The Great War: Classical And Popular Selections From The Time Of World War I (National Public Radio Milestones Of The Millennium)

Edward Elgar (Composer), Richard [1] Strauss (Composer), Gustav Mahler (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Sergey Prokofiev (Composer), Igor Stravinsky (Composer), Maurice Ravel (Composer), Arnold Schoenberg (Composer), Alban Berg (Composer), Aaron Copland (Composer), Nora / Norworth, Jack Bates-Norworth (Composer), Irving Berlin (Composer), George M. Cohan (Composer), Walter Donaldson (Composer), George Gershwin (Composer), King Oliver (Composer), Leonard Bernstein (Conductor), Eugene Ormandy (Conductor), Esa-Pekka Salonen (Conductor), Michael Tilson Thomas (Conductor) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Conductor: Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michael Tilson Thomas
• Composer: Edward Elgar, Richard [1] Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Sergey Prokofiev, et al.
• Audio CD (January 12, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000HXKX
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,700 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #11 in Music > Classical > Chamber Music > Septets

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The first two-thirds of this disc is a fascinating cram course in concert music around the time of World War I. The programmer has put together some fascinating juxtapositions--for example, Strauss's Rosenkavalier leads almost seamlessly into Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, and Schoenberg sounds out of context with everybody (including Berg). The selections are all short, and performance quality runs from great to mediocre, but this is still a thought-provoking educational experience, even though Bartók and Ives are conspicuously missing. The popular selections are less interesting, often campy, and although vintage recordings are used, they aren't always the right vintage. And someone missed a point by separating Copland's jazzy "Music for the Theatre" from Louis Armstrong, who could have followed immediately. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Recording!, March 13, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Southfield, MI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great War: Classical And Popular Selections From The Time Of World War I (National Public Radio Milestones Of The Millennium) (Audio CD)

(It was called The "Great" War, because nobody knew about WWII at the time and it was the biggest war anyone had ever seen.)

I think this CD may be a bit choppy to "easy" listeners, but for anyone who has a sincere interest in delving into the musical senses of earlier generations it's VERY good! I recommend the entire NPR Milestones of the Millennium series to such aficionados.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How a Century Has Change Our Perception of War, October 28, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Great War: Classical And Popular Selections From The Time Of World War I (National Public Radio Milestones Of The Millennium) (Audio CD)

War. Tough subject these days - tough subject since the beginning of time. Yet Americans tend to mend wounds and gradually allow the atrocities of yesteryear to fade into coated cases that signal more memories of 'how things used to be' rather than learning from the tragedies with which war has scarred the planet. National Public Radio issued this excellent memoir at the turn of the millennium and one wonders if it now has the same response that greeted it in 1999.

Linda Kobler reconstituted this mix of classical and popular music with a keen sense of history. The CD is twice divided (in both the classical and the popular music) into 'Before the War' 1901 - 1917, 'During the War' 1917 - 1922, and 'After the War' 1922 - 1928. In the first era are the works of Elgar ('Pomp and Circumstance'), Strauss (a waltz from 'Der Rosenkavalier'), Mahler (excerpt from 'Das Lied von der Erde'), and Debussy ('La Mer') joining the songs 'Shine On Harvest Moon' and 'Alexander's Ragtime Band'. The War period is represented by Prokofiev's 'Symphony No. 1', Stravinsky's 'L'histoire du soldat', and Ravel's 'Le tombeau de Couperin' in tandem with 'Over There'. After the war include Stravinsky ('Pulcinella Suite'), Schoenberg (Waltz from 'Five Piano Pieces'), Berg (excerpt from 'Wozzeck') and Copland ('Music from the Theatre') with popular songs 'How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm', 'The Man I Love', and 'West End Blues'.

The excerpts selected for this survey are exceptionally good: orchestras include NY Phil, LA Phil, Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony, and the Columbia Symphony under such batons a Ormandy, Bernstein, Salonen, Tilson Thomas, Schippers and Stravinsky; soloists include Glen Gould, Robert Casadesus, Lili Chookaskian, Louis Armstrong, et al. The sonics are very fine and the performances are each from significant full recordings remaining in the catalogue.

The booklet accompanying this concert of memories is written by Linda Kobler who uses each selection as a pivotal point in the atmosphere of the globe that accompanied the Great War: it is very well written and informative. This is one of those recorded collections that goes far beyond an accumulation of bits and pieces and instead gives food for thought about how our political and social actions intertwine with the arts in a prophetic way. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, October 05

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing selection of music, December 3, 2007

By 

Trevor J. Hall (PERRY,, ME USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Great War: Classical And Popular Selections From The Time Of World War I (National Public Radio Milestones Of The Millennium) (Audio CD)

A very enjoyable CD of the disastrous close of an era.

The accompanying literature in as enjoyable to read as the CD is to listen to.