Classical > Bach, Johann Sebastian Classical > Hungarian State Orchestra

Sumptuous works by a little-known composer

Advantages: Good recordings of unfamiliar, but rewarding works
Disadvantages: None

Karlowicz is a relatively unknown composer whose chief claim to fame was his untimely death in a skiing accident just before the First World War. He left a small collection of works, the later of which (figured in this disc) show a talent that was tragically snuffed out before he could achieve greatness. The Symphonic Poems featured here reveal a composer adept at interesting orchestral effects (try the sad theme at the start of the Lithuanian Rhapsody, ...
...writing for the lower-toned instruments of the orchestra. Karlowicz has clearly learnt a lot from Richard Strauss, whose shadow fell across much pre-1914 music, but it often lacks the extrovert quality of the Gernman composer's tone poems; as the inlay notes say, there is a 'brooding' quality to much of this music, particularly evident in the middle sections of these works. Another feature of Karlowicz's writing is his tendency to pick himself up ...

chivhu 15.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Karlowicz: Symphonic Poems Vol 1

Music for Meditation

Advantages: A good introduction to sacred music
Disadvantages: A rather niche album on which those into the genre will find nothing new

...the same. Requiem is subtitled "music for Reflection and Meditation". It takes various well known settings of the requiem mass, together with a couple of other fitting pieces and puts them together in one place. If one is so minded, one should note that this album is NOT a requiem mass. The pieces don't follow in the right order but, having said that, to the knowledgeable, the whole album stands on its own as a good religious set. One of the other ...
...who are less well-known. When one says "requiem" one might think of Verdi or Mozart but here we also have offerings from Spanish composer Lobo (a motet) and the Italian Pergolesi (an extract from his Sabat Mater). I feel that Naxos have really got it right with this compilation. The perfect balance between the known and the unknown is struck with excerpts from the more well known Requiems by Mozart and Verdi featuring more than once meaning ...

CareBear 15.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Requiem - Classical Music for Reflection & Meditation

Remembering ABBA's Classic Songs

Advantages: Contains super hit tracks
Disadvantages: None

The ABBA Agnetha Falskog vocals Benny Anderson vocals, keyboards, synthesizer Bjorn Ulvaeus vocals, banjo, guitar Anni-Frid Lyngstad vocals Full Tracks Listing 1. Dancing Queen 2. Knowing Me, Knowing You 3. Take A Chance On Me 4. Mamma Mia 5. Lay All Your Love On Me 6. Super Trooper 7. I Have A Dream 8. The Winner Takes It All 9. Money, Money, Money 10. S.O.S. 11. Chiquitita 12. Fernando 13. Voulez Vous ...
...Your Mother Know 16. One Of Us 17. The Name Of The Game 18. Thank You For The Music 19. Waterloo About each track (This contains year of recording and running time of each track. I personally like to read some few lines of each track when I read music reviews to help me familiarized with the song, so I added some lines of each track.) Dancing Queen (1976) 3:51 You are the dancing queen Young and sweet, only seventeen This track has ...

browndoll 25.08.2009 · Read full review
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Review of (The) Greatest Hits of Abba

Stuff I like

Advantages: Everything I love
Disadvantages: Nothing I hate

...chocolate- wafter, whole nut, mint... My favourite one however remains Ferrero Rocher. Mmmm...the way this just melts into your mouth. Nothing can beat that! Candles. These are my favorite objects in the whole world. I particularly love pink rose sceneted candles with potpouri make the best smells in the whole wide world! DVDs I can just 1) Cleaning up. Who likes to do that anyway? That reminds me that my room is a perfect mess... Watching movies. ...
...vegging out in front of my DVD. Romantic comedies are the best! Reading. Nothing can beat the sensation of getting lost in another world. Harry Potters and Twilights are what I love the most; The supernatural aspect of it all just provides perfect escapism! Flirting. So enjoyable and fun! Clubbing with the girls. Nothing can beat such fun. It's wonderful to forget all the stress and just hit the clubs. Spas. I just love spa days. Being massaged, ...

scottiewels 28.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of My Favourite Things

Quite a versatile album, if not totally so.

Advantages: Good packaging, good performances.
Disadvantages: Not the artist's strongest performance.

Jonas Kaufmann isn't an Italian singer. He owns a large, dark lyrical tenor voice bordering on 'spinto'. Many of the tracks in this album feature Italian operatic arias that could only be termed his 'second best' (his best lies with German composers like Schubert, Strauss, Mahler, Mozart et al). Even so, this album offers considerable joy to the listener since Kaufmann owns not only a sizeable and expressive instrument, but also owns considerable ...
...these recordings. You may find his voice not entirely Verdian or Puccinian, but his interpretation of works of this genre is more than acceptable. The best tracks on this album are those arias from French operas. Kaufmann's French and Italian are both idiomatic, as well as his English, considering that his native tongue is German. Of these foreign languages, he is strongest in French. For lovers of French opera, the arias by Massent, Bizet et al ...

shinabel 26.06.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Jonas Kaufmann - Romantic Arias