The Chopin Collection, performed by Artur Rubinstein, on the RCA Victor Gold Seal label ★★★
This is a historic collection, and thus contains much disturbing recording noise to it, though in many of the tracks, it tends to be less apparent. There are now a number of Chopin collections, including the Biret and Ashkenazy collections, both of which are superb. I also have other Chopin recordings by a potpourri of other performers, and the historic performer that is my favorite is Vladimir Horowitz. Artur Rubinstein (not related to Anton Rubinstein) was a Polish-American Jewish child prodigy, making his greatest claim in the interpretation of Chopin. His was a somewhat wanton life, living as a hedonist, though occasionally expressing moral approbation when his personal value system was affronted. While fighting “racism”, he arrogantly manifested himself as the greatest racist and intolerant to others, not of his own thinking. Like Richard Wagner, his own personal life and character tend to distract from the personal genius of the man. This is an inexpensive set worth having for historical reasons, though better recordings are now available.
November 2010
Ancient Empires Before Alexander
Ancient Empires Before Alexander, by Robert Dise, from the Teaching Company ★★★★
Many of my recent Teaching Company reviews have been less than favorable, but this series is an exception. Covering in this series is a discussion of the rise of the concept of empires, first noted historically by Sargon in Mesopotamia. Dise proceeds to then discuss the Ur kingdom, the Kassites, Hatti (the Hittites), Egypt, Minoan and Mycenaean empires, Israel, Assyria, neo-Babylon, Persia, and finally Carthage. Throughout, Dise remains informative as well as interesting. His discussions do not err as many in extrapolations of data, but instead, give a good review of our current knowledge of the various empires above. My most serious complaint is his treatment of Israel and use of the Biblical data. It is so often the case that while trying to maintain an air of objectivism and critical review of the sources of ancient literature, one fails to appreciate the differences in stylistic writing that would clue one into the credibility of the literature in question. Such is the case with the Biblical script, which should not come under doubt simply because it is also considered a religious genre. Other than that, it is nice to see that moderns did not invent the concept of empire, which existed from the earliest written history. It is not a question of whether or not empires will exist, but rather, who will lead and control those empires. All empires have had the tendency to be expansionistic. Some empires desired expansion for economic reasons (Carthage), many for the defense of borders, and some simply for the joy of lording over others. Power seems to remain throughout history a stronger driving force than wealth or any other characteristic in motivating an empire. This series does a masterful job of helping one explore the concept of empire, and understanding those driving factors throughout mankind that drive for empire.
Mendelssohn Chorwerke
Mendelssohn Chorwerke, performed by the Chamber Choir of Europe with Nicol Matt ★★★★
These choral works are entirely religious, and encompass the breadth of Mendelssohn’s career. Purchased from Amazon.com, they are a steal at less than $3/disc. Some are works that are quite popular, such as Hör mein Bitten, but performed better than more expensive recordings that I have purchased in the past. There was no piece in this set that was inferior, and the soloists were always in top form, not weak as is often heard with Mendelssohn performances. It is a pity that Mendelssohn is so seriously overlooked, especially among church choirs. It is also a pity that Nicol Matt is not better known, as he is a first-rate conductor. Perhaps works like this will draw more attention to Mendelssohn, and we will see more high quality performances of his work.
Creation and Change
Creation and Change, by Douglas Kelly ★★★
I purchased and read this book at the recommendation of a friend in hopes that I would have a better biblical rationale for a 6-day creation, over that of an old-earth creation. My comments later will discuss the efficacy of achieving that end. Kelly is a theologian who teaches at Reformed Theological Seminary, and is definitely not a scientist, a fact that he does not hide. I review the book chapter by chapter to offer adequate comments.
Chapter one is a simple introduction, stating his goal of developing the scientific and Scriptural necessity for a 6-day creation.
Chapter 2 develops the literary genre of Gen 1-3, arguing against poetry and for pure history as the literary construct in these passages. His main source material for the argument comes from the work of E.J. Young, who adamantly states that there is no poetry in Gen 1-3. The argument posed by Young is not given. I tend to disagree on forming a dichotomy and feel that Gen. 1 reads very clearly as poetry, yet, as true poetry, and thus also historical. It is both. Kelly argues briefly against the documentary hypothesis, which proposes two accounts of creation, that found in Gen. 1-2.3, and that found in Gen 2.4 and on. I agree with Kelly that the best reading is a single account with Genesis 2 expanding on details in the creation narrative.
Chapter 3 provides an argument for creation ex nihilo, and the argument of intelligent design, as well as an argument for the necessity for a creation from the laws of thermodynamics.
Chapter 4 discusses day 1 of creation. Much of his discussion centers around what might be considered pre-day 1, that is, the account of the Spirit of God moving over the unformed earth before He creates light.
Chapter 5 is a partial diversion, arguing about the timing of the creation of angels, for which nothing is said in Scripture and thus isn’t worth speculating on. He discusses the gap between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2, mostly countering a theory that supposes the world to have been developed, and then destroyed, after which God begins again to create the earth as we know it. He doesn’t discuss why the literary structure would most easily be read as a gap, especially since he is concerned about the “plain reading” of the verses.
Chapter 6 specifically examines the meaning of the word “day”. He offers a very incomplete argument regarding the entire scriptural usage of the word “day”. In this chapter, he discusses the framework hypothesis, popularized by Meredith Kline, which states that the six days are only a framework for God’s creative activity, and not necessarily a chronological account. He contends that a more “literary” approach dangers of nominalism, which is a strange argument since such reasoning could be used to argue against just about anything. As an example, an argument against predestination is that it logically leads to fatalism is simply not true. The technical notes at the end of this chapter argue again against the documentary hypothesis. He discusses Augustine’s ambiguous stance on the creation and various New Testament quotes, none of which address the young earth vs. old earth controversy.
Chapters 7 and 8 are his plunge into science. In chapter 7, the first argument is for the timing of Adam, which he feels fits the Ussher chronology, and to which I have no serious problems. Unfortunately, this addresses only timing following the seven creation days and nothing more. He then spends much time discussing the theory that the speed of light over time has slowed down, in fact, since the creation 6000 years ago, it is going 5 x 10(11th power) slower, which would give the earth an apparent age of billions of years. This sounds overtly appealing but logically destroys all of Kelly’s argument. He suggests that we reference the 24 hr/day of creation by today’s reference. Under this scheme, the clock which ran apparently for 24hrs would now run for millions of years. This explanation creates as many problems as solutions by making time variable and thus meaningless for discussion. Finally, Kelly tortures me in his absence of scientific knowledge in this chapter. He constantly speaks of such things as the “velocity of an electron in its orbit around the proton”, a kickback to the old Bohr theory which nobody including Bohr accepts.
Chapter 8 deals with physical means of determining chronological age. He first argues that all things were created with apparent age, a statement that I couldn’t disagree with. If things were created with apparent age, then science (as he offers) simply could not help us resolve a timing issue. Regarding geological evidence provided by Morris and his comrades, my Christian geology friends attest it to be woefully wrong. Morris does not take account of plate tectonics and other geological explanations as to why things appear the way they are. Kelly argues strongly against uniformitarianism, i.e., that the laws of physics do not change, since the catastrophe of a great flood could explain matters without uniform physical laws. The discussion then turns to dating methods such as carbon-14, showing a moderate inaccuracy in the dating technique as well as reason to doubt the validity of c-14 dating. I have no disagreement with his arguments, even though C-14 dating has also been quite helpful at establishing biblical type dates to many archeological finds, and thus is not totally without value. Much of his criticism stems from the work of Morris and Brown, who tend toward doing poor science at best, and whose arguments in this chapter do not bear worth contending with since are so poorly thought out. As a brief example, Morris and Brown, as others, contend against uniformity, yet use uniform physical properties to claim calculations of the age of the earth and universe, a questionable enterprise at best.
Chapter 9- This chapter speaks about days 2 &3 of creation, first the separation of waters from heaven and earth, and then the “gathering” of water to create dry land. Finally, vegetation is created. Much of the discussion relates to the creation of vegetation, and the argument against time and chance possibly creating plant life.
Chapter 10 discusses briefly day 4 &5 of creation, i.e., the creation of the sun, moon and stars, and later the creation of fish and fowl. He makes minimal elaboration but tries to explain how plants were made on day 3 and the sun on day 4 – surely plants could survive one day without sun!
Chapter 11 speaks very briefly of the creation of the animal world followed by the creation of man. He leaves many holes in the explanation of the creation narrative. He too briefly touches on theistic evolution, and to my dismay, offers minimal critical arguments against this thinking on a theological basis.
Chapter 12 finishes with a discussion of the Sabbath day and its relevance for today as a creation edict. I have no problem with this discussion, though he fails to offer an explanation why the seventh day doesn’t end with the typical closure verbiage of the previous 6 days.
So, did the book persuade me against old earthism as distinctly an error in the interpretation of Genesis 1? Unfortunately, his arguments relied heavily on such people as Henry Morris, who, more than any other writer, persuaded me against a solid 6-day creation scheme because of his sloppy thinking and writing. There were stylistic issues that I had with Kelly. I don’t like when somebody overuses superlatives, such as “Prof. X wisely reminds us…”, “distinguished Christian exegete XX”, “crisply states”, etc. Kelly repeats often and could have edited the book down a bit. Kelly’s exposition of Hebrew grammar sometimes is too harsh and determinative. As an example, he discusses Gen 1:26 ” Let us make man…” arguing that the pleural for God is the first argument of a trinitarian God. Contrary, Waltke (whom I don’t always agree with) takes a much more cautious approach but offers an adequate explanation as to how he comes to a certain conclusion.
In summary, Kelly does a poor job of arguing for a young earth. He fails mostly in that he should have given a better theological development for a young earth. Thus, I remain undecided yet between old and young earth explanations for creation. I don’t believe it is humanly possible to scientifically prove one way or another since things could have been created with age. There remains the question as to whether old-earthism does violence to Scripture, which I remain unconvinced by Kelly’s arguments.
Genesis vs Evolution
I recently posted a blog regarding my stand on the first chapters of Genesis, attesting that there is not sufficient information in the Scriptures to lead absolutely in favor of old earth versus young earth creation. Not being a Hebrew scholar, or expert linguist, or having formal extensive training in religious studies, my comments have to reflect ultimately my synthesis of the writings of others. I am a scientist, and thus may take liberties to look critically at scientific data, feeling myself to be a competent judge of the scientific literature. This combination of scientific training and religious readings allows me to draw certain conclusions about the nature of creation.
Linguistic and philological studies do not demand that the word “day” hold to a literal 24-hour period, although the context of Genesis 1 strongly suggests a 24-hour period. Day is very often used in both the old and new testament to refer to more than a 24-hour period. The “day of the Lord” refers in the prophetic writings to an epoch or a dispensation. Stylistic and textual studies suggest that the order of creation is not necessarily as stated in Gen 1. There are those that argue that the order is merely poetic, which I object to, as it is written as a historic account of creation. Yet, the converse argument is also not true, in that quite often in the historical writings of Scripture, strict chronology is not always followed. The Gospels are excellent examples of that, and numerous examples exist in Joshua through Chronicles of historical inversions, usually done intentionally to emphasize an effect or theme. The beauty of Gen 1 is that is a perfect merger of poetics and history, being perfect poetry, and yet perfect history, as defined by a Hebrew mindset.
Neither a pro-scientific nor anti-scientific viewpoint should be forced on Gen 1. One should not seek to merge the Genesis data into the prevailing scientific models. Science may used to substantiate the statements of Genesis but not necessarily to aid in the interpretation of Genesis. As an example, the big bang gives strong credence for a creation ex nihilo yet should not be used to force an interpretation of Genesis. As an anti-science example, it is hard to imagine that plants were created, and day and night were occurring before the creation of the sun, moon and the stars. Young earth-literal 24-hour day explanations fail miserably to offer an explanation for the order of creation. Most young-earth creationists end up being terrible scientists, Henry Morris possibly being one of the worst. It would have been better had he simply offered the absence of explanation rather than to write many scientifically weak volumes that have caused more to leave the young-earth camp than to join it.
To demand a rigid scientifically plausible explanation for creation does injustice to the Scriptures. Too many of the miracles defy a scientific explanation. How might I explain the sun standing still for Joshua? Or, the virgin birth and resurrection of Christ? How might I explain something so simple as the turning of water into wine, or the unlimited cask of oil in Elijah’s time? Those events all go contrary to even our most imaginative forms of quantum mechanics. It is clear that God doesn’t feel limited by the physical laws of the universe, and there is no reason to expect that He was held bound in the creative events of the universe.
An evolutionist theology of creation has no credence, since evolution itself has no credence as a science. Evolution is a pseudo-science so poorly conceived and inadequately substantiated as to not deserve mention, let alone serve as a framework for modeling our theology of creation. Yet, many Christians have argued in depth for what is now called theistic evolution. This includes Francis Collins (see his website, www.biologos.org), Bruce Dembski, and sadly, some conservative theologians, including Bruce Waltke and Tim Keller. In arguing against a creationist model, Biologos specifically states “Because BioLogos includes belief in a creator, it is sometimes thought to be a version of Old Earth Creationism. However, because BioLogos does not require that God miraculously intervened in the process of evolution in the sense of working outside the laws of nature, and because BioLogos also claims that biological evolution is the way by which God created the world, it is not a form of Old Earth Creationism.” The first statement, that does not require to God to work outside of the laws of nature (thus suggesting that He usually always works within the laws of nature), is totally nonsensical and a clear return to Hume’s Scottish rationalism. Isn’t the entirety of Scripture the account of God intervening in the world outside of nature? He created the laws of nature, often works with them, but not necessarily. The parting of the Reed Sea and all the miracles of the Exodus narrative, the miracles and resurrection of Christ, the salvation of a dupe like me, are all miracles outside of natural laws. Perhaps Collins could tell me how Christ naturally turned water into wine (revised, of course, to make beer!). Collins offers a seriously weak argument for the possibility of miracles, which fails to be convincing. His second statement on the insistence for biological evolution does injustice to both science and Scripture. Quite honestly, I believe that Collins sold his soul to the devil in order to achieve political ascendency. How could he ever achieve and remain head of the NIH if he were a “creationist”? The theistic evolution camp develops a serious theological problem, in that if it were true, then Paul is sorely mistaken and Romans should be stricken from Scripture. He would have had to attest that at the time of Adam and Eve in the garden, there were a plethora of humans, sub-humans, humanoids, human apes, etc. and that Adam (& Eve???) stood as the federal head of whoever. If one held to theistic evolution, one would be forced to burn all the existent theology texts, and start over. I don’t think theology should be so dependent on a weak scientific theory!
Collins draws a distinction between three theories of creation.
1.Theistic evolution—all events of Scripture including creation are bound by natural laws. This forces God to be subservient to natural law rather than the God to which natural laws serve.
2.Intelligent design—this is not actually a theory of evolution, since it takes no stance other than to argue against a purely random evolutionary scheme.
3.Creationism—this has two camps, including the young earthers (7 24-hr day creationism) vs. old earthers (longer than 7 days for creation).
My stance is against theistic evolution, but refuses to commit to either a young vs. old earth camp. You might call me a generic creationist. Both types of creationism are possible, do not seem to do violence to Scripture, and do not force a reinterpretation of the corpus of theology as we know it. There are reasonable arguments for both creationist camps, and I’m not sure arguments among the two creationist camps are where the true battle is raging. Together, we must combat other insidious, rationalistic forms of atheism or deism, disguised as Biblical and theological truth.
Bruce Waltke, who resigned from professorship at Reformed Theological Seminary because of his stance on evolution, has been a focus for defining the nature of the theistic evolution discussion. Because I am currently reading his book An Old Testament Theology, I find it necessary to interject a few thoughts regarding his comments.
1. In a footnote on the word “day” as found in Gen 1, Waltke admits that it more probably refers to a 24-hr period just from linguistic constructs, yet he later shows how the textual usage of the word “day” in in Gen 1 & 2 could not possibly mean a 24 hr period. Doesn’t make sense to me. I’m no scholar of Hebrew or textual criticism, and have to beg an inability to resolve this tension in the first chapters of Genesis.
2. Towards the end of the Cosmos chapter, Waltke admits there that he has been mostly influenced by a) BB Warfield, who stated a belief in evolution, and b) Francis Collins’ book The Language of God. I find it to be terribly disappointing to think that Collins has influenced the thinking of Waltke.
In order to sort out the science vs. Scripture dilemma, one needs to take a closer look at science. Science can be categorized into two parts.
1. Observation of God’s world, and development of new methods of observation. This we are encouraged to do in Scriptures. It is God’s world, and we are to delight in it, and the Creator who made it. Our senses are not entirely to be trusted, but our ability of observe the world in different ways often (not always) brings resolution when there are conflicting observations.
2. Interpretation of the observable data. Data demands a framework for its interpretation. By abandoning a biblical framework or Weltanschauung of Scripture, science becomes its own god. This creates a problem when we fail (like Collins) to see what we have done, in that Collins tries to merge a secular atheistic interpretation of scientific observation onto Scriptures.
Waltke in his text spends much time talking about a parallel ancient near east myth of creation, which has many close resemblances to the biblical creation story, but clearly far more vulgar and fantastic. He proposes that the biblical creation was written as a rebuttal of the Marduk mythology. There are several problems with this.
1. It is not characteristic of Scripture to BEGIN any writing or major thesis as a rebuttal or defense. Scripture needs no defense. God is a big boy, and doesn’t ever come out fighting to defend Himself. How else could I say it? It is too atypical to suppose that the creation account is a DEFENSE (!!!!) against ancient religions?
2. I am deeply puzzled why Waltke could not have given the simplest explanation of the Marduk account, that is, that the Marduk account is a perversion and degeneration of the creation story passed down from Adam to Moses, and probably corrected by God in an inspiratory fashion to Moses.
3. Theistic evolution can be likened to recruiting the Marduk myth to enhance the meaning of the creation story, that is, to use another god (science in its second meaning above) to offer us further insights into the creation story. If evolutionary theory wasn’t such a pathetic replacement of the creation story, I might be tempted.
Science in its first meaning is legitimate, and observations can influence exactly how we see Scripture. The Scriptures speak of the four corners of the earth, and we know only from our reasonably un-interpreted observations of the planet earth that there aren’t four corners, so we do utilize to some extent how we see the world and how we read Scripture. I do not stand strongly in favor of either a young earth or old earth creation, because I say we simply have insufficient information from either Scripture or our observation of the world to decide between the two. Maintaining a “neutral” scientific stance allows only the statement that we don’t know exactly how and by what mechanism God created the world and all that is in it, but simply that He did it. We can’t state a precise time period or order, but just that God was active in creating all that we know of the universe, including all of the laws of physics, matter, energy, anti-matter and anti-energy, and everything else.
Perhaps the best old-young earth merger is the possibility that the seven days of creation are seven 24-hour periods separated by lengthy segments of time, and that the days do not necessarily reflect a perfect chronological order. The gaps between days would explain the saltatory effects of the fossils, i.e., that the fossils don’t show a steady progression, but demonstrate spurts and jumps with large gaps, suggesting miraculous creative activity, interspersed by lengthy periods of creative inactivity. Even here, I’m reluctant to offer this as my absolute stance, since the exact progression and timing of creation will not be known outside of further revelation and clarification by God himself. It is possible that your comments will help persuade me one way or the other!
Saint-Saëns Choral Works
Saint-Saëns; Oratorio de Noël performed by the Bachchor and Bachorchester Mainz ★★★★★; Requiem and Psaume XVIII, by the L’Orchestre National D’Ile France ★★★★
Both of these works are excellent, that oddly have not made it into the standard repertoire . The first piece, a Christmas oratorio, is superbly performed with sensitivity to the script. Neither piece has catchy tunes to titillate the senses or become the object of Hollywood movie moguls. Both have a sweetness to them that make listening easy. Saint-Saëns varies from simplicity to complexity in the pieces while avoiding the bombastic attacks of orchestra and choir as Händel and others might do. Both are high recommendations.
Liszt: Various Choral Works
Liszt: Graner Messe, performed by Orchestra and Chorus-Paris/Sorbonne ★★★★★
St. Stanislaw, Cincinnati May Festival ★★★★
Missa Choralis and Via Crucis, by Corydon Singers ★★★
Requiem, performed by the Hungarian Army Male Chorus ★★★
Sacred Choral Music, Chorus of Radio Svizzera Lugano ★★★★
Franz Liszt is mostly known for his piano music. During his lifetime, he underwent various phases. Starting first as a virtuoso performer of the piano, Liszt set new standards throughout the music world of what was expected of a solo music performer. Eventually, he would write more complex pieces for the piano than what was then existent in order to showcase his performance technique. Later in his life, he retreated to a monastery. Living most of his life as a European playboy and “rockstar”, it is a little bit unusual to get a large proliferation of sacred music from him. Yet, the quality of this music is variable but quite good. Of all the CDs reviewed briefly here, the Graner Messe was the best in both composition and performance, and St. Stanislaw close behind. The Corydon Singers do an orchestrated version of the Via Crucis, and quite capably performed. The other Via Crucis found on the last CD was quite anemic, and was the piano and male chorus version of the work. This Via Crucis was a bit anemic, the piano version being performed much better by the Netherlands Chamber Choir and found on the Philips label. The last piece, Liszt’s Requiem, was also performed somewhat marginally, and could have been more convincing in its presentation. Though I appreciate the choral works of Liszt, I find that his piano compositions are far more enjoyable and best demonstrate Liszt’s creativity.
The Decline and Fall of the British Empire
The Decline and Fall of the British Empire 1781-1997, by Piers Brendon ★★★★
This book is monumental, 662 rather thick pages. It could not be read quickly. A very compelling read, the book was difficult to put down. Brendon starts the fall of the Empire at the time of the loss of the American colonies. Brendon then details the rise and fall of the British slave trade, the early attempts at colonization of India, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Further, he speaks of the spread of empire through the Far East and Afghanistan, Africa, and then the troubles with Ireland and the Boer War in South Africa. The First world war was detailed as the first truly significant decline of the British rule of the world, though they did acquire holdings in the Mid-east, including Egypt and Cyprus. The second world war seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, with which India, then Ceylon, Myanmar, Signapore and other smaller entities rebelled and were able to obtain freedom from England. Brendon walks through the loss of Israel, the Suez Canal debacle, and Aden loss. The 1960’s showed British attempts to stabilize their hold on Africa, only to see Gold Coast (Ghana), Nigeria, Kenya, Rhodesia and the other African republics peel off. Finally, the loss of holdings in the West Indies and Cyprus, the comical attempt to show strength in holding a worthless set of islands off of Argentina (the Falklands), and lastly the loss of Hong Kong to China in 1997 left England with only a few insignificant rocks and islands scattered throughout the world.
Brendon writes in style that is mostly ad hominem. He doesn’t give you straight history, and often, if unfamiliar with any particular history, one would need to look elsewhere to find details of the events that he is discussing. Instead, Brendon will linger at length at what various politicians, generals, and other leaders may have said at the time of the historical event. It is more a history behind the closed doors, or a history that you would experience on the streets. This is both good and bad, since Brendon tends to dwell on the most foppish remarks made that perhaps don’t always reflect true feelings or intentions. Several Amazon.com reviewers gave the book very low scores with the complaint that it has a vile bias against empire building. That is certainly true. Most histories that you read of the British Empire tend to extol the virtues and blessings that the British bestowed on forcefully occupied populations. If one wished to purely look for the good that came out of something, one could argue the virtues of Napoleon since he brought a liberal rule of law to many lands, and the goodness of Hitler since he gave Europe the gift of the Autobahn. I appreciate Brendon because he gives one balance in thinking about the history of the British Empire, even though it is biased heavily against British rule over half the world. Brendon’s terrible biases become most apparent in his interpretations of modern history. He has a terrible dislike for Margaret Thatcher and fails to say any good about her, even though she was following the general wish of most Britons. Even still, forget or sweep under the rug the abominations and atrocities performed by Her Majesties Service in the colonies, such as total and complete mass genocide in Tasmania, forced opium sales in China, brutal slaughters of major portions of the population in the Boer wars as well as other colonies, tyrannical forced rule in India, Ceylon, Burma, Kenya and many other African countries, arrogant racial snobbery towards blacks, Indians, and yellow folk suggesting that European (British) whites were a master race, and the absolute ineptitude of many military enterprises such as in Gallipoli and the Falklands.
By the time one has read all 662 pages of this book, it should be very clear that the Brits are intolerably arrogant, profoundly hypocritical, brutally racist, almost making Stalin, Hitler and Mao look like school children in the art of vice. Yet, I see many Americans possessing this arrogant attitude towards the rest of the world, suggesting that the problem runs deeper than just the British thought pattern. With its problems and limitations, I would still highly recommend this book as a worthy read, even if just to get one thinking about how certain foreign policies tend to create messes that will be around for centuries to come.
More Shostakovich
Shostakovich: Girlfriends, performed by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tale of the Priest and His Worker, Balda, Songs and Waltzes, performed by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra with Thomas Sanderling ★★★★★
As with my previous post, the review of these CDs reflect my horrid infatuation with the music of Shostakovich. All three of these CDs were budget, yet absolute marvelous specimens of music, impeccably and creatively performed, charming, enjoyable, and compelling. The Songs and Waltzes were particularly attractive, in definite competition with the best of the Johann Strauss waltzes. Shostakovich is not known well enough for his greatness. Much of the music on these CDs is totally accessible. They are not atonal pieces of cacophony so typical of much modern music, but reflect a creativity distinctive of 20th century music while not straining the ear of the listener, and very tuneful. Thus, my highest recommendations.
Shostakovich Film Music
Shostakovich: Odna, Hamlet, The Fall of Berlin, Suite from the Unforgettable Year 1919, performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra ★★★★★
Those of you who know me well know that I am crazy about Shostakovich. He is, in my opinion, the greatest composer of the 20th century. These works are “pop” works of his, totally accessible, catchy, tonal, entirely tonic-dominant music. Yet, it is creative and possessing a clear brilliance. These are more collector pieces rather than something one would like to time and again. Some pieces, like the Fall of Red Hill in the Unforgettable Year 1919 suite, are absolute masterpieces of all time. The only regrets that I have while listening to these CDs is that the films are not themselves available with English subtitles (0f course). These CDs were purchased separately but were sold by Amazon.com as budget CDs, yet they are NOT budget music presentations.
