Off The Bookshelf Purcell - King Arthur / Les Arts Florissants · Christie [Highlights] Search Music

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1.Purcell - King Arthur / Gens, McFadden, Piau, S. Waters, J. Best, Padmore, Paton, Salomaa, Les Arts Florissants, Christie from: Erato (Warner Classics) June 06, 1995
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $33.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $30.49 You Save: $3.50 (10%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $17.99
Yes - it's beautiful; but it does have some rubato which to me was unexpected and rather annoying. No doubt it's all very authentic, but still. Deller doesn't do this on his recording and I prefer the tempo his way - traditional. Other amateurs, like me, who love "King Arthur" might find this version occasionally tiresome.

2.Christmas Through the Ages from: Hyperion UK November 13, 2001
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: $12.98 Prices subject to change. Used Price: $3.90
Heaven forfend if there was some disaster and I had to flee my home suddenly, and couple only clutch a few Christmas CDs before going out the door - this would be the first one I would look for! When you look at the price of this disc you might think you are buying some really cheap collection culled from old, unwanted recordings by orchestras and choirs you've never heard of. This is not so. Rather, this CD contains some of the very best Christmas music from one of the world's leaders in classical music record production: the great Hyperion label from England. On this disc is one of the most beautiful recordings of In The Bleak Midwinter that I have ever heard. It's almost haunting. There's also some medieval songs that will become instant favorites, as well as a recording on an almost ... Read More

3.Benjamin Britten: Billy Budd (3 CD) from: Virgin Classics October 14, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: $32.98 Prices subject to change. Used Price: $19.25
I doubt even the beloved Britten could have prompted EMI to front money for a new studio recording of his masterpiece,'Billy Budd,' but recording a concert performance from London's Barbican Hall last December paid off artistically. Daniel Harding's leadership of the London Sym. is electrifying, and the whole cast seems inspired by the occasion (even more so than on Nagano's exceptionally fine version on Erato, also done in concert with the Halle Orch.). I have never heard the score played better, not even by the composer, and since Harding is a major talent, any lover of this opera can feel confident that wonderful things happen on the podium -- a five-star account. Almost as satisfying is Budd himself as sung by Nathan Gunn. The role of the 'handsome sailor' is ambiguously positioned ... Read More

4.Venetian Vespers (Monteverdi * Rigatti * Grandi * Cavalli) /Gabrieli Consort & Players * McCreesh by: Research Composer, Giovanni Antonio Rigatti, Alessandro Grandi, Claudio Monteverdi, Adriano Banchieri, Giacomo Finetti, Pietro Francesco Cavalli, Anonymous, Gregorian Chant, Biagio Marini, Gabrieli Consort, Charles Daniels, Paul McCreesh, Alison Wray, Jonathan Best, Tessa Bonner, Angus Smith, Peter Harvey, Robert Horn, Paula Chateauneuf, Timothy Roberts, Susan Hemington Jones, Fred Jacobs, Celia Harper, Charles Pott, Florian Deuter, Gabrieli Players May 11, 1993
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: $8.13
This really a fine recording. I bought my copy one sunny Saturday morning in Melbourne in around 1993. I saw it on the shelf and I got my wallet out. I was completely blown away by the music on this disc. Rigatti was a real discovery for me. The use of high falsettists in the chorus and solos is particularly effective and gives us a real insight into the sounds of music in Venice in the early 17th century. I cannot recommend this marvellous recording too highly, it is clearly one of the best made by the Gabrieli Consort, Choir & Players. Great playing from the strings, cornetti and tromboni.

5.Samson by: Handel, Sixteen, Christophers January 01, 2003
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: $44.98 Prices subject to change. Used Price: $31.46
Some time ago I fell in love with baroque music, particularly sacred music. Then I discovered Vivaldi's operas but for some reason I put off buying anything by Handel. Then one day Amazon France had a special on Belshazzar. I bought it and I was hooked. Since then I have acquired a number of Handel's operas and oratorios. I have just acquired Handel's Samson performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen and stars Thomas Randle, Mark Padmore and Lynda Russell. It is a stunner. The music and particularly the choruses is vigorous and exciting. I love unequivocally all of Handel's music (I only buy and listen to vocal music) and it is uniformly great, but Samson outdoes all of them. I read somewhere that Beethoven said referring to Handel "I would take off my hat and kneel at the grave of this man, the greatest ... Read More

6.A Portrait of Vaughan Williams from: Nimbus Records February 23, 1999
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: $16.95
Originally, I was confused when I encountered this set, as it incorporates four formerly individual Nimbus releases, now deleted from their catalogue. Be warned, then, if you have Nimbus releases of 'An Oxford Elegy' (and other choral music), or of RVWs Chamber Music (including the 'Phantasy Quintet' and the 'String Quartet') - these are the same recordings! That being said, if you don't have these titles, or you have them in another release, and you enjoy RVWs music, then you simply must add this anthology to your collection. These discs include the first recording of 'An Oxford Elegy' that I ever encountered; it is such a marvellous piece that you'll be scrambling for poetry anthologies to find bits of Matthew Arnold's 'Thyrsis' and 'The Scholar Gypsy' just to read along. 'Flos Campi' is a marvellous, almost ... Read More

7.British Choral Music of the 20th Century from: Nimbus Records November 13, 2001
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: $33.98 Prices subject to change. Used Price: $23.24
I haven't even listened through the entire CD. I don't think I can bring myself to spend my time doing so. Where to begin. From the selections I've heard, the chorus sounds incredibly thin and weak, the organ overpowering them on numerous occasions. Part of the blame in that, however, goes to the mix...the choir not getting enough mic to balance out the instruments. That happens too often in chorus/instrument recordings and it drives me batty. The music selections aren't so inspiring either. You would do much better devoting your hard-earned dollars to Eric Whitacre's acappella choral works, or any of his contemporaries.

8.Vaughan Williams: Choral Works from: Hyperion UK June 10, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: $58.98 Prices subject to change. Used Price: $42.99
I haven't even listened through the entire CD. I don't think I can bring myself to spend my time doing so. Where to begin. From the selections I've heard, the chorus sounds incredibly thin and weak, the organ overpowering them on numerous occasions. Part of the blame in that, however, goes to the mix...the choir not getting enough mic to balance out the instruments. That happens too often in chorus/instrument recordings and it drives me batty. The music selections aren't so inspiring either. You would do much better devoting your hard-earned dollars to Eric Whitacre's acappella choral works, or any of his contemporaries.

9.Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste from: BBC Legends April 29, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: $34.98 Prices subject to change. Used Price: $18.99
I haven't even listened through the entire CD. I don't think I can bring myself to spend my time doing so. Where to begin. From the selections I've heard, the chorus sounds incredibly thin and weak, the organ overpowering them on numerous occasions. Part of the blame in that, however, goes to the mix...the choir not getting enough mic to balance out the instruments. That happens too often in chorus/instrument recordings and it drives me batty. The music selections aren't so inspiring either. You would do much better devoting your hard-earned dollars to Eric Whitacre's acappella choral works, or any of his contemporaries.

10.Purcell - King Arthur / Les Arts Florissants · Christie [Highlights] by: Henry Purcell, Les Arts Florissants, William Christie, Claron McFadden, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau, Susannah Waters, Mark Padmore, Iain Paton, Jonathan Best, Petteri Salomaa, François Bazola August 19, 1997
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: $16.98 Prices subject to change. Used Price: $11.98
As I always state, I am a Purcell worshipper. His harmonies, counterpoint, and text underlay are absolutely unique and wonderful. I second what was said in another review. Get the complete work if you can. However, this highlights disk is awfully fine listening. Track 4 "Come if You Dare" is stunning in its energy and fun. It is almost unfair to single out any track because the excitement is everywhere in this performance. Track 6 "How Blest Are Shepherds" is especially nice Purcell style lyric beauty. Well, I could say something nice about every track. The point is - this is a treasure and should be in your collection (but go for the complete version of this same performance if you can).

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