Scheherazade And Other Stories - Renaissance

Advantages: Gorgeous Melodies, Exciting, Storytelling Piece and all around Beautiful Music
Disadvantages: None

...a position as professor of instrumentation and composition at St. Petersburg Conservatoire in 1871 (not bad for a largely self-taught individual I’d say) and resigned his commission in the navy the following year. He had quite a distinguished musical career. At the Conservatory he taught many of the other famous composers we know today such as Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky! His main orchestral works include Sheherazade (which I’ve been told should be correctly spelled as Scheherazade) and Capriccio espagnol. He wrote fifteen operas which included The Tale of Tsar Saltan (which contains the well known Flight of the Bumblebee), Khashchei the Immortal, and Le Coq d’Or or The Golden Cockerel. Rimsky-Korsakov died in Lybensk in 1908. *********************** The Piece: *********************** Sheherazade (also spelled Scheherazade... Read review

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Advantages: McNeely's take on Star Wars material is brilliant
Disadvantages: None.

..."A soundtrack for a Star Wars novel?" At first glance -- or first listen -- it seems an odd idea. Scores are composed for movies, TV programmes, and sometimes stage plays. But for books? Then again, quite a few classical music compositions are themselves derived from literary works. Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" Overture was derived from Shakespeare tale of "starcross'd lovers," and Rimsky-Korsakov wrote his Scheherazade orchestral suite based on Tales of One Thousand Nights. So why couldn't there be a score for a Star Wars novel? In 1996, even as the 20th Anniversary Special Edition of the Star Wars Trilogy was being prepped for release in early 1997 and pre-production planning for Episode I was starting, Lucasfilm gathered several authors, artists, and representatives from Hasbro and other licensees to discuss a huge... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful Lyrics, Beautiful Stories
Disadvantages: Romantics and lovers of fantasy ONLY

...Both Kathryn Roberts and Kate Rusby are superb as far as musical talent go. Rusby's sweet nightingale like Irish lilt compliments perfectly Roberts' sultry deep and husky tones. But what I appreciate and adore most of all about their collaborations is this: When you listen to a song, it is not just a tune or a melody. The lyrics are almost always a story or tale in its entirety and serves to be a pleasurable experience but of the eyes and of the mind, with the images it conjours. The time zone ranges from Medieval to Renaissance to modern day... but all are captivating. My personal Favourite Tracks are 'Recruited Collier' 'The Queen and the Soldier' 'Constant Lovers' and 'Plains of Waterloo'. To truly appreciate the beauty of this CD you have to have an interest in ye olde celtic /englishe history, myth or legends. However, anyone... Read review

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