Cto For 2 Christophers/Alhambr: C/Bernstein;E-Marsha Parkening: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Con - For Two Christophers: I.Guitar

2. Con - For Two Christophers: II.Reflections

3. Con - For Two Christophers: III.Celebration

4. La Vega (From The Alhambra)

5. Essay: Allegretto

6. Essay: Andante Tranquillo

7. Essay: Allegro Vivace

Product Description

From Amazon.com

Elmer Bernstein is best known for his film scores (The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape are two of his best), but the former student of Aaron Copland has long dabbled in classical music. On this disc, we get his first attempt at composing for classical guitar. Performed by the legendary Christopher Parkening, Bernstein's Concerto for Guitar is a bit of a mixed bag: beautiful guitar parts (especially in the third movement, "Celebration") and plenty of disjointed orchestral outbursts that sound as if they were lifted straight out of an epic Hollywood soundtrack. The rest of the disc fares better. Parkening shines on Albéniz's La Vega, a piece composed originally for piano that features gorgeous interplay between soloist and orchestra. To finish out this guitar-fest, we get to hear a much younger Parkening performing Jack Marshall's Essay for Guitar (the first CD reissue of the 1967 recording). Though just 19 at the time, Parkening plays the playful yet contemplative work with ease and maturity. It's easily the highlight of the disc. --Jason Verlinde

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

3.5 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Great Music, Jun 6 2003

By

"scarlatti11" (Killeen, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cto For 2 Christophers/Alhambr (Audio CD)

As I was reading the reviews by
other, I was wondering if they
ever held a guitar in their arms?
Mr Parkening plays the guitar
wonderful, no wonder why he
is one of the greatest guitarists
of our times. I like this recording,
my favorite is the guitar concerto
by E.Bernstein. The E.Bernstein is
full of life and sunny melodies,
especially in the last movement.
Even the contemplative slow middle
movement of the concerto is radiant,
but at the same time contemplative.
The "Essay for Gutar", by Jack Marshall,
is a work of high stature, and like
E. Bernstein's concerto it is too
full of life.
Great recording, and outstanding works,
hurray for the new guitar concerto!!!

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2.0 out of 5 stars DOES NOT JUSTIFY Mr. PAKENING FAME, Dec 9 2001

By

Jose E. Torres (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cto For 2 Christophers/Alhambr (Audio CD)

The initial songs on this CD are a kind of interplay between the orchestra and the guitar player. The music sounds like if it were the soundtrack of some movie besides that I really think that on those initial songs there is little room for Mr. Parkening to justify his fame because the orchestra takes a principal role in the playing. As the CD goes its way to the end, the guitarist takes the principal role in the playing leaving the orchestra to back him up. The pieces of music are slow and inspire you to read some poetry or may be playing it in a romantic date. However I really think that the selection of these pieces does not make justice to Mr Parkening since does let him justify his fame as one of the best guitarists now a days. I think these pieces do not require the most of Mr. Parkening. It seems to me that its light classical music playing. Overall it is not a bad CD for background music but I really agree with one of the reviewers that state that there are beter classical CD's out there not to mention better guitarists. I am sorry I can not tell from this work alone that Mr. Parkening is an excellent guitarrist. This CD left much to be desired.

A final recomendation: there are many guitarrist that deserve a listening but they are not known by the public. An example is Enrique Florez a mexican guitarrist that was disciple of Segovia as well as Narciso Yepes. Unfortunately his CD is not available at amazon but if you ever go to Mexico stop by a music store and ask for one of his CD's (...)
You will see that there are excellent guitarist out there that unfortunatelly they do not have a excellent marketing system back them up.

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4.0 out of 5 stars long live tonality, Dec 30 2000

By

DeMonford (richfield, mn USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cto For 2 Christophers/Alhambr (Audio CD)

Cheers to Mr Bernstein and Mr Parkening! I purchased this CD because I have been a long time fan of Elmer Bernstein. (Man with Golden Arm and of course, The Ten Commandments) Upon my first listening I too was struck by the "motion picture quality" of the concerto. And at first, thought it a negative. But then I thought I was judging the work on my own point of reference. (motion pictures) well, a hundred years from now people will not be rating this music based on whether it is motion picture music or not. So, I began to listen to it as music, and became enthralled with the composition. Sure, it has it similarities to Aranjuez, and it does get rather bombastic at times, but all in all the concerto is a very solid musical effort. (just pay attention to the various meters in the first movement if you have any question as to whether or not Mr Bernstein knows what he is doing.......and, as far as Mr Parkening is concerned: the man is playing with more soul and maturity today than at any other time. In addition, the La Vega and Essay for guitar(also on the disc) are testimony to the brilliant arranging and writing talents of Jack Marshall. Thank you Mr Bernstein and Mr Parkening.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Classical Genius
Startled by the bravado of the opening notes I wondered if I had purchased the wrong CD to experience classical music. Read more

Published on Dec 14 2000 by Linda Hartley

1.0 out of 5 stars muzak
There are a lot of good guitar and orchestra cd's out there. This isn't one of them. The music may have been meant to have been contemplative, but it's just boring and... Read more

Published on Dec 7 2000 by Richard B. Schuchman