James Levine: Live at Carnegie Hall with Evgeny Kissin

I enjoyed this CD set very much. This set celebrates the return of Maestro Levine to the podium of the Metropolitan orchestra after a two year absence. The shimmering strings of the Lohengrin prelude which opens the concert signal that all is well with the Met orchestra, which Levine has built up into one of the world's great orchestras. The sound is transparent and of excellent quality to my ears. A bonus is a pretty phenomenal live performance by Kissin of Beethoven's Rondo a capriccio. I share a reviewer's displeasure with the omission of the Carter piece as if putting a modern work on the CD would lower it's sales potential. (Amazing!).

The reviews of this performance were almost too ecstatic to believe. The recording reveals very fine performances, indeed. But I stand back from the beatification of Levine even while admiring many things I've heard. I admire these performances and don't regret buying the disc, even though I'm sure it will end up being recycled out of my collection as I have other favorite performances of each of these pieces.

This is fine although it's mostly warhorse pieces. I got it because I didn't have any version of the Lohengrin prelude or Schubert's 9th symphony on CD.Maybe you had to be there to appreciate the occasion and take part in the excitement. As a concert recording it is fine but for me mostly a nostalgia-historic artifact. Except the Lohengrin which is definitive as you would expect for Maestro Levine.

A reliable critic praised the live concert from which this set came very highly. Maybe the atmosphere of the occasion made for an experience the recording doesn't capture. The Met Orchestra lives up to its fine reputation, the Wagner is, as expected, spot on.The Beethoven Piano Concerto 4, with Kissin, is also fiine. However, Schubert's Ninth seems to drag on and is not, for this purchaser, a keeper. Maybe the excellent Met Orchestra doesn't play much Schubert.

This CD has "sound presence" unlike any other classical CD I own. Just incredible and highly recommended.

I really wish this had been filmed and released on DVD. The music is beautiful. To see it performed would have been great. But, we must settle with a CD.

Very good listening music to enjoy with good friends who know and enjoy music definitely not for the uninitiated or those who love Reggae or is it Raggae.No offence of course.

SHAME on the CD producers for not including the Elliott Carter VARIATIONS FOR ORCHESTRA that was on this concert, which received a triumphal review from the New York Times.This music is not worthy, apparently, to include on an album with Beethoven and Verdi on it??? With other performances that were, in another amazon review, described as "done in conventional, traditional style..."From the New York Times review: "As ever, Mr. Levine focused past Carter's complexity to engage the drama and voluptuousness of this score, which for all its tangles and whorls contains not a single uninteresting or unlovely measure. Brilliant playing emanated from every corner of this consistently remarkable orchestra."SHAME ON THEM!!! SHAME!!!!! for omitting this.

Le public rend un bel hommage à James Lévine pour son retour triomphale au Carnégie hall.Kissin demeure le virtuose que j'avais retrouvé lors d'un concert à Paris.La prise de son est également à la hauteur de l'évènement.Livraison rapide et emballage de qualité.