Classical > Orchestral Classical

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

What more can be said on such a popular set?

Advantages: One of the few complete sets of Mozart's piano sonatas.
Disadvantages: Not all pieces are uniformly well-performed.

Uchida's Mozart Sonatas set ranks among the most popular among contemproary recordings. Even so, I must frankly admit that I seldom go to this set for individual pieces if an alternative version is available for that particular piece. What's 'wrong' with this set lies in the taut tempi, the some times mannered approach to indivdual pieces, and the overall pursuit of speed at the expense of the music itself. Fine a pianist as Uchida, such weaknesses ...

shinabel 26.06.2009 · Read Full Review
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Review of Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas

Pollini's early try on Schubert's solo piano works.

Advantages: Sterling pianism and marvellous interpretation.
Disadvantages: Technical constraints for the D760 apparent.

The original release on LPs in the early 1970's (1973/4) had a better sound. As for performance, the D845 is better than D760 owing to the general strike in Rome during which the latter piece was recorded that led to the recording to be done under chilly conditions. For a better remastered sound, get the 'Originals' version, in which both works got coupled with Schumann's other two solo works for piano. The Wanderer Fantasy D760 was forcefully ...
...could not escape the taut and rather shallow sound resultant from performing under adverse temperature condition. The opening movement of the sonata in a minor D845 has a hauntingly beautiful aura that either Kempff or Lupu lacked in their respective versions. As for the syncopated rhythms in the 4th movement, Pollini has a clear edge over Kempff's rather limp attacks, but still could not surpass the limpid agility of Lupu's 4th. ...

shinabel 26.06.2009 · Read Full Review
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Review of Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy, D760; Piano Sonata, D845

A tragedy in miniature

Advantages: Baker is fabulous, rich, full voiced singing, brisk pace, dramatically intense,
Disadvantages: None

Purcell's Dido and Aeneas is one of England's oldest operas, having been first performed in 1689 at a Chelsea girls school, and is one of baroque opera's most well known pieces. Based on the legend of Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, a Trojan refugee, which appears in Virgil's Aeneid, the opera itself is an operatic tragedy in miniature - only one hour long - but when it is well performed, packs as much dramatic intensity as any grand opera. ...
...she tells her sister, Belinda, that her soul is tormented. Belinda, quite rightly, suspects that Aeneas, a Trojan visitor seeking refuge in their country, is the cause of the torment, and tries to persuade Dido that a union between the two would be advantageous to both kingdoms. Meanwhile, out on the moors, a sorceress and her clan of witches are plotting Dido's downfall and see the attraction to Aeneas as her Achilles heel and devise a plan to destroy ...

bubblegum_princess 28.05.2009 · Read Full Review
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Review of Purcell: Dido and Aeneas

A recording of shadow and light

Advantages: Sublime singing, moving composition,
Disadvantages: Odd acoustic to the chorus sound, lacks some resonance

Every now and again you come across a piece of music that is so emotionally powerful, that moves you so profoundly, that somehow you know that your life will never be the same again. For me, Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time is that piece of music. Back when I was studying for my A-Levels, my music teacher recommended I join the local choral society who Tippett’s oratorio A Child of Our Time in their upcoming programme: “It’s one of those ...
...and me, being 17 and stubbornly sceptical of the world, grudgingly signed up. Little did I know at that point how lucky I was to be singing this fantastic piece under the direction of Edward Gardner – now Head of Music at English National Opera – but as I grew to know the work I began to appreciate just how masterful it is, and it was during the concert, on hearing the soprano soloist soaring her way through the spirituals, that I knew that what ...

bubblegum_princess 22.05.2009 · Read Full Review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Tippett: A Child of Our Time