Bach: Concertos for Organ, after Vivaldi

Advantages: A definite easy listen
Disadvantages: Maybe too easy

...exactly say im 'into' it, i jus fancied a change. Its a good CD if u want to relax or for background music if u have sophisticated dinner parties! Not one of the most used CDs iv bought. In fact i only listen to it about once evry 2 months so it isn't exactly excellent value for money. Below is a list of the tracks incase ur interested. The CD is priced around £19.99 and available from most music stores such as HMV and Virgin Megastore. CD 1 Vivaldi - The Four Seasons Pachelbel: Canon JS Bach - Air 'on the G string' Mozart - Ave verum corpus Handel - Largo JS Bach - Jesus bleibet meine Freude Mozart - Clarinet Concerto Beethoven - 'Emporer' Concerto Mascagni - Intermezzo Bruch - Violin Concerto Rutter - The Lort is my shepherd Saint-Saens - Aquarium Holst - Venus Chopin - Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor Faure - Pie Jesu Shostakovich... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Wonderful transcriptions of JS Bach's majestic music; sensitive, tender, vivacious, effortless and fluid playing.
Disadvantages: Nil.

...pieces are the devil to muster (and master) on any musical device, but the trumpet makes special demands on the player's breathing that the other plucked, hammered and bowed instruments do not. Being such a wimp at breath-holding and control myself, I listen amazed at Ms Balsom's sustained breaths on parts that run on without pause, such as those on the Allegro from the Vivaldi-inspired Concerto in D. The music on 'Works for Trumpet' occasionally ascends to such heights of sublimity that leave me on the verge of tears. Such heavenly ecstasy can be experienced with the Largo of the Concerto in C Minor (after Marcello) and the Adagio of the Concerto in D (after Vivaldi), which have Ms Balsom's reflective trumpet seeming all alone in a bittersweet melancholy, the companion organ sounding so hushed and distant. With the help of other, equally... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Beautiful relaxing music. Rich instrumentation. Played with passion.
Disadvantages: Not all instruments are from the period.

...are best heard (in my opinion) on the period instruments for which they were originally intended. Whilst Menuhin and his Bath Festival orchestra do not entirely use period instruments, the continuo is performed on the harpsichord and Menuhin uses a piccolo violin in the first. Before I go on to say a little about the individual concertos, I think maybe I should just describe what a concerto actually involves. A concerto is a form of music in which a solo instrument or instruments are contrasted with a larger body of instruments. The main body of instruments of the baroque period is the string section and a continuo instrument usually a harpsichord or organ plays the underlying harmony. The usual format for a concerto is three movements (a fast tempo movement followed firstly by a slow movement and then by another fast movement). Bach... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful