Bach; Handel; Pfitzner: Orchestral Works

Advantages: Romantic orchestral music
Disadvantages: Only 1 hour - eat quickly for a romantic dinner

...Johann Sebastian Bach, giant among Baroque composers, was a prolific writer whose versatility and creativity resulted in a wealth of musical works with a diversity ranging from sacred choral works, keyboard music to orchestra music. The CD, Concerto for Two Violins in D minor / Violin Concertos in A minor & E minor, is an orchestral recording conducted by Salvatore Accardo, in which two violins (Anne-Sophie Mutter and Salvatore Accardo) / solo violin (Anne-Sophie Mutter) are contrasted with a larger orchestra (English Chamber Orchestra) of strings and bass continuo instrument the harpsichord. Bach is often criticized for his strict attention to form. Whilst, I greatly admire Bach for his intellectual and methodical approach to composition, what I enjoy most is the harmonious and melodic music that results. This CD is a superb example... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great performances of popular favourites and some rare gems
Disadvantages: Barely none, with perhaps slight issues with sound.

...'s extremely wild and raucous orchestration of Bach's famous D minor Toccata & Fugue, that is more than fitting in a collection such as this (Stokowski's electric personality fully transcribes to the numerous other orchestrations he has done in the past and this is no exception). Made in 1976, the performance of the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler is exciting and rugged, and full of Stokowskian electricity. Bach rarely sounds quite as thrilling. Samuel Barber's ever-popular Adagio for Strings gets a slow and a slightly exaggerated performance from Leonard Bernstein and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but the result is still quite affecting. Beethoven's Turkish March from the play "The Ruins of Athens" is delightful and a nice make-weight; after all there always has to be some kind of Turkish flavours to be found somewhere... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Rich, creamy vocal; enveloping warmth; text, character alive; facile Baroque ornamentation; impeccable diction; fine Symphony.
Disadvantages: Only over an hour of music here; wanted more!

...If you’ll kindly pardon the gushing tone of this review, the blame for which you can lay wholly on the phenomenal British mezzo-soprano, Sarah Connolly (whom I hereby unofficially dub the operatic Anjelica Huston). Her riveting portrayal of the title character in Glyndebourne’s 2005 staging by David McVicar of Georg Frideric Händel’s ‘Giulio Cesare’ first made this writer into a very interested listener [reviewed here: http://dvd.ciao.co.uk/GiulioCesareHandelThreeDiscsReview5644748]. With this disc, she’s become a full-fledged Connolly fan. This 2004 CD comprises airs (arias) and orchestral sinfonias from four works by Händel, and any Händel/Baroque music or opera/vocal music lover will not regret its acquisition. This disc also heralds Ms Connolly’s superb turn as the aforementioned Giulio Cesare the very next year... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful