Norman Luboff Remembered

Customer Review: Norman Luboff music
I have 2 of Norman's LP's: Christmas and Blues Right Now. How I wish they were on CD--sigh. Love the harmonics, the emotions all in endless COOL of BLues , and the beauty of the Christmas LP. I've never heard a more inspiring Christmas record in all these years. Miss you, Norman...
Customer Review: Superb.
A beautiful tribute to a great American musician. Some of his best-loved arrangements, popularized by the famed Norman Luboff Choir. Folk songs, spiritual, and ballads performed lovingly by some who toured and performed with him for more than a decade.


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Will You Be There (4 Song Cd Single)

1993 made in europe and OUT OF PRINT, featyres 4 songs, Will you be there (EDIT), man in the mirror, Girlfiend, Will you be there (album version), catalogue number 659222


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Sony Classical: Great Performances 1903-1998

Customer Review: Mish Mash
While I like this sort of recording I bought it only because it was quite cheap in the used section. It has some very interesting moments, but of course is little more than a "sampler" if you will, and one that is too stuffed with a variety performers that don't necessarily work well one against the other. To be specific, when Victor put out this sort of thing it would be "The First 100 Years at the Metropolitan Opera", and that traced just that. All the singers from 1903 until the 1983 release date. Its hardly perfect, but at least it has a purpose. EMI did a similar reissue, but it contained one CD at a time, so one could think carefully about that which they wanted to buy. This is one of the rare times I'm going to say there's just too much here, and not always of a good thing. They barely raid the cupboard of older recordings, and I assume Sony has a heck of a lot of them. Two CD sets from each decade could have been a far more intesting and thought provoking A&R decission. Four CDs that are aimed at nothing more than what I mentioned earlier don't really cut it
Customer Review: What I Bought From Sony Companies
Bach, Goldberg Variations, Gould, Haydn, L. Mozart, Hummel, Wynton Marsalis, Leppard, Joseph Haydn, Walter (Japanese), Mozart Piano Concertos & Rondos, Murray Perahia, Mozart Quartets by Ax, Stern, Laredo, and Ma, Mozart Concerto Violin, Zukerman, Chopin, Concertos Piano, Gilels, Ormandy, Watts, Schippers, Bruckner, L'Archibudelli, Johannes Brahms, Gould, Brahms, Stern, Trios and Quartets, Brahms, Ax, Ma, Bizet, Carmen and L'Arlesienne suites, Bernstein, Dvorak, Herbert, Ma, Masur, Faure, Quartets, Ax, Stern, Laredo, Ma, Janacek, String Quartets, Alban Berg, Lyric Suite, Juilliard String Quartet, Copland Collection, Debussy, nocturnes, Upshaw, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Canteloube, John Williams Plays Barrios, Ligeti Edition, Claude Bolling, suites and such Jazz, 4 CDs, Joshua Bell, Bernstein, West Side Story. Albert, Bartok, Bloch, Ma, Zinman, John McLaughlin, Concerto for Guitar, and with Katia Labeque, Kathleen Battle.Wynton Marsalis, Baroque Duet,Kathleen Battle Jean-Pierre Rampal in Concert, Bobby McFerrin paper music, with Yo-Yo Ma in Hush, Katia & Marielle Labeque, Love of Colours, Wynton Marsalis, Baroque Music for Trumpets, and Elliot Goldenthal, Fire Water Paper, A Vietnam Oratorio. I list these because I am trying to figure out what of value is in the Columbia, CBS, and Sony sound legacy in case they come back to the U.S. and revive classical music recording in this country. Duane Crawford


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Michael Cialdella

For audio clips and other information, visit michaelc.com.

CREDITS

Lead Vocals, Piano: Michael Cialdella Drums: Vinnie Colaiuta Percussion: Rafael Padilla Bass: Leland Sklar Guitars: Michael Landau Organ, Accordion, Other Keyboards: Arlan Schierbaum Cello: Larry Corbett; Viola: Matt Funes; Violins: Charlie Bisharat and Joel Derouin Trombone: Ryan Porter; Saxophone: Corey Hogan; Trumpet: Fernando Pullum Background Vocals: Trisha Battani, Michael Cialdella, Elisa Dease, and James Tormé Additional Vocals on "Does It Matter?": Carolyn Ambroise, La.D.Dredd, Lauren Herzog, Dustin Strong, and Patrick Viall

Written by Michael Cialdella

Produced by Michael Cialdella and Chris Brooke Recorded and Mixed by Chris Brooke
Customer Review: A Classic Pop Troubador
Michael Cialdella effortlessly establishes himself with this album as an artist to be reckoned with. The lyrics are well-crafted and soulful and the music proves that, reports to the contrary, it is still possible and permissible for a young songwriter to create melodies that are gorgeous and memorable. From the exuberance of the opening number, "Finally Free," through the unapologetic optimism of "Chasin' a Dream" to the haunting romantic revelations of "My Love No More," Cialdella proves himself in this eight song collection to be a pop troubadour in the classic mold.
Customer Review: Great Album!
Like a burst of fresh air, the uplifting songs take you on a beautiful journey that is sometimes joyful, sometimes melancholic, but always full of hope. The album is an energetic, inspiring celebration of life and of love. Its catchy tunes and great lyrics are an invitation to follow your dreams, wherever those dreams may lead. I highly recommend it.


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Louder. Harder. Sicker.

Jim Krenn and Randy Baumann of The 'DVE Morning Show: Louder. Harder. Sicker.! The Best of Pittsburgh's 'DVE Morning Show with Jim Krenn and Randy Baumann. TRACKS: 1. Bush Speech Abu Gharib; 2. Big Ben Strikes Six; 3. Rollo - Sicko Hazing; 4. Relying On Wit; 5. Sigfried And Yoi!; 6. Dr. Phil - Serial Killer; 7. Joe Denardo - Taking Questions; 8. Bill Gardell - Pgh In LA; 9. Are You Gellin'?; 10. Otis - Strip Club Etiquette; 11. Tucker And Clem - Gay Superhero; 12. California Dreamin'; 13. Emeril Live - Joe Perry; 14. Ralph The Cat - Monticor's Emotions; 15. Tom Cruise; 16. Mayor Tom - Pool's Out; 17. Judge Jimbo Browntow - Pvt. England; 18. Ben Klingston - Genital Piercing; 19. Mario's Casino; 20. Frank Caliendo - Madden Loves Favre; 21. American Choppers - Steroid Bike; 22. Sean Connery - New Bond; 23. Scorekeeper - Hate Barry; 24. Dirty Hippie - Get A Job Song; 25. Baghdad Bob - Iraq Real Estate; 26. Michael Jackson - Quadruplets; 27. Richard Jeni - Spiderchrist; 28. Rev. Jesse Jaxson - Pork N Beans; & 29. Stanley P. Kachowski - Supersize / Atkins.


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Carols From Trinity

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Will You Be There (4 Song Cd Single)

1993 made in europe and OUT OF PRINT, featyres 4 songs, Will you be there (EDIT), man in the mirror, Girlfiend, Will you be there (album version), catalogue number 659222


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Giants Of Soul vol. 3 (16 Soulful Songs)

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Norman Luboff Remembered

A beautiful tribute to a great American musician. Some of his best-loved arrangements, popularized by the famed Norman Luboff Choir. Folk songs, spirituals, and ballads performed lovingly by some who toured and performed with him for more than a decade.
Customer Review: Norman Luboff Remembered
A very poor recording,almost amateurish. The voices seem to be adequate but the recording is so poor it is difficult to tell. This recording goes into my "I heard it once and that's enough" pile. The purchase was a mistake.
Customer Review: Please, more Choir, less Instruments!
I agree with the first reviewer. At age 56, I heard these guys live, and the arrangements were sublime. The vocals were amazing. Here, the instruments almost drown out the choir! Perhaps the pianist and bass player were relatives of the producer?? I would recommend almost any other Luboff CD over this one, even the ones reproduced with pops and hisses from the LP. "Colorado Trail" is OK. "Shenandoah", one of the Choir's signature songs, is totally messed up. Very disappointing, I'm sorry.


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Spectrum - Contemporary Works for Piano

Customer Review: marvelous bagatelle-like piano album
This is a wonderful collection of piano bagatelle like durational envois, shibboleths,effacacious timbral meanderings,visionary,some ephemera, egregious. Yet all ponder an obsessive elan for the pure rarefied luv of piano timbre.And since modernity has passed out of itself,there is a freedom simply to create unencumbered,eremitical with pure devotion to piano timbre. Some works actually betray their asopted,intended/distended frames. That perhaps is a more interesting feature of postmodernity. Here as in Bedford's 'Toccata', scouring post-electronic tonality. It is a wonderful work diapasonal,diaphanous,orgasmic at times,yet direct and to the point. Also a prolific great piano practicioner-monger is Michael Finnissy with an excerpt from his 'Yvaropera 5', there are more,these are dedication to the marvelous new music pianist Yvar Mikashoff. Finnissy has finely woven threadbare lines. These works engage the challenge of the miniature, and the lyricism present here is like walking in a gallery with a predominance of no one particular musical language. There are also some leftovers from the Tango Projekt.Perhaps the precursor of this Spectrum. Howard Skempton the pre=eminent British miniaturist 'Cantilena' is here,hovering with an air of eridite presence,his voice is rather taciturn like,yet talismanic with a few purely wrought tones. Andrew Toovey's 'Still'I found is not as remarkable as his brilliant chamber works,of dense complexity. Here the upper register clusters seemed overly labored,and unintentional within the context. Jonathan Harvey's 'haiku' is the ultimate effrontery for this miniscule musical parade, a mere single arpeggiated gesture, one press-down of the sustaining pedal, a mere 20 seconds, or as long as the envelope decay dies. I found overall that it is the structural context that harbors the conceptual complexity,even the more pronounced examples as Roger Redgate's 'trace' is not as rhythmically forbidding as a measured particle exhumed from Ferneyhough,who is mirabile dictu absent from the proceedings here. Also the epigones of complexity, as Barrett, Dench,Fox are out of the picture.Why?.If you smite their faces do they not shed a tear,if you cut them, do they not bleed. Neglected imaginative piano creator Dave Smith however is included. Smith has written,contributed greatly to solo literature, and his "tuesday" is included, a wonderfully crafted work with equisite voicings,ephemera.Additional I enjoyed Edward McGuire's "Foglie d'Autunno" a work satisfying the more song/canto,piano album dimensions of its generic frame. There are as well extroverted-like tone poem/paintings, as Edwin Roxburgh "Moonscape", Montague's "Mira",Hoddinott's "Dark March". All these excursions into the finer particles of piano timbre leaves one empty, I found, not in an inferior way, but as Cornelius Cardew once quipped an eudaemonia,a felt perception,of something else,an emotive entity,a creative pathway missed, a wrong turn,a bad egg of structure,or concept,and that some unknowable espousal,some imaginative envoi should have been at the center of the music.
Customer Review: Modern music made easy
This double CD is a recording of "Spectrum" - two volumes of piano music by late twentieth century composers. The works were commissioned by Thalia Myers and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music from a wide range of figures, well-known and otherwise, with a simple brief: to create short pieces in a contemporary style that could be accessed by pianists of any standard. As a composer myself, I can safely say that such a brief is not as easy to follow as it may seem. Whilst it is true that short works are easier to write than long ones, it is never always easy to think of beginners or amateurs at primary school level when you're used to working with professionals and semi-professionals of more or less the same standard as yourself. In "Spectrum," the various composers have met the challenge impeccably, and the books are now proving to be a useful teaching tool with which to introduce young performers to contemporary music. With this recording, the same material can be made accessible to first-time listeners as well as performers. The first volume is perhaps the harder of the two in terms of both listening and playing the music. Most of the composers featured in it returned to contribute to the second volume and it is clear (from listening) that some lessons were learned: you may find it more pleasant to put Disc Two on first when trying it out. To summarise all the pieces, short though they are, is beyond the scope of this review but among the names appearing are Jonathan Harvey, Diana Burrell, Michael Finnisey, Graham Fitkin, Philip Cashian, John Tavener, Howard Skempton and Stephen Montague. In the books, most of the pieces occupy single or double page spreads only; on disc, this makes each track less than two minutes long. (For the record, the absolute shortest work is Jonathan Harvey's "Haiku" from the second volume, which is two lines long on paper and takes just 30 seconds to play!) Take the music as you will, but in all cases it is well-played: Thalia Myers commands a wonderful expressive range and captures the extreme subtlety of each and every piece. This really is the finest introduction to modern music around!


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