Customer Reviews

Esther Ofarim's First Album

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

 

 

Don't be fooled by the title "1st"... it should be read as "1st RATE" and not 1st album.. it IS misleading, since this is in no way her first album. The album contains a lot of "classical folk songs" ...songs from all over Europe and the Middle East - ofcourse you will find Jewish songs on this album since Esther is a native of Israel, but also songs in French, Italian and German.. all sung with this incredibly beautiful voice with so much timbre, intelligent and intense musicality which is followed up by great musicians. To make things even better, the recording quality -dating back from 1972- is quite stunning! Listen to the great musicianship from all taking part in this album, and then add this petite person, whose sensitivity simply HAS to be heard. This is HEART, BODY, SPIRIT and SOUL!! Highly recommended!

If you are a lover of Nana Mouskouri, then you will love Esther too; and even if you find Nana outdated, you may still love Esther. If you are a pop music lover, you will easily fall in love with her, for Esther will make you find even Mary Black simple, dull and flat.

If you are a classical music lover, you will be impressed all the more, for she went further than Nana who just got a classical training in music. She gets right into the source and life of music in almost the same way as Bach did. That explains why she is so appealing. I do suspect that Esther will never get outdated, for her voice and music is the embodiment of music itself, so rich and yet so fresh.

My attention was first drawn to this record because the singer was accompanied by Munich Philharmonic, a first rate orchestra by whatever standard. The orchestra also accompanied pianists like Fredrich Gulda, but the latter was a gold medalist in a world competition when a teenager, and had later become the masterclass teacher of both the renowned conductor Abbado and equally renowned pianist Martha Argerich.

It was such a pleasant surprise to hear Esther. My family are so addicted to her that I'm now obliged to check out more of her music. This is just a brief supplement to the previous reviews.

This is a *must have* CD if you like female vocal. Each song is in a different language !? Her voice is so *SWEET* First Impression has the audiophile version, XRCD, for about $35. I like it so much that I also bought the LP from Isreal :)