© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc. This feed is subject to our terms of use: http://www.epinions.com/help/rss_terms http://www.epinions.com/user-virtuelle2 Recent reviews written by member virtuelle2 en-us 121 37 http://www.epinions.com/ http://img.epinions.com/images/epi_images/logos/epinions_121.gif http://www.epinions.com/content_427535011460?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - The organic food craze has finally gone mainstream, thanks to more awareness of its benefits to consumers as well as to the environment, among greater numbers of people. With fears of pesticides, hormones and other toxins contaminating the food supply... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~427535011460 Thu, 3 Jul 2008 10:54:00 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_427535011460?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_425855585924?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - I consider the young Scots director David McVicar as a saviour of modern opera theatre. The man brings another classic work out of the musty, hidebound doldrums of stiff, stand-and-deliver tradition while also eschewing the insufferable pretentiousness... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~425855585924 Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:09:26 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_425855585924?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_423234932356?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - The grounds of the Bayreuth Festival House were practically empty on that September afternoon when we stopped by last year, so we just went about our own personal tour of the exteriors, snapping photographs of the pink brick building set majestically,... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~423234932356 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:47:01 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_423234932356?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_419756281476?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - {Note: I've just moved this newly updated, old review to the new, more proper Epinions entry with the Rhino Handmade CD page showing complete info on the box set.} SEE MY PROFILE PAGE FOR VIDEOS! =================== Before Joan Jett's... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~419756281476 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:33:25 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_419756281476?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_419632680580?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - The well-publicised &#145Atonement&#146 (2007) being an Oscar contender in several categories (Best Picture, Supporting Actress, Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design, Music), I&#146d gone in expecting at least a good film. So, what... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~419632680580 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:22:14 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_419632680580?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_419315355268?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - Thank goodness the wonderfully situated Empire Hotel at 44 West 63rd Street has finally undergone a much-needed makeover. The old Empire was built in 1923, on the original from the 1890s. During our first stay in 2002, it was a very expensive, if... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~419315355268 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:16:48 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_419315355268?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_413209038468?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - At the start of &#145The Diving Bell and the Butterfly&#146 (Le Scaphandre et le papillon, 2007), we are introduced to Jean-Dominique Bauby, the protagonist, through his own eyes -- or make that, eye. His left eye, to be exact. The camera assumes... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~413209038468 Fri, 4 Jan 2008 04:22:30 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_413209038468?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_409211735684?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - In a small town in La Mancha, the black-clad Soledad (Sole) takes a last look around the empty house of her recently deceased Aunt Paula. Then she&#146s seized by a sudden fear as she thinks she spies a spectral shadow descending the stairs. Could it... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~409211735684 Thu, 6 Dec 2007 16:18:27 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_409211735684?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_406601174660?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - The German Democratic Republic&#146s Stasi (Gestapo-like State Secret Police) insinuated itself into the private lives of its citizens. The government of paranoia found it necessary to snoop upon its people, hoping to root out any persons who did not... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~406601174660 Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:10:20 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_406601174660?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_402327113348?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - Disclaimer: Be forewarned. The following post may contain foaming-at-the-mouth, excessive praise of a pianist that may not be good for your intellectual health. [added 9/5/07] I&#146ll say it right now &#150 this is one DVD every piano... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~402327113348 Mon, 3 Sep 2007 23:25:05 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_402327113348?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_401709108868?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - Strict traditionalists might quickly dismiss this dramatisation of &#145Agrippina&#146, one of Georg Friedrich Händel&#146s most successful operas, as unworthy, even if none of those offensive Eurotrash concept stagings rear their heads here... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~401709108868 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 02:21:20 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_401709108868?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_401405283972?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - &#145Right from the beginning, you have some musical invitation to the music of Bach, and then you live with it for the rest of your life.&#146 &#151 Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko, from J. S. Bach: 48 Preludes and Fugues (DVD)... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~401405283972 Thu, 23 Aug 2007 00:23:55 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_401405283972?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_401063841412?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - Unintentional, perhaps, but the plot turns in the dramatic opera, &#145Siroe, Re di Persia&#146 (&#145Siroe, King of Persia&#146), can sometimes border on the cruelly farcical. I mean, really - how much undeserved guilt and punishment can one man... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~401063841412 Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:56:10 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_401063841412?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_400261418628?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - The basilica of St.-Pierre-aux-Nonnais where this disc was recorded, predates Jeanne d'Arc’s (Joan of Arc) time by hundreds of years. This particular basilica, a church of an abbey in Jeanne's time, stands as a silent witness to more than a... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~400261418628 Thu, 9 Aug 2007 20:33:32 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_400261418628?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_400028044932?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - In 1428, Jeanne d'Arc, an illiterate seventeen-year-old farm girl from Domremy in the Lorraine valley set out for Vaucouleurs to meet an army captain named Robert de Baudricourt. Capt. Baudricourt was to help her in seeking out the Dauphin, Charles... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~400028044932 Mon, 6 Aug 2007 01:22:29 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_400028044932?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_390255316612?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - First it was the pashmina shawl offered by the waitstaff to this diner starting to feel a bit chilly just as we were being seated that impressed me about Charlie Trotter&#146s. Of the place and the man I'd heard much, but never really paid close heed... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~390255316612 Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:46:13 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_390255316612?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_386126352004?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - German-born English composer Georg Friederich Händel was a mere youth of twenty-two studying in Italy when he wrote the allegorical oratorio, &#145Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno&#146 (1707) (which he would later re-write in English as... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~386126352004 Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:33:10 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_386126352004?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_385959497348?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - The 18th-century Catholic Church authorities declared Giovanni Battista Pergolesi&#146s &#145Stabat Mater&#146 as inappropriate for liturgical performance, saying that it smacked too much of the non-sacred operatic form. Well, that isn&#146t surprising,... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~385959497348 Wed, 4 Jul 2007 15:44:30 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_385959497348?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_374482833028?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - The droll comedy-drama that is George Friederich Händel&#146s &#145Serse&#146 (1738) details a tangled romantic daisy chain involving the rival loves of King Serse and his brother, Arsamene, for the beautiful Romilda. On the distaff side,... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~374482833028 Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:45:19 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_374482833028?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_379706707588?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - British tenor Mark Padmore has captured my heart with his sheer beauty of tone and smooth delivery on this disc of Händel arias, &#145As steals the morn...&#146 from that splendid label, Harmonia Mundi. This recent release (12 June 2007) includes... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~379706707588 Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:59:18 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_379706707588?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_370609852036?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - British early music specialist and conductor Paul McCreesh has a couple of really good things going for him here, in his recent recording of the resplendent but unfinished Mass in C Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: there&#146s Mozart&#146s sublime... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~370609852036 Sun, 3 Jun 2007 22:10:28 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_370609852036?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_367651163780?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - So you say you’re a neophyte to the opera world? No worries! Read this book and receive a painless yet intensive course on the essentials of opera – and you’ll feel a whole lot smarter about it. You’ll get a solid background on what opera is all... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~367651163780 Sun, 27 May 2007 20:38:24 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_367651163780?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_357993188996?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - Pardon the gushing tone in this review, but you can lay the blame for that wholly on the phenomenal British mezzo-soprano, Sarah Connolly (whom I hereby unofficially dub the operatic Anjelica Huston). She first dazzled this listener with her riveting... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~357993188996 Sun, 6 May 2007 16:58:58 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_357993188996?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_355217346180?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - On her &#145Bach Arias&#146 CD from way back in 2002, Austrian lyric mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager offers the listener a wonderful sampling of Bach pieces beautifully rendered by her exquisite vocal. It's a voice that didn&#146t exactly strike... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~355217346180 Tue, 1 May 2007 03:14:31 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_355217346180?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_351133339268?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author virtuelle2 - There&#146s a rare magnificence, solemnity and even a sense of fun &#150 yes, fun &#150 in this staging by Scotsman David McVicar of this popular Baroque opera seria for the 2005 Glyndebourne Festival. The work is Georg Friedrich Händel&#146s... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~351133339268 Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:36:50 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_351133339268?linkin_id=8003929