Excellent Performances!
342872
One is not going to hear sluggish, ponderous Beethoven on these discs (Karl Bohm's set with the Vienna PO from 1970 rings a bell). No, you will hear symphonies full of life and joy and impeccably steady tempi. The 7th is the least impressive but the sym. nos 1-6 and the 9th are just outstanding. This is one of the most consistently satisfying Beethoven sets right now. No ups and downs or 'preferred' task as with other conductors. Hogwood and the AAM convey the very soul and spirit of these works from beginning to end. Highly recommended!!
4464759
I saw this production at the Met in 02/07 and was impressed, the best performance I have ever seen.  And the video is even better, you get close ups of facial expressions, Hvorostovsky and Fleming are, in addition to their voices, superb actors.  This role is Dmitri's, no one else could compare.  The two have a chemistry.  Ramon Vargas is also superb.  EXCELLANT!
3747460
I don't plan to go into a long winded review. I've been going to the opera for 40yrs, and seen most of the "great ones" one stage 1960's thru the preasent. This cast is terffic! How can you go wrong with Silja,Theo Adam, and Lucia Popp? The DVD staging is a movie not stage. Which is a prison courtyard and dungeon.  I believe the singing was dubbed in, so the artists have a more relaxed facial expressions.(you don't see strain on high notes etc). The only thing I found distracting was the singers at times sang to the camera. The sound quality is excellent. I highly recomment this DVD to anyone who want to see and hear great singing .
4788745
Outstanding performance, and the Blu-ray recording is very well done too, with excellent audio and video engineering.  Krall's jazz piano improvisations on the songs, along with with riffs by her long-time musical partners on guitar, drums and bass are technically stunning--they make the music appear almost effortless, and yet it is performed at such a high level of maturity and technical precision.  Granted, they must have these "improvisations" down pat (and so these probably should not be called improvisations), but they still toy with them, as if to entertain themselves.  Likewise, Diana's vocals have much of the same feeling of freshness--even though she has performed many of the songs thousands of times, I would imagine.

Nice twist by adding some Latin rhythms and Bossa Nova for some of Krall's prior recordings (I own almost all of her albums).  This recording includes a few new songs not recorded in previous albums at that time. In a playful way, Diana gets the audience to sing along.  Very enjoyable.
1751233
This disc contains performances from Argerich at her most volatile and inspirational. The Preludes and the Scherzo dates from the 1970s and the remainder of the disc date from the 1960s. The whole program has been remastered and the sound thus achieved is no cause for concern. The performances themselves are from a time when Argerich was still in her youth and they give no quarter in terms of being emotionally super-charged. In the hands of lesser pianists some may describe these types of interpretations as impetuous but that suggests a lack of previous thought. In this case these performances, which are certainly emotionally driven and at white heat, betray no such casualness. Instead the impression gained is that of intense emotionalism intensely controlled.

The Preludes are delivered as if one sustained piece with very little pause between one and the next. Chopin wrote them all as a complete unit which was unusual for him. Most of his collected works as bought today (sets of Scherzi, Nocturnes, Impromptus, Mazurkas etc.) were written individually throughout his life and were never intended to be played as complete sets. The Preludes were different though and that is very much how Argerich plays them - as a stream of continuous inspiration.

In general terms there is an emphasis on forwardly moving tempi, some considerably faster than normal. This is most true when a faster piece follows on without any pause from the previous piece so that they become emotionally joined. This seems perfectly acceptable when so many of these preludes are so fragmentary and benefit by being so joined.

The Scherzo also receives a blistering performance and the Polonaise is played with equal drive but with the repetitive middle section still tightly controlled rhythmically so that there is no sense of destructive 'gabble.' These are fine performances. So too is the flowing performance of the Barcarolle, once more an individually refreshing concept.

This is a thrilling disc with a strong sense of improvisatory drive and displaying highly charged emotional responses. There are equally valid ways of playing this repertoire but none more convincing than this in its own way. Definitely not Chopin playing for the faint hearted!

I would suggest that this disc should be seriously considered as a 'must buy' for all collectors interested in alternative interpretations. Purchasers interested in an 'only' buy may wish to tread more carefully if they are after a representative disc of the Preludes. This one may make all the others seem unjustifiably dull!
1285673
Excellent performance!!! As usual, Michael was spectacular.  The audience was wonderful, too.  The best I have ever seen Michael perform for. They appeared to truly enjoy him without getting hysterical.  I suppose it's the Japanese sense of order. If you love Michael and want to enjoy his concert without having to endure emotionally out of control girls being stupid and passing out and crap, you definitely want this DVD in your collection.
1806799
Excellent interpretation and performances of these Bach masterpieces. The entire DVD is an absolute pleasure to watch, with excellent musicianship and wonderful acoustics. All the musicians in the DVD are of the finest caliber. Karl Richter was a masterful conductor and a virtuoso keyboardist. His harpsichord work in Concerto #5 is a particularly stunning tour de force of technical precision and blistering speed that is not to be missed! It is quite impressive to watch the Maestro rapidly and effortlessly alternate between his conducting and harpsichord duties - without missing a beat. True talent.
599928
Excellent performance! Boieldieu's concerto for harp in C major is the masterpiece of the CD. Certainly, Valerie Milot is probably the best young harpist in the world today! Congratulations!
4032953
Excellent performance !!! This CD should be among the country's top 10.
Wonderful renditions of classic hits and a one of a kind performance of the "Sesame Street" theme song. (Miss Walker once sang on the show)
2002691
I do not care if the scratches from some of the old recordings could not be erased! How wonderful to hear these performances! What an extraordinary pianist, and a great lesson on how to play his pieces, from the composer himself. Any pianist will be glad to own this, and at such a good price.
4641550
Outstanding performances!  Lang Lang does such a great job.
4643731
Some great performances are contained herein.  Carla Mafioletti is the BEST!  Her version of Gesu Bambino is one of my all time favorite Christmas songs!
2146780
The performances are superb and full of energy. Certainly one of my favorite Kenton albums and my favorite performance of "Artistry in Rhythm." June Christy's performance of "I Want to be Happy" is sensational! Overall, 5-stars plus!!!
4152411
I'm one of the many who appreciate this work; I had the good fortune to see it in person when it was on tour and found that to be a memorable experience. I bought a Laser Disc widescreen version of the 1995 10th Anniversary Performance which I still have and continue to enjoy. I do not have the DVD referenced here so I will confine my comments to the performance with one exception.

Having read some of the other reviews I was interested in the references to omissions and deletions in the DVD; this prompted me to compare run times and I found the DVD had a run time of 148 minutes while the Laser Disc version had a run time of 160 minutes. I have not found any references to the VHS tapes run time.

The performance elevates this review to an entirely different level; this performance is powerful, disturbing, emotional, and at times, even funny. There are many moments of beauty and drama, and then there is the show-stopping scene, "Master of the House" featuring Alun Armstrong and Jenny Galloway that leaves one laughing and applauding.

This performance is anchored by Colm Wilkinson's forceful characterization of Jean Valjean. The other leads are also convincingly performed by Philip Quast as Javert, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Lea Salonga as Eponine, Michael Ball as Marius, and Michael Maguire as Enjolras. I did not personally observe and real weaknesses that would distract from the overall production.

It was effective the way the performers did not drop out of character during applause; the missing scenery does not really distract from the drama and the strong emotional impact of this production.

After watching this performance my wife and I find ourselves haunted by the beautiful melodies for days afterward; we have to limit our exposure to this work simply because it is so powerful!

I would love to have the complete stage presentation on video but it does not appear that will happen anytime soon. In the meantime this is a choice way to enjoy the music and the excellent performances by all parties to this production.
1707796
I wasn't planning on picking this up (DVD's, not BluRay). But since Paavo Jarvi does such a good job with Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", I had a sneaky hunch that he would do the scherzo to Mahler 6 really well (placed second in his performance). Boy, was I ever right. This is one of the finest performances of the scherzo I've ever heard - a movement that often times gets treated as though it were an afterthought to the other three more 'weighty' movements of the symphony. Not surprisingly, Jarvi discusses the merits of this particular movement in the brief interview with him at the end (interviews with Paavo Jarvi are included with all of his Mahler performances on this C Major cycle). The other three movements are fine too, if also conducted in a more 'straight forward', non-interventionist fashion. Two hammer strokes are included in the finale, but the second one - reinforced with tam-tam and cymbals - is quite a doozy!  Once again, these performances were captured in the somewhat reverberate acoustics of  Kloster Eberbach in Rheingau (closer to Wiesbaden than Frankfurt). Not inappropriately, the lower end of the orchestra comes off stronger than usual: double basses, celli, tuba, bass drum, timpani, tam-tam (large gong), etc. All of this helps to reinforce the weighty and dark character of Mahler's 'tragic' A-minor symphony. With such a strong and meaningful performance of the multi-faceted scherzo, this comes off as a very 'integrated' rendition.

The performance of Mahler 5 (disc 1) is, in my opinion, quite outstanding. If anybody wishes to sample this for themselves, there's a complete Mahler 5 on Youtube with the same people (P. Jarvi/Frankfurt Radio Symphony), only captured on tour in Seoul, Korea (the audience goes bonkers!). In this particular case, the less reverberate acoustics of the hall in Seoul is more appropriate for the fifth symphony, which is perhaps Mahler's most 'contrapuntal' symphony (more J.S. Bach like). Still, this one captured for DVD/BluRay in Kloster Erbach is quite good, and it features truly outstanding solo and obbligato horn work in the middle movement scherzo from principal hornist Samuel Seidenberg. As is sometimes the practice these days, Seidenberg plays the scherzo from a standing position at the front of the orchestra. He's superb! Overall, this is good as any Mahler 5 in my collection, with Jarvi taking a somewhat lively yet highly flexible approach to the famous Adagietto for strings and harp (in this recording the harp might actually be balanced a tad too far forward, for once). I really enjoyed this Mahler 5. While these performances may not be 'earth shaking' in terms of new insights or weird interpretations, they're remarkably solid and committed performances. Anyone wanting these two symphonies together won't go far wrong.
1028877
Thoroughly enjoyed this performance.  These men are PROS.  I liked the bit of banter in between the songs, and the lovely presentation of flowers to the teacher in 1st row who first introduced them to music.  Very enjoyable concert.  Look forward to many more.
2426602
This 2-CD album featuring the pianism of Maurizio Pollini is an extremely fine presentation of a variety of piano works by the outstanding Italian pianist.  Armed with brilliant technical prowess, Pollini re-creates these masterpieces with vitality, spontaneity, and great clat.  Although some find the emotional content of his playing somewhat lacking, Pollini makes no apology for his performances, and I believe he wins the day ultimately.  The emotional content of this music is written into the scores by the composers, and in playing them scrupulously the pianist renders all due feeling.  I find nothing lacking in these performances, but rather an impactful presentation of this generous and varied selection of works.  From Beethoven and Schumann through Chopin, Liszt, and Debussy to Stravinsky and Webern, Pollini brings us magnificently performed and appropriately interpreted music which affords us all the aesthetic delight we can ask for.

The recordings by Deutsche Grammophon's technicians date from 1972 to 1998, and the sound is excellent throughout the 150+ minutes of music included here.  I recommend this recording most heartily to all lovers of piano music!