Browsing Category: "Music"
Handel Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks DVD Audio
User Reviews
5 Stars Magnificently played and sounding Handel
Although this disc is listed with the DVDs here at Amazon it isn’t a standard visual DVD. It is primarily a DVD-Audio disc with the great sound associated with that format. If your disc player isn’t capable of playing DVD-Audio, it will try playing it in DTS Digital Surround, the format next lower down in the burgeoning Great Chain of Being of audio technology. Should your player be incapable of this format as well, it will play it in “lowly” 2.0 stereo. I can remember when stereo was the apex of recorded sound so I suppose this is progress of a sort. Remember those prognostications of the “future”? We were all supposed to have personal helicopters and robots by now. Instead we have 6 or 7 speakers. Ah, consumerism!
My player is one of those universal all-format players. It played the DVD Audio layer of the disc and wouldn’t play the other 2 so I could not compare them, which I was really hankering to do. Thus, my comments about this disc are most applicable to the DVD-Audio format. Although the quality of performances are theoretically indifferent to the audio format by which they are reproduced, issues pertaining to instrumental balance, intonation and timbre are invariably affected by their playback format.
The DVD-A (or Advanced-Resolution Surround Sound to give its grander name) sounds spectacular with space surrounding each instrument and a real feeling of “live” music. This is a result of the 96khz. sampling rate in surround mode. In stereo mode there is a theoretical 192 khz. sampling rate; well beyond what the human ear can distinguish and it requires a newer A/V receiver capable of decoding such a high sampling rate. Both modes capture 24 bits of information each microsecond. Of course, to insure compatibility with different home theatre systems, a separate DTS track (not a lossless format) enables you to get multi-channel sound if you don’t have DVD-Audio capability. This is the same DTS in which film soundtracks are recorded. I think it is the best sounding format for that purpose, but some information is lost in the compression process. Discs like this Handel recording, offering so many format choices, are a good value but I am unable to offer a comparison in sound quality between them.
The performance of Handel’s Water Music, composed for royal water parties on the Thames in August 1715 and July 1717 (an unqualified success which the King “caused it to be plaid three times in going and returning”), is superb. There are 3 suites, in F Major, D Major and G Major respectively and the period instrument forces of the Aradia Ensemble under Kevin Mallon are nearly flawless in terms of expressiveness, tempi, intonation and interpretation. These are areas period instruments groups had difficulty in at the beginning of the authentic performance movement. It is an indication of how far things have evolved that comparisons to modern orchestras are now often to the modern’s disadvantage in these performance areas. The Aradia Ensemble’s performance style is reminiscent of Jeanne Lamon’s Tafelmusik. Solid performances, fleet and expressive. The Music for the Royal Fireworks, composed to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1749 with a fireworks display in Green Park London, was reported to have been “ill-conducted” and a pyrotechnic and public relations disaster. One of the pavillions caught fire and burned to the ground. The king did not ask the Fireworks Music to be replayed. The Aradia Ensemble have better luck; though the performance is blistering, nothing combusts. Kevin Mallon appears to be an excellent conductor. As the authentic performance movement’s first wave of conductors age, talented younger conductors are arriving on the scene to further the precepts of their maturing antecedents.
This is an excellently performed, superb sounding DVD-Audio disc from Naxos: still a bargain for the price and definitely worth getting. My strong recommendation.
Mike Birman
Handel Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks DVD Audio
User Reviews
5 Stars Magnificently played and sounding Handel
Although this disc is listed with the DVDs here at Amazon it isn’t a standard visual DVD. It is primarily a DVD-Audio disc with the great sound associated with that format. If your disc player isn’t capable of playing DVD-Audio, it will try playing it in DTS Digital Surround, the format next lower down in the burgeoning Great Chain of Being of audio technology. Should your player be incapable of this format as well, it will play it in “lowly” 2.0 stereo. I can remember when stereo was the apex of recorded sound so I suppose this is progress of a sort. Remember those prognostications of the “future”? We were all supposed to have personal helicopters and robots by now. Instead we have 6 or 7 speakers. Ah, consumerism!
My player is one of those universal all-format players. It played the DVD Audio layer of the disc and wouldn’t play the other 2 so I could not compare them, which I was really hankering to do. Thus, my comments about this disc are most applicable to the DVD-Audio format. Although the quality of performances are theoretically indifferent to the audio format by which they are reproduced, issues pertaining to instrumental balance, intonation and timbre are invariably affected by their playback format.
The DVD-A (or Advanced-Resolution Surround Sound to give its grander name) sounds spectacular with space surrounding each instrument and a real feeling of “live” music. This is a result of the 96khz. sampling rate in surround mode. In stereo mode there is a theoretical 192 khz. sampling rate; well beyond what the human ear can distinguish and it requires a newer A/V receiver capable of decoding such a high sampling rate. Both modes capture 24 bits of information each microsecond. Of course, to insure compatibility with different home theatre systems, a separate DTS track (not a lossless format) enables you to get multi-channel sound if you don’t have DVD-Audio capability. This is the same DTS in which film soundtracks are recorded. I think it is the best sounding format for that purpose, but some information is lost in the compression process. Discs like this Handel recording, offering so many format choices, are a good value but I am unable to offer a comparison in sound quality between them.
The performance of Handel’s Water Music, composed for royal water parties on the Thames in August 1715 and July 1717 (an unqualified success which the King “caused it to be plaid three times in going and returning”), is superb. There are 3 suites, in F Major, D Major and G Major respectively and the period instrument forces of the Aradia Ensemble under Kevin Mallon are nearly flawless in terms of expressiveness, tempi, intonation and interpretation. These are areas period instruments groups had difficulty in at the beginning of the authentic performance movement. It is an indication of how far things have evolved that comparisons to modern orchestras are now often to the modern’s disadvantage in these performance areas. The Aradia Ensemble’s performance style is reminiscent of Jeanne Lamon’s Tafelmusik. Solid performances, fleet and expressive. The Music for the Royal Fireworks, composed to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1749 with a fireworks display in Green Park London, was reported to have been “ill-conducted” and a pyrotechnic and public relations disaster. One of the pavillions caught fire and burned to the ground. The king did not ask the Fireworks Music to be replayed. The Aradia Ensemble have better luck; though the performance is blistering, nothing combusts. Kevin Mallon appears to be an excellent conductor. As the authentic performance movement’s first wave of conductors age, talented younger conductors are arriving on the scene to further the precepts of their maturing antecedents.
This is an excellently performed, superb sounding DVD-Audio disc from Naxos: still a bargain for the price and definitely worth getting. My strong recommendation.
Mike Birman
Two factors account for the broad-based popularity of Secret Garden (the duo of Norwegian keyboardist Rolf Lovland and Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry). One: the twosome’s attractive, smartly conceived mix of compatible elements including light classical, urbane New Age, and well-mannered contemporary Celtic. Two: the pair’s ability to persuasively present this formula with poise and (crucially) fetching good looks in a concert film, which in 1999 enjoyed broad exposure on American public television. (The performance, A Night with Secret Garden, is available on DVD.) White Stones is Lovland and Sherry’s second collaboration, and, despite a few side trips into weighty sentimentality (e.g., the heart-clutching earnestness of “First Day of Spring”), it nicely conveys the pair’s simple yet endearing children-of-the-cosmos spirit. Highlights here include the disc’s energized, Celtic-influenced tunes (”Steps,” “Moving,” “Escape”) and an infectious, regal charmer (”Celebration”) Lovland composed in honor of the Queen of Norway’s 60th birthday. Accompanied on nearly every piece by a small orchestra or Celtic instrumentalists, Sherry’s violin sometimes evokes moods of melancholy that seem better suited for a two-hanky, movie-of-the-week film score. Yet a piece such as “Hymn to Hope” shows she can also elegantly trigger deeper feelings of longing and anticipation that can linger for hours. Overall, a worthwhile listen. –Terry Wood
User Reviews
5 Stars Classic, beautiful music by Secret Garden – INCREDIBLE
Secret Garden is the best discovery of my life as far as music goes. The violin is so soft and beautiful, and the singing is ethereal. I cannot get enough of this group! I highly recommend White Stones. I love Irish music and they have a lot of songs that have the Irish Celtic sound, and I just cannot say enough good things about this CD.
5 Stars White Stone -soup for the soul
I highly reccommend this. Most enjoyable during my hectic day working excel spread sheets. Good focus tool. Enjoy it.VBS
4 Stars Pleasant, romantic music for the soul
As a fan of “Secret Garden” I have enjoyed this CD for weeks now. I fall asleep to it almost every night. It is not my very favorite, prefering the turn of the century one, but I do alternate listening to both. I am looking forward to a new album, as the recently purchsed one has mostly repeats on it.
Talented musicians, composers and singers make this CD incredibly enjoyable and I do say I love it.
5 Stars Excellent Work
This is by far my favorite Secret Garden CD and their only all instumental CD. I prefer the allegro selections , despite the fact that they consider them to be filler material . The musicianship is first rate and you would never know that the individual songs were recorded in pieces , unless you visited their website . This CD has , what the Grateful Dead refered to as , the X factor . Everything on each selection flows together as if all of the musicians were in the same studio doing it live . Fionnuala Sherry dominates the entire work as the featured artist , but certainly doesn’t overpower the rest of the fine musicians involved . I find it remarkable that this CD has never received a major award .
5 Stars White Stones
Excellent orchestrations, with use of specific instruments to bring out various emotions in the listener. Excellent up front or as background music, or even for meditation. I like driving in the mountains or desert listening to any of Secret Garden’s great music.
Dr. Ronaldo Fritz
