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Whistle Stopper - Osvaldo Golijov: Oceana
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List Price: $16.98
Our Price: $8.90
Your Save: $ 8.08 ( 48% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028947764267
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
Release Date: 2007-07-10
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Anyone notice the cover image?
Comment: If you're curious, the cover image for this DG release is recycled from Bill Evans and Jim Hall's 1962 'Undercurrent' album.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: The songs are the key.
Comment: I was very curious about this cd and almost picked it up in a store. I decided to check it out online (where I purchased it after streaming a bit) instead. The main offering ('Oceana') was immediately forgettable. It had some interesting sounds but nothing that sticks with you. I still sometimes will play it as something to have on, as some of the rhythms are fun. The main piece is followed up with Kronos Quartet playing a two movement quartet entitled 'Tenebrae'. Initially I was really drawn to this piece. I still like it very much. Its slow and sombre. Not for every mood, but skillfully played and recorded. The three songs, as sung by Dawn Upshaw, are what really shine here. Especially the third one.
In closing I would recomend this cd, so long as you understand it is a mixed offering.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous Embracing Experience
Comment: This is a gorgeous experience, musically, poetically. There is the presence of a great artist -- working with exceptional vocal and instrumental artists and deriving word/image focus from passionate tender rough vibrant poetry and song - that embraced me in a transcendent yet life affirming experience. The roots and yearnings of a people in their culture, their land, their oceans, their traditions, their generations, made personal - speak through. The fine abstract elements create a new universe in which to experience what is essential, unalloyed, rich. I am with this body of work as if it were a great living love in my life. In truth, it is.
Osvaldo Golijov: Oceana
Customer Rating:
Summary: Golijov continues to impress
Comment: Osvaldo Golijov is a terrific composer, bringing exciting new sounds and influences to concert music. If you've not experienced his music, it's an eclectic delight, with primary influences ranging from Argentina, Jewish tradition, and western classical music (with occasional digital elements for good measure). This is substantial, imaginative, superbly crafted music that also manages to be a very accessible and enjoyable.
The performances are first rate, Bob Spano is very gifted conductor and all of the performers are outstanding. Highly recommended for those looking for some fun, adventure, and real stimulation in their listening experiences!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Osvaldo Golijov: The Alchemist
Comment: Argentine born Osvaldo Golijov is one of today's more important composers, a gifted artist who is unafraid to combine elements of jazz, ritual, Latin American rhythms, and Jewish elements in his disparate works. At times critics of his work point a finger to his excesses, but that has been done before (Mahler, Strauss, Rachmaninov, etc) and the composers find the golden mean that makes their music durable.
This recording combines three quite different works. The title piece is bristling with percussion and guitars and some very sensuous singing by Luciana Souza as well as choral work (the Gwinnett Young Singers) and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Robert Spano. It is theatrical, exhilarating, and endlessly exciting. The second work 'Tenebrae' is a work that deals with inner sadness and is played with consummate skill by the Kronos Quartet. Despite the elegiac aspect of the music it is never less than beautiful and actually uplifting, full of hope.
The final set 'Three Songs' is quite simply a masterpiece. Set to three poems by Sally Potter, Rosalia de Castro and Emily Dickinson, the work is for soprano and full orchestra and while the texts deal with tragedy and death, the emotional response to this elegant writing is transcendentally beautiful. Dawn Upshaw owns this cycle and this recording one of her most beautiful - in a collection of splendid recordings! For this listener this work is the most successful and most moving on the CD. Golijov is young and already a master. One wonders what he will embrace next! Grady Harp, January 08
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Editorial Reviews:
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This stunning new CD of music by Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov is a beauty. The title work, Oceana, is scored for instruments (with prominent guitars and percussion), chorus, and solo vocalist (here, the remarkable samba and jazz stylist Luciana Souza). It sets a poem by Pablo Neruda that praises the transcendent power and beauty of the ocean. Filled with dancing rhythms, the work ebbs and flows, ever-moving and fascinating at every turn. The Kronos Quartet then plays Tenebrae, a two-movement lamentation with long, almost Verdian melodies. Three Songs, sung by Dawn Upshaw, ends the CD. One is a tale about the sad fate of Jews and Gypsies during World War II. The second, "Colorless Moon," is a stunning dirge, and the last, a poem by Emily Dickinson, is also a lament about the inevitability of death. Please don't assume from these descriptions that this disc is depressing. This is stunning, original music that uplifts, and it is performed superbly by all involved. A must. --Robert Levine
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