Nature's Symphony of the Night

Track Listings

1. Prelude to Night, First Movement, Opus 1 - Carmine Coyote, Nature Recordings, ,

2. Nocturne, Second Movement, Opus 1 - Franz Frog, Lucia Loon, Nature Recordings

Nature's Symphony of the Night,Nature Recordings,World Disc,Contemporary Instrumental,Environmental,New Age,New Age / Meditation

Tracks:

Overture To 'Tannhauser'
Domna, Pos Vos Ay Chausida
We Don't Merely Use Instruments, We Play On Them. And They Play On Us.
Hungarian Dance No.7
The Violin Is One Of The Most Tender And Beautiful Instruments Ever Invented.
Violin Concerto In D Major (Adagio)
But For A Long Time It Was Seen As The Instrument Of The Devil.
The Soldier's Tale: Triumphal March Of The Devil
The Manipulative Seductiveness Of The Gypsy Violin.
Csardas Music
The Violin And The Initiation Of Nature
The Four Seasons (Spring, Mvt 1)
Birds Are Again Evoked In The Second Concerto, Especially Music's Natural Favourite.
The Four Seasons (Summer, Mvt 1)
Like The Devil, The Violin Is A Master Of Disguise.
Old Viennese Dance No.3 'Schon Rosmarin'
The Menacing Sensuality Of Ravel's Tzigane: A Very Different Side Of The Violin:
Tzigane
Do We Now Have The True Measure Of This Instrument? Not Just Yet.
Caprice No.24
The Many Effects Of The String Tremolando: Brandenburg Concerto No.4 (Last Mvt)/From Joy To Fright/Quartettsatz In C Minor/The String Tremolo Practically Spells The World Agitato.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No.7)
Prokofiev's Tremolo In Romeo And Juliet Should Not Be Heard Just Before Bedtime.
Romeo And Juliet: Act IV
Vivaldi Use It To Illustrate The Shivering Of Travellers Crossing The Ice.
The Four Seasons (Winter, Mvt 1)
The Violin Muted
Clair De Lune
The Gentleness Of Muted Strings Persists Even When A Whole Orchestra Plays.
Piano Concerto No.21 In C Major, K.467 (Slow Mvt)
The Pizzicato Violin
Pizzicato Polka
In Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto, The Accompaniment Is Pizzicato.
Violin Concerto No.2 In G Minor (Slow Mvt)
Varieties Of Pizzicato: Colas Breugnon (The People's Feast)/Now A Drier, Leaner, Hungrier Pizzicato. There's Not A Lot Of Comfort Here./Capriol Suite (Tordion)/The Use Of Pizzicato As 'Percussion'/Romeo And Juliet (Act I)/Mahler Used Pizzicato...
The Planets (Mars - The Bringer Of War)
The Technique Of Double-Stopping Enables The Violin To Play Duets With Itself./Sonata No.3 In C Major For Unaccompanied Violin (Fugue)/Now A Later Example Of The Same Technique
Hungarian Dance No.4
Double-Stopping Is A Standard Feature Of A Lot Of Folk Music.
The Four Seasons (Autumn, Mvt 1)
Now The Same Technique, But The Sound Might Have Come From Another World.
Bolero
Double-Stopping Can Only Approximate The Sound Of A Real Violin Duet.
Cadenza To The Violin Concerto By Brahms
Now Compare That With A Real Violin Duet.
Forty-Four Duos (No. 1: Teasing Song)
Another Duo By Bartok, Demonstrating The Violin's Rich Lower Register
Forty-Four Duos (No.2: Maypole Dance)
And Now What May Be The Most Beautiful Accompanied Violin Duet In History
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
The Soul Of The Violin Is In Song; But What About This Weird Passage?
Violin Concerto No.1 In D Major (Mvt 2)
The Use Of Harmonies In The Orchestra Can Be Both Magical And Unsettling.
Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 1, Opening)
Tchaikovsky's Use Of Harmonics In The Sleeping Beauty Is Both Strange And Darling.
The Sleeping Beauty (Act II, No.15: Entr'Acte)
Ravel's Harmonics In Mother Goose Effect A Magical Transformation.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
Stravinsky's Harmonics In The Firebird Transport Us Almost Into Another World./The Firebird (Introduction)
The Natural Upper Notes Of The Violins Have A Unique Emotional 'Grab'.
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Of The Afterworldsmen)
Still In Their Upper Register, The Violins Unleash The Energy Of A Young Colt.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No. 4)
Elsewhere, Britten Uses The Same High Register To Create A Very Different Mood.
Four Sea Interludes (Dawn) From 'Peter Grimes'
To End This Outing With The Violins, A Charming Little Elfin Dance
Elfenreigen

Tracks:

Introduction To The Viola
Viola Concerto (Mvt 1)
Khatchaturian Gets A Very Different Sound From It: Fuller, Fruitier, More Exotic.
Gayane Suite No.1 (Armen's Solo)
Very Nearly The Whole Of The Violin's Upper Register Is Also Available To The Viola.
Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'
The Viola Can Bring A Special, Rich Twanginess To Pizzicato That The Violins Lack./Don Quixote/Berlioz Drew Sounds From It That Retain Their Metallic Strangeness Even Today.
Harold In Italy (Mvt 4)
The Muted Viola: Intimate, Gentle, Poignant In Dvork
Cypresses (No.9)
The Massed Violas Of The Modern Symphony Orchestra In Mahler
Symphony No.4 (Mvt 3)
The 'Period' Viola In Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No.6 (Last Mvt)
The Cello: A Voice Of Unique Nobility
Suite No.1 For Unaccompanied Cello (Prelude)
Brahms And The 'Soul' Of The Cello
Piano Concerto No.2 In B Flat Major (Mvt 3)
Most Orchestral Composers Tend To Emphasize The Cello's Lower Register.
Cantata 'Herz Und Mund Und Tat Und Leben', BWV 147 (Soprana Aria: Bereite Dir, Jesu)
In The Time Of Beethoven The Cello Remained As Fundamental As Ever.
Symphony No.3 'Eroica' (Finale)
But The Cello Is Not Condemned To Spend Its Life In The Basement.
Elfentanz, Op.39
Not Only In Recital Showpieces Like That Is The Cello Is Used In Its Highest Register.
The Protecting Veil (Opening)
A Cello With An Identity-Crisis: The Pizzicato Flamencan
Flamenco
Double-Stopping In The Lower Reaches Of The Cello's Range
Solo Suiet For Cello And Piano (Sardana)
It's In The Middle Register That The Cello Really Comes Into Its Own.
Oriental Dance, Op.2 No.2
It Was To The Cellos That Beethoven Gave Two Of His Most Famous Themes./Symphony No.5 (Mvt 2)/Still More Famous Than That Theme Is This One From The Ninth Symphony.
Symphony No.9 (Finale)
Introduction To The Double-Bass
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Elephant)
But The Double-Bass Can Be Intensely Expressive And Graceful.
Elegy No.1 In D Major
The Range Of The Double-Bass Is The Greatest Of All The String Instruments/Allegro Di Concerto, 'Alla Mendelssohn'/And It's Also Capable Of Very Considerable Virtuosity.
Capriccio Di Bravura
Double-Bass Solos In Orchestral Scores Are Rare But Often Memorable./Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 3)/In His Third Symphony Mahler Makes A Very Different Use Of The Instrument./Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1)
The Double-Bass Muted In Prokofiev/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Kije's Wedding)/In Another Work Prokofiev Uses The Double-Bass To Enhance The Winds./Romeo And Juliet (Act III)/And He Combines The Bass Clarinet With A Shivering Tremolo From The Double-Basses....
Symphony No.5 (Mvt 3)/So Much For The Strings/On Now To The Winds

Tracks:

The Antiquity And Magic Of The Flute
Prelude A L'Apres-Midi D'Un Faune
The Versatility And Agility Of The Flute
Orchestral Suite No.2 In B Minor (Badinerie)
The Flute In Fifteenth-Century Spain
Sa'Dawi
Other Flutes: The Bass And Alto
Chamber Music No.II
The Piccolo - Aptly Named
La Naissance D'Osiris (Mvt 6)
From A Piccolo Of The Eighteenth Century To One Of Its Descendants In The Twentieth
Suite No.1 For Small Orchestra (Valse)
A Variety Of Techniques
Chamber Music No.II
Flutter-Tonguing. But Tchaikovsky Got There Eighty Years Before.
The Nutcracker (Act II, No.2: Scene)
From The Transverse To The Vertical: The Baroque Recorder
Recorded Suite In A Minor (Menuet II)
An Unfamiliar, Early Vision Of The Instrument
Naelden, Naelden
The Bachian Oboe
Cantata 'Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott', BWV 80 (No.7: Duetto)
Introduction To The Cor Anglais Or 'English Born'
Symphony No.9 'From The New World' (Mvt 2)
The Loneliness Of The Cor Anglais
The Swan Of Tuonela
The Cor Anglais Joins The French Horn In Haydn.
Symphony No.22 'The Philosopher' (Opening)
Introduction To The Oboe D'Amore, Beloved Of Bach - But Also Of Ravel
Bolero
The Clarinet Family: Boxing The Compass, From The Depths Of The Bass Clarinet.../The Egyptian (Violence)/...To The Raucous And Squealy.../Taras Bulba (The Death Of Ostap)/...To The Shrill And Complaining...
Petrushka (No.8: Peasant With Bear)/...To The High Sprits Of A Playful Puppy./Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)/And To The Downright Jazzy/Romeo And Juliet (Act II)
As The High Clarinets Tend To Be Loud, So The Bass Tends To Be Soft:
Gayane Suite No. 1 (Mvt 5)
The Bass Clarinet Is Used By Most Composers Mainly As A Colouring Agent.../Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/...But It Does Occasionally Get A Whole Tune To Itself./Iberia (Almeria).
The Range Of The Normal Clarinet Parts Goes Quite High...
The Snow Maiden (Scene 5: Melodrama)
...And Quite Low.
Peter And The Wolf (The Cat)
The Clarinet As Concerto Soloist
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
But That's Not The Instrument Mozart Wrote It For; This Is:
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
Introduction To The Saxophone
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 4)
The Soprano Saxophone Has Quite A Different Feel To It.
L'Arlesienne Suite No.1 (Minuet)
The Little Sopranino Sax Goes Even Higher.
Bolero
The Most Famous Use Of The Saxophone Is In An Orchestration By Ravel.
Pictures At An Exhibition (The Old Castle)
The Saxophone Can Be Quite Contagiously Good-Humoured.
Sax-O-Phun
The Puffa-Puffa Image Of The Bassoon
Peter And The Wolf (Grandfather)
The Bachian Bassoon, In Accompanimental Mode
Cantata 'Weichet Nur, Betrubte Schatten' ('Wedding Cantata'), BWV 202 (Aria No.1)
Bizet Leaves The Puffa-Puffa Image Out, Allowing The Bassoon To Sing./Carmen Suite No.1 (Les Dragons D'Alcala)
And Ravel, Also In Spanish Mode, Does Likewise.
Bolero
The Bassoon As A Voice Of High Seriousness, Indeed Desolate Loneliness
Symphony No.3 (Opening)
The Eerie Bassoon In Its Highest Register
The Rite Of Spring (Opening)
Stravinsky Now Draws On Its Lowest Register, Lonely And Melancholy.
The Firebird Suite (1919, Berceuse)
The Bassoon As Concerto Soloist, Avoiding All Exaggeration
Bassoon Concerto In G Minor (Finale)
The Deep-Voiced Contra-Bassoon, As A Fairy-Tale Beast
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
The French Horn Under Its Woodwind Hat
Wind Quintet, Op.43 (Last Mvt)
Now A More Prominent Role, In A Woodwind Quintet From An Earlier Era
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Mvt 2)
The Horn In Harmonious Blend With Strings In Another Quintet
Horn Quintet, K.407 (Finale)

Tracks:

The Trumpet As Virtuoso Soloist
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Last Mvt)
The Special Brillance Of Paired Trumpets
Concerto In C For Two Trumpets, RV537 (Mvt 1)
The Ceremonial Trumpet
Fanfare For The Common Man
Trumpets And Drums - An Incomparable Alliance
Messiah (The Trumpet Shall Sound)
The Versatility Of The Trumpet, From The Most Public To The Most Lonely
Piano Concerto In F (Slow Mvt)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of The City/An American In Paris/The Trumpet As Recruitment Officer/The Soldier's Tale (The March)/The Trumpet As Swaggerer
Carmen Suite No.2 (Habanera)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of Strength And Courage
Carmet Suite No.2 (Toreador's Song)
The Trumpet Muted/Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Opening)/The Trumpet As The Voice Of Weariness
Billy The Kid
The Trumpet As Character Actor
Pictures At An Exhibition (No.6)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of God
Mass In B Minor ('Et Exspecto')
The Birth Of The Trombone
Aenmerckt Nu Hier
The Birth Of The Brass As A Family
Canzon 12 In Double Echo
The Trombone In The Eighteenth Century
Trombone Concerto In B Flat Major (Finale)
The Tone Of The Tenor Trombone/Romance For Trombone And Organ/The Memorable Voice Of The Bass Trombone/Requiem (Mvt 2)/But The Bass Trombone Is More Than An Instrumental Bullfrog.
Hosannah
The Trombones Become Part Of The Orchestra.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
The Wagnerian Trombone:/Overture To 'Tannhauser'
The Trombone As Caricaturist
Pulcinella (No.19: Vivo)
The Trombone As Raspberry/Concerto For Orchestra (Intermezzo)
The Horn And The Hunt
Horn Concerto No.4 In E Flat, K.495 (Finale)
The Challenging Horn Of The Baroque
Abaris Ou Les Boreades (Menuet)
The Scarcity Of First-Rate Players In Handel's Time
Walter Music (Minuet 1)
The Horn As Magician/The Firebird Suite (1919, Finale)
Horns And The Sound Of Nobility
Overture To 'Tannhauser' (Opening)
The Special Sound Of The Horn In Its Higher Register
Mass In B Minor ('Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus')
The Trumpet-Like Sound Of Massed Horns
Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1, Opening)
The Tuba - Unfairly Maligned?
Symphony No.6 (Mvt 3)
The Tuba Perfectly Cast By Ravel
Pictures At An Exhibition (Bydlo)

Tracks:

Introduction. And We Begin With A Bang.
Fanfare For The Common Man/The Bass Drum On The Battlefields/Wellington's Victory, Op.91 (Opening)
At The Opposite Extreme Is The Triangle.
Piano Concerto No.1 In E Flat (Scherzo)
Categories Of Percussion: Tuned And Untuned. The Side Drum
Overture To 'La Gazza Ladra' - The Thieving Magpie (Opening)
The Side Drum In An Effective But Unexpected Role/Clarinet Concerto (Mvt 1)
The Tambourine. One Of The Oldest Instruments In The World
Den Hoboecken Dans
Even Older Is The Originally Oriental Gong.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
No Single Instrument Can Match The Gong In Evoking The Breaking Of Waves./Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'/But Gongs Don't Have To Be Struck To Be Effective.
Gymnopedie No.2
The Cymbals Are Generally Discovered Early In Life./The Sanguine Fan/And They Do More Than Clash Together Loudly. They Can Be Clashed Together Softly./Studio Example: But They Needn't Be Clashed Together At All/Studio Example: They Can Be Lightly...
Other Untuned Percussion Instruments Include The Whip.: Piano Concerto In G Major (Opening)/And Here Are No Fewer Than Twenty, Cracked By Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Act I, Scene 5)
More Versatile Than The Whip Are The Wood Blocks.../Studio Example/...Which Crop Up All Over The Place In Twentieth-Century American Music.
Rodeo (Hoe-Down)
Related To The Wood Blocks, By Sound, Are The Castanets./Jota Aragonesa/But The Castanets Were Also Used By Monteverdi Back In The Seventeenth Century.
Scherzi Musicali (Damigella Tutta Belle)
A Still Earlier Example From Fifteenth-Century Spain
Yo M'Enamori D'Un Aire
The Birth Of The Bongo
Symphonic Dances From 'West Side Story'
From The Streets Of New York To The Blacksmith's Shop/Il Trovatore ('Anvil Chorus')
Desert-Island Decibels: Grand Canyon Suite (On The Trail)/Arcana
From One Vegetable To Another: The Humble Squash, Or Marrow/Huapango
Onwards To The Tuned Percussion. First, The Timpani
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Introduction)
But The Drum Roll Can Be More Effectively Frightening Than The Big Bang.: Symphony No.2 'Resurrection' (Mvt 3)
Not One Drum Roll, But Many/Grand Canyon Suite (Sunrise)/Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)
Taking Advantage Of Tunability
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Mvt 2)
The Russian Composer Rodion Shchedrin Takes A Downward Turn./Carmen Suite (Changing Of The Guard)/Tuned, Yes; But For The Truly Melodic We Must Look Elsewhere.
Introducing The Glockenspiel/Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Saint-Saens And The Xylophone
The Carnival Of The Animals (Fossils)
Ravel And The Xylophone
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
Introducing The Marimba/Carmen Suite (First Intermezzo)
Introducing The Vibraphone
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Narange Dolce)
The Vibraphone Goes Russian.../Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)/...And Is Joined By The Marimba./Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Introducing The Hungarian Cimbalom
Folk Dances
The Cimbalom And The Symphony Orchestra
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 3)
Introducing The Tubular Bells
Hary Janos Suite (Viennese Musical Clock)
A More 'Up-Front' Approach From Rodion Shchedrin
Carmen Suite (Introduction)
But The Bells Can Also Make The Sinister Even More Sinister./Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Introducing The Celeste
The Nutcracker (Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy)
Magic, In The Use Of Collective Percussion
Miroirs (La Vallee Des Cloches)
Plucked Instruments: The 'Undercover Percussion'/Carmen Suite (Scene)
A Prime Case In Point Is The Harp, Irresistible To The Romantics./The Nutcracker (Act II, No.1: Scene)/The Non-Solo Harp As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Hungarian Rhapsody No.1
The Traditionally Subservient Role Of The Harpsichord In The Baroque Orchestra
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Slow Mvt)
The Piano: King Of The Tuned Percussion/Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Mvt 3)/And A Quarter Of A Century After That:
Petrushka (Russian Dance)
The Anti-Romantic Piano As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Last Mvt)

Tracks:

Keyboard Instruments In The Orchestra - The Most Powerful Of Them All:
Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Finale)
But Things In Handel's Day Were Very Different.
Organ Concerto In B Flat, Op.4 No.3 (Last Mvt)
The Organ Is Difficult To Classify.
An Unexpected, Organ-related Guest
Concerto Pour Zampogna (Last Mvt)
Peasant-Fancying... And A Touch Of The Roaming Cowboy
Les Miserables (Drink With Me)
Outside Artefacts And The Power Of Association
Mahler's Sleighbells
Symphony No.4 (Opening)
A Roll-Call Of Some Unusual Guests/The Typewriter/Parade
Chains, And More/Integrales/An American In Paris/Sandpaper Ballet
Purpose-Built Oddities: Wind Machines/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Opening)
Don Quixote (Variation VIII)
National Calling Cards: The Guitar For Spain/Concierto De Aranjuez (Finale)
And The Guitar's Poor American Relative, The Banjo/Washington Breakdown
And Poorer Still, The Mouth Organ/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Packing Up)
The Balalaika For Russia/Romeo And Juliet (Act II: No.14)
The Maracas For Mexico/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (El Desayuno)
The Bongos And Congas And A Whole Wealth Of Other Drums For Africa And Central America/Studio Example
The Sitar Of India/Evening Raga: Bhapoli
The Accordion For France (Especially Paris)/Paris Canaille
The Zither For Vienna/The Third Man (Theme)
The Cimbalom For Hungary/Folk Dances
The Guitar As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Rondena
There Are Whole Orchestras Of Balalaikas./Sveit Mesiats
The Effect Of The Wordless Human Voice, Used Purely As An Instrument/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Nocturnes
Instruments And the Imitation Of Nature. The Clarinet As Cuckoo
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Cuckoo)
The Flute As An All-purpose Aviary
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aviary)
The Oboe As Duck
Peter And The Wolf (The Duck)
The Recording Of Reality. Does It Work As Well?
The Pines Of Rome (The Pines Of The Janiculum)
The Recording Of Reality Electronically Reborn In New Guises
Cantus Articus - Concerto For Birds And Orchesra (Mvt 2)
Beethoven Turns Avian: Cuckoo, Nightingale, And Quail
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral' (Andante Molto Mosso)
Some Improbable Casting: The Violin As Braying Donkey
The Carnival Of The Animals (Persons With Long Ears)
A Truly Orchestral Hee-haw To Be Reckoned With
Overture To 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
A Thunderstorm In A Million
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral (Allegro-Allegretto)
the Instrumental Depiction Of A Silent World
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aquarium)
Saint-Saens' Menagerie Takes A Curtain Call.
The Carnival Of The Animals (Finale)

Tracks:

The Grouping Of Instrumental Families. An Additive Approach. First, Two Violins
Forty-Four Duos (No.4)
A Great Contrast, Of Both Pitch And Character: Violin And Viola
Duo For Violin And Viola In B Flat Major, K.424 (Finale, Vars 1 & 2)/Studio Example
Arrival Of The Standard String Trio: Violin, Viola, And Cello
String Trio In B Flat (Menuetto)
The String Quartet: Two Violins, Viola, And Cello
String Quartet In F, Op.18 No.1 (Mvt 3)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Viola
String Quartet No.5 In D, K.593 (Adagio)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Cello
String Quintet In C (Mvt 3)
The String Sextet: Two Violins, Two Violas, And Two Cellos
String Sextet In B Flat (Mvt 2)
The String Octet: The Standard String Quaret Times Two
Octet In E Flat, Op.20 (Mvt 1)
Double The String Octet: A Fully Fledged String Orchestra
String Symphony No.2 (Finale)
The Massed Strings Of A Symphony Orchestra
Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis
Contrasts Of Pitch And Instrumental 'Colour' In The Woodwind Section
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Theme)
In The First Variation It's The Horn That Gets The Lion's Share.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 1
In Variation Two The Torch Is Handed To The Bassoon.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 2
In Variation Three The Oboe Leads.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 3
Variation Four: Conversation Before Returning To A Solo-dominated Texture
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 4
And Variation Five is Dominated By The Clarinet.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 5
The Next To Be Featured Is The Virtuoso Flute.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 6
Individual Farewells And A Closing Chorus
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 7
A Mixed Group: Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, String Quartet, And Double-Bass
Octet In F (Mvt 3)
The Early Classical Symphony Orchestra Of Haydn And Mozart
Symphony No.29 In A, K.201 (Finale)
Strings, Wind, But No Brass. What Haydn And Mozart Never Knew
Canzon 28
Beethoven's Fifth: Two Horns, Two Trumpets, And Three Trombones Join The Team.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
From Beethoven To The Massive Orchestras Of Berlioz, Wagner, And Mahler
Beethoven Changed The Face Of The Symphony And The Orchestra Forever
Symphoy No.6 'Tragic' (Mvt 1)
The Cult Of Orchestral Elephantiasis Reaches Its Peak.
Symphony No.1 'Gothic' (VI: Te Ergo Quaesumus)
When Large Doesn't Necessarily Mean Loud: Debussy
Images (Gigues)
A Crisis Of Confidence; The Orchestra's Survival Hangs In The Balance, But It Still Develops. The Ondes Martenot:
Turangalila Symphony (Chant D'amour 1)
The Advent Of The 'Early Music' Movement Brings A New Vitality And Freshness.
Balle De Xerxes (Gavotte En Rondeau)
Computer And Synthesiser: Friends Or Foes?
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
A Speculative Look Ahead/Mass In B Minor ('Dona Nobis Pacem')

Customer Reviews:

Instruments of the Orchestra - Great Reference Material!.......2007-04-04

This set lends itself to greatly enhancing one's knowledge of the orchestra, instruments in it, and their usage. I am a huge music buff, and I still picked up a great deal I previously did not know. I highly recommend this for all who wish to understand the origin of music, as well as the processes that are employed to create music!

Beginner or Expert.......2007-03-12

This CD is excellent for the beginner or expert! To be able to haear the instrumets separately and then together really provides a good education. and/or refresher. The book thaty comes with the CD is alomost worth the price by itself!

Very Informative and Enjoyable.......2006-11-20

Whether you're a music novice or pro, "The instruments of the Orchestra" is a very worthwhile purchase. The 7 CDs, with a total of 8 hours, are expertly narrated by Jeremy Siepmann. He's a great speaker, very much like the late Leonard Bernstein was. Mr. Siepmann takes you on an unforgetable musical journey covering the origins and use of the various orchestral instruments throughout musical history. The balance between his narration and a wealth of musical examples, which range from snippets to entire movements, is superb. The comprehensive enclosed booklet is excellent and faithfully follows the 7 CDs in content. Even with my 40+ years of music training I still learned new things from this wonderful collection. Considering the excellence of the content, and a cost that translates to about $5 per disc, this collection is a great value. Grab it, you won't regret that you did. Five solid stars!

Frank's view.......2006-08-19

This boxed set of CD's with booklet achieved all I had hoped that it would. There are good samples of individual instruments and well done commentary on each. The only drawback was that some of the samples were too brief and could have been longer, hoiwever I guess this fits in with time constraints of the medium. It has given me a lot of clues as to future purchases of CD's for listening to individual instruments. Altogeth a satisfactory purchase and a welcome addition to my collection.

Excellent Intro for Those Not Familiar with the Orchestra.......2003-11-08

I've listened to classical music for years and am interested in composition. I bought this CD set to learn how an orchestra and its instruments work. I thought the CDs would be a nice but boring lecture. They aren't! Not only are they FUN but they are informative as well. I learned a huge amount from each CD and couldn't wait to listen to the next one.

The narrator and writer is a great speaker and holds your attention well. He is definitely knowledgeable. He provides musical examples for each point he makes, so you get to "hear" what he just talked about. I'd say the CDs are about 65% music and 35% narration. You'll learn about the range of instruments, some history, different ways to play them, how they sound, and how they are used in the orchestra. This CD set was a great learning experience and is sold at such a low price!

I recommend this CD for those who want to learn about classical music and those who know about it but are interested in learning more about the inner workings of an orchestra. You'll learn much useful information. For instance, the Rite of Spring (with that eerie start) is written for bassoon! I never knew a bassoon could sound like that but now I do.

The one complaint I have is the last CD. This deals with the orchestra. I wanted more of a tour of how the orchestra has been used through history up to the present. Instead, it was a tour of how different groups of instruments sound. I thought it could have been better. The other 6 CDs are excellent.

Joseph Marx: Nature Trilogy
Average customer rating:

Strauss without the bombast

Simply gorgeous music

Absolutely First-Rate Austrian Romantic Impressionism

An Orchestral Gem

The culmination of romantic impressionism

Joseph Marx: Nature Trilogy

Manufacturer: Asv Living Era
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
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Joseph Marx: Alt-Wiener Serenaden; Partita in Modo Antico; Sinfonia in Modo Classico

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Joseph Marx: Complete String Quartets

ASIN: B00008IHWP
Release Date: 2003-04-22

Tracks:

Eine Symphonische Nachtmusik
Idylle - Concertino Uber Die Pastorale Quart
Eine Fruhlingsmusik

Customer Reviews:

Strauss without the bombast.......2006-01-06

This disc has been enthusiastically reviewed by several serious Amazon reviewers, so I just want to make a few additional comments that may be helpful. I think it's fair to describe the music as lush and richly orchestrated, and compare it to Strauss and, to some extent Debussy and Bax. Two points, though, one positive and one (slightly) negative: (1) Marx, as interpreted by Sloane at least, is not as intense or as given to bombast as Strauss (or Bax). An hour with this CD is not going to get your blood pressure up--in fact, with any luck, you'll more likely be carried away into a fin de siecle Viennese dream of luxury, more like Korngold or Strauss in their more sensual moments. I really enjoyed that, and have spent a fair bit of time with this disc as a result. That having been said, (2) I don't get the sense that we're dealing with a truly great composer of deeply affecting and memorable music here. At least for me, the music doesn't really stay with me the way Debussy, Strauss, and even Bax (on his good days) did when I first heard those composers. In part, that may be Sloane's doing. He obtains a relatively voluptuous sound (in conjunction with some good engineers) from what sounds like a medium-sized orchestra, but it's not Berlin or Vienna or even Dresden. And my sense is (though I don't have the scores or alternative performances to be certain) that Sloane tends to be relatively relaxed on the rhythmic side, such that the architecture of the pieces may not be as clear as it could be.

None of that stops me from giving this 5 stars, but it does cause me to be interested in hearing alternative performances. I would add, too, that, of the ASV releases in what I gather is an on-going series of Marx explorations, I'd start with this one. And I wouldn't hesitate to jump in, if the various descriptions sound the least bit tempting.

Simply gorgeous music.......2004-05-18

The reviewers below have said pretty much all one needs for a recommendation. The music is incredibly effusive, involving and technically superb. Marx, like Strauss, Korngold and others, is a very self-referential composer. A motive that is heard in all three movements of the Natur-Trilogie actually originates in the opening of Marx' 1st violin sonata, used again in his 1st String Quartet (Quartetto Chromatico), and subsequently appears in virtually all of his orchestral music. I don't know the significance specifically, but it must have meant something strongly autobiographical to Marx, much like Korngold's rising fourths "Motiv des Frohlichen Herzens" did for him.

Overall, Marx' music, while sharing some influences and stylistic similarities with Franz Schreker, is more pantheistic and reverent of nature, where Schreker is very much attendant to psychological concerns, particularly those leaning toward the neurotic.

There's nothing decadent about music this beautiful. I'm amazed anyone could turn up their nose at this stuff when Marx was living. Buy it. You just can't go wrong.

Absolutely First-Rate Austrian Romantic Impressionism.......2003-09-19

In the past few days I've been listening, quite by chance, to works by two Austrian contemporaries--Alban Berg (b. 1885) and Joseph Marx (b. 1882)--whose approach to music couldn't be more different. And I'm loving it all. I'll be writing a review of the other recording--Berg's 'Wozzeck' in English--shortly. But this review is about what amounts to a major discovery for me. I'd vaguely heard the name 'Joseph Marx' in the past but I don't think I'd ever heard a note of his music. He was known primarily in his day as a song-writer, most of which were written before he was thirty, and as a hugely talented, kind, generous teacher in Vienna; it is reported that he gave composition lessons for free to needy students. Unlike some composers who are unknown in their lifetimes but discovered only long after their deaths, Marx was well-known--at least in Germanic countries--before his death in 1964. He was privately supportive to musicians threatened by the oppressive tactics of the Third Reich and after the War made efforts to get their music performed again in Austria and Germany. After his death he and his music were quickly forgotten.

During his lifetime he was an intransigent critic of the Second Viennese School (i.e. Schönberg, Berg, Webern et al.) and probably made some enemies as a result. His musical sound-world remained resolutely romantic although it is clear from the music at hand that he was smitten with the emerging impressionism coming from France.

The work recorded here never really had a full performance even in Marx's lifetime; it was severely cut, or parts of the trilogy were played separately. This recording is reportedly the first time it has been heard in its original form. And what a piece it is; I listened to it three times in row, so transfixed I was barely able to breathe

One hears echoes of a number of other composers in Marx's style, although the totality is uniquely his own. It's as if an English pastoralist (Bax, Delius) with Mahlerian melodic ability had strengthened his backbone with Germanic contrapuntal technique (Schmidt, Reger), and added a soupçon of Italian pictorial orchestration (Respighi, Casella) resulting in lushly romantic yet impressionistic sweep.

The 'Nature Trilogy' comprises 'Symphonic Night Music' (about 16 minutes long), 'Idyll' (15 mins.), and 'Spring Music' (23 mins.). It was composed in the early 1920s, primarily during summers when Marx repaired to the countryside near his hometown of Graz, and where he often met with his buddies Franz Schmidt, Leopold Godowsky and Franz Schreker, along with other less familiar composers like Wilhelm Kienzl [now there's a composer who is due for thorough reinvestigation!] and Anton Wildgans.

The first movement is a nocturne, subtitled 'Mondnacht' ('Night of the Moon') and depicts a moonlit garden in which two lovers spend a rapturous night. They dance to a sensuous slow waltz in the middle part of the movement before the movement ends in shimmering ecstasy.

The 'Idyll' is an homage to Debussy's 'Afternoon of a Faun.' It begins with a medievalized deconstruction of the famous flute solo that begins Debussy's piece, but this time with a solo clarinet. It, like the first movement, is mostly slow music but this time in the soft light of a misty day. A distant cuckoo is heard, almost as if in a dream.

'Spring Music' depicts the world's reawakening after the winter's freeze. Rivulets form brooks, leaf- and flower-buds swell and unfold, the sun shines brightly, birds sing. The world exults. Momentarily the moonlight of the first movement and the idyll of the second are recalled.

The Bochum Symphony Orchestra is led by American-Israeli conductor Steven Sloane. (I had to look up the location of Bochum which, I blush to admit, I'd never heard of, and find that it is a city of half a million in the North Rhine Westphalian region that includes Essen, Dortmund, Dusseldorf and Cologne. On the evidence of this recording I'd warrant that it is a major orchestra without a single weakness that I can detect. Forty-five year old Sloane, a native of Los Angeles but long resident in Israel, has been the orchestra's conductor for ten years and has recently been named music director of the American Composer's Orchestra in New York. He is someone to watch.

I give this CD my highest recommendation. On the strength of this music I have ordered CDs of his first piano concerto (with Marc-André Hamelin) and of his three string quartets. I am gratefully beholden to the exceptionally useful booklet notes written by Berkant Haydin and Martin Rucker, included with this ASV release.

TT=64.19

Scott Morrison

An Orchestral Gem.......2003-08-02

Joseph Marx is an Austrian composer whose work seems to be not so much influenced by an Germanic/Austrian lineage as it approximates French impressionist tendencies. If there is any listener out there who likes the music of, let's say Debussy, Bax,Vaino Raitio or Scriabin, should like this work. The music is full of orchestral, harmonic color and is quite sensuous. I am reminded of some representative English "pastoral" moods when I listen to this nature orieted orchestral poetry. Recomended for those who like 'sensuosity" and color in music.

The culmination of romantic impressionism.......2003-06-09

Natur-Trilogie (Nature Trilogy) for large orchestra, written 1922-25

1. Symphonic Night Music
2. Idyll
3. Music
Total time: 64'19

Not quite as resonant or opulent as the monumental earlier Autumn Symphony ("Herbstsymphonie", 1921), the Natur-Trilogie is a richly-coloured work brimming with romantic, lyrical passion, and yet deeply indebted to Impressionism. The thematic development testifies to the spiritual oneness-with-nature of the composer who was able to translate the inspiring moods of the untouched landscapes of his homeland in a magnificent way. In questions of harmony and orchestration, it is the work of a true magician of sound, fascinating in its perfect polyphony and its supple modern counterpoint. All these strengths merge into a highly individual, unmistakable style and emphasise Marx's deserved fame as a `master of melodious sound'.

Tracks:

Luonnotar, Op.70 - Dame Gwyneth Jones
En Saga, Op9 - London Symphony Orchestra
Night-Ride And Sunrise, Op.55 - London Symphony Orchestra
The Oceanides, Op.73 - London Symphony Orchestra
I: Nocturne - Sir Alexander Gibson
II: Elegie - Sir Alexander Gibson
III: Musette - Sir Alexander Gibson
IV: Serenade - Sir Alexander Gibson
V: Ballade - Sir Alexander Gibson

Tracks:

Karelia Overture, Op.10 - Sir Alexander Gibson
I: Intermezzo - Wiener Philharmoniker
II: Ballade - Wiener Philharmoniker
III: Alla Marcia - Wiener Philharmoniker
Swan Of Tuonela, Op.22 No.2 - Wiener Philharmoniker
Finlandia, Op.26 - Wiener Philharmoniker
Pohjola's Daughter, Op.49 - BBC Symphony Orchestra
The Bard, Op.74 - Sir Alexander Gibson
Festivo, Op.25 No.3 - Sir Alexander Gibson
The First Kiss, Op.37 No.1 - Geoffrey Parsons
Spring Is Flying, Op.13 No.4 - Geoffrey Parsons
The Tryst, Op.37 No.5 - Geoffrey Parsons
Black Roses, Op.36 No.1 - Geoffrey Parsons

Average customer rating:

AWESOME
Calming and Soothing for your little love

Guess How Much I Love You

Manufacturer: Baby Genius
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Guess How Much I Love You

ASIN: B0000A1OFI
Release Date: 2000-04-08

Tracks:

"Guess How Much I Love You" (A Special Reading by Sam McBratney)
Brahms Lullaby
Twinkle
Simple Gifts
Silver Is The Moonlight
The Better Part of Me
Over The Moon
Hush Little Baby
The Water Is Wide
Gaelic Lullaby
Little Angel
Day Is Done

Tracks:

Moon Song
Mother Nature Sings
Gentle Rain
By The River
Meadowland Melodies
Clouds
Beyond The Sky
Attunement
A Warm Breeze
Streams
Starry Nights
Nurture and Nature

Tracks:

In Minuet Style - Hubert Parry
Variation No. 9 (Nimrod)Edward Elgar
Intermezzo from Momentum Suite - Peter Hope
Of Foreign Lands And People
Child Falling Asleep
Dreaming
Sunrise from Daphine et Chloe - Ravel
Prelude in G Flat Major, op 7 - Heino Kaski
Evening Prayer from Hansel and Gretel - Humperdinck
Lyric Pieces - No. 5 Cradle Song - Grieg
Venus, The Bringer of Peace - Holst
Largo from the New WOrld - Dvorak

Album Description

3CD music collection inspired by the best selling book. "Guess How Much I Love You" is a story - a tale of the reassuring bond of love between a parent and a child.

3CD Vinyl Packaging

Customer Reviews:

AWESOME.......2006-11-11

I got this for my grand daughter and decided to open it un and listen it to it before I sent it to her. I loved it so much that I kept this copy for myself and bought another one for her. I also bought one to give as a baby shower gift! The songs and music on these CD's are just so nice! I find them VERY relaxing and peaceful. I think this should be a must for every baby. My grand daughter loves it. It immediately calms down a fussy baby. You can't put a price on that!

Calming and Soothing for your little love.......2005-05-19

I love this CD collection. My son loves to cuddle and listen to soothing and dulcet tones of the author reading the story. By the second track he is getting drowsy and by 5th one, the eyes are closed. It's the only CD that keeps him entertained till he falls asleep in the crib. The other CD's are great at stopping cranky moods. I don't know what it is about this collection but it's just made for little ears!

Barber: Knoxville-Summer of 1915; Copland: Eight Poems of Emily Dickenson

Average customer rating:

The Works of Two American Giants
A Sleeper

Barber: Knoxville-Summer of 1915; Copland: Eight Poems of Emily Dickenson

Manufacturer: EMI Records [All429]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000002RUU
Release Date: 1995-06-13

Tracks:

Quiet City for tpt, E hn and strs - Maurice Murphy/Christine Pendrill
Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: I. Nature, the gentlest mother ('To David Diamond')
Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: II. There came a wind like a bugle ('To Elliott Cater')
Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: III. The world feels dusty ('To Alexei Haieff')
Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: IV. Heart, we will forget him ('To Marcelle De Manziarly')
Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: V. Dear March, come in! ('To Juan Orrego Salas')
Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: VI. Sleep is supposed to be ('To Irving Fine')
Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: VII. Going to Heaven ('To Lukas Foss')
Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: VIII. The Chariot ('To Arthur Berger')
Adagio For Strs, Op.11 - London SO/Thomas
From Four Songs, Op.13: I. Nocturne
From Four Songs, Op.13: III. Sure on this shining night
Knoxville: Summer Of 1915 ('In Memory Of My Father')

Customer Reviews:

The Works of Two American Giants.......2006-01-16

This very fine recording is one that has strangely disappeared from the available list of CDs and for those fortunate to find it will wonder, as I do, why it is no longer in ready circulation. The recital honors the parallel lives of Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) and Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981) and with the selections included demonstrates that despite their stylistic differences, each of these composers cared deeply about communication.

And the communication could be in few finer hands than those of Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and of Barbara Hendricks, whose voice in the song cycles was at its prime in 1995 when the recording was made. The recital opens with Copland's 'Quiet City' in as moody and atmospheric performance as any on record. Tilson Thomas does not rush this work but allows it to breathe. The first chair solo work by Trumpet Maurice Murphy and English Horn Christine Pendrill are particularly fine. Following a period of grateful silence thanks to the engineers, the next 'set' is Copland's setting of 'Eight Poems by Emily Dickinson'. Hendricks' voice is rich and pliant and the moods of the poems come across well. She often sacrifices enunciation for open vowel production, but it matters little: the poems are lovely.

Samuel Barber's often performed and used 'Adagio for Strings' follows in an oddly restrained reading by Tilson Thomas. The angst is still present but the spectacular power of the final ascending climax doesn't tear at the heart. But in many ways this straightforward reading makes the familiar piece more clearly a classic than an emotional button. Hendricks then collaborates with two of Barber's 'Four Songs', and her 'Sure on this shining night' is so focused and delicate that she surpasses most of her fellow colleague's versions. Likewise the final masterful 'Knoxville: Summer of 1915' is lyrical and finds all aspects of Agee's poetic story equally important. Tilson Thomas' support is some of the finest on this record.

Recommendation: look for this recording and buy when you find it. It is a treasure trove that desperately deserves re-mastering. Grady Harp, January 06

A Sleeper.......2003-09-26

This CD offers a creative approach in programming: a major orchestral and vocal work by each of two American major composers - Copland and Barber. While they were contemporaries whose music was deemed accessible, they were vastly different: Copland virtually invented an American sound, while Barber's was firmly rooted in European tradition. So this is an album of contrast and diversity. What is consistent is the excellence of the interpretaion and performance. While the orchestral works are very satisfying (but who can compete with Schippers 'Adagio'?), the real distinction is in the vocal contributions of Barbara Hendricks. The Dickenson poems are full of vitality as they should be. The Barber 'Nocturne'is particularly haunting. But the masterpiece is the 'Knoxville'; Leontyne Price is considered to 'own' this piece, and there are other hightly regarded performances, but this one gives them real competition. Much depends on voice preferences, but I don't think you can go wrong with this CD and I recommend it highly.

Average customer rating:

a voice teacher and early music fan

Purcell: Odes

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Odes | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000057DI
Release Date: 1990-02-13

Customer Reviews:

a voice teacher and early music fan.......2006-05-17

Henry Purcell looked like a Florentine prince, was hail-fellow-well-met in tavern and taproom,wrote for the church and also for the stage and salon, was in fact a most likeable young man, as well as a "very great Master of Musicke." He literally invented the English celebratory style in music. The odes on this disc with their heavy reliance on trumpets and kettledrums demonstrate very well the celebratory aspect as well as the exultation of the music itself. All of the solo voices are excellent and are included to some extent in each of the odes. "Come, ye sons of art,away" was the ode for what was to be Queen Mary's last birthday-30 April 1694 and is the least ostentatious of the birthday odes. It is a countertenor's dream, for Purcell favors this voice as the soloist thruout. Some of the these solos for the countertenor heard quite often on their individual solo albums are: 'Sound the trumpet,sound'-'Strike the Viol'-and 'Come ye sons of art, away'."Welcome to all the Pleasures" was composed for the inaugural celebration of a so-called Musical Society in 1683. One of the outstanding solos from this ode is for the tenor-'Beauty,thou scene of love' and is sung beautifully on this disc by John Mark Ainsley. The ode :Yorkshire Feast Song also called 'Of old when heroes thought it base(1690)' features the countertenor more than the other voices and my favorite countertenor: Michael Chance performs them splendidly. This ode was written for an obscure gathering of York nobility. The instrumental accompaniment is excellent and I found the entire disc to be very entertaining.

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Nature's Classical Relaxation

Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00003XAEG
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Nature's Symphony of the Night
Nature Recordings
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ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Nature Recordings, Vol. 17: Wilderness

ASIN: B0000018EN
Release Date: 1995-03-27

Tracks:

Prelude to Night, First Movement, Opus 1 - Carmine Coyote, Nature Recordings, ,
Nocturne, Second Movement, Opus 1 - Franz Frog, Lucia Loon, Nature Recordings

Average customer rating:

Great Nature Classics

Manufacturer: Laserlight
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000DELEY
Release Date: 2000-01-01

Average customer rating:

Awesome
AWESOME!!!!!
Great Sibelius disc!

Sibelius: Orchestral Songs

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Serenad - Jorma Hynninen
Sangen Om Korsspindeln - Jorma Hynninen
Pa Verandan Vid Havet - Jorma Hynninen
Kom Nu Hit, Dod - Jorma Hynninen
Demanten Pa Marssnon - Jorma Hynninen
Koskenlaskian Morsiammet - Jorma Hynninen
Hostkvall - Mari Anne Haggander
Soluppgang - Mari Anne Haggander
Se'n Har Jag Ej Fragat Mera - Mari Anne Haggander
Arioso - Mari Anne Haggander
Varen Flyktar Hastigt - Mari Anne Haggander
Luonnotar - Mari Anne Haggander

Customer Reviews:

Awesome.......2005-01-08

I absolutely agree with the anonymous music lover. I find Häggander's voice exceedingly colorful and beautiful. It is not a belcanto voice, but this is not belcanto music and I absolutely love the slightly smoky sound of her voice, and her musical performance of Luonnotar is outstanding - by far the best I ever heard, from the carefully shaped piano lines to the climax in the middle which she attacks with enormous power.
I listened to this years ago and only bought it recently, wondering whether my memory upgraded the performance. No - this is the absolute reference for me in this piece.
Hynninen's contribution is great too, but since we all seem to agree on this, there is no need to write more.

AWESOME!!!!!.......2004-01-07

I had to write this when I saw the other review. It is absolutely beyond me how anyone could listen to MariAnne Häggander and not find her voice beautiful. This is one of my favorite CDs!!!

Great Sibelius disc!.......2002-08-03

One of my favourite parts of Sibelius' output as a composer is his orchestral songs. They don't get the exposure of his symphonies or tone poems, but the musical value is certainly just as high. This is one of the few CD's which contain these songs, and as such it is a must-have for any true Sibelius fan.
Sibelius mainly wrote songs to the poems of nordic poets, Stagnelius, Runeberg etc. and these songs are in Swedish, except for two in Finnish. Stylistically we are talking late-romantic - but all in Sibelius' own voice.
The first six songs are for baritone and orchestra, and here the soloist is the amazing Jorma Hynninen. He has a terrific voice and sings with both intensity and emotion; from the dark and introspective "Kom nü hit, död" to the melodic "Demanten på Marssnon", his performance is deeply commited.
The six songs which follow for soprano and orchestra are a bit disappointing compared to the amazing opening tracks. Mostly due to the soprano Mari Ann Häggander. Simply put, she doesn't really have the most beautiful of voices, I think. There is a certain power and determination to her singing which fits the dynamics of Sibelius' orchestral settings, but she lacks the delicacy of tone to handle the lyrical quality of the vocal line. I suppose it is a matter of taste, and her performance is certainly not "bad" by any means, but for me it could have been better - thus only four stars.
As far as the conducting and the orchestra is concerned: While it is clear that Jorma Panula is no Paavo Berglund I really like the orchestral playing here - the Gotenburg S.O. is terrific and the entire performance is well balanced and dedicated. The sound quality is very good for a near 20 year old recording (BIS's early discs have been known to sound kind of weird) although the soloists are perhaps a bit too closely miked, most noticeably in "Luonnotar", (of which, I might add, there are far better recordings, both as far as the soloist, the conductor and the orchestra is concerned.)

Summing up: Despite some reservations regarding the female soloist, I cannot recommend this CD enough. I have not come across any other CD which features such a selection of Sibelius' best orchestral songs, and these are truly fantastic compositions! Get it, as fast as you can. It won't be availible forever!

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