One of my two favorite recordings of this work.
938126
I agree with the previous reviewer that this is a magnificent recording.  My only difference is what the other greatest recording of the other greatest version is.  I nominate the version by the Hollywood String  Quartet.
Both of these recordings deserve to be in the collection of  any lover of chamber music who believes, as I do, that the true golden of  chamber music was in the 1950's (and also in the 1930's).
This piece  was considered by George Steiner to be equivalent to a proof of the  existence of God. While I'm not sure I could go that far, it is most surely  proof of the indominable spirit of the composer.
Sample the Casals and  the Hollywood Quartet versions.  You'll probably be like me and buy both  versions.
1283208
I had the great pleasure to hear a performance of this at the Brooklyn Academy of Music soon after it premiered, and was moved deeply by the text and music and especially the use of water as an instrument.

This recording is very good, and I'm very glad to have it. The only downside is that, as good as the music is, it really is also a ritual of sorts that needs the visual component of the musicians and singers, all of whom are on stage and visible, and who move around. The instrumentalists playing the water are especially captivating to watch as they use their many objects and devices to get varying sounds from the water (such as clapping on the water for a percussive effect; or pulling water out of a bowl with a colander, so that the water flows down back into the bowl making a rain sound; splashing; and so on).

I think this is a very sensitive and moving interpretation of the texts, and the inclusion of water into the score brings in so many images of life and of the Biblical narrative: the waters of the womb and of our planet, as well as the waters of the flood, the parting of the Sea of Reeds, the dew of Harmon, the waters of baptism.

As one reviewer mentioned, who was surprised at what he/she was getting into, this is some pretty avante-garde stuff - this is not Bach or Haydn. But it's not also not as extreme as Schoenberg. Tan Dun is part of a legacy of exploration that is able to quite beautifully bridge the worlds of harmonic and tonal forms of the old masters with the complete rejection of harmony and tonality of the 1900s serialists and atonalists, while bringing in some of Cage's chance-style approach to music and the ritualistic nature of Meredith Monk or Robert Wilson.

Great stuff, and I'm glad to finally have a copy on CD. I just hope they do a DVD of it sometime so people can see as well as hear the full grandeur of this piece.
402527
I have seen this play twice and I own this recording and the one of the Original Broadway Cast. I liked it better than the Broadway recording, but then again, this is the one I learned first. Also, although this may not have every note of the score, since it presents a fairly comprehensive representation of the live show, I find it preferable to just highlights.  When I listen to this version, it, more than the highlights, takes me back to when I saw the play.
I agree with the reviewers that the Valjean and Eponine voices take a bit of getting used to, but I think they emote the parts well, and there are parts where they shine (God On High for Valjean and A Little Drop Of Rain for Eponine). The Javert, Gavroch, Enroljas and the Thenardiers are SUPERB.
3459523
I have been looking for this recording since the early 70s. there are two versions - this and another - shorte and sweeter. pure gold.
4800946
I find this entire album to be very stimulating on both intellectual and emotional levels.  The second half, which deconstructs Pachelbel pieces via instruction sets given to the musicians, is among my favorite recorded works.
745046
This CD was recommended to me as a superior recording.  I have listened to it many times and each time sounds like the first.

It is a beautiful recording of a magnificant piece of music.  I would strongly recommended it.
3331701
One caveat - I have only heard the recording on a car stereo.  However,  this is a piece I love and know and I have never heard it recorded so well.  Like much of Mozart's work the composition itself represents an ideal that reality can scarcely measure up to.  But this performance seems to measure up.  First of all,  the two soloists really agree on the style and sound of the piece.  The intonation is perfect.  The tempos are lively and never slow down for technically difficult passages.  The orchestra features divisi violas that you can actually hear. The first movement, with some of Mozart's richest intellectual content,  is fun to listen to - you enjoy it,  not admire it.  The slow movement,  so tragic in its content,  is not self-indulgent or maudlin in its performance.  The third movement,  the "dessert" of this concerto,  is brilliantly performed, up to and including the risky arpeggios leading up to four high notes that end the third movement for both soloists.  Highly recommended.
2651604
I can claim no expertise in the intricacies of Penderecki's music. However, I can tell you that I am a great admirer/fan of Penderecki's music, and particularly this recording, one of the favorites in my collection.

I loved the engineering, which sounded as if just the right amount of reverberation were captured.  Since I'm no choral expert (but a choral music lover) I cannot contradict the previous reviewer's criticisms of this choir's intonation, especially in light of the vocal effects that Penderecki's score demands.

However, I do love this piece (evocative of course of the events unfolding in its pages).

Try listening to this and then flipping to a recording of, say Utrenya I and II, and notice the even denser sonorities and sound clouds.  (Some of Utrenya II was used in Kubrick's movie "The Shining" by the way).

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this recording of the St. Luke Passion.
3239311
Ferenc Fricsay recorded the Requiem twice. This was his first and was recorded in mono in 1953. From the beginning, the interpretation is gripping - at rather fast speeds you are drawn along with the music which, despite the fast pace retains a very spiritual feel. The Dies Irae makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. I never tire of listening to this recording. The mono recording from 1953, although it has its limitations when compared to current standards, is very clear and atmospheric and must surely have been of the very highest standards of the day. Deutsche Grammophon's technique of swinging a large microphone above the orchestra provides depth to the sound. Listening to this recording, you quickly become accustomed to the sound and it does not distract from the superb music making. If you want modern sound, look elsewhere, but if not, like me, I'm sure you'll treasure this recording.
I know of only one better recording of the requiem ... that is Fricsay's shattering second 1960 live recording ... but that's another story.
204970
I leave to others the arguments over why these are or are not recordings worthy of praise or a sniff of distain.
Personally, I was amazed at the artistry of both pieces. Seemed to me that many neat little musical bits and details appeared in these two performances that I've not heard elsewhere.
But I was more amazed at the quality of the recordings...1950's and '60's analog masters that put me more into the middle of the performance than many DDD recordings I've heard. If that was the result of "original-image bit-processing", then I'm going to look for that little moniker on other recordings I'm considering.
I think this CD is wonderful.
359197
I enjoy these versions of the Brahms violin sonatas. They are played passionately, even with a touch of sentiment on Perlman's part, but always tasteful and musical. However, to my taste, the Suk-Katchen, which is still in print, provides us a more Brahmsian reading with more introspection and delicacy. The sound on both recordings is excellent. Since the musical effect of the two recordings is sufficiently distinct, perhaps get both?
793474
The sound so good I bought it twice the vocal is great. This is what you can call a
Classic piece work.
1688181
This recording is hands down my favorite of this most marvellous of works, the Bach Magnificat.  I own three recordings (including Rilling's earlier recording on Sony and Gardiner's DG recording) and have sampled several of the other recordings available.

Rilling and Gardiner are probably the two finest Bach interpreters currently living, but here I think Rilling just finds and conveys slightly more than Gardiner in a way that makes all the difference in the world.  Where Gardiner's performance never fails to set me smiling, Rilling's performance infects my very soul and body with joy (with a piece that I think may itself be the musical definition of joy) - though not a religious man, I find myself moved spiritually in the profoundest and most ecstatic of ways.

Lest the intangibles fail to persuade, and for those who are concerned about such things, a few technical details as well: both the Rilling and Gardiner CDs are superbly engineered (clear, well balanced, etc.), excellent soloists, orchestra and chorus.  Rilling uses a period instrument sensibility with modern instruments, Gardiner uses period instruments.  The Gardiner disc has no pairing, I didn't care one way or the other about the Rilling pairings (mainly Bach reinterpretations of recognizable Italian works that I ultimately prefer in their Italian incarnations).

A shout out to Harry Christophers and The Sixteen for a recording that like Gardiner's, also makes me smile.  But finally, buy this one by Rilling, just do it, and then support Gardiner by purchasing one of the recent glorious, Cantata "pilgrimage" CD series on the Soli Dei Gloria label (I recommend, particularly, the Easter cantata recordings).
4043425
This recording from 1991 offers a fine version of both works and both in good sound with sympathetic accompaniment provided by Handley and the Liverpool orchestra.

Tasmin Little is on top form here and her technical grip over the works is secure and she delivers a lyrical tone without the masculine bite that some of her male colleagues. Long established players such as Perlman, Heifetz, Vengerov and Oistrakh spring to mind as such violinists. This means that the more lyrical side of both concertos takes the upper hand as an interpretive slant.

However her relatively small tone is still completely acceptable within the context of her views of the works and these two performances received considerable support from critical magazines such as the Gramophone upon the disc's first appearance.

This disc has now been re-issued as a two disc set coupled with works by Avro Part whose music does not seem to be a natural choice for all purchasers interested in Brahms and Sibelius. For that reason, this disc may be the preferred choice for as long as it remains available.

it would be wrong to suggest that any version of either of these two core repertoire concertos is the best or that one is definitive. It would also be questionable to suggest that this disc is touched by greatness. However it is certainly fair to say that it offers two fine performances in good sound which will give considerable pleasure to purchasers. That is not intended to damn with faint praise. it is just a realistic statement about the current situation of saturated choice of excellence at all price levels and vintages.

As one who is not short of alternative versions of both of these concertos, this disc still keeps its place within the collection and gives reliable pleasure upon each playing. As such I would suggest that it is well worth considering and that its coupling may well tip the balance in its favour for many potential purchasers.
4605477
I like this piece very much, and I liked this particular rendition of it; I particularly liked the tempo, which is faster & more upbeat than another I was considering.
2133314
I've owned three copies of this recording of the first Brahms string sextet, the first two on LPs that I wore out from playing so often. When I saw, by chance, that it had been reissued, along with the first Brahms piano trio, on CD, my heart skipped a beat. Let me explain:
The Op. 18 Sextet was my first Brahms chamber music; I bought it in the 1950s when I was a teenager just beginning to collect LPs. A fellow student recommended this recording and when I got it I immediately fell in love--with both the piece and the performance. It didn't take me long to wear it out. I bought a second copy in the early 1960s. I probably was last able to listen to it in the late 1970s; by then playing it sounded like a a family of mice were sandpapering the inside of my speakers.
I've since owned performances of the Sextets by at least four groups--Les Musiciens; a group of Italian string players led by violinist Giuliano Carmignola; The Raphael Ensemble; and a group of Boston Symphony players (my favorite besides this one). But I was 'imprinted' on this performance. Hearing it again, I understand why. For one thing, this Prades Festival group plays it more slowly and with greater warmth; still the Scherzo and the Rondo manage to sound, as Nicolas Slonimsky once said, euphoniously euphorious. The high point, though, as always, is that dazzling set of variations on one of Brahms's most gorgeous tunes, the second movement Andante. As I was listening to it again after all these years, when they got to the cello solo variation, about two minutes from the end of the movement, I found I was suddenly in tears: Casals' ability to sing that tune in a whisper still has that effect on me. Indeed, I defy anyone to hear that passage and remained unmoved.
Let's talk about the musicians participating in the Sextet. They are names to conjure with: Isaac Stern (then only 30), Alexander Schneider (the much-loved 'Sascha,' of the Budapest Quartet and leading light of the Marlboro Festival), Milton Katims (Toscanini's favorite violist, later a wonderful conductor), Milton Thomas (Stokowski's principal violist), Madeline Foley (ah, what an unsung heroine of the cello; she, too, was a fixture at Marlboro, but her career was mostly in teaching), and finally Pau Casals, about whose playing nothing can be added. But as a musical mover and shaker, Casals is of sainted memory. It's not often recalled that early in the 20th-century Brahms wasn't highly regarded outside the German-speaking countries. Casals was one who INSISTED on playing Brahms (another such was Arthur Rubinstein), and indeed he would even sit in the orchestra and play the cello solo in third movement the Second Piano Concerto, something a world-famous soloist wouldn't ordinarily do.
About the Piano Trio, Op. 8: the musicians here are also fabled. Get this: Dame Myra Hess, piano; Isaac Stern, violin; Pau Casals, cello. Oh my. Oh my. Such music-making. And such music. Again, the opening theme of the Trio is one of Brahms most memorable. These three musicians embrace the music (and, figuratively, each other) to make the performance gem&uuml;tlich, passionate, yearningly romantic.
Both these pieces were recorded at the 1952 Prades Festival, also of fabled memory. What I wouldn't have given to have been there.
So, for those who want truly magnificent historic performances ven though in old sound, this may be the one for you. And thank goodness we can't wear out CDs!
In case, you didn't catch on, I heartily recommend this one.
Scott Morrison
2245654
One of my favorite recordings of all time. Just beautifully crafted music start to finish. A shame it's out of print.