Fresco

1. Loco de Amor

2. Una y Mil Veces

3. Desde Que Tu No Estas

4. Si, Soy un Muchacho Malo

5. Digo Tu Nombre

6. Te Recordaré

7. Fresco

8. Lloraré

9. Linda Fantasía

10. Suave

Fresco,Jerry Rivera,Sony International,Bolero,Latin,Latin Continuum,Latin Music,Salsa,Tropical

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Average customer rating: Fantastic Cello Playing! Two of Lindberg's best pieces together with two not so successful Stunners from Lindberg et al. stunning neoromanticism Thrilling Revelations

Music of Magnus Lindberg Salonen , and Pco Manufacturer: Sony ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Magnus Lindberg: Piano Concerto; KRAFT Kaija Saariaho: Château de l'âme / Graal Théâtre / Amers Magnus Lindberg: Clarinet Concerto; Gran Duo; Chorale Esa Pekka Salonen: Wing on Wing Lindberg: Feria/Corrente II/Arena ASIN: B000066SKA Release Date: 2002-06-04

Amazon.com

Four premier recordings add up to a generous dose of Magnus Lindberg's orchestral mastery, served up in lovingly prepared, magnificently engineered performances by the composer's friend and longtime champion Esa-Pekka Salonen. Within just a few minutes into Cantigas, you're swept up by swirling pools of color chords, ticklish brass flurries both muted and open, and chattering, petulant rhythmic figures that bounce off a pliable canvas of dense sonorities. Imagine Respighi's Pines of Rome Swiss-cheesed through a kaleidoscope, and you'll get the idea. Parada reveals a more austere side of Lindberg's protean talents, while the more sparely scored Cello Concerto showcases Anssi Karttunen's virtuosity. He deftly tosses off Lindberg's zigzagging melodic lines (which the orchestral members quickly answer or comment upon) and sails through a cadenza jam-packed with twitchy pizzicato pellets, buzz saw low notes, and suspenseful silences. Lastly, Fresco is a mega-study about loud and soft, laid out in huge sound blocks that effortlessly glide from gentle to aggressive. Booklet notes include clear, insightful, and informative composer comments. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic Cello Playing!.......2007-04-25

Enough has been written in the other reviews, particularly the succinct editorial review, to give you an idea of this music,yet nobody seems to have said explicitly that you will ENJOY it, so I will. The Cello Concerto is deeply layered with compositional ideas, worth hearing many times, but it's also transparent and highly colored with virtuosic cello passages. To me this seems like "the best of both worlds" -- a composition that's musically profound but not pedantic, flashy but not trite.

Two of Lindberg's best pieces together with two not so successful.......2005-09-06

THE MUSIC OF MAGNUS LINDBERG is a Sony collection of four pieces by this great contemporary Finnish composer performed by the orchestra Philharmonia with Lindberg's old school chum Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting. Though Lindberg is still concerned with harmonies as he has been since the late 1980s, the pieces here inaugrate new techniques that set them apart from most of these earlier harmonic works. Two of the pieces here are thrilling, while the other two are fairly disappointed, so I am of mixed opinions about this disc.

"Cantigas" (1999) might be the finest piece Lindberg has written to date. While not a concerto, it gives an important role to the oboe, performed here by Christopher O'Neal. Based around the simple interval of a fifth, the piece marks a new phase in Lindberg's composition where pieces are more clearly broken into sections than before, allowing some room to breathe among the dense harmonies that Lindberg is known for. The five sections of "Cantigas" are cycles of increasing and decreasing tempos, and the music is very energetic and rhythmically compelling; Anssi Kartunnen writes that the room in which Lindberg composed the piece was littered with "empty instant espresso bags, energy drink cans, vitamin pill jars..." which explains a lot. I should note that "Cantigas" is a part of a "symphonic triptych" with "Feria" (1997) and "Fresco".

The "Cello Concerto" (1997-1999) was written for Anssi Karttunen, who performs here. Like "Cantigas", this piece is part of Lindberg's new technique of sectioning, and it is in five movements played without a break, each one of them divided into smaller sections. The concerto is similar to his early piece for cello and orchestra "Zona" in the use of a chaconne technique of continual variations. In each movement, the various sections have the same harmonic structure, which is reworked over the course of the movement. Overall, the piece makes a transition from the avant-garde to romanticism, with the cadenza serving as the bridge. The piece is representative of how Lindberg uses the concerto genre: harmonic material for the orchestra is created from ideas generated by the soloist, as when the minor third stated by the cello at the beginning comes to permeate the entire orchestra. This is a very entertaining piece, and ranks with "Cantigas" at the top of his work so far.

"Parada" (2001) came from an attempt to write a genuinely slow piece, since so much of Lindberg's oeuvre is made up of blazingly fast music. It consists of two layers of thematic material, one being a normal melodic line, and the other very, very slow-moving sounds, that don't meet each other. "Fresco" (1997) is similar in its exploration of non-intersecting contrasts, in this case inspired by the Balinese gamelan's "loud" outdoor and "soft" indoor styles of playing, but is much longer and sectioned. While theoretically interesting, the two pieces fail to excite like almost everything else Lindberg has written.

This disc is exquisitely engineered--the sound of the percussion in "Cantigas" is especially splendid. The liner notes contain a fine interview with Lindberg that helps to grasp the structure of the works. It is a pity that the material here is not entirely captivating. If you've never heard Lindberg's work before, try the more consistent Ondine disc with "Feria", "Corrente II", and "Arena" as an introduction. Fans of the composer will nonetheless want to pick this one up sooner or later since "Cantigas" and "Cello Concerto" are very worth hearing.

Stunners from Lindberg et al........2004-10-18

Sony Classical's recent release highlights three talented Finns: composer Magnus Lindberg, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, and cellist Anssi Kartunnen. The disc confirms Lindberg's place among those few composers who successfully combine innovation and communication, drawing the audience in to new sounds and techniques that other composers just aren't able to combine in as immediately attractive a way.

Production on the disc is excellent. The liner notes feature an informative, somewhat technical interview with the composer that touches upon important structural aspects of each work. Martin Anderson nails Lindberg's style when he writes: "...this surface busy-ness and longer-term harmonic evolution seem to exist as two parallel worlds - almost as if you have to look underneath the exterior of the music to see what's really going on." The fact that Lindberg creates such a gorgeous exterior out of such rigorous and intellectual planning is stunning. Sound quality is demonstration-worthy, the loudest, most complex counterpoint springing vibrantly to life (this is also, no doubt, due to the virtuosity of the Philharmonia and the dedication and ability of Salonen in music like this).

The first work on the disc, "Cantigas", was composed for the Cleveland Orchestra. The tempo relationships, intervallic content (focusing upon that very "tonal" interval, the perfect fifth) and "fundamental, open function of the bass" combine to make the piece instantly accessible. The piece is typically busy, in Lindberg's style from Corrente and other works from the 90s, and several listens reveal fascinating details and interconnections. It's amazing how virtuosic some of the writing is, and the wind and brass of the Philharmonia have a heyday. My jaw dropped several times. The fantastic oboe soloist, Christopher O'Neal, is justly credited on the album cover, and his solos that introduce the "A" material at the beginning and return a little over halfway through the work would serve as excellent introductory guide posts to someone uninitiated to contemporary music. Similarly, when the oboe's opening, perfect fifth idea returns in the brass (after having been skewed throughout) at around 15:50, one feels a wonderful sense of harmonic arrival, similar to the feeling one gets at the recapitulation of a sonata-allegro movement. From 17:00 on, it's a roller-coaster ride, the brass punctuating wild bell-like chords, the woodwinds chattering away, and the bass line slowly prodding the entire ensemble to resolve on a gorgeously managed major triad, an arrival which the composer compares to the modulation at the end of Ravel's Bolero. The quiet ending is, admittedly, a bit of a let-down--I would have liked more time for the music to unwind.

The Cello Concerto begins with a catalogue of technique--bow pressure, harmonics, pizzicati, glissandi, etc. The orchestra gradually picks up on the harmonies implied by the soloist and the one-movement work is off. The melodic and harmonic material seems a bit harder to grasp than the very basic building blocks of "Cantigas", but the way the orchestra tends to follow and imitate the material the cello just introduced is easy to discern. The bulk of the opening of the work is gestural, with material introduced by the soloist and then developed by the orchestra beneath new material. A stratspheric interaction between high orchestral instruments, metallic percussion and celloharmonics (around 10:00) initiates a crazy sequence of events that evaporates into the bizarre cadenza. Beginning with fragmentedgestures, the cellist is joined by the orchestra in violent outbursts and the closing third of the work returns to the opening activity level, adding a beautiful lyrical melody here and there. The falling gestures that dominate the final 5 minutes of the work develop into downward glissandi from the soloist that close the work. Kartunnen's large, dark tone and flawless technique are shown in every light throughout the work. The recording balance is very natural, with the cello receding from the spotlight when necessary.

"Parada", the briefest work on the disc (12:38) is also the least "busy". Lindberg says that he tried to "make a genuinely slow-moving thing", and the harmonic motion is definitely slowed down compared to the other works on the disc, but busy-ness seems to be native to his style, and it remains here. The opening minutes of the work feature fairly anonymous chorale-like writing, but after a morph to the quick, busy second half, we are back in familiar territory. The activity subsides after a few minutes and we return to the chorale-like material. The less busy moments seemed very self-conscious and out of Lindberg's idiom to me, especially in the second half of the work where he seems to try to make up for his characteristic filigree with percussion activity. The work is the least original on the disc, but still has its interesting moments.

"Fresco" sticks to one idea throughout, "strong contrasts and clashes between chamber-like or lighter-textured music and almost harsh pillars of sound-blocks." These two musical worlds combine in every imaginable way throughout the 21 minute work and again put the orchestra to a very virtuosic test. Lindberg writesthat "there is basically no solution between these contrasts", and this may prove troublesome to some listeners, as there is no traditional conflict-resolution relationship to the work. It's definitely the hardest nut to crack on the disc, harkening back to the uncompromising world of "Kraft". One can't help but marvel at the athletics the orchestra goes through, but it would take many attentive listenings to really "figure out" this piece.

stunning neoromanticism.......2002-09-28

This is an outstanding recording, a great major label showcase for Lindberg's forceful orchestral style, taking everything he learned as part of the avant-garde and applying it to works that are mainly tonal, with complex harmonies and internal development as rigorous as Beethoven. My first impression of this music was that it was a sort of "generic modernism," but with repeated listening I realized that what led to this impression was the blending of romantic with modern elements. Apparently Lutoslawski was an influence, which is interesting because the Polish composer incorporated modern influences into his more traditional approach, whereas with Lindberg it is the opposite, incorporating tonality into his modernism. Elliot Carter seems to me to be an influence as well, as there is a muscular and dynamic progression in every piece, and Sibelius is no doubt a factor as well. Lindberg began as a resolutely avant composer with his first works of the early 1980s. After a retreat in the late '80s, he returned with a new sound, one he has pursued ever since. Some may lament this as a turn to the past, but the avant-garde is way out ahead of most listeners, and Lindberg is now meeting them more than half-way with music that is still complex and challenging.

Absolutely brilliant! One of the best classical recordings of the year, and a composer for our time.

Thrilling Revelations.......2002-09-01

To hear the music of Magnus Lindberg performed live, in a good concert hall, call be overwhelming - in the best sense of the word. His works contain such brilliance of ideas, pairing of orchestral choirs, sudden contrasts and evolving rhythms and colors of sound that grasping them intellectually would at first appear to be an insurmountable task. But give yourself over to the sensualist side of your brain and the experience becomes luxurious. These four works here recorded in beautifully rich sonics are all premiere recodings, and it will be a long time before anyone will match Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia results. One may wish he had at hand his own LA Phil which has demonstrated an affinity for this composer's work, but the recording is successful all the same. At this point, for this listener, the all orchestral pieces work more successfully than the cello concerto, but that is quibbling. The incredible conversations between loud and soft in the 'Fresco', the endless spinning out of fresh thoughts in the 'Cantigas', and the multilayered beauties of 'Parada' all beg repeated hearings. All this from a composer born in 1958! Kudos to all concerned.

Average customer rating: They don't write music like this anymore an elegant and sensitive treatment of classic favorites! He deserves better A valuable addition to recorded Americana

Victor Herbert: Beloved Songs and Classic Miniatures Manufacturer: Naxos American ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Herbert | Herbert, Victor | ( H ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Romantic | Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music CDs Under $7 | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music $6.99 and Under | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Herbert, Victor | ( H ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Similar Items: Victor Herbert: Columbus Suite/ Irish Rhapsody/ Auditorium Festival March A Victor Herbert Showcase: The Greatest Hits of the Father of American Popular Song Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Songs of Victor Herbert Victor Herbert: Babes in Toyland; The Red Mill Victor Herbert: The American Girl ASIN: B000042ODX Release Date: 2000-01-25

Tracks:

1. Babes In Toyland: Toyland
2. The Fortune Teller: Romany Life
3. Badinage
4. Orang Blossoms: Kiss In The Dark
5. The Enchantress: Art Is Calling
6. Pan Americana
7. Molly
8. Al Fresco
9. The Red Mill: Moonbeams
10. Naughty Marietta: Italian Street Song
11. Eileen: Thine Alone
12. Cannibal Dance
13. Mile Modiste: Kiss Me Again
14. The Only Girl: When You're Away
15. Royal Sec
16. The Dream Melody: Ah! Sweet Mystery Of Life

Customer Reviews:

They don't write music like this anymore.......2006-12-31

Who cares if a soprano is singing songs written for a tenor or Thine Alone was written as a duet? This is a perfectly lovely album, and I've never heard my two favorites--Thine Alone, Toyland--sung more beautifully. The soprano, Virginia Croskery, takes no liberties with the music--sings it lovingly and as it was written. Refreshing in our self-indulgent times when singers seem to think it compulsory to "make a song their own" or whatever it is they think they're doing.

an elegant and sensitive treatment of classic favorites!.......2004-01-13

Totally enchanted with this CD. The soprano supremely gifted and the orchestra - stunning. I highly recommend it for the sensitive music lover!

He deserves better.......2000-02-29

This new Victor Herbert is a disaster. The soloist is bad and destroys Romany Life. Her other songs aren't much better. Most of the vocal music was written with a chorus in mind. No chorus. Over half the vocal selections are mutilated. 2/3rds of Kiss Me Again is gone, about 1/2 of Moonbeams cannot be found, the second verse of A Kiss in the Dark is among the missing, etc. Thine Alone was written as a duet. Molly was written for a tenor. They are sung by a soprano. Herbert wrote so much music beautiful music but onl;y his most famous can be found here. Three or four orchestral selections are all that can be recommended. Until John McGlinn or Richard Bonynge realize that Herbert once existed he is in trouble. Naxos and Brion are not the answer.

A valuable addition to recorded Americana.......2000-01-19

It is a Good Thing that Naxos is starting an American Classics series at their usual budget price and that Victor Herbert is featured on two of them. We have as of this writing the purely instrumental (8.559025) and its sequel (8.559026). The latter features soprano Virginia Croskery and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra under Keith Brion. Yes, this offers an interesting comparison with the old Beverly Sills offering of much the same material. Ms. Croskery's vocalizing is very good indeed and perhaps more in keeping with the kind of voice for which much of this music was composed; but while Ms. Sills' voice is quite thrilling, it is perhaps a touch too operatic for this lightweight material. On the other hand, the Naxos sound is far beyond what the older set can give us. Of the 16 selections on this CD, 5 are instrumental. Of the vocals, not all were written for the soprano voice ("Toyland" for example); but most were and we have here what you would expect: "Romany Life," "Kiss in the Dark," "Italian Street Song," "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life," and so on. Some listeners might have some trouble with the singer's very top notes; but at this price and for lack of anything competitive that is still available, this is still a very good purchase. This disc makes a fine companion piece, not only to the other Naxos set, but also to a concert of Herbert and Romberg duets on Newport Classic label titled "Sweethearts."

Average customer rating:

American Classics Sampler Manufacturer: Naxos American ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Galops | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Barber | Barber, Samuel | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Cage, John | ( C ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Gottschalk | Gottschalk, Louis Moreau | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Morton Gould | Gould, Morton | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Grofé, Ferde | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Glass | Glass, Philip | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Hanson | Hanson, Howard | ( H ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Herbert | Herbert, Victor | ( H ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Ives, Charles | ( I ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by MacDowell | MacDowell, Edward | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Piston | Piston, Walter | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Sousa | Sousa, John Philip | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Character Pieces | Short Forms | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Marches | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Ives, Charles | Composers | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Violin | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music CDs Under $7 | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Catch a Shining Star: A New Generation of Classical Artists A Celebration of Defining Moments in Recording History Great Artists of the Century: 25 Launch Releases The Story of American Classical Music Victor Herbert: Columbus Suite/ Irish Rhapsody/ Auditorium Festival March ASIN: B00005LMZU Release Date: 2001-06-19

Tracks:

1. March: Hands Across The Sea
2. Dizzy Fingers
3. Mississippi Suite-I. Father Of Waters
4. Tournament Galop
5. From A Moonlit Ceremony-I. Evocatioin
6. Violin Concerto-I
7. Melody For Violin And Piano, Op.44
8. Al Fresco
9. The Breaking Heart
10. Andante Moderato
11. Camptown Races
12. Prelude For Meditation
13. I. Allegro Moderato Grazioso
14. Adagio For Strings
15. Love Duet
16. Hexentanz

Average customer rating: I LOVE M PEOPLE!!!!!!!! This is the best M People album M People back with stunning new album Great R&B album

Fresco M People Manufacturer: Bmg Int'l ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music House | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | R&B | Styles | Music Dance & DJ | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Testify Proud Ultimate Collection (Remixes) Bizarre Fruit Elegant Slumming ASIN: B000006VA8 Release Date: 1997-10-20

Tracks:

1. Just For You
2. Fantasy Island
3. Never Mind Love
4. Last Night 10,000
5. Smile
6. Red Flower Sunset
7. Angel St
8. Lonely
9. Rhythm And Blues
10. Believe It
11. Bohemia
12. Avalon

Customer Reviews:

I LOVE M PEOPLE!!!!!!!!.......2005-10-04

I had this cassett tape and my tape player ate it so I ordered the CD. I love M People!! This is a fabulous CD and I plan to buy many more of their CD's!!! Heather Small, the lead singer has a Beautiful rich voice. I think everyone would love this group, especially women. The songs are positive and empowering.

This is the best M People album.......1999-10-08

It took me a while to decide to pay the extra money for this import, but when I did, I wasn't disappointed. This is easily their best album yet (not counting the Best Of collection). Its quite a shame that their U.S. Label never released this great album, instead offering the pointless "Testify" bit of everything collection. However, the tracks "Last night 10,000", "Rhythm and blues", and "Believe It" offer more than enough reason for any true M People fan to purchase this instead of "Testify", and in addition to "Best Of".

M People back with stunning new album.......1999-08-12

From the opening strings of Just For You to the last broken beat of Avalon Fresco is another classic M People album, again delivering their timeless virtues of structure, performance and passion. It is also another musical advance for a band that will never be content with the status quo. As founder member of M People Mike Pickering declares "Everything we do, we feel, has to be better than what we've done before, and we certainly feel it here"

Recorded primarily at The Strongroom in East London [as were the previous two albums, Bizarre Fruit and Elegant Slumming] with trips to the leafy surrounds of Surrey's Ridge Farm Studios and the very urban Chun King Studios in New York's Lower West Side, Fresco. contains eleven original songs and one very startling adaptation.

Fans of M People's ability to stir the soul with songs such as Bizarre Fruit's Search For The Hero will luxuriate in the depths of songs such as Smile, Last Night 10,000 and the first single Just For You, with it's acoustic guitar, sweeping strings, insistent vocal refrain all building to a fantastic choral climax. There are few Bands as capable of lifting the spirit; Angel Street and Fantasy Island do just that, with their pace, drive and eternal messages of the need for both self-reliance and co-operation. The change of pace and rhythms carries on with bubbling reggae of Lonely and the ultra-contemporary drum + bass re-working of Roxy Music's Avalon, the stunning cover that closes out Fresco.

Fresco is M People's fourth album in their impressive career and like its predecessors was written, demoed and recorded in part at Paul Heard's North London house. Continuing another tradition the Band produced the album themselves assisted by a stellar list of old friends and new accomplices; engineering credits include Warren Riker [The Fugees], Neil McClennan [The Prodigy], Phil Bodger [The Lighthouse Family] and David Sussman [Mariah Carey].

Guest musicians include Pickering's long-time Manchester cohort Johnny Marr, who plays guitar on three tracks, Chris `Snake' Davis [familiar to anyone who has witnessed the M People live show] who plays sax and flute throughout and Terry Burrus, the legendary American keyboard player who's CV [including work with artists of the stature of Miles Davis] tells its own story. Backing vocals have been handled by the likes of Will Downing, Danny Madden, Carroll Thompson and Claudia Fontaine - singers all notable for their inidividual careers.

M People have notched up an incredible five million album sales in their six year career with eight Top 10 singles in the UK alone. From 1991's How Can I Love You More through an unbroken string of hits M People have forged a unique sound made instantly recognisable by Heather Small's extraordinary voice. The 1992 debut album Northern Soul showcased both the attitude and the ability of M People and earned them a prestigious UK `Brit Award' for Best Dance Band. The unbeatable combination of great songs and great live shows carried through with the Band's second album Elegant Slumming, a record that managed, as few others ever have, to achieve both mainstream success in the form of triple-platinum UK sales and critical success by winning the Mercury Music Prize for 1993. The forward march continued with M People's third album Bizarre Fruit; sales are two million and still rising and it spent an unbroken two-and-a-half years in the UK Top40 album chart, pushed along by a combination of spectacular stadium shows, four hit singles, massive airplay and the bonus of a Peugeot TV ad that utilized Search For The Hero to stunning effect.

History and chemistry might not be everyone's favourite subjects but they come together in the bond between the four members of M People to create a winning formula. Mike Pickering, whose initials create the basis of the Band's name, was a legend to Club-goers Worldwide before the Band ever existed for his tenure at The Hacienda club in Manchester. His leadership of seminal Bands such as Quando Quango [who had Billboard Club hits back in the mid-Eighties] and T-Coy [creators of arguably the very first UK House record Carino] ably qualifies him for his current responsibilities. Heather Small was only ever going to be one thing in life - a Star. She had already garnered plaudits for her singing with UK Eighties soul trio Hot!House. Paul Heard's musical dues were earnt playing keyboards, bass and programming with Orange Juice and Working Week. The final piece in the jigsaw is filled by Shovell, former percussionist with South London ensemble Natural Life and now all-round human dynamo!

Great R&B album.......1998-10-23

This is their first attempt at R&B, and the critics sadly described it as a failure. I do admit that I like the normal bellowing of Heather more than the R&B Heather. This does not mean that this album is not good! If you really want to hear the 'old' M People then you can listen to the tracks 'Fantasy Island', 'Angel St' and 'Bohemia'. They are the typical M People happy dance songs. 'Just For You' is a beautiful ballad, laden with wonderful lyrics and has a very good musical arrangement. 'Never Mind Love' is a cross between the 'old' and 'new' M People. Though this album is more geared towards R&B, don't expect to find anything like Brandy and Monica in it.

Average customer rating: Excellent sophisticated deep house mix! This CD started an interesting collection... Resistance Is Futile Amazing background music for your cocktail parties! Jazz House Soul

Bargrooves: Al Fresco Ben Sowton , and Justin Ballard Manufacturer: Moonshine Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Electronica | Compilations | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music House | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Similar Items: Bargrooves: Frosted Bargrooves: Terrazza Members Only Bargrooves: Metropolitan Bargrooves: Magenta ASIN: B00009Y3PX Release Date: 2003-08-26

Tracks:

1. changes (the soulplanet jazz ensemble feat. xavior)
2. italian summer (niquid)
3. the most beautiful boy in brazil (physics)
4. tout est bleu (ame strong)
5. we all got soul (natural rhythm)
6. georgia (a hundred birds)
7. if you fall *goldtrix remix* (ad finem)
8. introduce and mc *johnny fiasco remix* (sombonix)
9. groove you out tonight (shik stylko)
10. the only one *groove armada remix* (cerrone)
11. music is (tomahawk)
12. the way (tom pooks)
13. look behind your eyes (grant dell & gareth oxby)
14. los halinos (magik johnson)
15. fly (additives & preservatives feat. kim nile)
16. livin my life (dark boogie)
17. mission control (outta limits)
18. party people (tony hewitt)
19. be good (phunk investigation feat. david randolph)
20. africa (oli beale)
21. deeper (groove junkies feat. solara & raya beam)

Album Description

The Met Bar in London, Buddha Bar in Paris, The Hudson in New York...Bargrooves is the soundtrack to Bar Culture. Fresh, funky and sophisticated sounds from the world's most respected labels shaken not stirred to perfection for the ultimate deep house cocktail. Al Fresco celebrates life outside, whether it's on a roof-top terrace, enclosed in a secluded patio or lounging by the pool, these are the sounds for a stylish, jet-setting crowd. The perfect companion to a long hot summer.

Presented in a specially packaged double CD set, this title is grown up house music for those that would rather leave the dancing to the olive in their martini.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent sophisticated deep house mix!.......2004-08-01

This 2 CD set is the best sophisticated deep house I have ever heard. The first CD starts off with some almost disco sounding grooves and combines them with jazz elements right from the start. As the disc progresses, the jazz elements get less and less and the flavor gravitates more towards club deep house. The second CD starts off with some more progressive sounding deep house. The vocals in the first track set the mood for any night with your girl. I'm a resident DJ at a club in Toronto, and I often don't even mix a lot of individual tracks anymore. I had started playing the Ministry of Sound ibiza chillout sessions and some Cafe Del Mar, but now I prefer to play some Bargrooves. Especially "Al Fresco". It's much more upbeat than "Espace Prive" was. This is a top-notch compilation of the best sophisticated deep house I have ever heard. When I saw the CD on the shelf at Borders, Groove Armada and Tony Hewitt were the only names I recognized. But the Cafe Del Mar website gave Bargrooves excellent props and I decided to buy whatever I saw first on the shelf. I plan to buy Frosted and Terrazza next. You can't seem to go wrong with Bargrooves. Whether you want to relax or if you want to dance, this is the stuff for you!

This CD started an interesting collection..........2004-07-15

I own every Bargrooves CD made (including all from the UK, now totaling over 20 discs), and I can thank 'al fresco' for launching my collection November 2003...'al fresco' was the first Bargrooves release in the U.S., distributed by Moonshine - since taken over by Kinkysweet (who also does the Afterdark & Frequent Flyer series), and 'takes place' in London. Each CD in the Special Places series focuses on a different city. Espace Prive is Paris, Frosted is San Francisco, and Terrazza is Milan.

Anyways, back to my introduction to Bargrooves - I stumbled across 'al fresco' in the listening station at Borders in Carlsbad, CA. I was sold within the first 30 seconds of "Changes", the first track from CD #1. Groovy, upbeat, jazzy and sophisticated.

I've since played this CD for guests numerous times in my car and house, and the reaction to this and every other Bargrooves CD has been the same: "WHAT is this and WHERE did you find it?"

'al fresco' has crisp, driving percussion and is the most upbeat of the 4 CD's in the series "Special Places" (includes Espace Prive, Frosted & Terrazza). CD #1, mixed by resident DJ Ben Sowton, is more upbeat and perfect for the peak hour of your gathering at home, while CD #2, mixed by guest DJ Justin Baillard, is definitely designed for a much mellower crowd.

Overall as a series, the Bargrooves vibe has the sophistication of a gin martini with bleu cheese stuffed olives, as opposed to the silkiness of a smooth cabernet (Naked Music); the playfulness of a margarita (Hed Kandi's Beach House); or the sweetness of a riesling (Hed Kandi's Stereo Sushi). As a person who owns every CD in those series as well, I can honestly say that I don't prefer one over the other - it all just depends upon what mood I'm in. You definitely can't lose by purchasing Bargrooves 'al fresco' or any of the others in the series.

Resistance Is Futile.......2004-06-20

This has got to be the BEST CD I have ever bought since the 21st century came in. Every song in thisNu-Jazz/House compilation is fantastic. Relaxing, danceable, meditative. "Italian Summer" my favorite cut. If you wish to just relax with your boyfriend/girlfriend over a glass of wine and just CHILL, then this is the best way to start the evening. After that, well...you know what happens next. You won't be disappointed. The mixing is clean, not overdone, the songs moves you continuously to an upbeat tempo, amazing how they did this CD. "We All Got A Soul" is another of the best cuts. Please please get this CD! Oh and get a discman, good for taking those long quiet walks at night.

Amazing background music for your cocktail parties!.......2004-04-27

CD 1 is best, but CD 2 won't leave you disappointed.

An absolute great purchase.

Jazz House Soul.......2004-01-11

I've got to say, this compilation has it all. It's funky, it's sexy, it's got soul. From the opening track by Soulplanet Jazz Ensemble - which is just straight up amazing - the CD just progresses into a smooth House journey that reminds me of why I fell in love with Elecronic music in the first place - it reaches in and just makes me feel good.

Average customer rating:

Hidden Fresco Albrecht Maurer , and Norbert Rodenkirchen Manufacturer: Nemu Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Jazz | Styles | Music ASIN: B000J10KCI Release Date: 2006-10-31

Tracks:

1. Hidden Fresco
2. ...A Due
3. Tempera
4. Fadenspiel
5. Erosion
6. Melancholia
7. Aura
8. Nibbio
9. Calindra
10. Sfumato
11. Craquel
12. Behind

Average customer rating:

Antonio Rosetti: String Quartets, Op. 6, Nos. 1-6 Manufacturer: Cpo Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music Similar Items: Antonio Rosetti: 5 Wind Partitas Antonio Rosetti: Violin Concertos; Symphonies Antonio Rosetti: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 Rosetti: Wind Concertos ASIN: B000001RZZ Release Date: 1996-02-20

Tracks:

1. Str Qt Op.6 No.5 in D: Allegro Molto
2. Str Qt Op.6 No.5 in D: Andante Sostenuto
3. Str Qt Op.6 No.5 in D: Rondeau. Allegretto
4. Str Qt Op.6 No.2 in E flat: Allegro Con Brio
5. Str Qt Op.6 No.2 in E flat: Menuetto. Allegretto
6. Str Qt Op.6 No.2 in E flat: Romance. Adagio-Allegro Vivace-Adagio
7. Str Qt Op.6 No.6 in F: Larghetto-Allegro Con Brio
8. Str Qt Op.6 No.6 in F: Menuetto Fresco. Allegretto
9. Str Qt Op.6 No.6 in F: Rondeau. Allegro Assai
10. Str Qt Op.6 No.4 in c: Adagio
11. Str Qt Op.6 No.4 in c: Menuetto. Allegretto
12. Str Qt Op.6 No.4 in c: Allegro Molto
13. Str Qt Op.6 No.1 in A: Allegro Spiritoso
14. Str Qt Op.6 No.1 in A: Menuetto. Moderato
15. Str Qt Op.6 No.1 in A: Romance
16. Str Qt Op.6 No.1 in A: Rondeau. Allegro Come Presto
17. Str Qt Op.6 No.3 in B flat: Allegro Assai
18. Str Qt Op.6 No.3 in B flat: Larghetto
19. Str Qt Op.6 No.3 in B flat: Rondeau. Allegro Assai Come Presto

Average customer rating: TRACK LISTINGS

Como Aire Fresco Claudio Manufacturer: T.H. Rodven ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Latin Music | Styles | Music Latin Pop | Latin Music | Styles | Music ASIN: B000008P5W Release Date: 1996-01-30

Customer Reviews:

TRACK LISTINGS.......2005-01-17

1. VEN JUNTO A MI
2. DIME
3. SI NO VIENES A MI
4. TU ERES MI REFUGIO
5. SERAS
6. COMO YO
7. DONDE QUIERA QUE TU ESTES
8. COMO TE EXTRAÑO
9. AMADA
10. CONTIGO YO SIENTO AMOR
11. QUIEREME YA
12. NO PREGUNTARE

Average customer rating: Excellent Classy House & Classic House

Bargrooves: Al Fresco Ben Sowton , and Justin Ballard Manufacturer: Seamless Recordings ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Compilations | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music | Ambient | Dance Pop | Disco | Drum & Bass | Electronica | Freestyle | Techno-House | Trance | Trip Hop House | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Dance & DJ | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Bargrooves: Fall Bargrooves: Frosted Bargrooves: Mimosa Bargrooves: Indian Summer Bargrooves: Black ASIN: B0000AKXNP Release Date: 2003-08-04

Tracks:

1. Changes [Jazztrumental] - Xavior
2. Italian Summer
3. Most Beautiful Boy in Brazil - Physics
4. Tout Est Bleu - Ame Strong
5. We All Got Soul - Natural Rhythm
6. Georgia - Hundred Birds
7. If You Fall [Goldtrix Remix] - Ad Finem
8. Introduce an MC [Johnny Fiasco Remix]
9. Groove You Out Tonight - Tyree Cooper, Shik Stylko
10. Only One [Groove Armada Remix] - Cerrone
11. Is Music - Tomahawk

Tracks:

1. Way - Tom Pooks
2. Look Behind Your Eyes
3. Halinos - Magik Johnson
4. Fly - Kim Nile
5. Livin My Life
6. Mission Control
7. Party People - Tony Hewitt
8. Be Good - Phunk Investigation,
9. Africa [Original Mix]
10. Deeper - Raya Beam, Groove Junkies, SolaRa J'an Blessing-Winnard

Album Details

Bn Sowton Teams Up with Justin Ballard to Bring this Al Fresco Mix of Quality Deep House Music.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Classy House & Classic House.......2006-04-20

Excellent compilation of House & Classic House tracks - very tasteful - one of the better sets within the BARGROOVES series.

Average customer rating: a great introduction to an essential part of Husa's oeuvre

Apotheosis Of This Earth: Music Of Karel Husa for Wind Orchestra Manufacturer: Mark Custom ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Marches | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Percussion | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Classic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music ASIN: B0001ZQ5KI Release Date: 2002-10-01

Tracks:

1. Smetana Fanfare
2. Al Fresco
3. I. Overture
4. II. Scherzo
5. III. Song
6. IV. Slovak Dance
7. Maestoso
8. Moderato molto
9. Allegro ma non troppo
10. Allegretto moderato
11. Quasi fantasia-Moderato molto
12. Allegretto moderato

Tracks:

1. proloue
2. Ostinato
3. Epilogue
4. Apotheosis
5. Tragedy of Destruction
6. Postscript

Album Description

This CD represents contemporary wind band literature. Karel Husa is the field's king. For the first time in his 80-year history, someone has amassed a collection of this Wind Band Master's music. This CD accentuates rarely recorded works of his Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble with Jonathan Sokasits, piano and Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble. This double CD displays Husa's emotional title track Apotheosis of This Earth. Al Fresco, Divertimento for Brass and Percussion, Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band, Steven Mauk, saxophone, and Husa's famous Smetana Fanfare rounds out the CD. The recording is done in the perfect style to display the vivid colors, shapes and images this music demands. This double CD will be as hot as the summer temperatures.

Customer Reviews:

a great introduction to an essential part of Husa's oeuvre.......2007-02-19

Karel Husa, probably due to his 38-year tenure at Cornell University and the presence of the house Wind band at his disposal, wrote extensively for the medium, and this double CD gathers almost half of his output in the genre. Among Husa's major compositions for the medium, his 1976 American Te Deum, his more recent "Les Couleurs fauves" (1996) and of course his famous and most often-perfomed piece "Music for Prague 1968" are here missing.

The compositions contained in these two CDs fall in two categories: those that are re-scorings of early pieces dating from his Czech and Paris years (the 1958 Divertimento for Brass and Percussion, an expansion of movements from the 1955 Eight Czech Duets, a fact not mentioned in the otherwise very informative liner notes, the 1974 Al Fresco, the 1983 Concertino for Piano and Wind Ensemble). They are marked by strong Czech and Slovak folk music elements, while the sunny Concertino (after Husa's 1949 Concertino for Piano and Orchestra) is written in an early modernist, enjoyable but rather anonymous style reminiscent of Honegger's or Schulhoff's similar compositions, despite nice twists of orchestration (which may be typical of Husa's more recent hand). It makes for pleasant but hardly memorable listening.

The only one of those re-scored pieces that transcends its origins is Al Fresco, after the 1947 Fresques (which can be found on the Marco Polo release, along with the full-orchestra version of Music for Prague and the 2nd Symphony - a good introduction to the composer's orchestral works). The wind and percussion scoring imparts it a raw energy and biting edge that blurs its folkloristic elements in favour of a more modern and angular color (sometimes you might think you were hearing the Jets and Sharks Dance in West Side Story).

The other category is that of the original compositions: the short Smetana Fanfare (1984), the Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble (1970), the Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band (1967), and Apotheosis of This Earth (1971). The new works are music of great sonic invention and tremendous energy, not always very subtle in their raw power and piling up of strata of sound buttressed by heavy percussion, but hugely effective, aggressive but always accessible. Especially inventive and powerful is the percussion concerto.

A few specific words on "Apotheosis of This Earth". It was conceived as a cry of revolt and warning against Mankind's destruction of the earth and of its beauties. How lamentably still topical today! It was originally scored for Wind band with optional mixed chorus - it is here heard without, although in the last movement, as in the version with chorus, the words "this beautiful earth" can be heard, presumably pronounced by the band members. As a number of his Wind band compositions, Husa subsequently re-scored it for large orchestra (other examples are his "Music for Prague 1968"and American Te Deum). That version with chorus and orchestra can be found on CD in a composer-conducted performance with the Louisville Orchestra, first released with Husa's Monodrama and shorter pieces of Lutoslawski and Creston (I've reviewed it) and then reissued with a recording of Music for Prague by Jorge Mester. It is both more mysterious (thanks to the softer tone afforded by the strings) and more powerful (in the brutal second movement, depicting Mankind self-destructive onslaught on the planet, the worldless chorus adds a sense of ominous menace, and when it turns to screams and clapped hands at the end of the movement you can imagine Mankind being engulfed in the mouth of hell, an effect not quite achieved in the original version), but the wind version is perfectly valid in its own right. There was by the way an earlier composer-conducted recording, on a GC 4134 LP, with the University of Michigan Symphonic Winds, coupled with Music for Prague, but so far as I know it unfortunately hasn't been reissued on CD.

Stupendously vivid sound, good liner notes, but with timings of 56' and 43' there would have been enough place to fit it Music for Prague. Nonetheless, this is a great introduction to this essential part of Husa's oeuvre. Now the same band needs to record the remainder of his compositions for Winds.

Salsa Music:

1. Grandes Exitos
2. Grandes Exitos con Sonido Banda, Vol. 2
3. Grandes Exitos de Salsa, Vol. 1
4. Grandes Exitos, Vol. 2
5. Imparable
6. Juntos Para Siempre
7. La Huerfanita
8. Las Estrellas del Fonografo
9. Lo Mejor
10. Lo Mejor de la Salsa, Vol. 1

Salsa Music

salsa music

Salsa Music

Joyenergizer [CD-single]

Plays Tchaikovsky

Quintette of the Hot Club of France

Brooks & Dunn, Vol. 2 [Karaoke]

She Wants to Be Me [CD-single] [Import]

Passionaria [Import]

Song of Angels: Experience The

Stereotype A [Extra tracks] [Import]

Pure Energy: Singles Collection [Import]

Pfitzner: Palestrina [Import]

Nature Boy

Offering

Struggler's Paradise [Explicit Lyrics]

Best of the Dubs

Woven Hand