between-song dialogue and cartoon shenanigans that keep kids from drifting off are Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, who whoop it up from the first track with wah-wah guitar effects, loopy lyrical improv, fellow VeggieTales guest vocalists, and a smattering of big-band swing. A kids' choir provides the starch that saves Sunday morning from becoming a beta-carotene bomb. While Bob twists his tongue around mouthfuls like "the mighty messiah that manifests miracles" in "Down in My Heart," for instance, the kids keep pace for at-home singers, who'll follow suit. Similarly, the child crooners carry on without so much as a snicker as Sgt. Larry barks out "Gimme 20!" in "This is My Commandment" and chimes in with a wacky "No way!" during the "Don't let Sat...  (less)

preferable without. The work really does speak for itself in the clearest possible way. The Four Sea Interludes have rapidly become the most famous "water music" since Debussy's La Mer . They are wholly marvelous, especially the evocative "Sunday Morning" music. The other two pieces are relative rarities--the Suite was one of Britten's last completed compositions. Everything here is very well performed and recorded. --David Hurwitz  (less)

was employed at the provincial court at Koethen, Saxony. His duties there were to provide music for specific occasions. Sunday services, weddings, and special events at court required his services as organist and composer, but there is no apparent reason for the writing of substantial works for cello or violin alone. There were no cello or violin masters in Bach's immediate vicinity. So, for whom were these works written and who played them? We don't know. One can only assume that Bach was flexing his compositional muscles in this labor of love. It is a lucky thing for us that he did. He was the first composer of stature to write for cello alone. In that, he was generations ahead of his time. Not until the 20th century do we find music comparable to! Bach's for the s...  (less)

between-song dialogue and cartoon shenanigans that keep kids from drifting off are Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, who whoop it up from the first track with wah-wah guitar effects, loopy lyrical improv, fellow VeggieTales guest vocalists, and a smattering of big-band swing. A kids' choir provides the starch that saves Sunday morning from becoming a beta-carotene bomb. While Bob twists his tongue around mouthfuls like "the mighty messiah that manifests miracles" in "Down in My Heart," for instance, the kids keep pace for at-home singers, who'll follow suit. Similarly, the child crooners carry on without so much as a snicker as Sgt. Larry barks out "Gimme 20!" in "This is My Commandment" and chimes in with a wacky "No way!" during the "Don't let Sat...  (less)

Armenia. Music includes Jeff Manookian’s Trio for Flute, Clarinet and Piano, Ramiro Cortes’ Elegy for Flute and Piano, Alec Wilder’s Suite for Flute, Clarinet and Piano, Leo Kraft’s - Music for a Sunday Afternoon for Flute and Clarinet, Shulamit Ran’s East Wind for Solo Flute, Robert Muczynski’s Duos for Flute and Clarinet in B-flat, Op. 24 and Three Preludes for Unaccompanied Flute and Carson P. Cooman’s Invocation for Solo Flute and String Orchestra, Op. 229. This Ms. Maurer’s 5th release on 4Tay and we are proud to welcome her to the catalog once again.  (less)

Age Uranus, the Magician Neptune, the Mystic Disc Two: Ralph Vaughn Williams Fantasia on Greensleeves - Ralph Vaughn Williams March: Seventeen Come Sunday - Ralph Vaughn Williams Intermezzo: My Bonny Boy - Ralph Vaughn Williams March: Folk Songs from Somerset - Ralph Vaughn Williams Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis - Ralph Vaughn Williams Introduction and Allegro, OP.47 - Edward Elgar Prelude and Fugue, OP. 29 - Benjamin Britten  (less)

"Sunday Driver" to the intense, angular "Rush Hour." Pianist Stuart Leitch brings the music to life in a sparkling performance on a Baldwin Grand.  (less)

in G Major for Strings, Op. 77-II. Intermezzo (Notturno) [Emerson String Quartet; Edgar Meyer, bass]; (4) Arr. Pavel Fischer/Radim Sedmidubsky: Moravian Folk Tunes [Skampa String Quartet]; (5) Peter Maxwell Davies: Farewell to Stromness [Da vid Owen Norris, piano]; (6) Stravinsky: Suite Italienne--Minuetto E Finale [Chee-Yun, violin; Akira Eguchi, piano]; (7) Haydn: Quartet No. 27 in D Major,Op. 20, No. 4-IV. Preseto Scherzando [Mendelssohn String Quartet]; (8) Korngold: Much Ado About Nothing, Suite, Op. 11-III. Scene in the Garden [Gil Shaham, violin; Rohan De Silva, piano]; (9) Taneyev: Quartet No. 1 in B Minor, O. 4-IV. Intermezzo: Andantino [Orion String Quartet]; (10) Ravel: Trio-II. Pantoum [Paris Piano Trio]; (11) De Falla: Suite Pop...  (less)

Columbia's huge Duke catalog, as well as some early efforts for Brunswick, it does not represent such defining works as the late-'30s/early-'40s songs gathered on RCA's Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band and The Far East Suite , Prestige's Carnegie Hall Concerts, January 1943 , Blue Note's supertrio album Money Jungle , and Fantasy's The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse . That said, this 37-song set offers a great ride through the ages, powered by such classics as "Black and Tan Fantasy," "Creole Love Call," "Caravan," "Mood Indigo," "Cotton Tail" and "Come Sunday" featuring such immortal soloists as Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart and the never-to-be-underrated Ellington. Even after all this time, the transcendent geni...  (less)