Nocturnes

OK but not the best.My favorite similar CD is another Amazon item, Van Cliburn's 'the worlds favorite piano music'.

My old ... I mean longtime ... friend Michael Landrum (who is better at Hearts than Racquetball) has provided me with a copy of Nocturnes just in time for the arrival of my baby daughter Nicole.Despite the liner notes "With the exception of only a few pieces, anyone trying to sleep to them would have a rude awakening", baby Nicole thinks this is great sleep-time music which I usually play all the way through (both CDs equals 2 hours and 13 minutes) even after Nicole has already drifted off.Personally, I prefer to listen to this on headphones ... so much more detail ... while I "work from home". I must say that I enjoy listening to this almost as much as Nicole does. As she grows up, this CD will have a lifelong imprint on her and, who knows, this might just replace "The Mozart Effect"! Think about it ... "Nocturnes For Babies"!One thing I know for sure, Nicole enjoys this CD (much) more than my singing.

great Recording by a great artist

Michael's performance of these hauntingly beautiful pieces is an exquisite coming together of varied strains of meaning. He combines wistfulness, reflection, regret, quiet and unobtrusive joy, and celebration of all that is beautiful in the ebbing of light and in the darkness that is not dark. An artist of deep understanding, Michael allows these nocturnes to evidence, in their grace, a beauty and thankfulness that, as Wordsworth wrote, is "too deep for tears." Once again, a master artist makes "of three sounds, not a fourth, but a star," as Browning's Abt Vogler observed. Seldom have evening and night been so movingly voiced as in this album.

Dr. Landrum was my professor and he just amazes me! His love of nocturnes comes out very clear in his interpretation of each piece. Very enjoyable!

Excellent selection, beautifully played.

The CDs include not just the run-of-the-mill piano repertoire and the selections are beautifully played. A perfect choice for a quiet evening.

This may be one of the finest solo instrumental recordings of the year. In two discs, Michael Landrum covers two centuries of piano nocturnes from John Field (1817) through Jean Francaix (1987). Those who identify nocturnes with Chopin will will be more than pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of the remaining 32 selections (which include two by Chopin). Wholly apart from the splendid playing, this disc represents a feat of scholarship by Dr. Landrum, who has unearthed not only nocturnes by composers not especially associated with the genre (Bizet, Rachmaninov, Borodin), but glittering gems by composers you're not likely to have heard of at all.Dr. Landrum interprets these highly varied piano pieces with great clarity, control, delicacy, and fire, and the Sono Luminus sound is round and warm. My favorites, after a week and a half of listening, include not only the more familiar works by Poulenc, Grieg, and Chopin, but also several lesser-known pieces: an ecstatically romantic A-flat major nocturne by Faure, a tour de force in B minor by Mily Balakirev, and an E-major nocturne by Norman Dello Joio. Enthusiastically recommended.