Angel in the Dark [SACD]

Angel in the Dark [SACD]

Track Listings

1. Angel in the Dark

2. Triple Goddess Twilight

3. Will You Love Me Tomorrow

4. He Was Too Good to Me

5. Sweet Dream Fade

6. Serious Playground

7. Be Aware

8. Let It Be Me

9. Gardenia Talk

10. Ooo Baby Baby

11. Embraceable You

12. La-La (Means I Love You)

13. Walk on By

14. Animal Grace

15. Don't Hurt Child

16. Coda

Tracks:

Angel In The Dark
Triple Godess Twilight
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
He Was Too Good To Me
Sweet Dream Fade
Serious Playground
Be Aware
Let It Be Me
Gardenia Talk
Ooh Baby, Baby
Embraceable You
La La Means I Love You
Walk On By
Animal Grace
Don't Hurt Child
Coda

Amazon.com

This wonderful collection of Laura Nyro's final recordings before her death in 1997 can only strengthen the reputation of one of the true musical enigmas of the last 35 years. Recorded in 1994 and 1995, and split evenly between original compositions and several of her beloved jazz and R&B tunes Nyro sang as a teenager on the street corners of New York, Angel in the Dark perfectly blends the two into a seamless hymn to the heart. Whether swinging through swoony classics like "Walk on By" and "Ooh Baby Baby" or stunning new songs like "Angel in the Dark," "Sweet Dream Fade," and "Animal Grace," Nyro's languid, instantly recognizable voice eerily seems to have barely aged over several decades. Although slightly deeper than on her earlier recordings, her voice--the very epitome of soul--still chills and raptures absolutely unlike any other. It's just Laura and her piano on half of these tracks, while the others get a classy polish from such jazz and R&B notables as Bernard Purdie, Will Lee, John Tropea, and the Brecker Brothers. Laura Nyro always seemed somewhere outside of time and space, and Angel in the Dark is nothing short of a magnificent final kiss blown from the other side. --Carl Hanni

Customer Reviews:

pure talent.......2007-06-03

I recently discovered the wondeous talent of Laura Nyro, and let me tell you I can't get enough of her!! I now have several of her CD's and they are all great. Her music has soul, it has passion, it has emotion. She poured herself into her work, and every song is a treasure.

Angel in the Dark.......2004-12-29

The title is just perfect. Laura was an angel who chose to keep herself hidden from us except for her beautiful voice and truly wonderful songs. I was a fan of hers since she began recording. This is a great album. Alot of her music and music she adored is on this album. This album was released after her death. Her voice has such great color in it. She is in as good a voice here as she was in Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. Alot to be said for giving up smoking! God I really miss her.

Masterpiece.......2004-11-13

I moved to Nashville in 2001 and bought this CD right before I relocated. I flew to Nashville while my things were on a moving truck and this was one of the few CDs I slipped into my bag that I brought with me. When my things were delayed getting here for almost three weeks, this CD was in constant rotation, soothing, calming and reassuring my soul. This CD contains "the best of both worlds" that Laura moved in and out of throughout her career...The Lunar poet who wrote from another galaxy and the crooner who loved to sing the soul songs of her youth. All of the new compositions ("Triple Goddess Twilight", "Gardenia Talk", the title cut and my personal favorite "Serious Playground) are all individually brilliant...Perhaps Laura's best writing...The cover songs are all stirring..."Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", "He Was Too Good To Me", "Embraceable You", "La La Means I Love You" and the irresistable "Ooh Baby Baby", each take on new meaning with Laura's unmatchable interpreation. Don't miss out on the masterpiece.

Swan Song from a Gentle Soul.......2004-09-03

I had the pleasure of seeing Laura Nyro live twice, once at Carnegie Hall in the early 1970's (at the peak of her popularity), and again many years later, in the early 90's at the Appel Farm Folk Festival in New Jersey. On both occasions, I was impressed by both her formidable talent and her gentle nature. (At the Carnegie Hall concert, which was an all-star benefit for an Eastern religious leader whose name now escapes me, she spoke between songs about the benefits of Eastern mysticism, when a heckler, who was clearly not in the spirit of the evening, shouted, "[B.S.]!" She stopped, played a few strains on her piano, and paused again for a moment, saying, "You may think it's [B.S.], but I think it's true.") Anyway, anecdotes aside, I always especially loved her early work, which generated hits for everyone but her (Barbra Streisand, The Fifth Dimension, and Three Dog Night, to name a few). This always amazed me, because she was always the best and most soulful interpreter of her own music. I lost touch with her after the early 70's, and she never really recaptured the commercial success of her first four classic albums. But she was always an artist of integrity and grace, and while her voice lost a bit of the range she once had, it never lost that sweet, soulful style that was her trademark. This is a wonderful final love letter to her fans, a satisfying mix of original tunes and covers, and a return to form of sorts, harkening back to those great early songs, as well as "Gonna Take a Miracle", her very fine album of covers with Patti LaBelle and her group. It's an intimate, passionate, reflective, and generally excellent CD. We will miss you, Laura, but thank you for this final, graceful bow. (P.S.: Wait for the "hidden track" at the end, a nice cover of the old Marvelettes hit, "Come and Get These Memories".)

Haunting, evocative: Nyro's 'Muse' takes one last bow.......2004-02-18

In retrospect, the late Laura Nyro's final recording, "Angel in the Dark" is full of haunting summons to mortality: The title track with its pleading, repeated line, "Come back to me, come back; answer my prayer," beckons the spirits of Nyro's mother (who, eerily, succumbed to ovarian cancer at age 49, as her daughter would in 1997); and her maternal grandfather, among others, who Nyro claimed had primary influences on her life (this according to the eloquent liner notes penned by poet Elaine Silver-Lillywhite, Nyro's friend and business partner on their Luna Mist record label).
Likewise, Nyro's self-penned "Triple Goddess Twilight" directly summons these familial spirits, as Nyro sings: "Mother you died young and left me; Your twilight colors/Rose/Ah burgundy/Coral mist/What are the shades of loneliness."
She also addresses her grandfather in the lines: "My grandfather painted houses/On a ladder in the sky/He was working class/Urbane/Street-wise/Said-'We can change the world, girl/Love will inspire,'/Told me this through whiskey/And revolutinary fire."
She summons Heaven with: "He left a war/To walk in peace now/Said life was for/Our dream/Our dream of progress."
The song itself ends by not really resolving itself-in that a piano chord is repeated over and over, sounding like the cadence of footsteps walking into some unknown terrain, gradually fading.
Not all is heavy and haunting, though--the cover songs showcase a youthful joy and obvious reverence for these songs' influence on Nyro as a youth; listen to "Let It Be Me," "Walk On By" and "Embraceable You" to hear examples of her myriad musical influences.
I contend, though, that her most striking recordings on this set remain her self-penned compositions such as those listed previously ("Angel in the Dark," "Triple Goddess Twilight); as well as the mystical "Serious Playground," where Nyro sings, without a hint of irony, "My boss is The Muse" and so describes the songwriting process; "Sweet Dream Fade," an almost 'accidental' groove, given Nyro apparently was not going to record it, but Lillywhite insisted it was ready and Nyro picked it out on the piano, and her band quickly established the charts and set down a groove. It ended up, according to the liner notes, as her last in-studio recording: a sort of off-the-cuff, joyful, jazzy, breezy song and one of the most upbeat songs on the album.
Another Nyro original, "Gardenia Talk," describes spring with relation to new or rediscovered love --it's a song brimming with hope and optimism, seductive and richly visual.
The truly haunting closing song is Nyro's original "Don't Hurt Child" (perhaps written with her teen-age son in mind?). Something like a soulful lullaby, she implores, 'Don't hurt child/I took my stand/But the key is in your hand/Heal your wild wing/And fly." The song, which came to Nyro all in one day, was also among the last songs she recorded.
Other reveiwers have suggested this album is perhaps Nyro's most intimate, a assertion with which I agree. While some critics and reviewers dismissed Nyro's later work is less evocative than her earlier, 'advant-garde' 60s and 70s albums (and it is true that many of her songs in the 80s and 90s stressed topical earth-mother-animal rights-feminist leanings and perhaps only resonated with a handful of fans) "Angel in the Dark" finds Nyro in a seemingly different creative place: Though slightly pushing the edges of darkness and mortality themes with the title track and others, the attendant mystical spirituality that always set Nyro's work apart is firmly in place and flows through this album--it is pure soul. While knowing this was Nyro's last recorded effort might add to this feeling among listeners now, it is plain that the lyrics address spirits come and gone, implore understanding and celebrate happiness, new seasons. It's something like a cycle of life, this album--evoking spirits at the beginning, giving advice to a child on the threshold of life by the end. This album seems at once to be celebrating newfound creativity on the part of Nyro (this again according to the liner notes) while hinting at the sorrow just over the horizon.
This is Nryo in magnificent, final bloom. A must-have for fans, it's best listened to after taking in the fiery music of her youth ("The First Songs," "Eli," "New York Tendaberry,"Christmas and the Beads of Sweat"); her homage album, "Gonna Take A Miracle;" her content, relaxed vocals on "Smile" and "Nested" (as she moved to rural Connecticut and 'settled'); "Mother's Spiritual," "Walk the Dog and Light the Light" (her later albums focusing on the topical natural world-feminist-animal rights-earth mother angles that were important to her). Taken in this career-spanning context, "Angel" seems the perfect end-note: Whether pleading for much-missed spirits to return, or seductively reminding the listener, "It's spring," the emotions of this recording, the warmth with which Nyro sings and accompanies herself or the grooves that seem to leap out at the listener at the songs were the band locks into a jazzy groove, this album seems, more than anything, a testament to the power and affirmation inherent in an artist for whom "The Muse" allows her to exclaim, "I'm here for the music/Of my life."
So are we, and we are all the better for it.

Average customer rating:

Handel: The Masterworks (Box Set)

Manufacturer: Brilliant Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00062FLI8
Release Date: 2004-11-30

Average customer rating:

The Beauty of the Male Voice

The Male Choir of St. Petersburg

Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Basso Profondo From Old Russia
Russian Medieval Chant
Ancient Echoes
Best of the Red Army Choir
Music of Russia

ASIN: B00000IWWB
Release Date: 1999-05-18

Tracks:

The Tula Accordion
Like A Nightingale In Flight
The Twelve Brigands
Brewing Song
O My Field
In A Dark Wood
Shchedrick
Along Peterskaya Street
The Evening Bell
See What Misfortune Has Come Upon Us
Steppe, Endless Steppe
Cherubic Hymn
Eternal Counsel
The Nicene Creed
The Repentant Thief
Let My Prayer Arise
God Is With Us
From My Youth
We Praise Thee, We Bless Thee
Do Not Reject Me In My Old Age

Customer Reviews:

The Beauty of the Male Voice.......2006-05-04

I was fortunate to hear The Male Choir of St. Petersburg perform at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, and was stunned by the power and beauty of their song. The director, aware that the deep, resonate voices struck a chord within each member of the audience, held the final note of each song until it echoed from the rafters. The songs are usually traditional Russian songs, but are not religious chants, as many people seem to expect - one song, called "O My Field" is an ode to a farmer's plot of ground. I recommend this album, a great opportunity to revel in the beauty of the male voice.

All My Heart: Deborah Voigt Sings American Songs

Average customer rating:

Mixed results
Like driving a Ferrari in a school zone.
Stellar Soprano Applies Her Considerable Talent to a Lightning-Quick, All-American Repertoire
May have a heart but what good is it if the artistic results are a void?
Great new context for Voigt

All My Heart: Deborah Voigt Sings American Songs

Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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My Name is Barbara

ASIN: B000AQACM0
Release Date: 2005-09-13

Tracks:

The Side Show
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This Heart That Flutters
Darkling, I Listen
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The Half-Ring Moon
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Cleopatra To The Asp
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Ah, Love, But A Day
I Send My Heart Up To Thee
The Year's At The Spring

Amazon.com

This collection of American songs spanning 150 years shows Deborah Voigt, one of the world's leading sopranos, in a new light. She successfully achieves the transition from the larger-than-life operatic stage to the intimate world of song, especially in the more outgoing, dramatic pieces. Voigt enters into each composer's style with complete empathy. Charles Ives was an irrepressible maverick and a stylistic chameleon. Voigt captures the songs' hymn-like simplicity and irreverent rambunctiousness, though her voice is a bit too heavy for them. Leonard Bernstein's jazzy irony also needs more lightness, but the slow love songs are done beautifully. Voigt really comes into her own in Charles Griffes's lush impressionism, evoking the sultriness of Cleopatra and the rhythms of a Spanish dance, and Amy Beach's unabashed effusive romanticism. Composer Ben Moore is a child of our own time, born in 1960. He moves between many styles with natural ease. Set to great English and American poetry, some of his songs were written for Voigt, and she sings them to perfection. The splendid pianist Brian Zeger provides both leadership and support. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Mixed results.......2006-02-22

This is an interesting collection of American songs, but I don't feel that Ms Voigt sold these selections to me. She still sounds like an opera singer trying to squeeze a very powerful and large voice into smaller setting for these songs, with mixed success. She is much, much better than many of her fellow sopranos that tried such repertoire, but I feel that she only gets it right in Amy Beach and Griffes songs. And even there, she does not have a sound that would make every song recital fan happy.
And what's with the title of this album? I think she is a classy artist and deserves better than such silly title, her label probably came up with that.
Nice try overall, but I hope Ms Voigt will do more Strauss and Wagner from now on, not more songs like these.

Like driving a Ferrari in a school zone........2006-02-02

Like a lot of big operatic voices, Voigt is hard to capture on CD; her recordings of Wagner and Strauss excerpts are good, but they can't convey the experience of hearing her live in an opera house. And singing with only piano accompaniment, as here, she simply can't use most of the power in her voice. As sensitive as her performances are I can't help feeling that she's having to hold back. For American song sung with more delicacy and grace I would suggest Barbara Bonney or Dawn Upshaw (I can't agree with previous reviewers' suggestion of Cheryl Studer's Barber, though Hampson is wonderful on that set).

Stellar Soprano Applies Her Considerable Talent to a Lightning-Quick, All-American Repertoire.......2005-11-08

It's a shame that soprano Deborah Voigt hit her greatest notoriety last year for being fired by the Royal Opera House for being too fat for the title role of "Ariadne aux Naxos" by Richard Strauss. She subsequently lost eighty pounds but luckily none of her vocal prowess as can be heard to great effect on this intriguing collection of American songs, 25 in all and averaging a little over two minutes each. It would have seemed like a mismatch to apply her powerful voice - famous for her big Wagnerian roles - to sometimes delicate tunes. Voigt, however, confounds expectations with a surprisingly nuanced performance that showcases her interpretative skills on a diverse set of musical styles.

Similar to what countertenor David Daniels did with his 2003 disc with guitarist Craig Ogden, "A Quiet Thing", Voigt and pianist Brian Zeger have created a wide-ranging lyrical repertoire that encompasses significant vocal demands while remaining intimate in setting. In fact, both Daniels and Voigt cover Leonard Bernstein's anti-war lullaby, "So Pretty", with haunting aplomb. She also manages to dance effectively over the "Da-ga-da-ga-dums" of Bernstein's challenging "Piccola serenata". Voigt does wonders with the opening Charles Ives selections by not overplaying the innate sentiment of the tunes, in particular, soaring with the highly dramatic "The Children's Hour" by Longfellow and even covering the churchy warhorse, "At the River", with conviction.

There are eight highly individualistic songs by Ben Moore that stretch Voigt with bountiful results. The standouts of the Moore set are the English sea chantey-like "The Ivy-Wife" by Thomas Hardy, the lushly romantic "I Am in Need of Music" by Elizabeth Bishop; the sweeping "Darkling, I Listen" by John Keats; and the discordant waltz, "Bright Cap and Streamers", by James Joyce. For me, the highpoints of the recording are the last two sets by Charles Tomlinson Griffes and Amy Beach, both of whom tap impressively into Voigt's natural theatricality proven especially by her performances of Griffes's lush "Cleopatra to the Asp" and Bishop's rolling "I Send My Heart Up to Thee".

The one shortcoming of the recording overall is that the briefness of the songs does not really capitalize on Voigt's impressive dramatic capabilities in showcasing changes in characters she would have been allowed in her opera roles. For all the limitations it represents, this is a genuine recital album, and truly transcendent moments are fleeting at best especially given the variety of moods that need to be expressed in lightning-flash strokes. However, taken for the genre it represents, this is a stellar recording to appreciate a singer who is able to do more than Wagner and lose weight.

May have a heart but what good is it if the artistic results are a void?.......2005-10-31

The header says it all. Thumbs down all the way. Get instead the Samuel Barber double set with Cheryl Studer and Thomas Hampson if you wish to experience true heartrending Americana. As another reviewer put it, you get no gimmicks and no camp from these two distinguished artists.

Great new context for Voigt.......2005-09-30

It is great to hear Voigt in an American lieder recital. She is a top vocalist in her vocal prime. I think this is a lovely disc, and it really takes off especially with the songs of Ben Moore who has written many works just for Voigt. She tones down the volume of her sound and reins in the dramatic aspect of her soprano to give these songs a proper context and remains in service of them throughout the recital. Give this one a try! EMI - Release her Marshallin from Der Rosenkavalier, I think it would be wonderful. I know she just took on that role this summer.

Jussi Björling Edition: Studio Recordings 1930-1959

Average customer rating:

Superb!
Beatiful singing - but where are the Swedish texts?
if you like bjorling this is the best thing you can get!
The ULTIMATE Collection
Definitive survey of one of the finest singers on record

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Aida: Se quel guerrier...Celeste Aida
Rigoletto: La donna e mobile
La Boheme: Che gelida manina
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La Gioconda: Cielo e mar!
L'africaine: Mi batte Il cor...O paradiso
Ideale
O sole mio
The Vagabond King: Only A Rose
For You Alone
Manon: Instant Carmant ... En ferman les yeux
Carmen: La fleur que tu m'avais jetee
Faust: Salut! demeure chaste et pure
Martha: M'appari tutt'amor
Martha: Cujus animam
Messa da requiem: Ingemisco
Il Trovatore: Ah si ben mio
Il Trovatore: Di quella pira
Il Trovatore: Ah si, ben mio
Il Trovatore: Di quella pira
Rigoletto: Questa o quella

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La Boheme: O soave faniculla
Rigoletto: E il sol dell'anima
Rigoletto: Questa o quella
Un Ballo in Maschera: Di' tu se fedele
Turnadot: Nessun dorma!
Andrea Chenier: Come un bel di di maggio
Fedora: Amor ti vieta
Cavalleria Rusticana: Mamma!...Quel vino
Pagliacci: Recita! ... Vesti la giubba
Mattinata
L'Elisir D'Amore: Una furtiva lagrima
Les Pecheurs De Perles: Je crois entendre encore
Romeo et Juliette: Ah! leve-tol, soleil!
Manon: Je suis seul! ... Ah! fuyez, douce image
L'arlesiana: E la solita storia
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Manon Lescaut: Donna non vidi mai
Tosca: Recondita armonia
Tosca: E lucevan le stelle
La Boheme: O soave fanciulla
Romeo et Juliette: Ange adorable
Jocelyn: Concealed In This Retreat
L'albe separa dalla luve l'ombra

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Romeo et Juliette: Hoj dig, du klara sol
Rigoletto: O, I kvinnor: Questa o quella
L'illustre Fregona: Fylld av vemod sanker sig natten: Melancolque tombe le soir
Knyaz (Prince) Igor: Dagen gick langsamt till ro: Vladimir's Cavatina: Medlenno den' ugasal
Tosca: Det skona star att finna: Ricondita armonia
Tosca: Ja minns stjarnorna lyste: E lucevan le stelle
Rigoletto: Ack, som ett fjun sa latt: La donna e mobile
Il Trovatore: Skyhogt mot himlen
Pagliacci: Spela komedi! ... Pudra ditt anlet: Recitar! ... Vesti la giubba
Cavalleria Rusticana: O Lola
La fanciulla del West: Lat henne tro: Ch'ella mi creda
Fanal: I manner over lag och ratt
Sadko: I sonderns hav
La Belle Helene: Uti en skog pa berget Ida
Der Zigeunerbaron: Vem har oss vigt?
Der Bettelstudent: Skall jag tala ... Antag det fall
Der Bettelstudent: Ny ar jag pank och fagelgri: Ich hab keion Geld, bin vogelfrei
Nar hag for mig shalv i morka skogen gar
Bland skogens hoga furustammar
Ack Varmeland, du skona
Allt under himmelens faste
Tonerna
Sommarnatt: I de lyse naetter
Ett Folk: Sverige
Land, du valsignade
Namner du Sverige

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Adelaide
Morgen
Cacilie
Bon i ofredstid
Bisp Thomas frihetssang
In The Silence Of Night
Siren: Lilacs
Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair
Because
Sylvia
A Spirit Flower
Ah, Love But A Day
Tonerna: I Bless Ev'ry Hour
Till havs
Sangen till havest
Visa king slandblom och manskara
Jungfrun under lind
Kung Helmer och Aslog
Trollsjon
Sa tag mit hjerte
Demanten pa marssnon
Cantique de Noel: Julsang (O helga natt) : Cantique de Noel

Amazon.com

This set tells you why Jussi Bjorling is a perennial entrant in the "Tenor of the Century" sweepstakes. Even as the voice darkens from the light lyric to the full, darker instrument of the later recordings, we hear a singer whose elegant style, lovely timbre and innate musicality touch the heart. Many of the selections are sung in Swedish, less of a liability than you might suppose. In whatever language, Bjorling's molten gold flows lavishly. He eschews the sobs and sentimentality that disfigure so much verismo repertory, making his points with stylish vocalism. He's been called a "cool" singer, but try his Puccini and Verdi arias on Disc One and you'll find more than enough vocal and emotional heat. The selections include many neglected Scandinavian songs, sung, like the arias, with a naturalness that disarms criticism. -- Dan Davis

Amazon.com

Swedish tenor Jussi Björling gets many votes for the distinction of greatest all-time tenor. Up to the end, the voice projected a boyish vulnerability, though he also had enough stentorian power to sing the heavy Puccini roles and was ready to take on Lohengrin when he died. He was so deeply musical he eschewed the usual tenor vulgarity without ever slighting the music's theatricality. Even these four well-filled discs of arias and songs can't fully encompass the vocal riches he left behind, but there's a lot here, much of it from his earliest years and (hope you don't mind) sung in a Swedish translation. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews:

Superb!.......2001-07-29

This is an wonderful compilation of one of the most incredible voices on record. Whether you are a new or old Bjorling fan -- and who could hear that voice and not be enthralled by it -- this is a fine CD to have. The quality of the recording is excellent, and the range in years, from 1930 to 1959, gives a splendid overview of his dazzling talent. In addition to many of the arias one might expect, there are also lieder and songs in Swedish, as well as some charming duets with Jussi's wife, Anna-Lisa. I have quite a few other Bjorling CDs, and this is one of the best in terms of quality and scope. It is a most worthy addition to any Bjorling collection, regardless of its size.

Beatiful singing - but where are the Swedish texts?.......2001-06-22

This is an excellent collection, the best available overview of a great tenor.

This would get 4 stars but has been marked down for only supplying token texts and translations in the large booklet. It is understandable (sort of) that the Italian opera excerpts don't merit texts and translations as (apart from the Callas recitals series) EMI generally doesn't provide texts with historical issues. However the tempting inclusion of a dozen or so texts to the Italian and Swedish songs makes one all the more aware of the miserliness of not providing all the texts.

if you like bjorling this is the best thing you can get!.......2000-06-26

this is so awesome, i love his voice, this is good for anyone, the professional or just someone who wants to hear the greatest tenor of all times! this is so great

The ULTIMATE Collection.......1999-11-02

When starting my Bjorling collection, I saw MANY CDs, with his early recordings. I was in a quandry as to what to buy, UNTIL I found this set. TRULY remarkable in many levels.FIRST and foremost, the voice. Captured in all levels, from the earliest to the latest. Truly wonderful, and the Swedish versions are a real treat to hear, don't worry, the Italian versions are here too!!Secondly, the remastering process. This set was remastered at Abbey Studios in London. For the first time I've heard, they actually pressed NEW 78s from the metal plates, and THEN remastered the new discs!!! Inspired, and the results--incredible.I find myself listening to Disc 3 the most. Very interesting, as it is the Swedish one. When the songs are terrific, along with the "standard" tenor arias, and it all comes together, it is PURE MAGIC!! I will admit that due to time limitations of recordings of this era, the opera house Bjorling is not fully conveyed. There are other CDs for that. Most notably "Romeo and Juliet", and for a REAL thrill, his ATLANTA concert, in STEREO, so much so, that the piano is even divided; left hand left, right hand right. Wait a minute, am I playing TWISTER??:-)) But if you want to skip all those unknown labels, you couldn't have a MORE complete set. ALL wit the great remastering I spoke of. Bjorling--His voice will NEVER die, at least in MY house!!!

Definitive survey of one of the finest singers on record.......1998-09-25

Jussi Bjoerling was one of the greatest singers of the century. His voice is pure, effortless and yet thrilling. Even better than the quality of the voice is his style. He never scoops up to a note nor does he ever whoop down from one, instead, he uses perfect legato and faultless intonation to deliver the cleanest sound you'll ever hear from a tenor.

This collection, from the large set of EMI recordings, provides a wonderful survey of Bjoerling's career. He was a straight 'spinto' tenor, that is, between a lyrical tenor (like Pavarotti) and a dramatic tenor (like Domingo). Most of the Puccini roles demand a spinto and those are the roles that Bjoerling was unbeatable in (particularly Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut). However, I think I most prize this collection for the songs sung in English on the last disc. I had some of them on a cassette I wore out in the car and others on a vinyl disc I wore out at home. For shear beauty of voice, the Berceuse by Jocelyn is stunning. For perfect diction, intonation and style, Love but a Day is breathtaking. Buy this set and I guarantee you'll fall in love with what many think is the finest voice on record.

Angel in the Dark
Average customer rating:

The Best Laura Nyro Ever

Angel in the Dark
Laura Nyro
Manufacturer: Rounder Select
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
General | Folk | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
Rounder Records | Specialty Stores | Music
Singer Songwriters | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B0000667P1
Release Date: 2002-05-08

Customer Reviews:

The Best Laura Nyro Ever.......2002-05-18

Simply put, this is Laura Nyro's finest work. It was recorded in 1994 and 1995, but Laura's struggle with cancer kept it from being released at the time. This is not only Laura's best work but includes some of the best performances by anyone ever. The Super Audio CD has three extra alternate versions not available on the plain CD. Go buy an SACD player today and listen to these bonus tracks! It doesn't get any better than "Ooh Baby, Baby." If that song doesn't make you cry, you are not human. "Angel in the Dark" is full of priceless performances with beautifully recorded, rich piano accompaniment by Laura.

Average customer rating:

Kabarett

Manufacturer: Musica Viva
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

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General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DFZYR
Release Date: 2003-10-21

Album Description

The charismatic mezzo-soprano, Jean Stilwell, is one of Canada's most versatile artists - one who has that rare ability to light up any stage on which she performs. In addition to her extensive recital, concert and operatic performances, Stilwell has also garnered rave reviews for her smoldering approach to cabaret music, including the songs of William Bolcom and Benjamin Britten, Kurt Weill and Arnold Schoenberg, to those made famous by Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich, Zara Leander and Lotte Lenya. Her recording of French mélodies and cabaret, Les Chemins de l'amour, was heralded by the press, making the late Toronto music critic Urjo Kareda's list of the "Best Recordings of the Year 1999".

Crumb: Songs, Drones And Refrains Of Death

Average customer rating:

For Crumb enthusiasts

Crumb: Songs, Drones And Refrains Of Death

Manufacturer: Bridge
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000003GIM
Release Date: 2001-06-01

Tracks:

Songs, Drones And Refrains Of Death: Part One, Refrain One: I. The Guitar/Refrain Two: II. Casida... - George Crumb/David Starobin/Donald Palma/Aleck Karis/Daniel Druckman/Eric Charlston
Songs, Drones And Refrains Of Death: Part Two, Refrain Three: III. Song Of The Rider/Refrain Four... - George Crumb/David Starobin/Donald Palma/Aleck Karis/Daniel Druckman/Eric Charlston
A Little Ste For Christmas: 1. The Visitation - Lambert Orkis
A Little Ste For Christmas: 2. Berceuse For The Infant Jesu - Lambert Orkis
A Little Ste For Christmas: 3. The Shepherd's Noel - Lambert Orkis
A Little Ste For Christmas: 4. Adoration Of The Magi - Lambert Orkis
A Little Ste For Christmas: 5. Nativity Dance - Lambert Orkis
A Little Ste For Christmas: 6. Canticle Of The Holy Night - Lambert Orkis
A Little Ste For Christmas: 7. Carol Of The Bells - Lambert Orkis
Apparition: I. The Night In Silence Under Many A Star - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
Apparition: Vocalise 1: Summer Sounds - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
Apparition: II. When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
Apparition: III. Dark Mother Always Gliding With Soft Feet - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
Apparition: Vocalise 2: Invocation To The Dark Angel - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
Apparition: IV. Approach Strong Deliveress! - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
Apparition: Vocalise 3: Death Carol ('Song Of The Nightbird') - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
Apparition: V. Come Lovely And Soothing Death - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
Apparition: VI. The Night In Silence Under Many A Star - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish

Customer Reviews:

For Crumb enthusiasts.......2006-11-19

The three works on this disc are somewhat "typical" Crumb. "Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death" is not Crumb's greatest work, even if it has his signature gestures -- a combination of speaking and singing during songs, shouting from the percussion players, among other techniques. It's a little contrived and more than a little dated (it's unmistakably 1960s avant-garde), but it's not a bad work. The recording's vocal performance by both the ensemble and the soloist sounds very muddled, which is unfortunate.

The Suite for Christmas has never been my favorite work. Crumb's other works for piano, such as the Makrokosmos books, are so much better it makes this work really look kind of anomalously amateur, even though I'm sure it's extremely hard to play. Orkis makes the most of this work, it's as good as I've ever heard it.

Apparition is by far the best work on this disc. It focuses on death just like the Songs and Drones, but Apparition also has some of the most delicate music found in any of Crumb's works. And the singing is sharp and clear, even with the transparent textures of the music. It uses Walt Whitman's Death Carol as its text and really captures the mysticism, light, and darkness that surrounds death that Whitman conveys in his poem.

Overall, it's a good disc. It's definitely a great disc for people who like Crumb, but I know I wouldn't have explored much more of his music if this were my introduction.

Average customer rating:

The Lorelei

Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000008EOU
Release Date: 1994-02-15

Tracks:

Give Him the Ooh-La-La
He's a Right Guy
It Never Entered My Mind
Johnny One Note
You and the Night and the Music
Saga of Jenny
Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
Leader of a Big Time Band
In the Heart of the Dark
Lorelei
Dream With Me
I Love Paris
Katie Went to Haiti
Let's Go West Again
Ten Cents a Dance
I Got Rhythm

Average customer rating:

He only has 10 fingers! Really--only 10.
good for long trips

88 Keys to Tomorrow
Tom Constanten
Manufacturer: Gaff Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00006NSJR
Release Date: 2002-10-22

Tracks:

Let It Ring (Constanten)
Cold Rain and Snow (Traditional)
Chiclets (Ryan)
Any Face Card Beats a "10" (Constanten)
San Andreas Stomp (Constanten)
Land of the Hassled and Free (Constanten)
Waltz, Opus 69 #1 (Chopin)
Nocturne, Opus 9 #2 (Chopin)
People Get Ready (Mayfield)
Rondo From Sonata in E (Haydn)
Encodex Punctilious (Constanten)
Apocryphal Awry (Constanten)
Rondo Pazzo (Constanten)
The Fat Angel (Leitch)
The Disco Delius Banjo Bash (Constanten)
Uptown Boy (Constanten)
Electronic Study #3 (Constanten)
Alaric's Premonition (Constanten)
Fantasy in C Minor (Bach)
Dark Star (Garcia/Hunter)
Dejavalse (Constanten)

Customer Reviews:

He only has 10 fingers! Really--only 10........2006-03-13

Tom Constanten composes and plays the ragtime of the gods, and this CD includes one of his best--the 'San Andreas Stomp', from his US bicentenial suite, 'The Syntax Collector'. If only he'd included the rest of it this CD would be auditory Nirvanna. Many other wonderful things too including some electronically prepared keyboard pieces, some classical piecies (including a lovely Bach), and some splendidly played Grateful Dead tunes (Tom's is one of my favorite recordings of 'Dark Star'). But the treasures are Tom's own compositions including 'Encodex Punctilious'. And is piano chops are close to unbelievable. Some of these pieces are technically unplayable for most earthling pianists.
You'll never know how much you need this CD 'till you get it.

good for long trips.......2006-01-30

Tom Constanten
88 Keys to Tomorrow
Gaff Music GAFF0511
Among these 21 cuts are ten Constanten originals, a Chopin, a Bach, a Haydn, a Curtis Mayfield, a Jerry Garcia and several explorations of traditional, classical forms. Some are recorded on real pianos and others on electronic keyboards. There is no instrument preference evident. This is a recorded love affair between a man and the keyboard as a basic musical instrument form.
They're good for stride and ragtime, so Constanten plays and plays with stride and ragtime on "San Andreas Stomp." Vince Guaraldi (Charlie Brown cartoon themes)certainly developed a style for keyboard, so Constanten flirts with the Guaraldi style on "Land of the Hassled and Free." Gospel fervor and confidence can certainly be expressed well with a strong left hand on the piano, so "People Get Ready." And so on through 21 examples of how to best use keyboards to create audio beauty. What is most amazing about this record is that, with all the respect for and knowledge of composers displayed throughout, Constanten is constantly himself. There is a warm wit about his playing, even on the most traditional numbers, that is wholly unique.
More than pleasant to the average ear, this CD and accompanying liner notes are a textbook for those interested in the more technical aspects of music and music recording. In describing one piece, Constanten asks, "When was the last time you encountered stretto and inversion at the same time?" Frankly, I don't have a clue, but for those who do, I presume it's a novel and grand experience. Recorded in several locations between '88 and '94, the album has surprising continuity . . . Bach and Garcia, Yamaha Clavinola and Bosendorfer get along better than one might think, and this, too, is made possible by the highly extroverted character of the artist.
I believe this one will be particularly good for long trips and rainy afternoon dozes.

Music Review:

Music Review

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