Music for 3 Pianos

Advantages: Beautifully hypnotic music from the master of floating ambient piano
Disadvantages: It is a very short CD indeed

...Effortlessly graceful and dreamlike, Music for 3 Pianos is quintessentially Harold Budd. Admittedly his two partners in music should not be ignored but it is clearly Budd's input that is the greatest: the floating, hauntingly minimalist piano style and lyrical drift is his alone. I have nothing by either Ruben Garcia or Daniel Lentz, though Lentz has recorded on the Cold Blue Music label (as I believe did Budd briefly in the early 80s), the music of which mirrors Budd's slightly in its haunting simplicity and minimalist approach, with soloist often multi-tracking their recordings (similarly they are usually about 20 minutes per CD). In many ways Music for 3 Pianos sounds like a multi-tracked album. The three pianos could often be Budd's playing overlaid on two base recordings to generate additional depth. Thus the sound...

No_name 09.12.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Music For 3 Pianos - Harold Budd & Ruben Garcia/Daniel Lentz

THE PIANO TEACHER - (LA PIANISTE)

Advantages: Excellent physcological study of character.
Disadvantages: Grim, brutal, shocking scenes of a sexual nature.

... The Piano Teacher The Piano Teacher is a subtitled film of the Phycological Drama genre. Released in 2001 it is also known by it's French name La pianiste. Directed by Michael Haneke, it is based on the novel by Die Klavierspielerin which won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004. Graphic in it's content this film delves into the darker side of sex, including fetishism, bondage, and sado/masochism. It also touches on the delicate subject of genitalia self harm. This is not a light film, and is not recommended for family viewing. ~ I will be reviewing FILM ONLY Synopsis This is a tale revolving around a professor at a music conservatory in Vienna. Her name is Erica and she is played played by the wonderful actress Isabelle Huppert, Who has an impressive 75+ films under her belt. Erica is...

Morning_Becomes_Electra 20.01.2008 (25.01.2008) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of The Piano Teacher

BOSE: Music for the soul

Advantages: Great sound quality, perfet at loud volumes, just in general FANTASTIC
Disadvantages: none so far

...Anything made by BOSE can be trusted. Its sound quality is always at its best, no matter what soundsystem you use from bose, and it's true... you get what you pay for. Jus plug it in and press "ON" and you're set up! IT'S THAT EASY! bose is a big brang name, and everyone expects the best from, and how right they are. The sounddocks simplistic design brings out the best of your mp3 player, making it the whole music experience that much better. For (at most) £300, you are getting exactly what you pay for AND more! The bose soundock has an inate wonder within itself, which brings you to appreciate the minor details embedded into whatever track you are listening to. Its reasonably light weight, comes with an easy to use remote and from there onwards, it really is just you and your music i can easily say that the best thing about...

joshm12 30.05.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Bose SoundDock Digital Music System

Let the piano do the talking

Advantages: interesting story, excellent acting,
Disadvantages: expected more

...I went into this movie knowing about the oscars it had won and having been recommended by several friends, I expected something good. As a fan of period films, this movie is set in the 1850's, New Zealand. Ada (Holly Hunter) is a mute who with her young daughter Flora(Ann Paquin) braves the dangerous journey across the world. We see the movie start with them landing with all their belongings, including the priceless piano. Life begins in the leafy forest with her new Husband, Stewart (Sam Neill). Life is not what she expected in this remote area. Things take a turn for the worse when her new Husband sells her piano a neighbour, George (Harvey Keitel). George however, tells Ada she may earn back her piano by giving him piano lessons. Through the lessons, we see a turbulant but intreging relationship form. This movie wasn't what I...

rafomania 16.11.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Piano (DVD)

The Piano

Advantages: A great film to watch, a very emotional film which is gripping to watch..
Disadvantages: none

...The film, The Piano, is a film that tells a story about a young woman’s journey from oppression to freedom. The main character, Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), is sold off in marriage to marry Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neil) and is thus sent away from her home to New Zealand. She is accompanied by her 9 year old daughter, Flora (Anna Paquin) and her beloved piano. When Ada arrives on the beach of the New Zealand coast she is dressed in black dress and bonnet standing beside her beloved piano (her daughter on top), Ada provides a stark contrast with the vast backdrop of the crashing sea and grey skies. Ada has not spoken ever since her lover was killed by lightning. She communicates through her piano and sign language, understood by her daughter. The way in which she uses the piano reflects her mood in a very strong and clear manner...

silvajade 27.07.2004 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Piano (DVD)

THREE GOOFS AND A PIANO!

Advantages: Great 'life affirming' read
Disadvantages: None I`ve found

...a little promise. One day I would find a romantic location somewhere and install myself therein with a piano, devoting my time to reaching my fullest potential on this instrument." But why did he want a house abroad? Well, ever since his early efforts on the piano as a teenager Hawks had always dreamt of owning a little home in the middle of nowhere and installing a piano in it. There he could practice to his hearts content surrounded by the clean air and idyllic surroundings he thought necessary to inspire the best from him. Of course this being Tony Hawks he didn't go about things the easy way - having purchased a house he decided it would be more of an ethereal experience to transport the piano from London himself. What follows can best be described as a catalogue of comical incidents reminiscent of a Laurel and Hardy film as Hawks...

tractor-boy 14.09.2006 (21.10.2008) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of A Piano in the Pyrenees - Tony Hawks

Bose SoundDock Digital Music System Review

Advantages: Superb Sound, Very Loud, Ideal for Ipods
Disadvantages: not go to travel with, Extremely Expensive

...Bose SoundDock Digital Music System I happened to get this as a gift and it turned out to be quiet interesting Summary: This dock is used mainly for ipod and allows you to connet mp3 players to it and listen to high quality music via speakers. It is idle for homes and small gatherings, although I would not run a party off these. Pros: This system has terrific sound and can go very load despite its relative small size. As with almost all Bose speakers the quality is amazing, so long as the source you are playing it from is high quality it will allow the speakers to each its potential. I have a surround sound Bose set up in one of my rooms but now prefer to use this product as it is very simple to operate. Just plug the mp3 player in and press play and your set. Can't get much simpler. It also runs off a wall...

plunt 05.04.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Bose SoundDock Digital Music System

Frank Bridge - Piano Music rediscovered

Advantages: Excellent selection and performance of piano works by Frank Bridge
Disadvantages: A few pieces are not very interesting

...Frank Bridge was an early twentieth century English composer. His works are not widely known, but are played increasingly, and more recordings are becoming available. Some of his later works, such as his piano sonata, were influenced by Scriabin. This CD is the second of three, and covers a wide range of styles, but mostly in his earlier style. Most of the pieces on this CD are fairly easy to listen to, and can be enjoyed by the majority of classical music lovers. The opening piece, Etude Rhapsodique, is an etude appropriately played by Jacobs, in the grand manner (of Liszt and other nineteenth century virtuosi), full of late nineteenth century panache, but with Bridge's own distinctive voice. The second piece, Berceuse, is played beautifully, a gentle piece as the name would suggest (a lullaby) but again with Bridge's own...

skriabini 02.04.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Frank Bridge: Piano Works Vol.2

Wii music

Advantages: Learn about instruments
Disadvantages: Not interesting enough for me

...after we starting playing the game as I found it quite boring and not that fun unfortunately. The game does offer you quite a wide variety of instruments to play but plaing each of them pretty much felt the same and there was not too much difference between them in my opinion. However, if you want to learn about musical instruments then this is quite a good game for you. Some of the different instruments involved include the sitar, maracas, trumpet, harmonica and piano to name but a few. They have a really annoying professor that leads you through the game who has a really annoying voice and actions and this for me is one of the worst parts of the game. There are various different game modes on the Wii music that allow you to play the instruments in different ways. Handbell harmony was actually my favourite game. You use your Wii remote...

Spottydog11 23.06.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Wii Music (Wii)

The Piano

Advantages: Great tunes
Disadvantages: Recorded quality and overall blandness

...Jane Campion's The Piano is about a mute-by-choice Scotswoman Ada played by Holly Hunter (who won an Oscar for her performance). She journeys to the jungles of nineteenth-century New Zealand to marry a man she's never met, played by Sam Neill. Once there, she is horrified to find her beloved piano left on the beach until a man named Baines (Harvey Keitel) offers to let her play it in exchange for romantic favours. The music was composed by Michael Nyman, noted as a modernist and a minimalist. This is by far the most popular of Nyman's compositions, because of its easily accessible melodies and especially for the solo piano music. Nyman writes: "I began creating Ada a folio of material that I imagined she had in her head, that her fingers carried around with her, almost as if she had been the composer of it. It had to be "possible" mid...

berlioz 05.05.2004 (06.05.2004) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Nyman: The Piano Original Soundtrack