Review of Violetta/Anna Netrebko/Rolando Villazon/Thomas Hampson

Artists:  Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon, and Thomas Hampson.
Album:  Violetta:  Arias and Duets from Verdi's La Traviata.
Recording Company:  Deutsche Grammaphon.
Recording Date:  2005.

Anna Netrebko, Violetta.
Rolando Villazon, Alfredo.
Thomas Hampson, Germount.
Weiner Staatsopernchor, Weiner Philharmoniker, Carlo Rizzi.

This is an issue from the 2005 Salzburg Festival.  It's a production of Verdi's La Traviata by Carlo Rizzi and Weiner Philharmoniker.  Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon, and Thomas Hampson star in the leads.  The story is simple.  It's about a fallen women who prostitutes herself out for money.  She's forced to chose to between true love and financial gain.  She eventually chooses true love but dies from her consumption (TB).

Verdi's La Traviata is the basis for the movie Moulin Rouge.  The production is excellent.  The singing is first class.  Granted.  Verdi isn't everyone's cup of tea.  But whenever I get in the mood for opera, I'll put this CD on for a spin.  Recommended for Xmas.

Review of Mozart Arias by Cecilia Bartoli

Artist:  Cecilia Bartoli.
Album:  Mozart Arias.
Recording Company:  Erato.
Recording Date:  1992.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Lugio Silla K 135
Le Nozze Di Figaro K 492
Cosi Fan Tutte K 588

I learned to love opera when I listened to Saturday Afternoons at the Met on Classic 99.1 FM here in St. Louis when it was still on the air.  Fortunately, a new classical radio station is back on the air in the form of 107.3 FM. 

But listening to the Met introduced me to the world of opera.  And one who ranks as a rock star is Cecilia Bartoli.  She is one of the few people to upstage a Metropolitan Opera projection by not showing up for it!  However, her voice is an awesome sound to behold.  I have some of her earlier albums.  One of them is her Mozart Arias.  They are three of Mozart's Italian operas, namely Lugio Silla, Le Nozze di Figaro and Cosi Fan Tutte. 

This album shows Bartoli coming into her power as a soprano.  And it's a good way to get introduced to classical Italian opera, too.  Recommended for the holidays.

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. 

Review of Alison Balsom's Italian Concertos

Artist:  Alison Balsom, trumpet.
Album:  Italian Concertos.
Recording House:  EMI Classics.
Recording Date:  2010.

Antonio Vivaldi, 1678-1741
Violin Concerto in A minor RV356

Benedetto Marcello, 1686-1739
Oboe Concerto in C minor

Tomas Albinoni, 1671-1750
Oboe Concerto in B flat OP. 7 NO. 3

Themes of Domenico Cimarosa, 1749-1801
Oboe Concerto in C minor by Arthur Benjamin, 1893-1960

Antonio Vivaldi, 1678-1741
Violin Concerto in G OP. 3 No. RV310

Giuseppe Tartini, 1692-1770
Concerto in D D53

Tomaso Albinoni, 1671-1739
Violin Sonata Da Chiesa in D minor

Alison Balsom is the type of woman I'd like to marry.  Needless to say, that will never happen.  Her baroque brass work is elegant.  I enjoyed listening to this CD many times.  She is one of the leading classical trumpet players active today.

However, this purchase happened by accident.  I rummaged through a local Borders during their liquidation sale.  I bought the CD on a lark.  I was used to listening to Canadian Brass CD's.  This work is a nice change.  In the future,  I need to be on the lookout for more of Ms. Balsom's work,

Review of The Tallis Scholars' Requiem

Review of The Tallis Scholars' Requiem

Artist:  The Tallis Scholars.
Album:  Requiem.
Recording Label:  Gimmell.
Recording Date:  2005

Tomas Luis De Victoria (1548-1611)
Requiem
Versa est in luctum

Duarte Lobo (1565-1646)
Requiem for six voices

Manuel Cardoso (1566-1650)
Requiem
Non mortui
Sitivit anima mea
Mulier quae erat
Nos autem gloriari

Alonso Lobo (1555-1617)
Versa est in luctum
Credo quod redemptor
Vivo ego, dicit Dominus
Ave Maria

The Tallis Scholars are professional musicians based in the UK who perform Baroque and Renaissance period music.  I discovered them in the middle 1990s at a public library.  That was when my Latin was still fresh from my undergraduate days.  Now, it's rusted away...

However, the works on this CD are from some underrated Spanish and Portuguese composers.  One composed works for the death of a 16th century pope.  All the music is based for the Roman Catholic Requiem liturgy.  It's a two CD work with nearly 2.5 hours of sacred Latin choral music. 

The music itself is uplifting and enjoyable.  Even if you don't understand Latin.  I appreciate it even more from an artistic standpoint because of my 15 years with an Anglican choir singing Tallis and other Baroque masters.  But what The Tallis Scholars do on a regular basis never ceases to amaze me. 
   

Review of Eroica Trio (1997)

Artists:  Eroica Trio.
Album:  Eroica Trio.
Publisher:  EMI Classics.
Release Date: 1997.

George Gershwin - Three Preludes.

Marice Ravel - Piano Trio (1914).

Benjamin Godard - Berceuse.

Paul Schoenfield - Cafe Music.

I have had this CD for a long time.  I discovered the Eroica Trio by accident on a local NPR station when they still played classical music in St. Louis.  I could have heard them live when I lived outside of Ames, IA in early 2003.  However, I just have several of their CDs. 

The Trio has released a ton of albums since their debut CD in 1997.  Bryan Miller of the Post-Dispatch called the Erotic Trio because the three musicians looked like Covergirl models.  Besides the eye candy, their music is excellent.  If you get a chance, do see them in concert.  It's worth it.