Ebony Concerto - Woody Herman & His Orchestra

Advantages: Mutter's eloquence and sensitivity in older recording are enhanced here.
Disadvantages: None at all!

...performances. I’ve always found a rare, affecting quality in Mutter's distinctive sound. A pure, silvery tone unlike any other flows effortlessly from her Strad, yet she avoids descending to soporific and maudlin lows. Her more expansive reading, the greater elasticity than is usual of her sustained notes, allows one to absorb, ponder and appreciate the sheer exquisiteness of the music more fully. Read on to see why this disc will rank among my DIDs (desert island discs) for all time. ~~~~~~~~~~ As befits its Teutonic origins, the Brahms violin concerto is a weighty one, in contrast to, say, the Mendelssohn. In this seminal work, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) displays some of the most emotive and lyrical musical themes in the classical repertoire. Brahms wrote it for his good friend, Joseph Joaquim (1831-1907), asking the great Austro... Read review

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Advantages: Classic Concertos for Everybody
Disadvantages: Strings only!!!no woodwind...boo!

...prominent. Thus Vivaldi wrotes sonnets to accompany his music and to establish each thought in his mind. It is obvious to say then that Concerto is labelled Spring through to Winter, with three movements within each season. Most form again adopts the ABA construction, a favorite of Vivaldi. These are as follows: 1: Spring: Concerto No.1 in E Major Allegro / Largo / Allegro This I think, is the most well known of the Concertos, and has been used on numerous car adverts and airline adverts. This is what most people remember Nigel Kennedy playing at the very beginning of Nigel Mania!!!! The string compostion reflects the freshness of spring and depending on what recording you buy (trust me there is loads of choice!) this normally sells the album, this movement is the most played also by a leading Classical Radio. 2: Summer: Concerto... Read review

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Advantages: It is simply one of the finest pieces of music ever written
Disadvantages: How dare you ask of any disadvantges!?!

...of agitated questioning ("What do you want? What is happening?") with gentle string heaves trying to calm the soloist down. For a moment the soloist does calm down for a sorrowful refrain from the strings, clarinets and horns that tries to cry, but are too feeble, faltering down into sobs. The cello, now almost trying to comfort the orchestra with a hesitatingly rising scale allows the orchestra to form what it has been trying to say. The violas launch into the 9/8 lament Elgar wrote after his surgery, which has become the most widely known melody of the concerto. This is the first idea that Elgar came up with; it is this melody that most readily identifies the concerto's fame of "autumnal feeling and regret of a world gone away"; it is this melody Elgar hummed on his death bed to his friend and said: "If ever after I'm dead you hear someone... Read review

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