Concert Hall Classics

Odeum Guitar Duo | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Performers: Fred Benedetti, Robert Wetzel
• Original Release Date: March 30, 1999
• Label: Concert Hall Records
• Copyright: 2006 Concert Hall Records
• Total Length: 56:16
• Genres: Classical/Ballets & Dances, Classical/Historical Periods
• ASIN: B000QQY2HK
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,708 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)
  • #37 in MP3 Downloads > MP3 Albums > Classical > Chamber Music > Duets
  • #96 in MP3 Downloads > MP3 Albums > Classical > Chamber Music > Quintets

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Revealing...Enchanting..Truly Magical" --Two guitars debut!, November 16, 2000

By 

Robert Wetzel (Spring Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concert Hall Classics (Audio CD)

Since I am one of the two artists who make up the Odeum Guitar Duo, I would simply like to share an excellent review by the noted music critic, William Zagorski, of their debut CD release, "Concert Hall Classics", that appears in the Nov/Dec 2000 issue of Fanfare Magazine. The CD was also chosen by Acoustic Guitar Magazine as being one of the ten best independently produced guitar CDs of 2000! The Odeum Guitar Duo is featured in the June, 2000 issue of Acoustic Guitar. Here follows the Fanfare Magazine review of "Concert Hall Classics" by the Odeum Guitar Duo:

ODEUM GUITAR DUO - CONCERT HALL CLASSICS - ROBERT WETZEL, FRED BENEDETTI (gtrs)- SBE 6198 (56:26)

TORELLI Concerto in d. BEETHOVEN Duet with 2 Eye-Glasses Obbligato, WoO 32. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Sadko: Song of India. SCHUMANN Kinderscenen. Traumerei, Op. 15/7. CHOPIN Waltz in c#, Op.64.2. VIVALDI Concerto in E, Op.3/12, RV 265. BOCCHERINI Quintet in D,G.448: Introduction and Fandango

"The Odeum Guitar Duo's fine metrical discipline was the first of their virtues that struck me in the auditioning of this disc. Any neophyte (and less than neophyte) conductor will tell you that one of the most challenging demands of the craft is that of starting a piece at one tempo, and ending it, despite various intermittent modifications along the way, in that very same tempo. If one can do this, the music can and will unfold in a truly magical and telling way. The Odeum's revealing realization of Torelli's Concerto in D minor (insightfully arranged by Robert Wetzel, who provided all of this disc's transcriptions) once again proves to me that there is a lot more to that composer than usually comes across in so-called standard performances. Their Vivaldi Concerto in E Major, R265, is sprightly and similarly ear-opening, and their final track--Boccherini's Introduction and Fandango from his D-Major Quintet--brings the disc to a most satisfying close. I found it enchanting not merely because it realized the piece's inherent fire but also because the Odeum Guitar Duo paid enlightening heed to its underlying structure.

The intervening selections--Beethoven's Duet with Two Eye-glasses Obbligato, WoO 32, Rimsky-Korsakov's "Song of India" from his opera, Sadko, and Chopin's Waltz in C# Minor, Op.64, no. 2 (here transposed to A Minor)--show, equally, Wetzel and Benedetti's instrumental skill and Wetzel's perspicacity as a transcriber. My personal test for any transcription is that it be faithful to its model, and that it show that model in a new, and perhaps unexpected, light. These three dashes of contrasting musical color pass that test handily. The recording has been well produced. I found its upper partials (I'm speaking of sound, not teeth) as delightful as the Odeum's clean voice-leading and projection of instrumental color. I HUNGRILY AWAIT THEIR NEXT DISC."

William Zagorski, Fanfare Magazine, November/December, 2000

3.0 out of 5 stars Lathor, June 22, 2009

By 

Louis Hess "Lathor" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Concert Hall Classics (Audio CD)

Saw these two gentlemen in concert recently in San Diego. This CD pretty much follows the concert program but was better executed than the live performance.
The baroque pieces are best. Terrific entertainment in the car or at home.