Balsamino/Monteverdi: Novellette e Madrigali

Advantages: A definite easy listen
Disadvantages: Maybe too easy

...- Romance Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Elgar - Chanson de matin Beethoven - Pastoral Symphony CD 2 Mozart - 'Elvira Madigan' Piano Concerto JS Bach - Sheep may safely graze JS Bach - Keyboard Concerto No 5 in F minor Handel - Water Music Vivaldi - Concerto for lute and two violins JS Bach - Aria Grieg - Piano Concerto JS Bach - Double Violin Concerto Monteverdi - Beatus vir Chopin - Etude in E 'Tristesse' Elgar - Serenade in E minor Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No 2 Barber - Adagio for String Faure - In paradisum - Schubert - String Quintet Faure - Berceuse x-x-x... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: sublime music
Disadvantages: the hour it lasts is far too short!

...This budget album captures some of the most sublime pieces of Monteverdi's religious music. It consists of excerpts from works written over a period of 40 years, from the famous Vespers of 1610 to the Mass, Psalms and Litany to the Virgin published posthumously in 1650. The settings are for two sopranos and alto, soprano and alto, soprano solo and alto solo, accompanied by various combinations of organ, cello, violins, harpsichord and theorbo. The alto part is taken by the outstanding male alto Rene Jacobs, who also directs the ensemble. Judith Nielson is the principal soprano, and is joined in one piece by soprano Birgit Grenat. The sound of the music is something quite extraordinary. Melodies are interwoven, one against the other, sometimes colliding into unexpected dissonances which then resolve into perfect harmonies. The rhythms... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good background listening
Disadvantages: Odd mixture of music on the Uplifting disc

...'. It is a pleasant track, though it doesn't really stick in my mind afterwards. Uplifting CD 1 Verdi - 'La Donna e Mobile'. Sung here by Alfie Boe, this well known piece comes from the opera Rigoletto. This seems an odd choice for the album. It's cheerful enough I suppose but I can't say that I personally find it uplifting. It strays too far into opera territory for my own tastes but obviously others may enjoy it more. 2 J.S Bach - 'Wachet Auf'. This is one of Bach's cantatas and is an enjoyable choral piece which would have fitted equally well into the Relaxing CD. 3 Grieg - 'In The Hall of the Mountain King'. Another famous tune but a strange choice for the album. Voices 2008 is obviously all about vocal classics, but in this piece the section containing voices is relatively small and secondary (I think) to the orchestral sections... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful