x close

Battlestar Galactica: Season One

---

Futures

Soundtrack;

---

Customer Review:

Best Soundtrack Ever

I am an avid collector of movie and TV soundtracks, I have to say, this is one of the best ever I have bought. The music is moving, deep and often quite thought provoking. This is especially so if you have seen the show.

If you are a fan of the series then I strongly suggest you buy this soundtrack. Tracks 24 and 27 are my favourate from Kobol's last gleaming.

Good Listening!

I've enjoyed listening to Battlestar Galactica's soundtrack driving to work. The music is remarkably varied and dramatic in its own right. Listening to the CD has piqued my interest to watch the series on TV. I now want to see how the young composer's remarkable talent enhances the action happening on the screen.
I think Bear McCreary's special talents are a wonderful contribution to contemporary music.

Celtic Scifi?

If you like the series and noticed the music at times, then I think you will not be disappointed. I bought this CD mainly to enjoy while driving and while programming at work. There are only about 3 tracks that I didn't enjoy. Some tracks have a definite celtic influence that somehow works.

---

Keywords: Film; Film Music; Pop; Soundtrack; Soundtracks & Film Scores; TV Soundtracks;

---

---

x close

Haunted Heart

While countless fans flock to see soprano Renee Fleming's performances of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro because she's got the voice and the dramatic ability to handle such meaty roles, the versatile singer throws her fans a curveball on Haunted Heart, singing popular standards and ballads as well as a few altered classical pieces. In her liner notes, Fleming calls this album a "look back at the road not taken" -- she played a weekly gig in a jazz club while in school. Nonetheless, her feel for the material here is undeniable. Interestingly, she drops her voice a full octave from her usual tessitura, and the change reveals a robust gospel-oriented approach filled with dramatic breaths and moans. The lyrical Fred Hersch (piano) and the idiosyncratic Bill Frisell (guitar) provide support, and both are adventurous jazz players who create subtle and uniquely haunting backdrops. It adds up to an interesting cross-section of ideas well carried off by the generous talents of all involved. --Tad Hendrickson

\

Interview with Renee Fleming
Renee Fleming speaks about recent projects, including her memoir The Inner Voice and her recent Handel CD, in our interview.

---

Customer Review:

Haunted Heart - Songs sung by Renee Fleming

This CD is quite outstanding. Im a great fan of Renee Fleming who in my view is the best soprano in the world today. I was simply amazed when listening to this CD which I obtained from Amazon.com. I did not think that she could sing in such a true jazz style. Many opera singers try to sing popular songs but they almost all sing in an operatic fashion. Renee sings with the aplomb of a true jazz singer. It is truly an amazing CD which I have now listened to over and over. The last track is incredible and powerful. Only criticism is that some tracks later in the CD could have been left out - somehow they dont fit in. But a wonderful CD to have. Only hope she makes another similar. Mike Woollam Pietermaritzburg South Africa

A nice change of pace

A good singer can handle a variety of genres, and Renee does so here with aplomb. Her covers of standards shows her expressiveness and depth. I'm not nuts about some of the arrangements, as they lend a lounge-lizardy air, but she's taken a song I've never particularly liked ('Midnight Sun') and made it lovely and haunting. Including some non-English-language tunes is an approach I applaud as well.

Genre-Busting Standards A Winner

Okay - I am no Renee Fleming fan. And I don't know much about classical music. I do know that Fleming is the piece de resistance of opera. What drew me to this cd was the cover photo and title. With a look at the song selections, I decided to give it a whirl.

Who, I thought, was this smoke-tinged woman dripping with sentimentality and late-night blues emanating from this record and how could she possibly set the opera world on its ear?

Since I can't compare this to her other more well-known works, all I can say is I was captivated. While not a perfect record, certainly a very good one. The alternate mix of jazz and classical is a bit disjointed but when Lady Fleming shines she really shines. Her interpretaion of "In My Life" is simply chilling in its emotionality - and she truly sounds like a diva of a different sort, a big bad blues diva. Likewise, "You've Changed" is charged with heat and longing. Other standouts: "The Moon's a Harsh Mistress" is a stunner and the title track pierces the heart indeed. Also, "Answer Me" is quintessential torch. The sparse piano (which is heavenly by the way) and guitar are in near perfect synch with Fleming's lower range. The combination is addictive.

Classical afficionados may be justly put off with her efforts, but surely jazz junkies can appreciate Fleming's genre-busting voice - I did. Haunting? Yes. However, I could have done without "My Cherie Amour".

---

Keywords: Classical; Classical Artists; Classical Crossover; Classical Vocals; Miscellaneous; Miscellaneous Music; Opera; Romantic Music for Voice and Keyboard; Solo Voice(s) and Orchestra; Song Collection for Solo Voice with Piano or Orchestra; United States of America; Vocal; Vocal Music;

---

---

x close

Plays Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone is well-known to moviegoers. His soundtracks for The Mission, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America, Cinema Paradiso, and others are invariably warmly melodic and superbly suited to the films they grace. They not only add atmosphere; they help tell the story. For this CD Morricone has created new orchestrations for many of his scores, adding a solo cello part for the indefatigable Yo-Yo Ma, whose musical curiosity seems to be endless. Outside the films, these pieces tend to be lovely melodies, mostly pretty sentimental stuff, and, in the best way, gorgeous aural wallpaper. The most moving are the two selections from The Mission, but fans of Morricone's music will find plenty to enjoy here. Ma's playing, as always, is exquisite---warm, deeply felt (given the circumstances), and entirely idiomatic within the context. Perhaps not quite for the classical music lover, but an affectionate reworking of music by an important film composer. --Robert Levine

---

Customer Review:

I love this CD

I have several Yo-Yo Ma CD's. I love the tango CD, but I've been waiting for a mellow, sublime cello CD that I can relax to and the Tango CD, nor the Appalachia CD is it. This is the CD that I've been waiting for. It's just beautiful music.

Absolutely delicious!

One of the most satisfying CDs I've purchased in years. Stunning arrangements, great selection. I've given this CD to several people as a gift. They all loved it.

Moved by the scores...

I had a date with a young lady doctor yesterday and we went to hear the San Francisco Opera perform an afternoon of arias at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco; a perfect setting on a foggy Sunday afternoon for an open air concert. Later, my date invited me to her new home in the Marina district of the city for dinner. As you might have guessed, during the dinner the background music was Yo Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone. I was so moved by the intimate compositions of Ennio Morricone and the graceful interpretations of Yo Yo Ma that, I could hardly concentrate on our dinner conversation. I felt so relaxed, it felt so surreal. The emotions that this CD has stirred in me, made me to go online and buy immediately on Amazon.com this beautiful Disc once I returned home.

---

Keywords: Classical; Classical Artists; Classical Crossover; Film; Film Music; Orchestral & Symphonic;

---

---

x close

Alone in IZ World

The artist behind Facing Future, the top-selling Hawaiian album of all time, the late Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole was possessed of a voice so sweet, so tender, and so lovely that it continues to deeply stir those who hear it long after he died. Lovingly assembled and notated by producer Jon de Mello, Alone in IZ World is comprised of both alternate versions of Kamakawio'ole's best-loved songs as well as tracks never before heard by the public. The latter category includes versions of "Hanohano No Na Cowboy," the playfully incomplete opening on "Mona Lisa," and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," on which IZ takes a rare turn at harmonizing with himself. In light of his premature passing, devastatingly beautiful alternate cuts of "Starting All Over Again" and "In This Life" are especially poignant. And "Over the Rainbow"--IZ's renditions were heard in Meet Joe Black and Finding Forrester--may never again sound so pure. --Paige La Grone

---

Futures

Enhanced;

---

Customer Review:

Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World

I have not heard the entire CD, but I will be searching for it.

I'm writing this because I live in Phoenix, but have the computer on to "The Fabulous 690" out of Los Angeles.

They played this song of Iz's. It was beautiful. I stopped typing an email to a friend, just to enjoy it. I'd never heard of him before.

It was sweet, gentle and rhythmic. I admit I kind of got a little teared up listening to it. I've not heard this kind of version of "Over The Rainbow" before.

Look, if this one cut is that good, the whole CD must be good!

over the rainbow

IZ should get 10 stars for such a wonderful song. Both my daughters ages 3 1/2 and just turned 1 love it! My oldest dances around whenever she hears it and my baby will just stand and smile! I love it so much and it always makes me think the outstanding job Anthony Edwards did in his final ER.

If you don't enjoy this cd you don't know what real music is.

Great music has a great following of fans, but what makes even greater music is having a large variety of fans as well. IZ's music can be categorized as Hawaiian music, however it is evident that the music he created is so inspirational, so evocative, so beautiful that it has attracted a wide variety of people (just look at where all the reviewers are from). IZ has a widespread fan base,of people that don't neccesarily like Hawaiian music but like IZ. IZ made real and passionate songs. There is more to IZ than his rendition of "Somewhere over the Rainbow." I think everyone can feel what IZ wanted people to feel through his music, if people are less critical and truly listen. If you study up on IZ and his life you will even more feel the meaning in his songs regardless of whether you understand the Hawaiian language, and you will also experience the pain that Hawaii and the world felt when we lost this wonderful singer and person. If you like real music you will like this CD.

---

Keywords: Hawaii; Hawaiian; Hawaiian Music; Int'l & World Music; Pop;

---

---