Mstation Classical Reviews

Age of the Diva Albinoni Almost Christmas Arias, Hampson, Harnoncourt Bach Keyboard Concertos Bach Viola Bach, Barenboim Bach, Cantatas Bach, Concertos Bach, JS, Keyboard Works Bach, Mass in B Minor Bach, Mutter Bach, trio-sonatas Baroque Christmas Album Baroque Trumpet Bartok, Concertos Bartoli Bartoli, Opera Proibita Bax, Baroque Beethoven Piano Beethoven String Quartets Beethoven and Brahms Beethoven, piano Bella Donna: Courtly Love Belle Epoque Melodies Berlioz, Les Troyens Binchois, Dufay Boccherini, Cello Concertos Boxed Baroque Boyce, Eight Symphonies British Light Classics British Piano Concertos Brubeck, The Gates of Justice Bruch, Violin Concerto Callas Canteloube, Chants d'Auvergne Carols Chanticleer, Sound in Spirit Charpentier Charpentier, Lebegue Christmas 04 Christmas Vespers Contemporary and Medieval Copland Delius Der Rosenkavalier Dukachev - Beethoven, Prokofiev, Rachminov Elgar Elgar, Marches Elgar, The Enigma Variations Faure songs French Medieval Songs Fux Gounod, Faust Graham: Causon, Ravel, Debussy Great Ballets Grieg, Franck Handel Arias Handel, Deborah Handel, Messiah Handel, The Triumph ... Handel, Water Music DVD Hapsburg Music Haydn Haydn, Handel DVD's Herz Piano Jane Austen's Songbook Josefowicz Recital King's Singers La Fille Mal Gardee Lang Lang and Yo Yo Ma: Farewell Isabella and Chinese things Lauridsen Llibre Vermell Luci, Bartoli, and a dead diva Lully, Comedies-ballets, Phaeton Maerzmusik sampler Mahler Symphony No 7 Mahler, Berg Mantovani Matsudaira Medieval French Songs Mendelssohn Sacred Mendelssohn, Dvorak Messa di Gloria Michael Haydn Miles Davis ... sorta Monterverdi, Orfeo Monteverdi Vespers Monteverdi, Poppea Monteverdi, The Sacred Music 3 Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel Montiverdi Vespers Morricone Mozart Symphonies Mozart, Cosi fan tutte Mozart, Exsultate Jubilate Mozart, Mass in C Minor Mozart, symphonies 40, 41 Mozart: Die Zauberflote Mozart: the string quartets Mozrt Requiem Mutter Mozart New English Hymnal New RSS system and Feeds Nikolay Roslavets Peerson, Latin Motets Penguins March Pergolesi, La Serva Padrona Philip Glass, Symphonies 2 and 3 Poulenc concerto Proms Purcell - Dido and Aeneas Purcell Sonatas Purcell: Dido and Aeneas Rachmaninov, Piano Ramallah - Beethoven No. 5 Rameau, Les Paladins Reger, Bach and Telemann Variations Renaissance Organ Music Romantic Cello Concertos Romantic Violin Russian Album -Anna Netrebko Rutter Mass Sanctuary, the heart has its reasons Scarlatti, The complete Keyboard Sonatas Schubert and Mozart piano Schubert Ð Death and the Maiden Shostakovich Shostakovich and Schnittke, Cello Shostakovich/Josefowicz Sibelius String Quartets Sixteen: Ikon South American Baroque Stainer, The Crucifiction Sting does Dowland Strauss tone poem Takemitsu Tallis Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 5, Verdi, Sibelius The Kirov celebrates Nijinsky Toshiro Mayazumi Vaughan Williams Verdi View from a dark tunnel Virginal -Susann van Soldt Vivaldi Cello Vivaldi, Motezuma Vivaldi, Sacred Music Vivaldi: Dixit Dominus Von Otter Wagner, Das Rheingold Wagner, Gotterdammerung DVD Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks Weir, Gillian Weiss / Lindberg Lute Whitacre, Cloudburst Williams, Bingham: Mass von Weber, Chamber Music

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 Almost Christmas As I write the Christmas lights are about to come on in places where there is still a little good taste about such things. It is, if not exactly exciting, at least a pleasure to look forward to - a little treat in the early gloom of winter. Soon too, the hours of daylight will start to lengthen again and we will be cruising towards the seasonal delights of spring and summer. For many years, I have spent Christmas in France and they do a few things differently there. They have Christmas dinner on the evening of the 24th and open their presents late that same night. Christmas day is very quiet and on Boxing Day they are back to work. Christmas cards are not so frequently sent and are fairly kitsch when they do. The shops selling CD's also don't have collections of Carols at all that I've seen. It's not too strange: these things were the inventions or updatings of the English mercantile bourgeoisie and could be expected to be rejected out of hand. Two box sets have caught my eye however. The first is called Joyaux Baroques (presumably Joyous Barocque in Anglophone countries... or something similar if I've mispelled the "b" word). It's from Marc Minkowski and the Musiciens du Louvre and so you know it is going to be something nice before opening it. There are four CD's with selections from Charpentier, Lully, Rameau and another beginning with "M". ahem. All of this comes from Erato. The other is Musique Sacree (Sacred Music, as you guessed) and features Mr. Haydn, and is presented by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Concentus musicus Wien. This comes on four CD's as well and is out on Teldec. Both of these labels are Warners by the way. If you are living in a politically correct country where your own culture is being denied so that it doesn' offend newcomers, you might like to play this second selection loudly so that you can explain to doorknockers what that aspect of Christmas is about. My experience is that newcomers are interested rather than offended. I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and that you find a civilised country in which to smoke your cigars. [] permanent link