Look For American In Paris Grand Canyon Suite @ Amazon.com
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In Paris, bread and the baking of bread is an art form. While most American bakeries trade bread, pastries, and other goodies, a heap of French boulangeries trade dissimilar kinds of bread. Pastries are commonly sold in pastry shops called patisseries. Many Parisian bakers are unfeigned craftsmen who study their trade for decades and experiment constantly to make a superior product. Some of the best bakers in the city are the fourth or fifth generation in the family. The most passionate take a three-day exam given by the French government for a title given to only the best — Meilleur Ouvrier de France or MOF. Many of the bakeries in Paris have a distinguishing trait like rye bread or sourdough. If you’re not sure what a boulangerie is widely known and esteemed for, just ask. But go early because the most ordinary productions trade out. Poilane is the most famous bakery in Paris. It was founded in 1932 by Pierre Poilane, who passed it down to his son, Lionel. When Lionel passed from physical life in a helicopter crash in 2002, his daughter Apollonia took over the business. She still bakes the bread the old-fashioned way — in a wood-burning oven. If you come here, order the sourdough miche or the little butter cookies known as punitions. There are two Poilane shops in Paris. Christophe Vasseur employed to be an executive in the fashion industry, but he always wanted to bake bread. So he became an apprentice, leased an old bakery, and opened his bakery — called Du Pain et des Idees — in 2002. Vasseur won the Gault Millau prize for best boulangerie in 2008. In addition to baguettes, which take him seven hours to make, he sells croissants, multi-grain bread, and paves filled with veggies or fruit and cheese. Basile Kamir is a well-respected baker in Paris. He opened Moulin de la Vierge 30 years ago and today he has four locations. He shapes the loaves — which are made with organic, stone-ground flour — by hand, and bakes them in a wood-fired oven. The interiors of the shops are genuinely pretty. He also trade pastries — one of the best is the custard-filled Pain au Raisin. With 16 shops in Paris and bakeries all over the world, Eric Kayser is something of a phenomenon. His combining of conventional baking proficiencies with the latest technology allows him to fabricate 60 types of bread, 50 varieties of cakes, and dozens of kinds of pastries each day. His croissants are numerous of the best you’ll ever eat. And you may buy a ready-made sandwich to eat in the park. Philippe Gosselin is the place for baguettes. He won the Best Baguette in Paris Grand Prix. He has a special method for making the bread — kneading the dough, resting it, salting it, kneading it again, and then resting it for three hours. The loaves are hand-shaped and delicious. Gosselin is a fourth-generation baker who likewise makes sweets, including macarons, cakes, and tarts. Thierry Dubois is the owner of Pain d’Epis which is not far from the Eiffel Tower. He has a dough made with various kinds of flour that he calls Royale. He uses it to make baguettes, ficelles, and fougasse, which is a flatbread from Provence. If you’re in the mood for something sweet, his almond croissants and pain au raisin are excellent. Most helpful customer reviews 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. The third item on this CD is Ferde Grofé’s classic: “Grand Canyon Suite”, featuring John Corigliano on solo violin, accompanied by Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. You just can’t beat it. There are three bonus tracks; Bernstein’s “Prelude, Fugue and Riffs” played by the Columbia Jazz Combo. This is just a great recording of wondeful American music – a must for everyone. The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs writes, “Bernstein’s 1958-59 coupling set the standard by which all subsequent pairings of “An American in Paris” and “Rhapsody in Blue” came to be judged…the performance of “An American in Paris” is vividly characterized, brash and episodic…with the great blues tune marvelously timed and phrased as only a great American orchestra can do it.” Give it a try. 3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. |
Classic Recordings, Remastered