Customer Reviews

Wagner e Venezia

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This is one of the cleverest and most endearing recordings I have ever heard. All my life I have heard about composers hearing and reacting (usually negatively) to popular renditions of their music - especially Verdi, frequently performed by gondoliers. This is the only opportunity I have had to savor what that might really have sounded like - at its highest level, of course. Anyone who knows and loves Wagner will be tickled to death by this and hopefully inspired to investigate other music by Uri Caine and his collaborators. Check out "The Sidewalks of New York." This guy understands music as artifact in the truest sense. Did you ever look at an ancient portrait and get that creepy feeling that people in the 15th or the 10th Century or even in ancient Egypt were not that different from us? That is the effect that Uri Caine's music has. Dig him.

Any disc that features Uri Caine, Erik Friedlander, Mark Feldman, and Drew Gress is guaranteed to be adventurous and exciting, but this release sees the whole even greater than its parts. Wagner is given a whole new spin by the ensemble. This may be the catalyst for other jazzers to take more chances with the western classical canon. We can only hope that future attempts at such crossovers yield such gorgeous results. HIGHLY recommended to Classical and jazz fans alike.

I have just received this disc, and it sounds fantastic. I particularly enjoy the trueness of the recording, with the crowd noise and the applause, and particularly the bells of the cathedral. I wholeheartedly recommend this cd, as I don't think it is possible to dislike the recording if you enjoy classical music.

Sometimes Wagner's music can seem intimidating. These arrangements from Uri Caine with his ensemble highlight the beauty of the music in a chamber orchestra setting.

Uri Caine had a stroke of genius when he conceived and produced these arrangements in the style of Venetian cafe orchestras. Brilliant and magical, you will be transported to The Piazza, taken back in time, and entranced.

I knew Uri Caine in high school and college, and played (sax) with him in some small jazz groups in the Philaelphia area. He grew into a world-class musician (I knew he would), and I turned to teaching communication. It has been a pleasure to follow his career, and to hear his re-interpretations of classical music (he was classically trained, after all). I think his Mahler CD is a modern masterpiece, but for me this Wagner CD is hampered by the source material. Uri was inspired to find the serene qualities (and even the ethnicity) apparent in Mahler's work, but what redeeming value has he found in Wagner's music?

Maybe I'm missing the point here; Caine has a great sense of humor, and maybe it's the laugh he's going for. This could be the funniest version of Wagner since Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

Nevertheless, the musicians perform flawlessly.

So Uri, how about a solo piano album of Jazz standards?