The absence of rough edges lends Debussy's music a potency over the tempo of our lives today that begs for a greater realization of evanescent temporal duration.
Olivier Messiaen's music sets itself apart from most other late 20th century composers on at least two fronts: its warm tonality and its transcendent spiritual quality.
György Ligeti's austere individualism is a preeminent quality of his work. While the discord found in most of his static compositions seems to negate all possibility of harmony, there is a profound tone in his music that seeks what can be regarded as a centerless form.
On Peter and the Wolf, Friday and his musical collaborator, Maurice Seezer, have turned their talents and energies to classical music: Serge Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, composed in 1936 as an introduction to the orchestra for children.
The Tolkien Ensemble is a group of classically-trained Danish musicians formed in 1995 by its leader and main composer, Caspar Reiff, for the purpose of recording and performing all the songs and poems from The Lord of the Rings.
Sometimes, when a movie flops, there are good reasons. In those cases, the only possible reaction can be a sigh of relief that we were not unduly inflicted with the film. However, when a good movie tanks and blips off the radar with barely a trace, the resultant loss can be close to tragic.
Ciele di Toscana is Andrea Bocelli at his very best. A wildly accessible album that nonetheless does much to celebrate the voice of this greatest of classical tenors of our time.
You simply can't review the autobiography of a 15-year-old without first offering up some comments on the crazy nature of a world where enough people care about the wisdoms that a 15-year-old might impart to publish a book about it.
As well produced as it is performed, Neapolitan Café pumps with the energy of this rare foursome: talented musicians with a charisma that cuts right through the distance of recording.
The moniker cuts a broad swath through a very large musical region. Too often, the word "classical" when hung together with "music" evokes visions of powdered wigs and evenings spent in stupefying boredom listening to complicated compositions that have little bearing on music as we've come to understand the word.
