Classical > Vienna State Opera Chorus Classical > Vocal & Choral

Ode to Joy

Advantages: Catchy Tune
Disadvantages: None

Ode to joy was written by one of the worlds most renounced composers - Beethoven. This is in my opinion the best of beethoven's symphonies. This song is the easy to play and the tune is very catchy. The music is E E F G G F E D C C D E E D D E E F G G F E D C C D E D C C. The easy tune is very catchy and quite easy to remember. If you are learning to play the piano or keyboard I would suggest that you start by learning this one. I would recommend ...

TerryMan123 06.05.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Ode to Joy

A mixed mess of good and bad

Advantages: Every sacred music by Mozart in 1 boxset
Disadvantages: Not the best available

...for the 250th anniversary of Mozart (other box sets include piano concertos, operas etc). This box set contains every mass, litany, vesper, that he wrote. It can seem a bit daunting, looking at all those discs, and the 3 or 4 works on each one, and wondering which one to put on. start at the beginning and go through them! The orchestra is the Concentus Musicus, a period ensemble (and one of my favourites) of high calibre. On this occasion, tey ...
...it comes to performances from most other conductors, and you can certainly hear it in the well-executed performances. (for more details on period music - see my review on Haydn's Creation). The Works: There are over 3 dozen works here, so I won't mention them all. The Requiem is quite different to most other recordings I have heard. The Dies Irea (played and imitated in god knows how many films) is taken quite slowly, a change from the usual bash-it-out-as-loud-and-quickly-as-possible ...

rwjkelly 27.05.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Mozart 250th Anniversary Edition - Complete Sacred Works

Exciting recording of Verdi's Requiem

Advantages: Glorious recorded sound, a fine group of soloists
Disadvantages: Some fans may not like Sutherland in this music

This version of Verdi's Requiem sounds absolutely terrific. The chorus has lots of presence -so important in the famous Dies Irae and the soloists are miked beautifully. The 'Hostias' and 'Ingemisco' are some of the finest recordings of Luciano Pavarotti available. Arguably he had more character by the time of his later recording from the late 80s with Riccardo Muti but he is caught here at his finest vocally with the hushed ingemisco amongst the ...
...been criticised quite a lot by critics that think she should not have recorded Verdi roles (similar complaints surround her Traviatas, her Leonora in Il Trovatore and her Elvira in Ernani). I really like her in this music. She is certainly preferable in my opiion to Schwarzkopf (Giulini/EMI and De Sabata (Naxos)) or Nelli (singing for Toscanini). Her voice is very different from Angela Gheorghiu so if that is the sort of voice you like in this music ...

operalover2000 04.04.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Verdi: Requiem; Quattro pezzi sacri

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