Adagio II: a collection of orchestral classics

Advantages: Subtle, Expressive, Beautiful Performances
Disadvantages: Pricey but worth the cost

...Every classical music fan will probably have a collection of Brahm's four symphonies around somewhere, but for tonal clarity, poetic beauty and the milking of every orchestral and melodic subtlety I have heard no better than Karajan's rendition with the BPO. The first is clear and bright, with a truly haunting adagio and nice pace to the finale. There are other performances of the 2nd that I prefer, but this gave me new insights into the form, Karajan paying particular attention to crisply defined structure rather than over-Romanticising Brahms' score. The highlight, however, has to be the tumultuously powerful 4th symphony, in which both form and drama fuse marvellously, especially at the culminating final moments of the first and fourth movements. Forget the lower rate orchestral versions around the web, this is worth every penny... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Great track with soaring breakdown and strings
Disadvantages: My parents hate it, even though it has strings and is easy on the ears.

...Okay, classical music, i.e. strings are not exactly popular apart from the following exceptions of modern remakes. There is only one, William Orbit (Madonna's producer for 'Ray Of Light') with Barber's Adagio For String which had the remix treatment by Ferry Corsten. Now, this list can now be extended quite far. It's cannot be rated next to Mozart or Debussy at all, but Hybrid has pulled out the stops here with Wider Angle, which is their album Wide Angle with a live CD with 60 minute Mix and bonus tracks and the single 'Kid 2000' which features Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders. Now Hybrid is a solemn combination of Breakbeat and Trance, but they have utilised the talents of the Russian Federal Orchestra with Orchestral pieces written by Sacha Puttham. The Live CD is completely frenetic with fast beats that will have anyone... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: It is simply one of the finest pieces of music ever written
Disadvantages: How dare you ask of any disadvantges!?!

..., but it was never really taken on, and was often considered as being "ugly" and a "failure." It took nearly 50 years for the Concerto to re-emerge to the public consciousness when a young cellist by the name of Jaqueline duPré took up the work and made it a world wide sensation. After DuPré's classic performances of the work in 1965 and 1970, the Concerto finally ascended to its rightful place of the most magnificent Concerto for Cello and Orchestra ever composed, right beside Dvorak's respective masterpiece. MOVEMENT BY MOVEMENT ANALYSIS (Listened version: 1965 recording by Jacqueline DuPré with John Barbirolli and the London Symphony Orchestra) I Movement: Adagio - Moderato Four jagged, outraged notes from the cello alone open the concerto as if to ask "What is this?" The cello continues in similar manner of agitated questioning ("What do you want... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful