Classical > Bach, Johann Sebastian Classical > Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

A Classical Review

Advantages: A great diversity of famous works
Disadvantages: Not everything is perfect

I am a huge fan of classical music, with a collection soon breaking the 700 marker. But where did it all begin? Well right here. When I got my first CD player, I played my parents CDs until making my first CD purchase. I stumbled along a 2-CD collection called "Simply the Best classical Anthems." Honestly, I had not the slightest clue about what music al the names on the back contained. But there were so many interesting pieces there so that I immediately ...
...buy. Unlike many other collections, this one features many top flight recordings of some of the most popular classical music. Some of them are still holding their own in the mass of my collection. It was also extremely useful for me in expanding my collection. TRACK LISTING AS FOLLOWS: CD 1 VERDI: Dies Irae from Requiem ORFF: O Fortuna from Carmina Burana HOLST: Mars from The Planets, Op.32 WAGNER: The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre ...

berlioz 08.08.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Simply the Best Classical Anthems

Just watch the world go by

Advantages: A definite easy listen
Disadvantages: Maybe too easy

This CD was probably a strange choice for me as i've never bought a classical album before, but i was attracted by the front cover ( i know never judge a book by its cover, but it was a CD) which seemed to depict everything i was looking for. Something i could just lie back, listen to and drift away into my own little dream world. Well it did exactly that. I drifted off to sleep after about track 6 and dint wake untill the CD had ended. This unfortunately ...
...but i soon listened to it again to get the full effect. It is definitely as described a very peaceful album. The music seems to lift you up and allow u to float above the world but i warn it does make u feel very drowsy. Whether id advise u to buy it or not depends on if ur into classical music. Although saying that i wudnt exactly say im 'into' it, i jus fancied a change. Its a good CD if u want to relax or for background music if u have sophisticated ...

specialme 17.06.2004 · Read full review
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Review of (The) Most Peaceful Classical Album in the World...Ever!

Orchestrating Music with Colourful Dialect

Advantages: Great performances of popular favourites and some rare gems
Disadvantages: Barely none, with perhaps slight issues with sound.

...As part of Deutsche Grammophon's Panorama series (cheap 2 CD collections of famous and not so famous music), the recordings are generally very good, mostly performed by top ensembles like the Berliner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestras among others, under people like Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Daniel Barenboim and Seiji Ozawa. The recordings themselves range from the early 1960s to the late ...
...hiss or other distracting anomalies. With this much talent involved, you can be sure there is not much to be disappointed as far as the performances are concerned. Beginning in high style by a wonderful performance of Hugo Alfvén's Swedish Rhapsody No.1, "Midsommarvaka", the recording of the Gothenburg Symphony under Neeme Järvi is one of the best I have heard (as are the other rhapsodies in the set from which this has been taken from), being rich, ...

berlioz 06.05.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Panorama - Colours of the Orchestra

Sumptuous works by a little-known composer

Advantages: Good recordings of unfamiliar, but rewarding works
Disadvantages: None

Karlowicz is a relatively unknown composer whose chief claim to fame was his untimely death in a skiing accident just before the First World War. He left a small collection of works, the later of which (figured in this disc) show a talent that was tragically snuffed out before he could achieve greatness. The Symphonic Poems featured here reveal a composer adept at interesting orchestral effects (try the sad theme at the start of the Lithuanian Rhapsody, ...
...writing for the lower-toned instruments of the orchestra. Karlowicz has clearly learnt a lot from Richard Strauss, whose shadow fell across much pre-1914 music, but it often lacks the extrovert quality of the Gernman composer's tone poems; as the inlay notes say, there is a 'brooding' quality to much of this music, particularly evident in the middle sections of these works. Another feature of Karlowicz's writing is his tendency to pick himself up ...

chivhu 15.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Karlowicz: Symphonic Poems Vol 1

Music for Meditation

Advantages: A good introduction to sacred music
Disadvantages: A rather niche album on which those into the genre will find nothing new

...the same. Requiem is subtitled "music for Reflection and Meditation". It takes various well known settings of the requiem mass, together with a couple of other fitting pieces and puts them together in one place. If one is so minded, one should note that this album is NOT a requiem mass. The pieces don't follow in the right order but, having said that, to the knowledgeable, the whole album stands on its own as a good religious set. One of the other ...
...who are less well-known. When one says "requiem" one might think of Verdi or Mozart but here we also have offerings from Spanish composer Lobo (a motet) and the Italian Pergolesi (an extract from his Sabat Mater). I feel that Naxos have really got it right with this compilation. The perfect balance between the known and the unknown is struck with excerpts from the more well known Requiems by Mozart and Verdi featuring more than once meaning ...

CareBear 15.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Requiem - Classical Music for Reflection & Meditation