Customer Reviews

South American Getaway

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Some music, as Bacon wrote about books, is to be merely tasted and others digested. Many people ask me for music that can be played at parties (loud ones or sedate, indoors or out?), but seldom for music that stimulates the little gray cells. A recent EMI release falls sort of between the two poles. <South American Getaway> 7243 5 5656981 2) features the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic and soprano Juliane Banse performing some unfamiliar (to most of us) works by Villa-Lobos, Kaiser-Lindemann, Piazolla, Granda, Ben, Salgan, and Bacharach (!).

For me, the highlight is the beautifully sung Aria and Danca from the "Bachianas Brasleiras No. 5." Ms. Bancer's other vocal contribution is "The Kid in Blue Jeans" which is very reminiscent of the "girl on the curb" songs with which Piaf used to break your heart.

All in all, this is a lovely offering and the texts of the songs are included in the usual several languages.

Wow - It's the cello-section of the Berlin Philharmonic, ok, so I expected a lot, but still this CD blew my ears off. What a performance! What a rare symbiosis of refined music making and unhalted moods and passion. Often, with lesser ensembles, passion is misunderstood as edgyness, even loudness... Not with these guys, and still, you hear every bit of emotion your supposed to hear. All pieces all my favorites, ALL of them, no exception. Juliane Banse is captivating, and together this gang of music makers is unstoppable. Legend has it that even the old von Karajan approved their performances (the Maestro in the Salzburg audience!). I am sure that these days also Sir Simon will concur...

An excellent disc, well worth the price of admission. Clearly these guys can play, but you knew that already. After all, it IS the Berlin philharmonic, but the fact that they can groove is what makes this CD a true gem. I'm not normally a fan of crossover titles because, as trite as it sounds, they are totally insincere both in terms of the respect of the performers for the music and the selection of the music itself.
Happily, this is not the case here. Although I am less fond of the tracks with the soprano (who does an excellent job mind you, I'm just more partial to pure instrumental music myself), all the performances are top-notch, with the Berliners strutting their stuff in the stratospheric heights of the cello (you'll think they're violins at some point) all the while grooving, tapping, and even hooting every now to the music.
I suppose the best thing one can say is that it seemed these 12 cellists had fun while they were doing. It's infectious... get the disc.

I am in Caracas with the MD of this disc. I have been a fun of this team, and at this time, this disc gives me a right guidance to South America. The style of the play fits quite well for the Latin music. One remark is that if you buy this CD in Japan, you can hear another marvellous Soplano.