Sviatoslav Richter in Prague - Liszt & Prokofiev

Advantages: Elegant, modern, traditional yet unique
Disadvantages: Not enough people will ever listen to it

...Max Richter's The Blue Notebooks meant nothing to me until suggested that I might enjoy it. Fair enough, says I and so I went to take a look at reviews. I found little but what I did find intrigued me. I also found you couldn't buy it. Well, there goes that idea. Anyhow. Suddenly finding myself in Rough Trade in Covent Garden (nope, it's not a brothel), browsing amongst the Philip Glass and the Brian Eno I discover The Blue Notebooks. I run to the counter (well, running is impossible in RT) and pay my money. Once home I put the CD into the stereo and await the results. I've built Max Richter up in my mind for some reason and suddenly there's dread. This will be a DISAPPOINTMNT as it really can't match up to my expectations. Oh, foolish, foolish man that I am. The Blue Notebooks surpassed my expectations completely... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: A childhood classic
Disadvantages: Adults appreciate it more

...Serge Prokofiev was a Russian Composer who lived and composed in Leningrad and Paris in the first half of the twentieth century, he wrote many pieces of music, many of which were politically motivated or manipulated whichever way you want to look at it, some of which were used for the Russian film industry, however in the midst of the lead up to the second world war at a time when he was undertaking propaganda trips to the west he wrote and composed what can arguable be described as his most well loved music, in the form of a symphonic fairytale, Peter and the Wolf. Even if you don’t know what it is when you hear it there are very few people who will not recognise the music to Peter and the Wolf. The original idea was to introduce children to the different instruments of the orchestra by way of relating them to the characters... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Useful for helping to teach yung children about musical instruments
Disadvantages: The story is a little bit grown up for some of the younger audiences.

...Sergei Prokofiev is a fantastic composer and this is one of his best works. Peter and the Wolf is a story about how a child disobeys his gandfathers advice, and has a rather scary encounter with a wolf. He is saved by some huntsmen and the story ends happily. Each of the characters has its own representative instrument from the orchestra. Peter, a young boy is represented by the strings, who have lots of tunes with excellent harmonies. Peter's grandfather, whom Peter ignores, is played by the bassoons, a personal favourite of mine as i myself play one. I think that the bassoon has been chosen to play the grand father because it has a sense of age, and, being a bass instrument, has a sense of authority and towards the end sternness for the disobedience of Peter. Throughout the tale there are animals. The cat is played by the clarinets... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful