9 11 2002

The Girl Singer, Rosemary Clooney's volume in the Bluebird's Best series, spotlights her talents as a swinging post-big band vocalist between 1958 and 1961, when she was basically hitless but still recording some great material (including many arrangements by Nelson Riddle and excellent duet albums recorded with Bing Crosby and Pérez Prado). Although 16 tracks for a digital-era compilation is basically short shrift, there are highlights galore - starting with "Clap Hands! Here Comes Rosie," a nice piece of fluff that introduced an album of the same name. Also great is an update (with Crosby) of "How About You?" to include references to Gypsy, Marlon Brando, and the Pittsburgh Pirates (Crosby was a co-owner). The two tracks with Prado find the exuberant Clooney matching the outboard orchestra…

Evgeny Kissin has made brave choices in selecting this program. Schumann's Sonata No. 1 is a huge, sprawling piece, difficult to play and to hold together and therefore not very popular. Carnaval is one of Schumann's acknowledged masterpieces and has been recorded by a wide variety of pianists, providing plenty of competition. In the Sonata, Kissin's performance is a complete success. He has the largeness of spirit, powers of organization, and huge technique to make the music convincing and hold the listener's interest for more than half an hour.

The Eroica Trio's recording career has been cleverly managed, starting with three albums of relatively lightweight, very well played music before finally arriving at major repertory. Tackling these two Brahms masterpieces, the Eroica proves thoroughly up to the task. They handle Brahms's difficult writing with confidence (especially the tricky syncopations), and they can produce large climaxes to compete with the best ensembles.

While the availability of programs devoted to the chamber music of François Couperin have been relatively constant throughout the CD era, fans of the composer will find much to enjoy in rehearing these familiar works on this new Channel Classics offering. What immediately impresses is the recording's sumptuous, remarkably illusionistic sound, with Mieneke van der Velden's viols (a Pardessus de viole, the highest instrument in the gamba family, was chosen for the Onzieme [11th] concert from Les Goûts-Réunies) ideally complementing the scale of Glen Wilson's harpsichord.

This CD invokes the presence of the divine mother. I listend to this CD while at a week long silent meditation retreat. It filled me with a gentle joy, peace and immense loving kindness. It is very calming, gentle and nurturing. It features the following songs: Ganesh Invocation, Devi Prayer and Lalitha Ashtotram, which is a Sanskrit mantra of the 108 sacred names of the mother divine. ~ Brad VanAuken