Editorial Product Review: :Put together by Abba's own Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, Mamma Mia! manages to cram over 20 of the Swedish supergroup's songs into a threadbare plot. It goes a little like this: Young Sophie is getting married and she's trying to identify which of three men is her father. That's about it. Wisely, the musical doesn't mess around with the songs, save for the insertion of some dialogue or for having some of them performed by a man ...
Editorial Product Review: :Spike Lee's powerful rumination on the last 24 hours of freedom of a young convicted felon (Edward Norton) before he serves a seven-year prison sentence that will forever change his life is charged with melancholy regrets--and slim hopes of redemption. Longtime Lee collaborator Terence Blanchard's haunting score was deservedly nominated for a Golden Globe for the stark, sophisticated way it colors a challenging story with music that's at once haunting and achingly introspective. Blanchard's orchestral music here may ...
Editorial Product Review: :Spike Lee's powerful rumination on the last 24 hours of freedom of a young convicted felon (Edward Norton) before he serves a seven-year prison sentence that will forever change his life is charged with melancholy regrets--and slim hopes of redemption. Longtime Lee collaborator Terence Blanchard's haunting score was deservedly nominated for a Golden Globe for the stark, sophisticated way it colors a challenging story with music that's at once haunting and achingly introspective. Blanchard's orchestral music here may ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:The polychoral and antiphonal works of Giovanni Gabrieli sound best performed in the acoustics for which they were conceived, such as the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice, where this splendid collection was recorded. Whether in extroverted pieces like the Sonatas 18 and 20, or the introspective and harmonically rich Domine, Deus meus, the sounds that resonate between the notes are crucial to this composer's expression. Time and again one's ears perk up at Gabrieli's ...
Editorial Product Review:Album Description:Re-release of the original London cast recording of the musical based on the songs of the legendary pop group Abba that includes re-recorded versions of 'Dancing Queen', 'Mamma Mia' and 'Waterloo'.
Editorial Product Review: :Grainger was one of music's true originals. Folk-song collector, bandmaster, composer of quirkily original orchestral and choral music, his works have yet to be fully appreciated--or even cataloged. The problem was that he liked to keep his performance options open, and generally produced several versions of the same piece, some of which were complete rewrites (and therefore new works), while others were modest rescorings. The choral music largely consists of folk tune and popular song arrangements that Grainger ...
Editorial Product Review: :Grainger was one of music's true originals. Folk-song collector, bandmaster, composer of quirkily original orchestral and choral music, his works have yet to be fully appreciated--or even cataloged. The problem was that he liked to keep his performance options open, and generally produced several versions of the same piece, some of which were complete rewrites (and therefore new works), while others were modest rescorings. The choral music largely consists of folk tune and popular song arrangements that Grainger ...
Editorial Product Review: :Grainger was one of music's true originals. Folk-song collector, bandmaster, composer of quirkily original orchestral and choral music, his works have yet to be fully appreciated--or even cataloged. The problem was that he liked to keep his performance options open, and generally produced several versions of the same piece, some of which were complete rewrites (and therefore new works), while others were modest rescorings. The choral music largely consists of folk tune and popular song arrangements that Grainger ...
Editorial Product Review: :Saul is one of Handel's most dramatic and touching oratorios. Saul's insane jealousy and its tragic results are movingly told, with rich characterizations for the main characters and some of the composer's most colorful music. The addition of a carillon is exotic and flavorful; the trumpets and drums are exciting. McCreesh underlines the drama with his orchestra's crisp attacks and the chorus has real personality, whether in the songs of praise or the laments. Neil Davies' rich bass ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:Because Handel's Israel in Egypt was so short, he prefaced it in later performances with an arrangement of The Ways of Zion Do Mourn, also known as the Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline. Putting a half-hour of gloom and misery at the start really didn't help matters much, so here John Eliot Gardiner gives you the original funeral anthem, and if you want to hear it first, you can. Otherwise, you get a vigorous and exciting ...
Alienware's flagship gaming laptop, the Area-51 m9750, has plenty of appeal for high-end gamers, but the alien head aesthetic seems dated, and newer components are right around the corner.
Thanks to a rich set of features and some great new additions, Evite maintains its stature as the top service for issuing e-invitations —but competitors are catching up.
