One of the leading mezzos of our day in a Schubert recital which offers seventy minutes of pure pleasure. The twenty-one songs recorded here are among Schubert’s finest, from ‘Erlkönig’ (written in the composer’s annus mirabilis of 1815) to ‘Leise flehen’ (which dates from his final summer).
The ten CDs are, so to speak, the antidote to our eroticly charged box '' Sex, Drugs And Alcohol '': Absolutely youthful, this new edition is full of romance, longing, love cries and the accompanying drama. The Rockn Roll era, which was otherwise so wild, has given us a lot of memorable love songs, which the young Elvis was so lucky enough to make on his first LP. He is in this box as well as many of his Rock'n'Roll-colleagues, but there are hardly any well-known singers, who have not dealt with heartache and love-passion during their career:
The complete 172 songs for voice and piano. The seven discs that make up the collection have previously been released separately, to great acclaim from reviewers around the world: ‘Something of a landmark in the Grieg discography… Monica Groop penetrates the very essence of the Grieg spirit with the artlessness that conceals art’, wrote International Record Review about one instalment, while a BBC Music Magazine review described another as ‘an irresistible new take, thrilling to both the shadows and the bright high-latitude light in this music.’ In her own introduction to the project Monica Groop writes: ‘I have always felt a special and instinctive affinity for Edvard Grieg and his music … I admire his gift of being able to write simple, natural music and I have sought to preserve this in performance.’ In these endeavours the acclaimed Finnish mezzo-soprano has enjoyed the expert support of three fine pianists: Roger Vignoles, Ilmo Ranta and Love Derwinger.
Collection of 30 CDs on various styles (Love, Movies, R&B, Country, World and Rock). Although you may find the collection a bit outdated since the release is from 2001, it contains some great songs… so enjoy.
Magdalena Kozena presents a recital of Czech songs, together with the Czech Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. The first impression of Czech songs may be atmospheric nature scenes, or stories about pretty peasant girls and village pranks, but the selection on this album demonstrates that the imagination of Czech song composers stretched far wider. For example, Bohuslav Martinu's Nipponari were inspired by Japanese culture, whereas his folksy Songs on One Page obtain a deeper meaning knowing that he wrote them in the US, having fled the Nazi threat. His colleagues and contemporaries Hans Krasa and Gideon Klein did not manage to get away, and both died in concentration camps.