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Agnes Monica
 Maria, Madre di Dio $17.98 " I've been waiting for this CD since last February, when I heard Arion, Montreal's outstanding baroque orchestra, perform the music before recording. The CD preserves an evening when everything came together: first-rate repertoire, inspired, subtle, deeply human peformances from musicians in their prime. The program of Vivaldi, Handel and Alessandro Scarlatti focuses on the Virgin Mary, and above all on her grief. The soloists --French soprano Agn¸«²s Mellon, Canadian countertenor Matthew White and British violinist-director Monica Huggett-- hold nothing at a safe distance, transforming an archetype of mourning into the most intimate, personal grief. The voices are gorgeous, and perfectly matched. But ultimately it's the conjunction of sensual beauty and intense sorrow that floors the listener, and elevates the program into a profound meditation on the human condition. The antiwar sentiments in Handel's Ah! Che troppo ineguali give this 1708 cantata extra relevance. But the showstopper is Handel's Il Pianto di Maria --an astonishingly dramatic cantata for soprano in which an incandescent Mellon embraces every nuance of emotion from both music and text. One of the year's best releases."-Tamara Bernstein, The National Post, 27 October 2003 ![Biography - Linda Darnell: Hollywood's Fallen Angel [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AJ6QXRNGL._SL160_.jpg) Biography - Linda Darnell: Hollywood's Fallen Angel [VHS] $19.95 I grew up with Linda Darnell movies, and of all the actresses in Hollywood in the early 'forties, I thought her by far the most beautiful. She had a sultry beauty, with her heavy-lidded mocking eyes, lush, full lips and perfect features. I was in love with her, as were many others in those years. At the time, when I was in my teens, I did not realize that she was also a teenager. She played older parts, and one accepts the myth. Nor did I realize that her private life was so fraught with problems (in those days, we called them 'problems', not 'issues'). She was manipulated and driven by a stage-struck mother who ran her life, much as did Shirley Temple's mother, to the point where her mother was banned from the lot when Linda was making a movie. Later in life, Linda developed a problem with alcohol, and she experienced problems with the men in her life. But she was a wonderful actress, and absolutely stunning to look at, even in the tawdry parts she sometimes had to play. The girl was more than an ornament: she could act, and she did! Her tragic death in a housefire in Chicago, visiting firends, came just as she was making a comeback, and was again in demand. I was personally devastated by her death, and still cannot watch one of her old movies without feeling grief at her premature departure from us. She was the best. Joseph (Joe) Pierre  Bach 2000 Light (Without Sacred Cantatas) $849.98 Volume 1, 11 Discs Secular Cantatas App. Sacred Cantatas; 11 CDs; Koopman, Harnoncourt, Koopman, Goebel and others Volume 2, 14 Discs The Sacred Vocal Works Masses,Magnificat, Passions, Oratorios; 14 CDs; Harnoncourt, Koopman, Corboz and others Volume 3, 7 Discs The Motets, Chorales & Songs Kirnberger Chorales,Schemelli Songs, Quodlibet Volume 4, 16 Discs The Organ Works; 16 CDs; Ton Koopman Volume 5, 11 Discs The Keyboard Works (I) The Well-Tempered Clavier, English & French Suites, Partitas etc; 11 CDs; Curtis, Ross, Wilson, Ruzickova Volume 6, 11 Discs The Keyboard Works (II) Goldberg Variations, Toccatas, Fugues, Italian Concerto, etc; 11 CDs; Staier, Barchi, Leonhardt, von Asperen, Baumont, and others Volume 7, 13 Discs The Chamber Music Violin Sonatas & Partitas, Flute Sonatas, Works for Lute, Art of Fugue, Musical Offering, etc; 13 CDs; Harnoncourt, Pianca, Tachezi, Brggen, Zehetmair, and others Volume 8, 10 Discs The Orchestral Works The Concertos & Orchestral Suite; 10 CDs; Il Giardino Armonico, Harnoncourt, Leonhardt |
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