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Tarfumes.com - Flowering Tree (2 CD)
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List Price: $29.98
Our Price: $26.99
Your Save: $ 2.99 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0075597996517
Label: Nonesuch
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: Nonesuch
Release Date: 2008-09-23
Studio: Nonesuch
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Editorial Reviews:
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The performances on this 2 disc set, which includes extensive liner notes and the complete libretto, were recorded at the Barbican Center, London, in August 2007, with the London Symphony Orchestra and the same vocalists who performed in Vienna.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Flowering Tree-Disappointing
Comment: Flowering Tree (2 CD) I found that this two CD piece of music very disappointing. I thought it boring and unmelodious, and to have to listen to two CD's was over the top...D.S. Yalden
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great music, terrible blunder by Nonesuch.
Comment: The beautiful, shimmering music is lovely. It reminds me somewhat of Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" ... no other living composer approaches Adams for his rich orchestrations, though Graeme Koehne gets better with every piece.
The messed-up libretto is unforgivable ... what moron was overseeing the production? Nonesuch obviously don't wasn't to talk to the customers who paid the considerable outlay for this set ... trying to speak to them or WEA International Ltd about it, is like hunting for the Snark.
Adams and Sellars get A+++ for their work, the record companies get F---.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Most Romantic Adams yet
Comment: The shimmering beauty of the music, the magical Tamil tale of transformative love vs. adversity, and the exceptional performances all make John Adams' opera/oratorio "A Flowering Tree" one of his best releases yet.
A flood of antipodal cultural references washes through the music. Adams' minimalist upbringing barely shows. To create some tonal exoticism, most of Act I seems to be in a medieval mixolydian mode (a scale sounding like G to G on the piano's white keys). The melodic lines are more emotive, the orchestration more transparent, the style positivistic in evoking the sound of previous composers.
The opening notes are transporting. Taking Wagner's woodbird music accompaniment from Siegfried and pasting on it a low melody in a peculiar doubling, Adams conjures up the Sibelius of the Sixth Symphony. Later, in highly accented, simply phrased, fortissimo choral passages, the shade of Carl Orff Carmina-izes. During the wedding music, slashing strings typical of the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara are heard. At the beginning of Act II, blatantly Wagnerian horn phrases burst out. Yet all these Western and Nordic references are carefully immersed in genetic Adams: No harm, no postmodern foul.
At times in other works, Adams emotive self is so standoffish you want to shake him. Not so here. Along with "My Father Knew Charles Ives," "Nixon in China," and, yes, "Ceiling ... Sky," this is my favorite Adams so far.
Customer Rating:
Summary: John Adams in fine form
Comment: I was very excited to see this CD was finally available, and I jumped on it. I'm happy to say that I'm not disappointed. Adam's writing is both energetic and gorgeous, as ever. An equal to "El Nino", easily. Superior to "Klinghoffer" and (if it even needs to be said) the stumble that "I Was Looking At The Ceiling..." turned out to be. Nothing tops "Nixon", of course, but that opera is stylistically somewhat different from Adam's current style. I have yet to hear "Doctor Atomic" so I can't compare it.
The performance is excellent as well. The singers are well matched to the material and the playing is phenomenal, as is the mix and master of the CD itself.
I have to confirm the booklet issue, but I have to say it doesn't really bother me. I'm not really a follow-the-libretto kind of opera listener. It's in English, anyhow. From a consumer perspective I would hope they would have some sort of mail-in exchange option, though, once they get it sorted out.
If you're a John Adams fan, this is a must-have, in my opinion.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Problem with printed booklet/libretto
Comment: While I enjoyed this opera tremendously when I saw it in Chicago, and this is a very good recording, the included booklet/libretto is completely messed up. The booklet contains two copies of the libretto of Act I, so you can't follow along with Act II. Nonesuch made a huge mistake in the typesetting and printing. I have contacted them, but they have not responded. It's a shame. This is a wonderful opera, but I wouldn't have purchased the media had I known the booklet was a total mess. I feel a bit cheated.
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