Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your credit card will not be charged until we ship the item....
Calling this volume of the RCA Toscanini seriesOrchestral Showpiecesrisks creating the ... more
impression that it is a set of barnstorming spectaculars often reserved for encores, which demand superb sound quality if they are to have the required effect. Sound which an archive release like this simply cannot deliver, though these remastered mono NBC Symphony Orchestra recordings from 1950-53 certainly fair very well in the strings and woodwinds, the brass and cymbals having a tendency to harshness in louder passages. Showpieces or not, the recordings are certainly significant. Mussorgsky'sPictures At An Exhibition, (orchestrated by Ravel--with revisions by Toscanini) offers a solidly architectural "Great Gate Of Kiev". Richard Strauss's,Death and TransfigurationandTill Elenspiegelhave a comparable musical drama to that which Toscanini brought to his Wagner recordings. Brahms'sHaydn Variationshave real weight and formal power, while theHungarian Danceshave a concentrated melody as well as superior sound. Equally, Tchaikovsky'sNutcracker Suiteglitters with a lightness of touch, contrasting with Toscanini's ceremonial, majestic reading of Sibelius'sFinlandia. The anthology concludes with "The Moldau" from Smetana'sMá Vlast, a colourful and aptly fluid interpretation. Without the unifying subject of previous volumes in the same series,Orchestral Showpiecesis akin to an extended concert, an opportunity to enjoy a diverse programme of immense musical artistry, lovingly presented by one of the 20th century's great conductors. Beautifully presented, these classic recordings make a most welcome return to the catalogue.--Gary S. Dalkin
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Comprehensive collection Disadvantages: A few space fillers
[First of all: I dedicate this opinion to the wonder that is theediscerning, because he and I share a passion for this particular brand of 80s electropop. Theed, I salute you. xxx]
The opinion, then.
Once upon a time, 16 year old Andy McCluskey sat in his Liverpool bedroom, dreaming of making different music. Kraftwerk-inspired electronic pop, with meaningful lyrics was his game, and he wanted to call his band, eventually consisting of himself and skinny blond turned fat blond with mullet Paul Humphreys with a few regular supporting types, "the most pretentious thing I could think of". And so Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark - OMD - were born. They lasted almost 20 years, despite a Morrissey and Marr style rift which left Andy carrying the banner alone, and finally gave up the ghost in 1997, although rumour has it that all is ...
ruth_cole 15.12.2003 (16.12.2003)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Singles - OMD
Advantages: Great performances of popular favourites and some rare gems Disadvantages: Barely none, with perhaps slight issues with sound.
Compilation albums of classical music are often a somewhat hit and miss affair. Great for the beginner, not so much for a seasoned collector. Therefore finding compilations that step outside of the norm in offering something else from the evergreens like Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, or Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and include some rarer gems is a thing that is ever so more interesting. Such was the sensation when I chanced upon this album, entitled "Colours of the Orchestra", a collection of orchestral treats that in various ways showcase the versatility and richness of a symphony orchestra. There is a number of composers included, all sequenced alphabetically, this set containing people from A to G. This album was then followed by a second collection that continued from where the first one ended, but personally I haven ...
Advantages: A journey through the development of an electro pop band Disadvantages: There are a couple of awful tracks that could have been left off.
There doesn't seem to be much that hasn't come from Liverpool. What have we got to show from our North West cousins? The Beatles, Jimmy Tarbuck??So it was no surprise that the masters of 'synth pop' in the form of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark also were born and bred from the once grotty, depressing Northern dock city.
The band formerly known as 'The ID' first applied their punk themes to our ears sometime in late 1978. The two founding members, Paul Humphreys (who was actually born in London) and Andy McCluskey released 'Electricity' in May 1979, then to re-record it only to not issue it as a single in September 1979. Just as well as it was a pretty appalling track that generated virtually nothing that to could be seen as warm and emotional. It was, thought, a track that launched an era of 'electricity' in the shape ...
