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

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Creators: Nora / Norworth, Jack Bates-norworth, Alban Berg, Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Aaron Copland, Claude Debussy, Walter Donaldson, Edward Elgar, George Gershwin, Gustav Mahler, King Oliver, Sergey Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Esa-pekka Salonen, Eugene Ormandy, Leonard Bernstein
Label: Sony
Category: Music

Buy New: $11.98

New (14) Used (9) from $2.99

Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

5 reviews
Sales Rank: 168008

Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5.3 x 0.5

MPN: 60989
UPC: 074646098929
EAN: 0074646098929
ASIN: B00000HXKX

Release Date: January 12, 1999
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Tracks:

•	Waltz
•	Von der Schoenheit
•	De l'aube a midi sur la mer
•	III: Favotta, Non troppo allegro
•	IV: the Royal March
•	V: the Little Concert
•	V: Menuet
•	VI: Toccata
•	Sinfonia
•	Walzer
•	Act III: Interlude
•	Prologue

Similar Items:

•	Over There - Songs From America's Wars
•	Songs That Got Us Through WWII
•	Words and Music of World War II
•	Those Were Our Songs: Music of World War II
•	Songs of the Civil War

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 Bartok 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:

5 out of 5 stars

Amazing selection of music December 3, 2007
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.

5 out of 5 stars

Music and the Great War May 14, 2007
This is a fascinating compendium of popular and classical music from the World War One period. It evokes all the turmoil, anguish, and also humor, of the age, and is a vital CD to own if you have an interest in the Great War and the music it inspired or was inspired by.

5 out of 5 stars

How a Century Has Change Our Perception of War October 29, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

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 out of 5 stars

Excellent Recording! March 13, 1999
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

(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.

5 out of 5 stars Good music, bad title February 11, 1999
1 out of 38 found this review helpful

Since when is war great? Life in the trenches waiting for the germans to attack you worrying about whether mustard gas is gonna loft your way isn't exactly like sipping chablis.