Classic FM - Hall of Fame Gold

...on? I don't think Classic FMs listeners are quite ready for that yet.

The track list for the Opera is:

1. Delibes: Flower Duet (Lakmé)
2. Rossini: Largo al Factotum (Barber of Seville)
3. Puccini: Nessun Dorma (Turandot)
4. Dvorak: Song to the Moon (Rusalka)
5. Bizet: Au Fond du Temple Saint (The Pearl Fishers)
6. Bellini: Casta Diva (Norma)
7. Puccini: Che Gelida Manina ...
...Toreador's song (Carmen)
10. Verdi: Brindisi (La Traviata)
11. Puccini: Humming Chorus (Madame Butterfly)
12. Verdi: Celeste Aidi (Aidi)
13. Mozart: La ci darem la mano (Don Giovanni)
14. Verdi: Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (Nabucco)
15. Puccini: O mio Babbino Caro (Gianni Schicchi)

The Opera CD is probably my least listened to of the three, not because I dislike Opera, to the contrary I love ... more

Admit it, how many of you have just read the title and started singing the Cadburys Fruit and Nut advert?

In recent years there has been a decline in the number of people listening, performing and most importantly buying classical music. In a bid to reverse this trend there have been many compilation albums released by record companies containing the most popular pieces from classical times. Now I do have some issues with this, in that people do not listen to the true greats in their entirety any more, which is sad because they were written as complete works detailing a complete musical journey, I mean you wouldn't just read the fourth chapter of a Harry Potter book, ignore the rest and announce to the world that the book was amazing would you? Or imagine only watching the 2nd film of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, you'd be lost.

There is however a lot to be said for compilations and shortened arrangements. The reason sections of pieces are famous and used over and over again in various forms is that they are undeniably good, and although it is sad that one of the major outlets for classical music these days is backing tracks for the media in adverts and films, so it is always perceived to be backing incidental music, rather than worth listening to in its own right, the compilations keep the classical market alive.

Some of the best compilations out there at the moment are the ones created by Classical FM. Every now and then, they release one of these albums and the pieces on it are voted for by the Classical FM listeners and create a Hall of Fame, the fact that the places on it are subjected to a public vote reflect the fact perfectly that much of todays Classical influence is the media, with many theme tunes and advert pieces making the album. The compilation that I would like to bring to your attention today is the Hall of Fame Gold that was released in 2003 according to Amazon, but I could have sworn I've had it longer than that.

It is called Gold, because it comes in a really nice Gold box, made of decent cardboard and is almost like a present in itself, which is great as it feels special from the start, the only problem with it is, as my husband pointed out, is that if its on the side next to you it looks like a box of chocolates! It contains 3 CDs which have been split into 'at the movies', 'at the opera' and 'classics' it comes with a little gold booklet giving some of the history of the pieces and 3 CD cases inside which have their own cover listing the credits of each piece.

The first of the CD's at the movies, I would hazard a guess is the most popular of the three, especially as there is a lot of very modern music on there and no surprise with two John Williams pieces, Hedwig's theme and Star Wars, neither of which require any introduction these days. It opens however with an amazing performance by Evgeny Kissin of Rachmaninov's piano Concerto No 3, which was used for the film Shine, now I have enormous envy for people who can perform Rachmaninov like this as the guy had enormous hands, and wrote his music accordingly, I therefore struggle to play it. But the performance is incredible and you don't appreciate how difficult it is.

The CD list for at the movies is:

1. Rachmaninov, Piano concerto No 3 (Shine)
2. Williams, Hedwigs Theme (Harry Potter)
3. Mahler, Symphony no 5 (Death in Venice)
4. Barber, adagio for Strings (Platoon)
5. Shore, The Fellowship (Lord of the Rings)
6. Wagner, Ride of the Valkries (Apocalypse now)
7. Saint-Saens, Organ Symphony No 3 in C minor (Babe)
8. Williams, Main Theme (Star Wars)

Now I do like this CD, especially the Mahler, apparently Thomas Mann was inspired to write Death in Venice after seeing Mahler in tears on a train leaving Venice, and it is a gorgeous expressive piece. There is a lot of variety within the CD, which for a compilation works in its favour however I am listening to it now and the usual arguments against a compilation ring true. The touch and depth of the Rachmaninov makes it a really poignant opening to the CD, and the tinkling xylophone that follows it with the opening of Hedwigs theme sounds really odd and out of place, which is why I would prefer to listen to a complete work but that's just me, I know I'm odd, however once you get over the shock of the xylophone it doesn't take you too long to get into it, and enjoy the rest of the tracks, and lets face it the ride of the Valkries is always worth a listen to (The Zurich flying pigs advert for those who haven't seen apocalypse now).

The Second CD is based on pieces from the Opera, and opens with what has arguably been the most successful British airways advert to date, in the form of the Flower Duet by Delibes performed of course by Lesley Garrett, who is surprising along with Domingo the only really famous classical performers on the whole collection. This CD, does make a more natural collection than the first in my mind, as it is all of a similar genre so nothing really stands out against the others, it's not like they have included modern opera, could you imagine a track from the Jerry Springer opera making it on? I don't think Classic FMs listeners are quite ready for that yet.

The track list for the Opera is:

1. Delibes: Flower Duet (Lakmé)
2. Rossini: Largo al Factotum (Barber of Seville)
3. Puccini: Nessun Dorma (Turandot)
4. Dvorak: Song to the Moon (Rusalka)
5. Bizet: Au Fond du Temple Saint (The Pearl Fishers)
6. Bellini: Casta Diva (Norma)
7. Puccini: Che Gelida Manina (La Boheme)
8. Mascagni: Easter Hymn (Cavalleria Rusticana)
9. Bizet: Toreador's song (Carmen)
10. Verdi: Brindisi (La Traviata)
11. Puccini: Humming Chorus (Madame Butterfly)
12. Verdi: Celeste Aidi (Aidi)
13. Mozart: La ci darem la mano (Don Giovanni)
14. Verdi: Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (Nabucco)
15. Puccini: O mio Babbino Caro (Gianni Schicchi)

The Opera CD is probably my least listened to of the three, not because I dislike Opera, to the contrary I love it, but after all I have said about background music I tend to use the CD's when we have people round and Opera is not everyone's cup of tea and it is difficult to talk over! (Go on, call me a hypocrite, I don't care)

The final CD is Hall of Fame Classics, which ironically only has one technically classical piece on it and that is a Piano Sonata by Beethoven, and there are so many arguments to call him a Romantic composer instead of classical. To explain, classical music is classified into 3 main categories (there are more but I don't want to bore you completely) Baroque (1650 - 1750), Classical (1750 - 1810ish) and Romantic (1810ish to 1900) anyone after that is currently called contemporary but I'm sure they'll think of a new name eventually. Most of today's most popular classical pieces come somewhere into these three categories. All of the pieces on the third CD are Romantic or Contemporary. Bearing in mind that these choices were made by the public, this says a lot about the music tastes of today, earlier music was very much about following a set form and pattern (a bit like todays pop music!), but the Romantics practically threw the rule book out of the window and give really passionate, exciting and above all unpredictable performances. This CD will make you feel good and uplifted.

It opens with a violin concerto No 1 by Bruch, which I know very few of you will know by name but it is a very famous piece, and beautifully performed, gets my kids conducting along to it every time (but my kids are odd too!) There are also two of my all time favourites on this with Mendlessohns Fingals Cave, which is part of the Hebridean overture by Mendlessohn, Fingals Cave is off Mull and Iona in Scotland and the music was inspired by his visit there, although I'm sure he didn't visit in the midst of a winter storm as it is very beautiful music, and the very famous Piano Concerto No 2 by Rachmaninov (yep, him again and I can't play this one very well either!) You will know this, as the music was practically lifted note for note to create the song 'All by Myself' which opened Bridget Jones diary.

The complete list for this one is:

1. Bruch Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor, 3rd Movement
2. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 23 2nd Movement
3. Tchaikovsky: Rose Adagio ( The Sleeping Beauty)
4. Mendelssohn: Fingals Cave Hebrides Overture.
5. Brahms: Symphony No 3 3rd movement
6. Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Reed Flutes (The Nutcraker) - Everyones a fruit and nutcase Arrrghh,
7. Elgar: Cello concerto 1st and 2nd Movements
8. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 2 2nd Movement

So there you have it, 3 CDs, compiling some of the most popular classical music of our time, picked out by viewers. I would recommend it, especially if you would like a very listenable collection of classical pieces, even for the Classical purist there is little to complain about, it avoids the pitfall of going completely for the Crossover Market by throwing loads of big names together in the hope that people buy it, when in reality the only person that does in these instances is my Mum!

It is currently available on Amazon for £12.99, but as they have just brought out another one, I'm sure you will get it cheaper if you wait a couple of months but I can't deny that for the price it is good value.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments.
 

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