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 Sweet Power of Song $19.98 This release is a remastering of the two previous releases: Sweet Power of Song and On Wings of Song. Both original CDs are still available if you hunt for them. The original releases do have the texts included in the booklets (lamented by a previous reviewer of this compilation release). The lack of text is not a problem for me. I just listen to these incredible singers. I don't need to read what they are singing. If you even slightly enjoy listening to the soprano voice, you will love these two luscious singers. Soprano duets are among my favorite classical music selections. Lott's clear, strong voice rings with authority and joy. Murray provides perfect harmony and occasional counterpoint. I prefer the first disk (Sweet Power of Song) because it is more balanced and seems to represent the sopranos' favorite selections. However, disk 2 (On Wings of Song) has Rossini's delightful Cat Duet which is worth the price of both CDs as performed by this amazing duo. Whether you buy this compilation set or the individual releases, I promise that you will love them and keep them near your player all the time.  A Tribute to Gerald Moore $23.98 I have owned and cherished for years the lps of Gerald Moore's de luxe farewell recital with de los Angeles, Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau. Now i'm happy to have it on cd, combined with the hommage recording for Moore's 70th birthday, with his three favorite singers as guests plus Janet Baker, Nicolai Gedda and star instrumentalists as Yehudi Menuhin, Jacqueline du Pr and Daniel Barenboim. Two discs generously filled with joyous music-making. I give it five stars, but still i have one complaint, which i had already about the lps of the farewell recital: the applause is much louder than the music. It's good to hear the audience's enthusiasm, but it's also really annoying at this level, and surely it could have been modified. Nonetheless, i hear it over and over again. ![Complete Webern [Box Set]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/319ATHCS9YL._SL160_.jpg) Complete Webern [Box Set] $71.98 I share the very positive sentiments of the other reviewers. I have heard both of the Boulez anthologies and prefer this one, although the other is excellent too. Compared to the classic Karajan Webern single CD with the same orchestra, which I also admire, the newer Boulez performances of the same pieces are marked by equally fantastic orchestral playing, and even better recording quality, which makes the extreme dynamics of Webern's writing more effective. If there is a better Opus 1 by any composer than Webern's Passacaglia, I would like to hear it. The Schubert and especially Bach arrangements on the first CD are first class. In my view, all the performances are successful - with special kudos to the soprano Christiane Oelze and the Emerson String Quartet. The documentation, in substance and presentation, is excellent too. Personally, I find with Webern's work something in common with that of Bach, a kind of absolute purity of expression, or however you may wish to describe it (which is not implying that Webern is every bit as great as Bach though). They are totally concentrated in expression and require the same level of involvement not only from the performer but also to a large measure the listener too. I think these aleatory, uncompromising pieces will never be popular with the mainstream classical music loving audience (my local symphony orchestra has not performed a mature Webern work in recent memory, if ever), but for those willing to make the time and effort to "do the homework" and listen to the pieces again and again, they will reap the benefits, as with Bach, of great spiritual experience. Personally, I find the Webern cantatas especially beautiful. Just a matter of personal taste, for those who are "dipping their toes" into these difficult pieces, I find the vocal works a little more approachable at first than the purely instrumental ones. Webern's pointillistic, ascerbic writing can initially give a very cold, forbidding, austere impression - so much so that one is tempted to stop listening. The vocal works offer, for lack of a better term, a warmer, more "lyrical" sound. Das Augenlicht for mixed chorus and orchestra on CD 2 is a good example. Yet there is underlying emotional and spiritual depth, somehow enhanced by the absence of sentimentality. One could make a similar observation about Bach's The Art of Fugue, or has been noted elsewhere, Flemish Renaissance music. The latter is also marked by severe economy of expression, and Webern was thoroughly familiar with it. The price is very fair for such an outstanding album. I do not expect another one like it to be made for a very long time. |
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