Margarita [Import]

Track Listings

1. Margarita

2. Cuando Digo Que Te Amo

3. Al Perder Un Amor

4. Te Amo Y Te Amare

5. Dime Dios

6. Acuarela Del Rio

7. Ave Maria

8. No Pienses En Mi

9. Digan Lo Que Digan

10. Verano

11. Una Flor Para Mascar

12. Juntos

Margarita,Carlos Contreras,Wea/Warner,Latin

Margarita [Import]

Tracks:

El Sinaloense
Se Me Hizo Facil
Mini Skirt
El Llorar
Perfidia
Sensemaya
K'in Sventa Ch'ul Me'tik Kwadulupe ("Festival for the Holy Mother of Guadalupe")
Tabu
Cuatro Milpas ("Four Cornfields")
Chavosuite
Plasmaht
Nacho Verduzco
12/12
El Sinaloense (Dance Mix)

Amazon.com

To say that the Kronos Quartet's Nuevo is their most adventurous outing to date is hardly an understatement. This diverse collection of Mexican compositions and traditional tunes brims with an unpredictable energy and a dazzling array of Latin American guest performers, and, yes, Kronos keeps up throughout. A cocktail pop tune from Esquivel gets covered, there's a chamber arrangement of Revueltas's sprawling orchestral work Sensemaya, and Nortec Collective member Plankton Man remixes Kronos's interpretation of "El Sinaloense" into a sizzling dance music track, which closes the disc. The playing is spirited, to say the least (just check out "El Llorar," with guest vocalists Alejandro Flores and Efren Vargas). But this is foremost a party record. A bevy of reverb effects and instrumentation (including a squeaky musical leaf solo on "Perfidia") ensures that things stay unpredictable. Production work by Rock en Espanol producer Gustavo Santaolalla infuses this disc with an edgy modernism. The bulk of these compositions have been arranged by composer Osvaldo Golijov, who seemingly brings a manic energy and a playfulness to everything he touches. Chamber music purists may scoff, but the rest of us will be busy dancing and thrilling to this exciting, genre-blurring Kronos project. --Jason Verlinde

Album Description

With 'Nuevo' - a project based entirely around Mexican composers, musical traditions and influences - the Kronos Quartet have delivered one of the most striking group odysseys to date. Produced by Gustavo Santaolalla, both an authority on Latin American art music as well as the most in-demand producers of rock en espanol, the album also features a host of guest artists from both the concert hall as well as the streets of Mexico. Housed in a slipcase. 2002.

Customer Reviews:

screeching mariachi's.......2007-01-09

I bought it for the one-armed grass-leaf player. It's worth it just for that, but the first track is enough to put you off the rest of the album. It gets better once the rhytms overtake the sound.

Good music, disappointing liner notes.......2005-12-07

At about 66 minutes, this recording is a better value than some of their CDs. But one almost constant complaint that I have with Kronos Quartet releases is their poor or non-existent liner notes. This release is especially guilty. There is a big, thick booklet of worthless photography--mediocre pictures reproduced poorly on cheap paper. Were they trying to throw some some photgraphers a bone? There is nothing about the composers (except their birth dates) or their music, or the musician's perspective, etc. And, since some of the composers are deceased, an opportunity was lost to discuss their music and their lives.

Very, very poor production decisions.

Amazing!!!!!!.......2005-11-05

If you by chance still don't know what Kronos`s is about remember that there are two types of chamber music ensembles: Kronos and the rest. So if you have in your mind the traditional sound, aesthetic of a string quartet, go for the rest (Alban Berg, Ittaliano, Melos, Emerson...) and forget Kronos. For if I had only one chance to apply the title- word "avant-garde", I would do it concerning Kronos. They are irreverent. Forget traditional repertoire (and Bartok is traditional for them). As far as I know they play modern music (Glass, Reich, Scnittke) or new repertoire like World Music. They play with amazing virtuosism and richness of textures. If you try to explore Kronos world, open your mind to a new, non conventional type of sounds.
So what is "Nuevo"? A diverse, impressive, multilayered (that is, there are several strata, several kind od compositions) portrait of Mexican music. A comprehensive landscape of Mexican music. But ... not exactly mexican music is what you hear in most of the tracks, but the Kronos' POINT OF VIEW, that is, Mexico through Kronos' glasses. For I don`t find a truly traditional Mexican track (perhaps only "Son Huasteca" and that before 12/12 are those which most resemble to a truly traditional "Mexican" sound). Almost everything in this rich album is a new way of listening to mexican music.
Why? Arrangements are varied and colourfull. Every track shows novelty and spontaneity, even in well known pieces like "Perfidia" or "Sensemaya". All in this CD is "Nuevo (New)": music that you have not listened before, no matter your knowledge on Mexican music!!
The type of music is quite diverse: classical (Sensemaya), TV music (Chavosuite), bolero (Perfidia), local music (Sinaloense), processional music (12/12), even dance music!!
The sound is also quite strange sometimes: the editor distorts some tracks in order to show the quartet as if they were listened through an old radio player. This is quite amazing!!! or listen to 12/12: quartet strings combined with recording of a traditional "ritual" music and fireworks. Also there are includede street noises between the tracks, thus creating a kind of "leitmotive", like a "Concept Album".
Let me say this: I don't care of mexican music. I don't know too much of it. Nor it is something I love. What I like of this CD is not Mexican music legacy but WHAT KRONOS DOES WITH IT. I think they could do the same with every (rich) music culture in the world. The reason why Mexico is chosen perhaps is a personal experience of Kronos' members (as I have red in an interview).
Booklet contains track details, a lot of credits but not a single word of commentary about the music (a pity).
More than great Mexican music, this is a great Kronos show. If you like Kronos or want to investigate what Kronos truly is and /or If you like mexican music, buy it!
If you don't like mexican music, buy it too!! You will think, as I do, that this Kronos release is essential.

f-u-n ........2004-05-27

this is a great album to listen to on a hot summer day at the beach,or any sunny activity in general.I must admit that I do enjoy the darker side of kronos' music more,but one truly can't help but grin when on the third or fourth track the music pauses for a sudden "yelp"!yes,it may sound a bit goofy and the more stern folks are certain to frown upon such playfulness in the "sophistocated"world of classical music,but this is a good thing.as another reviewer stated,the music really isn't very complex but that should be no obstacle for any kronos-loving individual.oh,yes-if you have children be prepared for them to go absolutly BONKERS when you play this!(finally veggietales can be given a rest!)

Mexican music performed by Kronos Quartet ??.......2003-07-26

I had to listen to it !

Well, first I must say that it is very rewarding to find such a talented international ensemble to interpret our music. Some of the tracks are really outstanding. Particularly 12/12 and the Chavosuite.

But, in the other hand, the purposely out of tune interpretation of El Sinaloense is deceiving (do our Mariachis sound so terrible ?) and the solo wistle in "Perfida" really destroyed the sesibility and charm of this melody. I mean, why on earth did't they play it with a violin instead ?

For the rest, it is a very original album, and it shurely reflects the impression that causes our culture. The inclusion of live sounds in a marketplace and of the "carretonero" buying old shoes and clothes, makes a specially beautiful ambiance.

Tracks:

Sensemaya
Redes: Los pescadores, Funeral del nino, Salida a la pesca, Lucha, Regreso de los pescadores con su companero muerto
Itinerarios
Caminos
Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca: I. Baile, II. Duelo, III. Son
Danza geometrica
Cuauhnahuac
Sensemaya

Tracks:

Janitizo
Alcancias: I. Allegro
Alcancias: II. Andantino
Alcancias: III. Allegro vivo
El renacuajo paseador
8 x Radio
Toccata (sin fuga)
Planos
La Noche de los Mayas: I. Noche de los mayas
La Noche de los Mayas: II. Noche de jaranas
La Noche de los Mayas: III. Noche de Yucatan
La Noche de los Mayas: IV. Noche de encantamiento
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: I. Caballito (Antonio de Trueba)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: II. Las cinco horas (Anonymous)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: III. Cancion tonta (Federico Garcia Lorca)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: IV. El lagarto y la lagarta (Federico Garcia Lorca)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: V. Cancion de cuna (Federico Garcia Lorca)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: VI. Serenata (Federico Garcia Lorca)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: VII. Es verdad (Federico Garcia Lorca)

Customer Reviews:

Spirited playing of fine compositions.......2007-07-07

This Revueltas anthology is very well played by first class orchestras. The selections by Mata and de la Fuente are particularly played with spirit and verve.

Magical Compositions Brilliantly Performed.......2007-05-03

If you enjoy Bartok & Stravinsky, you will adore Revueltas. Among the 15 works are two versions of sensemaya plus Cuauhnahuac and La Noche de los Mayas, all richly evocative of the ancient Mayan culture which underlies that of Mexico - bold tributes to proud traditions not unlike the musical paintings of the Caucasus peoples rendered by Khachaturian. The music of Revueltas deserves much wider performance in the world, but probably will not be often heard due to its technical complexity and the need for specialized native instruments for some of the passages. At least Leopold Stokowski recognized the brilliance of this spectacular work.

Stokowski's Sensemaya.......2005-10-10

Great, great release. One of the reviews here (by "127") said that the Stokowski version of Sensemaya was interesting "historically but not musically" and I just wanted to strongly disagree with that. Leopold Stokowski has the orchestra playing in a different time-signature than the composer wrote! The piece is written mostly in 7 but this performance seems to have put the whole thing into 4 (it's probably more complicated than that but you get the idea) and the resulting performance is even more hectic and bombastic than the other recorded version of Sensemaya on the same CD. I don't know why Stokowski did this, but this performance is the most unique I've heard (of the piece.) Whether or not this is a "good" thing I don't want to get into but the recording is definitely very interesting and worth a listen.

A Compendium of Revueltas Works.......2003-04-09

Unlike many people I think, I've been a fan of Revueltas since I was quite young...I first heard Sensemaya at the age of 12 and was blown away. Unfortunately, for years most of his music was rather hard to find...darn near impossible actually. However, the composer has recently picked up a number of higher profile champions (including Esa Pekka Salonen) and a spate of rereleases during his Centennial a few years ago. Such a rediscover is long overdue!

This current CD is part of the Centennial celebration of Revueltas. It consists of a compilation of orchestral recordings by Eduardo Mata, chamber recordings by David Aetherton and the Jalapa Orquestra Sinfonica under Herrara de la Fuente. The results are quite stunning, with enough material to keep you listening for quite some time!

The first CD contains exclusively orchestral music under the baton of Maestro Mata. This is prime stuff indeed. The CD begins with Revueltas' most renowned piece, Sensemaya, a dense, barbaric orchestral fantasy inspired by a Cuban poem that details a traditional snake-killing ceremony in the Santeria religion. The piece is dominated by short pithy melodic statements which are gradually layered over each other to create greater and greater tension. The result is deeply compelling, Stravinsky's Rite is combined with Varese's Arcana...with native Mexican rhythms and instruments thrown in.

The other works on the album are also extremely compelling. They can be broken down into abstract orchestral works, chamber pieces and music for film. In addition, Revueltas shows two definate sides, one is the convinced modernist, who shows a lot in common with Varese, and even Scriabin. The best work in this vein is the Danza geometrica (and it's chamber version Planos). The other big vein is the "nationalistic" vein, of which Revueltas was a greater exponent than his compatriot Chavez. Many works on this CD, Itinerios, Homage to Garcia Lorca, and others display a sense of wild abandon present in traditional fiestas. And yet, even here, Revueltas is a formalist and modernist, treating his material less as color and more as another structural element.

The other really wonderful work on this disc is La Noche de los Mayas. Culled from a film score, this is beautifully written film music and quite ahead of it's time. It's not hard to imagine these Revueltas strains as an inspiration to Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein and the like. The work is structured as a large symphony, dominated by a broad, tonal but dissonant theme in the brass. There is a wealth of detail in this work that I come back to over and over.

Much of this material has very little competition. The chamber works have been basically neglected on CD and many of the orchestral works are only available on this disc. Sensemaya has significant competition however. Salonen has done a really wonderful disc of this material, which also includes a great reading of Noche. Bernstein has perhaps the best reading of Sensemaya available on his Latin American Fiesta album (which also includes a wonderful rendition of Chavez' Sinfonia India)But Mata's reading is nearly as good as Bernstein and just as good as Salonen. Overall, for breadth and depth of music covered, this is a superlative disc and the one to get.

Abstract but deep........2003-02-05

I've got this cd when I first heard of this composer. He is the biggest composer that Mexico has had to offer to the classical music scene. Mexico has a variety of notable composers such as Chavez but none of them match Revueltas impact on the scene.

This cd pretty much has all of Revueltas' major works including his most known one: Sensemaya. That piece has been conducted by Bernstein and Stowkowski with the latter being on this disc. There is two performances of Sensemaya which includes the one mentioned above and a new version.

The best piece I believe is Janitzio. If you are Mexican you will be reminded of Mexican big bands because Revueltas incorporated the sound into this piece as well as imitations of a Mariachi band. It is a very abstract piece but very remenicent of Mexico. Excellent cd as a whole.
The cd includes a booklet with information on Revueltas and the pieces on this cd.

Richard Strauss: Elektra
Average customer rating:

A harrowing and shocking musical journey

A Powerhouse Recording that Deserves All Praise

This is the most recent release of Solti's famous recording of Elektra

Richard Strauss: Elektra

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Release Date: 2007-05-08

Customer Reviews:

A harrowing and shocking musical journey.......2007-07-12

If Richard Strauss's Salomé was a horrid tale of insanity and (peripherally) necrophilia created through unbridled lust and jealousy, Elektra is a grisly story of madness sparked by cold, dissonant revenge. Both of the operas, composed within a few years of each other, retain similar musical formulas: both take a Freudian plunge into the deepest, unknowable crevices of the human psyche with alarming and disturbing results. (Salomé's overwhelming love aria to Jochanaan's severed head ["Ah! Du wolltest mich nicht deinen Mund küssen lassen"] is a perfect example from the former opera.)

However, few similarities exist between their moods. From the first bar of Salomé, the listener is submerged in the moonlit, perfumed, Arabian night of Judea, with erotic bacchanals and limitless orgies; the opening of Elektra is an oppressive death motif and sets a stage of decay, filth, pain, and malice. The two title characters are strikingly different, through they are both princesses. Salomé is an oversexed teenager, a flighty, precocious nymph driven to her sanity's limits by jealousy and rejection; Elektra is not insane (at least, not in the same capacity). Elektra suffered no trauma when her father, Agamemnon, was slaughtered in his bath by his wife, Klytämnestra, and her lover, Aegisth; she is fully aware of what occurred. Her apparent insanity is vested in the fact that she is determined to avenge her father, with the assistance of her long-abandoned brother, Orest, in a decidedly homicidal manner.

Sir Georg Solti was, of course, the master of both of these wondrous operas, and no finer orchestra could have suited him than the mighty Wiener Philharmoniker. The entire score is much like the tone poems (Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan, Don Quixote, Ein Heldenleben) which garnished Strauss so much early fame. However, there are certain non-vocal points in which Solti truly excels, notably the opening Agamemnon motif, a poignant, jarring death-wail of misery and woe; the appearance of Klytämnestra, set to the rhythm of a brutal, inhuman march; the brief, tense span after the exit of the two bickering servants; Elektra digging up the axe; Orest's entrance into the castle, followed by Elektra realizing that she forgot to give him the axe; the brief span (accentuated by a harp, no less) before Aegisth enters the castle; and the strange waltz symbolizing Elektra's victorious dance, a motion unseemly and unnatural to onlookers. All of this combines to create an image of this gloomy, ramshackle palace in Mycenae. Every note details the blood-spattered walls, the moldy air, the cramped hallways, and subterranean labyrinths. Hofmannsthal's words also paint grisly images of perpetual births and murders and dwellers reclining on piles of contorted corpses.

Birgit Nilsson did not perform the role of Elektra. She injected the blood of Elektra into her own veins, just as she became the wounded Valkyrie Brünnhilde, the icy Princess Turandot, and the benevolent, self-sacrificing wife Leonore. Nilsson lives through Elektra to hate, to scorn, to seethe, to compile all her passions and energies into the single goal of avenging Agamemnon. This paradoxically level-headed hysteria is heard in her first monologue ("Allein! Weh, ganz allein"), in which she invokes like a priestess the name "Agamemnon" and recounts to the listener, in the most squalid and wretched detail, the manner in which her father's head was split with an axe and his body was dragged, headfirst, from the foaming, scarlet bath. She reaches a fever pitch at its conclusion, insisting that she will slice the throats of his enemies, his horses, and his hunting dogs, and pour the barrels of collected blood around his tomb; then he, she, and Orest will dance in the ecstasy of victory. Her wild, outraged monologue to her mother ("Was bluten muß? Dein eigenes Genick") is no less daunting. Elektra is merciless as she describes how Orest will enter Klytämnestra's bed chamber, chase her from it, back her into a corner, and then, in a brief eternity of villainy and contempt, make the queen wait for the fatal blow; Nilsson rips through the terrible aria like a viper, with venom and spittle pouring across the vile words.

The crowning achievement of Elektra's musical persona is the recognition monologue ("Orest!"), the equivalent of the aforementioned aria in Salomé. It is a massive outpouring of characteristically Straussian melody, richness, and sound. It is also the most delicate moment, a miniscule ounce of humanity within the demented façade of Elektra. Nilsson is too sumptuous and moving to be adequately described; she conveys this moment as the triumph of her entire existence. It is her one happy experience, her first joyful utterance. The monologue is also a look into the pitiful woman's sexuality; it is undoubtedly erotic, with Hofmannsthal's poetic description of Elektra's naked, creamy, nubile body, bathed in the milky light of the moon.

Ultimately conversely, Regina Resnik's Klytämnestra is a suppurating, bloated gorgon. She is a knotted mass of offal, guilt, and spitefulness. Her entrance ("Was willst du?...O Götter, warum liegt ihr so auf mir?") is so violent and callous, one might take it for an outburst of blasphemy. One cannot help but smirk at her horridness as she invokes the gods, wondering why she is forced to suffer "like a wasteland" with nettle growing out of her. Each utterance of "warum" is more unnerving, and strikes the listener in the pit of his or her stomach. She is unendingly foul as she berates her confidante [Margareta Sjöstedt] and the train-bearer [Margarita Lilowa] ("Ich will nichts hören!"), churlishly mocking them for telling her that horrendous "demons with long pointed beaks" suck her blood as she sleeps and insisting that she slaughter sacrificial victim after victim.

However, it is her nightmare monologue ("Ich habe keine guten Nächte"..."Ja, du! denn du bist klug") that is truly dreadful. Here, Strauss could be mistaken for elemental Berg, with brittle, globular dissonance accentuating Resnik's horrified words. The "Etwas" (a nameless "something") which crawls over her at night could only be something indescribably terrifying, some dingy mass of guilt characterized with a leering face and piercing eyes. The monologue descends into further horror. Could Klytämnestra be dead while living, an animated carcass, a breathing pile of rotting sinew and bone? Resnik would have no trouble convincing one that she was.

She also proves her status as a remarkable vocal actress. Her mocking laughter, brought on by the false news that Orest has been killed, is frightfully credible; as she exits the scene, surrounded by torch-bearers, her cruel giggles seem to descend into a churning whirlpool. Later, when Orest murders her offstage, she utters two screams, both of which are inherently different. The first strikes the listener unexpectedly, just as the shadowy figure of the adult Orest, saber in hand, startled the squalid queen into consciousness. The second scream, however, is an animalistic grunt, an attempted repudiation of death by the queen. It is horrible to hear and will haunt the listener perpetually.

Marie Collier's Chrysothemis is the antithesis of Elektra. Chrysothemis is a feminine character who longs for the sexual affections of men and the timeless, natural joys of motherhood ("Ich kann nicht sitzen und ins Dunkel starren"..."Der bist es, die mit Eisenklammern"); Elektra has scarified her sexuality (and, thus, any maternal instincts) unto the memory of her father (as she explained to Orest in the recognition monologue). Collier is particularly potent when she attempts to convince Elektra that her hatred is in vain; Agamemnon is dead and will never be avenged, for Orest will never come back ("Der Vater, der ist tot"). She is infectious in her ecstasy in the finale ("Elektra! Schwester! komm' mit uns!"), as she gleefully tells Elektra that Orest has murdered Aegisth and that the faithful servants have revolted in his honor; her words soar into oblivion, supported by harmonizing praises from the interior chorus.

Tom Krause's Orest is the personified voice of destiny; his is a drawl of terrible and wonderful meaning. His vocal entrance, set against a bleak orchestral backdrop of doom, stands in stark contrast to the frenzied labor of Elektra as she digs up the battle axe. Gerhard Stolze proves his unparalleled genius as a charaktertenor through his performance as Aegisth. He does more with this five-minute role than most singers could throughout an entire recording. His entrance ("He! Lichter! Lichter!") is appropriately condescending and pompous; Strauss' macabre humor is audible in his conversation with Nilsson, who is deviously charming and submissive ("Darf ich nicht leuchten?"). His death-cry ("Helft! Mörder! helft dem Herren!") is not the faux, B-class acting of most operatic singers but rather a believable, hair-curling squeal of horror. Nilsson's cry of "Agamemnon hears you!" ("Agamemnon hört dich!") is as frightening as his following wail of anguish. Tugomir Franc is appropriately domineering as Orest's tutor. Gerhard Unger makes a brief appearance as the fussy young servant who delivers the news of Orest's supposed death to Aegisth. Helen Watts, Maureen Lehane, Yvonne Minton, Jane Cook, Felicia Weathers, and Pauline Tinsley are each singularly defined as the cruel, gossiping maids and their vindictive overseer.

Innovative producer John Culshaw deserves applause for this recording as much as Solti. The slamming of the servants' quarter door during the maids' bickering and gossiping, the pitter-pattering footsteps of Klytämnestra's torch-bearers, and the grimy crunching of Aegisth's steps into the seemingly gaping, hollow citadel are three examples of the master producer who brought so many operas into new realms of life in recordings. Strauss was, of course, a master of the theatre, and it is highly appropriate that a similar master present his work in a recording.

In the end, perhaps the greatest asset of Elektra is that the maestro did not moralize. He was not a devout Christian when he composed Salomé; the musical disgust over Salomé's depraved desires does not stem from any pious pity for the Baptist, but rather over the simple fact that a young girl longs to kiss his dead, bloody lips. It is the same with Elektra. Strauss does not comment on the fact that Agamemnon, who peers down upon the audience from his musical throne, murdered Klytämnestra's daughter Iphigenia in order for the Greeks to fight in the Trojan War. Strauss also declines to comment on the fact that Orest later stood trial before the Furies for committing the double-homicide (that said while excluding the few terrible moments in the finale as the Agamemnon motif is repeated alongside the mournful wails of Chrysothemis, which combine to add an air of momentary uncertainty and, perhaps, regret). In short, the opera is victorious at the end; it is, after all, the opera detailing Elektra's story, not Orest's, and she was, by the end of her life-draining dance of ecstasy, more victorious than any conceivable peer.

A Powerhouse Recording that Deserves All Praise.......2007-06-30

Solti's Elektra was the very first recording to remove all cuts from the score (as with all the Maestro's recorded work). For many listeners such as myself, it is perhaps the definitive Elektra on disc, not only for the high voltage intensity of the singing, but also for Solti's energetic conducting of the score and the magnificent detail at which the entire sound picture of Elektra is revealed in this recording. Although I love Karajan's 1965 Elektra at Salzburg with Astrid Varnay and Jeffrey Tate's 1990 recording from Geneva with Gwyneth Jones and Leonie Rysanek, this recording captures what is perhaps one of the most compelling performances of the opera on record. There is first of all Birgit Nilsson's command performance in the title role. There has never been a soprano who had Nilsson's uncanny ability to sing what is perhaps Strauss' most difficult role for soprano with the kind of ease and power that we can hear in this recording. Perhaps one would wish that a darker timbre and a more "agonized" sound would have taken the role, but Strauss' vocal writing simply poses no hurdles for the soprano as she hurls the high notes that made her famous. It is also note complete, so we get to hear whatever notes and texts we don't hear in the theatre. A brilliant performance, and perhaps one of Nilsson's greatest achievements in the studio. She is partnered by the Klytämnestra of Regina Resnik, who offers a grotesque interpretation that rightly contrasts well with Leonie Rysanek's erotic, theatrical assumption many years later. Resnik makes a caricature out of the role that may either satisfy the listener of displease him depending one whether one wants something more realistic or more extreme. Marie Collier, likewise, sings Chrysothemis with all the theatrical effects that would have been avoided by Leonie Rysanek many years earlier in the theater. I find that this great artist (who we lost when she was so tragically young) imbues her character with the right kind of psychological madness that all the more tips the already tipsy boat in the opera. Gerhard Stolze makes the already grotesque Aegisthus more grotesque than he already is. Tom Krause sings Orest with conviction, although one could wish for someone like Hans Hotter to sing the role in order to convey the nobility and grandeur of the character.

Solti leads the Vienna Philharmonic in the frenzy that this score truly typifies. I still wish that they had asked Karajan to do this opera in the studio since he was able to bring so much out of Strauss' score, but we at least have these gargantuan forces to contend with in the absence of a Karajan studio recording.

A truly mad and demented performance if there ever was one, but you should look at Gwyneth Jones' 1990 performance from Claves records to hear what a theatrical Elektra should sound like.
Richard Strauss: Elektra

This is the most recent release of Solti's famous recording of Elektra.......2007-06-19

This review will eventually be replaced by more informed, informative reviews. I just wanted to offer a placeholder to tell opera neophytes and curious listeners that this is the latest and surely greatest (sonically) incarnation of Solti's recording of this opera. Gramophone has called it, "undoubtedly one of the greatest performances ever on record."

Amazon is still selling the first CD release at a much higher price. This is the one to get. The same is true with Solti's equally estimable recording of Salome.

Happy Listening,
G.

Average customer rating:

Margarita Smile
Brent Burns
Manufacturer: Sand Spur Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Love Is A Slippery Slope
Hit The Beach
Lonely Hearts Club
The Do Do Song

Product Description

Once again Brent Burns has hit the mark with his Caribbean Rock style and humorous tunes. The hilarious song, Nurse Rambo, tells the dramatized but true story of how Brent was almost killed by the National Guard in his own front yard after Hurricane Ivan. Parrot Head Rendezvous, and Margarita Smile,are sure to become beachcomber favorites. Part of the CD proceeds will benefit Habitat for Humanity, as with previous CDs, which have already helped build one house for Habitat.

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A Rossini Grand Feast For Voices: Another Hit !!
Musical splendor for Rossini and Ramey fans

Rossini: Maometto secondo

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Rossini - Bianca e Falliero / Larmore · Cullagh · Banks · D'Arcangelo · LPO · Parry (Complete Opera)
Rossini: L'Assedio di Corinto
Matilde Di Shabran - Juan Diego Florez
Rossini - Il Turco in Italia / Bartoli, Corbelli, Pertusi, Vargas, Teatro alla Scala, Chailly
Mose / Ghiaurov, Zylis-Gara, Verrett, Lane, Petri, Garaventa; Sawallisch

ASIN: B0001HOY0Y
Release Date: 2004-06-15

Customer Reviews:

A Rossini Grand Feast For Voices: Another Hit !!.......2006-02-01

It was only after hearing Rossini's Viaggio A Reims and Maometto Secondo on this recording that I became a fan of the lost art of Rossini opera. It is sad that today the only popular and performed Rossini work is Barber of Seville. A perennial classic, it is nothing like say this opera, about the grand, victorious Muslim conqueror Maometto (Mohameed in Italian) sung by the greatest bass-baritone of our time Samuel Ramey. And look at the extensive cast -June Anderson as Anna Erisso, Margarita Zimmermann as Calbo, Ernesto Palacio as Paolo Erisso Laurence Dale [Condulmiero] Laurence Dale [Selimo]. The Ambrosia Opera Chorus can always be counted on for excellent work and the conductor has enough Italian in him to understand Rossini.

This recording is a vocal feast of voices. Samuel Ramey and June Anderson have glorious voices and sing their roles with enough mastership of the repertoire to make the opera exciting and beautiful. All fans of this type of singing, which is a dead art, and fans of Samuel Ramey will eat it up. This vehicle is a great one for Ramey. It allowed him to challenge himself as a bass-baritone, it showcases all aspects of his singing. He has a rich, dark, textured and florid singing voice, while still maintaining a vigorous masculinity and dark edge. Before he made it big in his famous Devil personaee, he was the greatest Rossini baritone, a fact that seems to have faded. This role he considered his best and most challenging. June Anderson may ocassionally sound strained, but that's because the part is heavy and taxing, with much fioritura to boot. I also agree with the other critic that this role would have suited Beverly Sills, but perhaps this would have been too much for her as well. It is vehicle for a true Rossini soprano with both lyric, coloratura and even mezzo qualities. Mezzo soprano Margarita Zimmerman makes a terrific account of Calbo, and one would only imagine what Marilyn Horne could have done with the part. The music is grand, and full of vertiginous scales up and down the staff. There is even an old-school charm about this piece, as if the singers were from an even older period. Singinng Rossini, particularly this type of opera, is not easy and the singers should be credited for their outstanding abilities to stand there and sing this difficult music. If only I had been around to see Samuel Ramey sing this role!!!!

Musical splendor for Rossini and Ramey fans.......2004-12-03

The darkly resonant basso cantante of Samuel Ramey and his considerable powers of interpretation are the joys of this three-CD album. According to Ramey himself, the title role of "Maometto Secondo" is the most difficult part he has sung to date, so this 1983 Philips recording with Rossini expert Claudio Scimone conducting is a must-have for Ramey fans. I believe it's the only recording of this great bass singing his most demanding role.

When the eponymous Turkish sultan comes onstage with his victorious troops for the first time in Act One, he immediately launches into his florid cavatina, 'Sorgete, sorgete' where he acknowledges the obeisance of his followers--think of Mehmet II as the Muslim Alexander the Great. In this particular opera, he is engaged in capturing the Venetian colony of Negroponte in Greece. His most famous conquest, for us Christians at least, was Constantinople.

In Rossini's version, Mehmet II fails to conquer the Venetian colony because Anna, the woman with whom he fell in love while he was disguised as the student, Uberto, betrays him. In order to save her father, the governor of Negroponte and her fiancé, Calbo, Anna lets herself be abducted by the Turkish conqueror. But after an aria and duet, and before he can proceed with his love-making, Mehmet II has to trot off to another battle. Anna obtains his imperial seal of authority, which allows her people to trick and drive off the Sultan and his army. In her mother's burial vault, Anna is married to Calbo (powerfully sung by mezzo-soprano, Margarita Zimmermann) by her father, and when the Sultan comes looking for revenge, she admits her deception and after the thrilling 'Madre, a te,' stabs herself in the heart.

As you might guess from the plot, the soprano really gets to chew up the stage in this opera, and June Anderson sings a competent, though stressed Anna.

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Margarita, Pt. 1
Sleepy Brown , and Pharrell
Manufacturer: EMI/Virgin
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | R&B | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000J10GCM
Release Date: 2006-10-23

Tracks:

Margarita [Radio Edit]
4am

Album Description

Produced by the Neptunes and featuring Big Boi and Pharrell, this first single from Sleepy Brown's stunning album Mr. Brown is a slice of pure late-summer goodness which is connecting fantastically on the viewer-request TV channels and radio stations. Features 'Margarita' (Radio Edit) plus '4 AM'. Virgin. 2006.

Album Details

Produced by the Neptunes and featuring Big Boi and Pharrell, this First Offering from Sleepy Brown's Stunning Album "mr Brown" is a Slice of Pure Late-summer Goodness which is Connecting Fantastically on the Viewer-request TV Channels.

Rimsky-Korsakov: Sinfonietta; Russian Easter Overture

Average customer rating:

Rimsky-Korsakov: Sinfonietta; Russian Easter Overture

Manufacturer: Moscow Studio
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Capriccio Espagnol; Russian Easter Overture

ASIN: B0002T2QCE
Release Date: 2004-09-07

Tracks:

I. Allegretto Pastorale
II. Adagio
III. Scherzo-Finale
Overture On Russian Themes
Russian Easter Overture
Iz Gomera - Nina Isakova

Album Description

Evgeni Svetlanov (1928-2002) served as conductor of the Bolshoi Opera from 1955 until 1965, when he was named principal conductor of the USSR State Symphony Orchestra. Svetlanov recorded widely, and his interpretations are prized for their color and vitality.

This highly desirable disc combines the familiar and beloved Russian Easter Festival Overture with three lesser-known works of Rimsky-Korsakov that will delight any fan of this composer. The Sinfonietta on Russian Themes, originally a string quartet, includes a theme that Stravinsky later borrowed for use in the Firebird ballet. The Overture on Russian Themes includes tunes that are familiar both from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Rarest of all is the "Prelude-Cantata" Iz Gomera ("From Homer"), a setting of lines from Homer's Odyssey that was originally intended for an opera, never completed.

Tracks:

Tiernamente 4:24
Cali Pachanguero 4:59
Esta Página 4:50
Sin Sentimiento 4:38
Ven a Medellín 5:20
La Vida es un Carnaval 4:27
Mentirosa 5:11
Mujer Celosa 4:11
Oiga Mire Vea 4:59
Quisiera 4:28
Rebelíon 5:21

Product Description

Serve up an evening of sizzling tunes and cool drinks with this album of Salsa sensations by Victor Yanqui & Orquesta Fantasía. Includes La Vida es un Carnaval and Sin Sentiminto. Instrumentation includes trumpet, saxophones, trombone, piano, bass & percussion.

Customer Reviews:

Quite good.......2006-06-29

Although the Amazon listing claims "various artists," these songs are all performed by the same group, and they're not bad at all. They're no Fruko y sus Tesos, but then who else is? Definitely some danceable numbers here and, after all, that's the whole point of salsa!

Margarita: Hot Summer Salsa.......2003-07-30

This is a great remixed salsa cd from various artists!

Average customer rating:

The Missa Solemnis is unrivalled for execution
Excellent but better exists
Good performance
Legendary Missa
Superb

Beethoven: Mass In C - Missa Solemnis
Ludwig van Beethoven , Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra , Chicago Symphony Orchestra , Riccardo Chailly , Georg Solti , Lucia Popp , Yvonne Minton , Margarita Zimmermann , Bruno Beccari , Chicago Symphony Chorus , Gwynne Howell , RIAS-Kammerchor , and Tom Krause
Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis & Mass in C Major
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis / Varady, Vermillion, Cole, Pape; Solti
Mozart: Coronation Mass - Exsultate, Jubilate - Vesperae Solennes / Bonney, Wyn Rogers, MacDougall, Gadd; Pinnock
Mozart - Mass in C minor / Te Kanawa · von Otter · Rolfe Johnson · R. Lloyd · Marriner
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas & Concertos

ASIN: B0000041M8
Release Date: 1997-08-12

Tracks:

Mass In C Major: I. Kyrie
Mass In C Major: Gloria
Mass In C Major: Credo
Mass In C Major: Sanctus.
Mass In C Major: Agnus Dei.
Missa Solemnis: I. Kyrie.
Missa Solemnis: Gloria. Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Missa Solemnis: Qui tollis.
Missa Solemnis: Quoniam

Tracks:

Missa Solemnis: Credo
Missa Solemnis: Et incarnatus est
Missa Solemnis: Et resurrexit
Missa Solemnis: Sanctus
Missa Solemnis: Benedictus
Missa Solemnis: Agnus Dei
Missa Solemnis: Dona nobis pacem

Customer Reviews:

The Missa Solemnis is unrivalled for execution.......2007-05-23

Solti's first Missa Solemnis was an also-ran from the start, earning unfavorable comparison with Klemperer's famous account on EMI. But time has made it shine brighter. Decca's recording is much clearer than the EMI one, the CSO plays with incredible virtuosity, accuracy, and decisiveness, and above all the CSO Chorus gives an astonishing account of the choral part. Solti lacks Klemperer's emotional depth, but he's also not as ponderous in the fugures. His solo quartet features a weak tenor but the others are very good, especially the gleaming Lucia Popp (whose light soprano is aided greatly by the microphones, as are all the other soloists--the quartet is placed far forward). The reviewer here who thinks that the chorus is off form has rocks in his ears. Solti's interpretation blazes along in the style of Toscanini.

In sum, a sleeper among Missa Solemnis recordings, and probably the most exciting ever recorded, if not the most profound. The digital remake form Berlin is slower, in edgier sound, and features the excellent Berlin Radio Chorous, who are no match for this one, however, and in addition don't receive as clear a recording of their contribution.

Excellent but better exists.......2004-02-08

I find that Gardiner's Missa is rather martial. Gardiner's Missa is kind of a glitzy affair because Gramophone praised it to the skies, and gave it 2 awards - Choral Award & Record of the year Award. It certainly has its merits - orchestral playing and a chorus that is astonishing in its virtuosity. But you know what? Like pepechenique, I found it kind of martial - it is superbly played no doubt but it is lacking in its ability to move. The playing is rather bland. Just listen to Klemperer's recording, which is fantastically intense. Or Solti's first recording - which though it puts the soloists unduly in the spotlight, has a 'feeling' which is missing here. However, the biggest surprise for me was Solti's SECOND recording with the Berlin Philharmonic. That recording topped it off. It is the best I have heard - for me, it certainly outshines this Missa and Solti's first recording.
Solti's 2nd recording has the distinction that the balance between chorus, soloists and orchestra is superb. For once, you can actually hear the orchestra in many parts of the Gloria, Credo and Sanctus with the chorus, whereas in other recordings, the orchestra inevitably gets swamped by the chorus when the chorus comes in at full force. And the Berlin Philharmonic is at its virtuosistic best!! They play magnificently - and when I say they are magnificent, they are MAGNIFICENT!! I agree with Gramophone's assessment that the soloists (Varady, Vermillon, Cole and Pape) give the impression of listening to each other and knowing their 'ebb and flow' in the piece - when they are important and when they should recede. THIS is really rare. PLUS all 4 soloists sing very beautifully - none of them are trying to 'stand out' but take their place dutifully (as they should) in the fabric of the whole piece. One of Solti's great attributes as a conductor was his constant development as a musician. In his second recording, he surpasses his first recording in the understanding of the architecture of the piece. In his recording, some parts of the Missa drag somewhat and doesn't quite gel together. Here, his understanding is total. The parts flow logically from one to the next, there's no unduly slow tempi, and for the first time in my history of listening to the Missa Solemnis, I actually UNDERSTAND the architecture of the piece as a whole. I used to listen to sections without seeing the big picture, now I see the big picture of the Missa in Solti's 2nd.

Gardiner, in my view, has missed some of the insights in Solti's second recording. As another example, in the Et Vitam Venturi fugue, Solti's transition from the slow to the fast and back to the slow is fantastic. When he ends the fast section (which is as fast as Gardiner's - maybe a few seconds slower), you still feel the forward momentum of the music. In Gardiner's case, the transition from slow to fast is splendid (but any conductor can do that). But when he ends the fast section, I feel that the music stalls somewhat.

This first recording has the fabulous Lucia Popp in top form, and the magnificent Chicago Symphony Chorus. But the balance is sometimes off - soloists too prominent or orchestral detail obscured. I shall keep searching for the perfect Missa Solemnis (which doesn't exist).

Good performance.......2003-08-24

I think it's because of the time lag between posting and the message appearing - probably didn't realize it.

Legendary Missa.......2002-09-15

Solti's legendary 1978 Grammy Award winning Missa Solemnis - at this incredible price makes this CD a MUST BUY!!! It is a MUST for every serious Missa fan. Even if you have one hundred other Missa Recordings, this is a MUST!!!!

Ths soloists are incredible and the Chicago Symphony Chorus is just that - the world's finest symphony chorus. Quite rightly so because the Chicago Symphony Chorus has earned more Grammys than any other SYmphony Chorus in the world.

Buy it. You will never regret it.

Superb.......2002-09-10

This Missa is absolutely superb. Outstanding recording and playing from one of the world's greatest conductors. At an incredible price too.

The Kyrie is beautifully sung. The soloists are unmatched. Popp is just fantastic and is Minton.

The Chicago Symphony Chorus and Orchestra demonstrates why they are considered the best orchestra in the world. Solti too demonstrates why he is considered one of the greatest conductors in the world.