Horse With a Heart

Horse With a Heart

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The late 1980s and early '90s were a time of confusion for Irish music. Experiments mixing ancient music with a modern sensibility that began in the '70s bore fruit with the international successes of Clannad, Enya, and Mary Black. But the fusion of old and new also led to countless recordings in which harp noodling and synthesizer twiddling was passed off as Celtic music. When Altan released Horse with a Heart, it served as a welcome reminder that Irish music that hewed close to tradition still had a place in the world. Although this was Altan's second CD, it was the first where they gelled as a band. The wife-and-husband team of Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy are the emotional center of the group. When they play the fiddle and flute together you feel as if you are overhearing an intimate conversation. --Michael Simmons

Horse With a Heart,Altan,Green Linnet,Celtic,Celtic Folk,Celtic/Irish,Int'l & World Music,Pop,Traditional Celtic,World Music

Léhar: The Land of Smiles; The Merry Widow; The Count of Luxembourg (Highlights)
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Arguably "The Best" English "Merry Widow "

Léhar: The Land of Smiles; The Merry Widow; The Count of Luxembourg (Highlights)

Manufacturer: Class. for Pleas. Us
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Lehár, Franz | ( L ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus; The Gypsy Baron (Highlights)

Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld / Burgess, Watson, etc (Highlights)

Offenbach: La Belle Helene; Orpheus in the Underworld; La Vie Parisienne (Highlights)

The Best of Operetta, Vol. 3

The Best of Operetta, Vol. 2

ASIN: B00009KHY2
Release Date: 2003-09-02

Customer Reviews:

Arguably "The Best" English "Merry Widow ".......2006-09-12

This is the "Merry Widow" with English translation by Christopher Hassel sung by June Bronhill. I loved this rendition ever since I first heard it in about 1960. What's to love? First the translation is the best I've heard. The language doesn't sound "stilted" as some others. And, you can understand almost every word sung. Plus, the famous song, "Vilja" has some wording that moves me every time I hear it: The soprano sings, "Love me and I'll DIE for you!" with the word "die" somewhat emphasized. I don't know, there's just something "powerful" about someone saying they'd "die" for love! AND, at the end of "Vilja" the chorus and soprano raise to a crescendo hitting a high note together. In many renditions the chorus is heard but not the soprano on the final high note. In THIS version, the soprano, June Bronhill, can be heard rising to the final high note with an incressing crescendo and fortissimo louder than the chorus and holding the final high note---which gives a very thrilling effect as she holds that final note, I assure you!

The "problem" is that this June Bronhill, Reid, and Hassel version is hard to find on CD. For example, this CD is made in Holland and "there is one left" so it says on Amazon. But, if you can find it, I think it would be very much worth a listen. Then, after hearing it, if you think there's a "better" Merry Widow, please let ME know! Thanks. Email:boland7214@aol.

(Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection

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Great set of wartime rarities
Cure for the Blues
Standard Transcription Collection

(Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection
Spike Jones
Manufacturer: Collector's Choice
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Contemporary Comedy | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Strictly for Music Lovers
Spike Jones - Greatest Hits
Fonk
Spiked!: The Music of Spike Jones
The Spike Jones Story

ASIN: B00007JR3K
Release Date: 2003-04-08

Album Description

Holiday blues comin' on? Well, put a spike in `em! Here's the zaniest, wildest and just plain sickest Collectors' Choice Music exclusive yet—79 tracks from Spike Jones and his City Slickers! These represent Spike's complete Standard Transcription sides, but these tunes are anything but standard; Mr. Jones brought his full bag of tricks for these non-commercial recordings (made in Hollywood during the early `40s). Add to that the fact that most of these have never been on CD or even LP, and any lover of Spike's mayhem-filled mixture of laughs and hot licks is going to flip over this set! Notes and great pictures accompany this 3-CD walk on the wacky side from the greatest novelty band of all time.

Customer Reviews:

Great set of wartime rarities.......2003-05-14

Spike Jones was the king of the novelty song performers, with hits like "Der Fuehrer's Face" and the parody version of "Sheik of Araby" becoming huge hits during World War II. This is a swell 3-CD set, gathering a full eighty-one of Jones' best tracks from his 1940s heyday, drawn from an extensive archive of radio broadcasts made for the Standard Transcription service. The tightness of his City Slickers band is amply demonstrated in these manic, kookily orchestrated performances. Toots, squonks, blatts and bleats whiz by at lightning speed, as one daffy song after another will delight devoted fans. Amazingly, Jones had the unusual, almost unique ability to perform a repertoire almost entirely made up of comedic material, and yet still be quite listenable and engaging. His jazz chops were hardly in question, and from time to time Jones would dash off a non-novelty ballad or two, just to give the rubes something to think about. Of course, just as often he would perform a song that *sounded* like a straight ballad, but would turn out to be another goof. (One great example of this is the sultry "Serenade To A Jerk," sung in slinky, burlesque tones by Myrtle Horwin.) This collection may seem a little overwhelming, but like his studio recordings, these radio performances have a certain brilliance and joie de vivre about them that will leave you enchanted. Definitely worth checking out!

Cure for the Blues.......2003-04-25

Here's the zaniest, wildest and just plain sickest Collectors' Choice Music exclusive yet-79 tracks from Spike Jones and his City Slickers! These represent Spike's complete Standard Transcription sides, but these tunes are anything but standard; Mr. Jones brought his full bag of tricks for these non-commercial recordings (made in Hollywood during the early `40s). Add to that the fact that most of these have never been on CD or even LP, and any lover of Spike's mayhem-filled mixture of laughs and hot licks is going to flip over this set! Notes and great pictures accompany this 3-CD walk on the wacky side from the greatest novelty band of all time.

Standard Transcription Collection.......2003-04-12

This collection has remastered material from the large stack of Standard Transcription discs from the early 1940's. There are many songs not recorded on RCA, many on the theme of wartime ("48 Reasons Why"), and the quality is excellent. The packaging is threadbare but this is an essential CD package for true music lovers.

Songs by Dvorak: Biblical Songs Op. 99; Songs on Folk Tunes / Martinu: Songs on One Page for voice & piano, H. 294 / Janacek: Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs

Average customer rating:

Songs by Dvorak: Biblical Songs Op. 99; Songs on Folk Tunes / Martinu: Songs on One Page for voice & piano, H. 294 / Janacek: Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Average customer rating:

What is a ýGreen Linnetý?
Fantastic songs, reels and highlands

Horse with a Heart
Altan
Manufacturer: Green Linnet
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music

Irish Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

Celtic Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General | International | Styles | Music

General | Celtic | International | Styles | Music

General | International | Indie Music | Stores | Music

The Red Crow
Altan
Island Angel
Harvest Storm
Runaway Sunday

ASIN: B000005CNR
Release Date: 1993-01-05

Tracks:

The Curlew/McDermott's/Three Scones Of Boxty
The Lass Of Glenshee
Con Cassidy's And Neil Gow's Highlands/Moll And Tiarna/McSweeney's Reels
The Road To Durham
An T-Oilean Ur
An Grianan/Horse With A Heart
A Bhean Udai Thall
Welcome Home Grainne/Con McGinley's
Tuirse Mo Chroi
Come Ye By Atholl/Kitty O'Connor
An Feochan
Paddy's Trip To Scotland/Dinky's/The Shetland Fiddler

Amazon.com

The late 1980s and early '90s were a time of confusion for Irish music. Experiments mixing ancient music with a modern sensibility that began in the '70s bore fruit with the international successes of Clannad, Enya, and Mary Black. But the fusion of old and new also led to countless recordings in which harp noodling and synthesizer twiddling was passed off as Celtic music. When Altan released Horse with a Heart, it served as a welcome reminder that Irish music that hewed close to tradition still had a place in the world. Although this was Altan's second CD, it was the first where they gelled as a band. The wife-and-husband team of Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy are the emotional center of the group. When they play the fiddle and flute together you feel as if you are overhearing an intimate conversation. --Michael Simmons

Customer Reviews:

What is a ýGreen Linnetý?.......2000-06-29

Purchasing a CD released on the Green Linnet label isn't a guarantee that you're buying traditional Irish music, but you can be assured that you're not getting Irish rock `n' roll (U-2). Husband and wife team Frankie Kennedy (fiddle, flute) and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh (fiddle, vocals) lead us through elaborate fiddle medleys, majestic ballads and charming airs. I've had the good fortune of seeing them in concert before Frankie's death in 1994. They perform exuberant "dueling fiddle" jams (The Curlew, Welcome Home Grainne) that are nothing short of breathtaking. I think they're referred to as "reels." Mhaonaigh's voice is elegant (The Lass of Glenshee, Tuirse Mo Chroi), and Frankie's solitary flute transports me to a far distant time and land (An Feochan). Horse With A Heart is compelling and authentic: tradition has not been toned-down or modified for mass appeal. The CD is also a bit of a history and music lesson. What does "Green Linnet" mean? Despite the confusing CD booklet material, it's also challenging (for Non-Irish music fans) to figure out which compositions are reels and which are jigs ("airs" are a dead giveaway), and distinguish between the Gaelic and Irish vocals. Enchanting compositions and a lesson in Irish music literature.

Fantastic songs, reels and highlands.......1999-09-15

This is truly a wonderful compilation of reels, jigs, airs and highlands. There are so many cd's out there which are marketed as "celtic music", carrying promises of relaxation while you listen. Happily, Altan's music, and this cd, belong in a very different category. There are some beautifully relaxing songs, however most of the tunes make you feel much better than just relaxed. The reels and jigs make me want to get up and dance, everytime I listen to them. In my opinion, the fiddling quality and lovely Gaelic vocals make this cd a real stand out. I would have liked to have seen a lyrics sheet included, but otherwise I have no complaints. It is extremely rare for me to appreciate every track on a cd, but I do like everyone of these very much.

Average customer rating:

Russian Intimacy

Russian Songs

Manufacturer: Arabesque Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000000T98
Release Date: 1996-05-14

Tracks:

Oh, Do Not Grieve, Op.14, No.8
Lilacs, Op.21, No.5
Christ Is Risen, Op. 26, No. 6
The Answer, Op. 21 No. 4
To The Children, Op. 26, No. 7
A Passing Breeze, Op. 34, No. 4
How Long Since Love, Op. 34, No. 3
The Harvest Of Sorrow, Op. 4 No. 5
The Nursery: With Nursery
The Nursery: In The Corner
The Nursery: The Beetle
The Nursery: With The Doll
The Nursery: Evening Prayer
The Nursery: The Hobby Horse
The Nursery: The Naughty Puss
A Summer Love Tale, Op. 6 No. 2
Blue Eyes Of Spring
The Sounds Of Day Are Still, Op. 47, No. 4
Was I Not A Blade Of Grass?, Op. 47, No. 7
From The Day That I Was Born, Op. 27, No. 5
The Canary, Op. 25, No. 4
It Was In The Early Spring, Op. 38, No. 2
Invocation To Sleep, Op. 27, No. 1
Take Away My Heart
None But The Lonely Heart, Op. 6, No. 6

Amazon.com

This is a wonderful record. The music, mostly mournful in a typically Russian way, enchants ear and heart; the performances are matchless for vocal beauty, expressiveness, and projection of mood, atmosphere, and character, as well as for the incredible quality of the ensemble. DeGaetani, an unusually evocative, versatile artist who tragically died in 1988 at age 56, and Kalish, a splendid pianist equally at home as soloist and in collaboration with singers and instrumentalists, developed an uncanny degree of empathy during their 30-year partnership. Kalish's ability to alternate instantly between leading and supporting is fully displayed in these songs' prominent, often virtuosic piano parts. Together, they bring out the tenderness, simplicity, and sorrow of Rachmaninoff's and Tchaikovsky's moving lamentations and the innocent charm of Mussorgsky's "Nursery" songs without condescending to their childish humor. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Russian Intimacy.......2002-09-09

Another brilliant rendition by the extremely sensitive and artistic duo of De Gaetani and Kalish. Jan DeGaetani especially gives these Russian favourites her gorgeous trademark intimacy; leaving us with a refreshing treatment of Russian repetoire.