A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 1993 Intersound Inc. In December 1993, Roswell, Georgia's Intersound Inc. released The Complete Beethoven Symphonies, a five-CD box set which presented all nine of Ludwig van Beethoven's nine symphonies in digital surround sound. Along with Piano Masterpieces and other recordings, this box set was part of Intersound's "Classical Heritage" (or CH) collection. Because Intersound's business model was based on direct sales to record shops and big box stores such as the now-vanished Camelot Music and Circuit City rather than adding a separate (and pricier) distributor, box sets such as The Complete Beethoven Symphonies were not only easy to find but cheaper than similar collections by Deutsche Gramophone or Philips. And because the company focused at first almost exclusively on the classical repertoire, aficionados of Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Berlioz, Mozart, and Wagner who couldn't afford the offerings of the more prestigious labels could build up a de...

(C) 2012 Signum Classics Records On September 24, 2012, Britain's Signum Records released The Best of The King's Singers, a two-disc, 40-track compilation of a capella  performances by the current iteration of The King's Singers (Patrick Dunachie, Timothy Wayne-Wright, Julian Gregory, Christopher Bruerton, Christopher Gabbitas, and Jonathan Howard). As I wrote yesterday on my review of Gold, The King's Singers is a sextet of singers (two countertenors, one tenor, two baritones, and one bass) that performs choral compositions from various historical eras and genres without accompaniment. First formed by six choral students (five from King's College in Cambridge and one from Christ Church, Oxford) in 1968, several iterations of The King's Singers have performed in Great Britain, Europe, the U.S., and other countries throughout the world over the past half-century. Additionally, their recordings and concerts on DVD and other home media formats sell well, es...

Many years ago, my hometown of Miami (Florida) had a classical music station, WTMI-FM. Its location on the FM dial was 93.1, and although it did not have as many listeners as stations that played other formats (rock, adult contemporary pop, urban hip hop, oldies, country, or Spanish-language music), it had a loyal base of listeners. I ought to know; from the first time that I tuned in in the early 1980s to December 31, 2001, the sad day when it signed off the air to become Party 93.1, I was a member of that loyal base of listeners. In that two-decade span when I listened to South Florida's "classy and jazzy" radio station, I heard a wide array of compositions, composers, orchestras, and even some awesome solo acts that encompassed many musical genres. Most of the music I listened to was symphonic/instrumental, but every so often I'd come across singers such as Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Audra McDonald, and, of course, Luciano Pavarotti (either as a solois...

On July 29, 1990 - per a notation I made on the compact disc's liner note booklet - I purchased CBS Masterworks' reissue of an album that featured two compositions by Joaquin Rodrigo: the Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un gentilhombre. Performed by the acclaimed Australian guitarist John Williams with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra (conducted by Eugene Ormandy) and the English Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Charles Groves), this "Great Performances" recording features two signature compositions written for guitar and orchestra composed by the brilliant Spanish composer and pianist. The Concierto de Aranjuez was composed in 1939, that fateful year that was marked by two connected historical events: Generalissimo Francisco Franco's rise to power as the fascist ruler of Spain at the end of that country's devastating civil war; and the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, one of the two right wing dictatorships which had backed Franco...

(C) 2007 Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Florentine Films On September 11, 2007, Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Legacy label published a soundtrack album titled Songs Without Words: Classical Music from The War: A Ken Burns Film.   This 10-track recording was one of four Legacy records that were made as musical tie-ins to Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s seven-part documentary about the American experience during the Second World War. The other three recordings from The War’s soundtrack produced and released by Legacy are: The War: A Ken Burns Film – The Soundtrack Sentimental Journey: Hits from the Second World War – The War: A Ken Burns Film I’m Beginning to See the Light: Dance Hits from the Second World War – The War: A Ken Burns Film Legacy offered all four discs in a deluxe box set and as separate offerings; each album had a specific focus, both thematically and musically speaking, though in general terms Sentimental Journey and I’m Beginning to See the Light...

(C) 2012 Decca Records On February 21, 2012, Decca Records released A Celebration: John Williams & the Boston Pops Orchestra, a 2-CD compilation album with over two hours’ worth of film themes, show tunes, easy listening compositions, and light classical works. Originally produced in 2004 by the same British label, A Celebration was re-issued in honor of Maestro Williams’ 80 th birthday. To mark the eightieth birthday of the renowned composer and conductor John Williams, Decca celebrates his time as principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. In this quintessentially American programme. Williams’ unrivaled contribution to film music is showcased through performances of his most memorable themes and other Hollywood favourites, complemented by a second disc of Broadway numbers and timeless songs. – Producer’s blurb, A Celebration: John Williams & the Boston Pops Orchestra Produced by Raymond McGill, A Celebration presents 30 orchestral works, divided evenly...

Over 30 years have passed since Billy Joel debuted as a pop/rock singer with his "Piano Man" album  Listeners throughout the world know him as a versatile songwriter/singer with the ability to change styles almost effortlessly. And even in some of his "pop" songs, careful listeners can detect influences of such classical composers as Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Grieg.  Listen, for instance, to the doo-wop styled "This Night." The catchy chorus? The melody is from a Beethoven piano concerto. His "Lullabye (Good Night My Angel)" started out as a straightforward solo piano piece; owners of the Limited Edition box set can hear this version on the fourth CD of the collection. I have even heard that "Uptown Girl" was once a piano piece....I close my eyes and can hear the melody as a Mozart-like composition.  The 10 compositions for solo piano are played skillfully by Richard Joo, and they definitely show the influence of those compose...

Who says classical music can't be fun, or that it's just old, slow, and uninvolving stuff fit for rich people with stodgy tastes?  Considering that there are so few classical music commercial radio stations left, I suppose that's the popular notion of the genre. I mean, the section devoted to classical music in stores such as FYE and CD Warehouse is tiny when compared to the pop-rock, hip-hop, even country-western departments. And when has an American Idol contestant even bothered to offer a single aria from "Carmen" or "Madame Butterfly," hmmm? (The answer, of course, is "never.")  Having been bitten by the classical music bug at the age of 14 after hearing several orchestral film scores, I am not one of those persons who prefers loud rhythmic confections over strongly melodic compositions. I also like to listen to artists who are able to shift musical gears as time goes by and refuse to be pigeonholed into one category such as "pop-roc...

The Bottom Line  Although Smetana's life ended in tragedy, his music became the foundation of Czech musical tradition. This European album highlights his best works.   Bedrich Smetana, along with Antonin Dvorak, is a composer who helped put what's now known as the Czech Republic on the classical music map; before the world heard his comic opera  The Bartered Bride  in 1866, this small Slavic country (part of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire) was considered to be a musical backwater. Like Peter Tschaikovsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia and Richard Wagner in Germany, Smetana's music was, first and foremost, a reflection of his fierce nationalism; his use of such traditional Czech dances as the  polca, furiant,  and  dumka  in his works give his compositions a distinctive regional flavor. This earned him the reputation of being the founder of Czech musical tradition, and his most nationalistic piece, the tone cycle known as  Ma Vlast (My ...