Review of Joshua Bell's Voice of the Violin

Artist:  Joshua Bell.
Album:  Voice of the Violin.
Recording Company:  Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Recording Date:  2006.

Rachmaninoff  Vocalise
Schubert  Ave Maria
Faure  Apres un reve
Dvorak  Song of the Moon
Mozart  Laudate Dominum
Donizetti  Una furtiva lagrima
Orff  In trutina
Mendelsohn  May Breezes
Debussy  Beau soir
Ponce  Estrellita
De Falla  Nana
Bizet  Je crois entendre encore
R. Strauss  Morgen!

I've heard Joshau Bell in concert before at Powell Hall.  I bought one of his CD's last Xmas, Voice of the Violin, at Barnes & Noble.  I enjoyed the works on this album.  Anna Netrebko is also on the last song, Morgen! by Strauss.  The songs are so idyllic, I could fall asleep listening to them.  Recommended. 

Review of Anna Netrebko's Russian Album

Artist:  Anna Netrebko.
Album:  Russian Album.
Recording Studio:  Deutsche Grammophon.
Recording Date:  2006.

Tchaikovsky:
Iolanta Airos No. 1
Romance Op. 38 No. 6
Eugene Onegin Letter Scene from Act I

Rachmaninov:
Song Op. 21 No. 7
Song Op. 4 No. 4
Francesca da Rimini Excerpt from Tableau II

Rimsky-Korsakov:
Tales from the Tsar Saltan from Act IV
The Snow Maiden Scene and Aria from Prologue
The Snow Maiden Finale from Act IV
The Tsar's Bride Scene and Aria from Act IV

Glinka:
A Life for the Tsar Cavitina and Rondo from Act I

Prokofiev:
War and Peace Exerpt from Act I

This was Anna Netrebko's fourth or fifth album for Deutsche Grammophon.  It's entirely in Russian with 19th and early 20th century Russian composers.  The works of the mighty five play prominently in this work.  Much of this I hadn't heard before.  But Russian music has become more mainstream within the classical music repartee. 

But the "miracle from Saint Petersburg" does her magic with this album.  Recommended as a birthday or Xmas present for the discerning opera lover.