and Debussy's "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" is played with great warmth and sensuality. It would be easy to turn a recital like this into treacle, but Bell is wise enough to realize that the music is already sweet enough and he plays with great reserve and a minimum of sentimental slides. The light accompaniments always support, with woodwinds prominent but used with grace. This CD, in short, is a beauty: a fine gift, a lovely mood setter. --Robert Levine Release Date: 28 October, 2003 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $18.97 Our Price: $12.97
Bach: The 6 Unaccompanied Cello Suites by Yo-Yo Ma, Johann Sebastian Bach
Release Date: 06 June, 2006 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $21.98 Our Price: $16.97
Sarah Brightman Classics by Sarah Brightman, Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, Francisco Tarrega, George Frideric Handel, Fryderyk Chopin, Sergey Rachmaninov, Giacomo Puccini, Antonin Dvorak, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ludwig van Beethoven
Have some friends who still haven't discovered what the Sarah Brightman fuss is all about? You'll find the perfect introduction to make converts of them all in Classics, so they'll have no more excuses to remain clueless. Sporting a Botticelli-inspired image of the platinum-selling soprano on the cover, Classics is a classy anthology including highlights from three of Brightman's chart-topping releases along with seven new tracks. Songs personally selected by the diva as her favorite classical interpretations are culled from her previous blockbusters: Time To Say Goodbye, Eden, and La Luna. And whether you're a fan already in the fold or one in the making, the new material here shows the diva at the top of her form, in new renderings of "O Mio Babbino Caro" and "Nessun Dorma" (accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic)--fascinating displays of the operatic confidence she's developed over her career. Other new offerings include a touching version of Schubert's "Ave Maria,' "Winter Light," a fresh take on her signature song "Pie Jesu" (from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem). "Alhambra" and "Dans La Nuit"--a real treat, bathing the listener in Brightman's silky, sensuous vocalism--add two original titles to her famous adaptations of classical melodies to new lyrics (using Chopin's haunting E major Etude in the latter case). All told, a lovely affirmation of the directions Brightman has boldly taken in her career to date. -Sarah Chin Have some friends who still haven't discovered what the Sarah Brightman fuss is all about? You'll find the perfect introduction to make converts of them all in Classics, so they'll have no more excuses to remain clueless. Sporting a Botticelli-inspired image of the platinum-selling soprano on the cover, Classics is a classy anthology including highlights from three of Brightman's chart-topping releases along with seven new tracks. Songs personally selected by the diva as her favorite classical interpretations are culled from her previous blockbusters: Time To Say Goodbye, Eden, and La Luna. And whether you're a fan already in the fold or one in the making, the new material here shows the diva at the top of her form, in new renderings of "O Mio Babbino Caro" and "Nessun Dorma" (accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic)--fascinating displays of the operatic confidence she's developed over her career. Other new offerings include a touching version of Schubert's "Ave Maria,' "Winter Light," a fresh take on her signature song "Pie Jesu" (from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem). "Alhambra" and "Dans La Nuit"--a real treat, bathing the listener in Brightman's silky, sensuous vocalism--add two original titles to her famous adaptations of classical melodies to new lyrics (using Chopin's haunting E major Etude in the latter case). All told, a lovely affirmation of the directions Brightman has boldly taken in her career to date. -Sarah Chin Release Date: 20 November, 2001 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $17.98 Our Price: $10.97
People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938 by Various Artists
Release Date: 25 September, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $51.98 Our Price: $39.97
Most Relaxing Classics 100 by José Van Dam, Han-Na Chang, Jacqueline du Pré, Jonathan Williams [horn], Laszlo Varga, Sabine Meyer, Tomaso Albinoni, Gregorio Allegri, Johann Sebastian Bach, Samuel Barber
Release Date: 15 January, 2008 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $14.99
Best Romantic Classics 100 by Han-Na Chang, Jacqueline du Pré, Natalie Clein, Sabine Meyer, Isaac Albeniz, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein, Georges Bizet, Luigi Boccherini, Alexander Borodin
Release Date: 15 January, 2008 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $14.99
O.C.M.S. by Old Crow Medicine Show
During the "folk music-scare" of the early 1960s, a bunch of white middle-class youths with names like the Greenbriar Boys and the Even Dozen Jug Band discovered the mountain music of the Stanley Brothers, Skillet Lickers, and Uncle Dave Macon and set about introducing it to the country's college kids. Four decades later, the members of OCMS fit the profile of those early revivalists, yet if anything they have tapped deeper into the primal elements of an American art form. As demonstrated on their debut, they have assimilated not just the sound--banjos, harmonicas, acoustic guitar and bass--but more importantly the haunting spirit of music that was made to keep hard times at bay. How else to explain their ability to take a well-worn chestnut like "CC Rider" and infuse it with an energy that reveals once again why it is a classic? Not content to live completely in the past, they wrote "Big Time in the Jungle," which, though it is about Vietnam, could easily be transposed to 2004's desert conflicts. Kindred spirit and producer David Rawlings (Gillian Welch's longtime collaborator) has kept their energy intact, but one can only wonder what sort of magic they must deliver live. --Michael Ross During the "folk music-scare" of the early 1960s, a bunch of white middle-class youths with names like the Greenbriar Boys and the Even Dozen Jug Band discovered the mountain music of the Stanley Brothers, Skillet Lickers, and Uncle Dave Macon and set about introducing it to the country's college kids. Four decades later, the members of OCMS fit the profile of those early revivalists, yet if anything they have tapped deeper into the primal elements of an American art form. As demonstrated on their debut, they have assimilated not just the sound--banjos, harmonicas, acoustic guitar and bass--but more importantly the haunting spirit of music that was made to keep hard times at bay. How else to explain their ability to take a well-worn chestnut like "CC Rider" and infuse it with an energy that reveals once again why it is a classic? Not content to live completely in the past, they wrote "Big Time in the Jungle," which, though it is about Vietnam, could easily be transposed to 2004's desert conflicts. Kindred spirit and producer David Rawlings (Gillian Welch's longtime collaborator) has kept their energy intact, but one can only wonder what sort of magic they must deliver live. --Michael Ross Release Date: 10 February, 2004 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $11.98 Our Price: $10.99
The Most Soothing Lullabies In The Universe by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Fryderyk Chopin, Arcangelo Corelli, Claude Debussy, George Frideric Handel, Franz Liszt, Gustav Mahler, Francesco Onofrio Manfredini
Release Date: 06 April, 2004 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $11.98 Our Price: $8.97
Jardim abandonado by Clarice Assad, Sergio Assad, Claude Debussy, George Gershwin, Adam Guettel, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Darius Milhaud, Odair Assad, Sergio Assad
Release Date: 18 September, 2007 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $17.98 Our Price: $13.99
25 Classical Favorites by Frank Morelli, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georges Bizet, Johannes Brahms, Fryderyk Chopin, George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergey Rachmaninov, Maurice Ravel, John Philip Sousa
Release Date: 23 January, 1996 Audio CD More Info... List Price: $4.98 Our Price: $4.98 |