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| Amadeus: The Complete Original Soundtrack Recording | 
 enlarge | Creators: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice, Simon Callow, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay, Kenneth Mcmillan, Kenny Baker
Label: Fantasy
Category: Music
List Price: $39.98
Buy New: $23.97
You Save: $16.01 (40%)
Buy New/Used from $20.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  (41 reviews)
Sales Rank: 16145
Format: Box Set, Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered, Soundtrack
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language), Italian (Original Language)
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 12.7 x 12.4 x 1.3
MPN: 4403
UPC: 025218440325
EAN: 0025218440325
ASIN: B000000XBV
Release Date: July 1, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
"Genius" February 2, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a GREAT CD! It has wonderful music from the movie "Amadaeus" which is the BEST movie ever! This music is so fine that it lifts your heart into happiness when you listen to it. You can just tell immediately that this is "the voice of God". And for one man to make such wonderful music in a flash, its just pure genius.
Thanks to the wonderful music that a talented man has brought to us.
A true celebration of Mozart's music October 22, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I think it was at age 12 when I first saw Amadeus, and I remember immediately asking for a recording of the Requiem (a bit of sombre for a 12-year old I know, but just to demonstrate the impact of the piece..), but I think it wasn't until the third time that I saw the film (at age 30, if you were wondering) that something hit me; It's hard to say why only now (maturity?), since I've always loved Mozart's music and have already owned several recordings of the Requiem, Bohm's 35-41 symphonies and Arthur Grumiaux's wonderful violin concertos with the Sinfonia Concertante. But appreciating the movie as an adult was a different experience, recognizing what a fabulous work Marriner and his Academy have done by delivering so successfully what Mozart was all about. I think that the brilliance of this recording is that it succeeds in providing Mozart's essence through emphasis on the hidden gems of his music, while avoiding being another banal "Greatest Hits" compilation; and sewing together such a diverse array of pieces so gracefully into one recording is not a trivial task, but in Marriner's case it seems completely flawless - because what holds all the pieces here together is what this music is all about - grace, beauty, humor and love.
Top-Chart Album of the 80's That Made Classical Music Sell !! July 31, 2005
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
In 1984, Milos Forman's film Amadeus, based on the hit Broadway play by Peter Schaffer, made it to the big screen with resounding success nationwide. When the soundtrack was released, it was a top seller and even found itself selling as much as such popular 80's artists as Madonna. The music from this well-made film, mostly Mozart but used some Classical-Era works by Salieri, Pergolesi and Salieri- hooked young people into classical music when they might have otherwise never given it a chance.
In the film, Mozart's music is used for dramatic effect and for ambiance. Vienna in the 1780's was the home of a blooming musical scene that would later see the likes of Beethoven. This musical kingdom is well captured in the soundtrack, which features tantalizing excerpts from Mozart's most illustrious works. The film opens to the frenzied, dark strains of the 1st movement of the 25th Symphony, as a crazed Salieri is taken from his home to a mental asylum after an attempted suicide. It goes on to use the religious music of Pergolesi Ave Verum and Amen - boys chorus as Salieri contemplates a life of chastity and dedication to music if God grants him talent. Then we leave Salieri's world of spirituality and desire for fame when we are introduced to the young Mozart. The Serenade for Winds "Gran Partita" is heard - an oboe, clarinets, "like a rusty squeezebox" and fills the air with sublime serenity. This coming from a composer who began his career at the age of 4 who was already trained in piano and violin, and who in his teens composed symphonies and operas. Salieri's works are no longer heard as Mozart's brilliant music takes over the score. We hear breathaking slices of his famous operas in chronologically composed order- the German opera Abduction From The Seraglio which was composed for the soprano Katerina Cavalieri (who has a fling wit Mozart and whom Salieri desired for himself), Figaro's Wedding and Finale from Le Nozze Di Figaro and the dramatic Commandatore Dinner Scene from Don Giovanni, and lastly the Queen of the Night Aria and Papageno's Aria from his enchanting and spiritual work The Magic Flute. Further to these famous works, which also include the Piano Concerto in D No. 20- which prefigured Romantic piano concertos of Beethoven flair, and the Eine Kleine Nachtmusiz which is Mozart's most famous tune and signature theme, we are treated to rare works in Mozart's ouevre. This includes the Masonic Funeral March, a funeral piece Mozart wrote for his fellow Masons. Divertimenti is heard in a latter scene in which Mozart's wife Constanza escapes her woes with Mozart and indulges in a spa. Chamber works, the heartwarming Flute concerto and even the rare Salieri opera Axur (then considered the greatest opera ever made, according to Emperor Joseph) all make up for a great recording album. This album now exists in extended form for the Bicentennial. The movie is a perfect companion to this album.
Amadeus July 29, 2005
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Any lover of Mozart or the film Amadeus, REALLY needs to have this in their collection. It has some of the most beautiful music and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields is wonderful!
Introducing multi-platinum superstar *WUULFGANG* February 23, 2005
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
Introducing multi-platinum superstar *WUULFGANG*: "the greatest hits!"
There's a new kid in town, folks. Emerging from the backwaters of Austria, superstar Wuulfgang has pushed and shoved and performed his way through Vienna's ranks of angst-drenched top-40 bilge, shaping music for the ears of Emperors, Popes, the odd tavern-wench encountered on the long tour-road...and, of course, for you and I, faithful listeners of all that is class and meta-craft. This is the music of the Gods, folks, ambrosia poured directly from the Cup...and it's no hyperbole to state that Wuulfgang and his honored contemporaries (including Luddy Van, Ritchie Wag and neophyte extraordinaire SHON) have changed the way we perceive music itself; their shadow stretches far and wide: their tunes resonate true across the span of many ages, defining and defying neo-retro infinitrends.
Translation? It's the bomb, yo!
Happily, the music-biz has seen fit to assemble Wuulfgang's greatest hits together in this three-CD extravaganza, to be released simultaneously with an H-wood biopic detailing the man's many struggles and multitudinous success. And boy o boy does this set kick out the jams from the get go, starting with the roaring 'Symphony no 25' (1st movement) and concluding with the fire-drunk tour de force that is the ~Requiem~. The masterful encapsulation of 'The Abduction from the Seraglio' almost makes me yearn for a little slap n' tickle at the local Turkish Bath. For the ladies: romantic ballads like 'Serenade for Winds' is just the ticket for a firelight dinner ambience. And don't discount the choral roar on those excerpts from 'The Marriage of Figaro': Emperor Joseph himself gives it two thumbs up! But there's more, folks, so much more: in his graciousness, Wuulfgang has allowed new singles by up-and-comers on the scene to grace his greatest hits - smooth piano tinkering by Giordani, even a touching little ditty by The Man's biggest rival Salieri. Givin' props to the competition, now that's what I call humility!!
Production is top notch - these discs display a purity of sound that, when coupled with Wuulfgang's astounding inner-ear for the elements of composition, really does defy description. What can one say before the sonic force of genius? Not much - superlatives have to suffice. Blasting any of these choons on volume '10' says it all, anyway.
And so: attention all teeny-bopper toe-tappers, gloom-goth dissipaters, head-banging time-warp victims & wet-behind-the-ear pop slicksters: *Wuulfgang* is a sonic force to be reckoned with in today's co-modified cheeze whiz industry of number-crunchers and trend-hoppers: this man is 'phat' with a capitol 'P'. You gotta make way for the one, the only, the WUULFGANG! ...or, as his closest friends call him, "baby" - (p.s. thanx Costanzy)
I would have wished for some live material, complete with Wuulfgang's impassioned *howl*, but I'm sure those golden moments will be revamped and sold in a different package. No matter!
Pick this up today - you won't be disappointed!
-Professor Shiesty
[...]
In all seriousness, this soundtrack is the perfect introduction to the lifework of Mozart. Comes packaged in an oversized box with an accompanying booklet about the film *Amadeus.*
Five stars.
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