...it's just a matter of time before you know you're about to explode.
That's why I'm here to tell you about Classic FM's Time To Relax CD box set. Or, as the blurb tells me, "more than 3 hours of the world's most relaxing music on 3 CD's". This triple CD box set was brought out in 2001 and it's meant to soothe and relax and allow one to 'create your own personal time to relax'. Obviously, this won't be out in regular CD shops as a new release, because ... ...of the box, but this time in the form of a CD insert. It lists all 31 tracks in the set, with the name of the track and its composer, and a little info about the piece itself- giving a little bit of context. Taking the CD insert, you're greeted by 3 more copies of the front box- this time on the 3 CD inserts for the 3 CDs! Each CD case is the size of one of the CD cases you'd get when buying a recordable blank CD- so it's a good compact shape. All ...
Advantages: Good variety or composers and styles Disadvantages: no specific interest to one composer
Welcome to the world of Classical Music. If you are a fanatical performer, conductor or an avid listener then this is the product for you. 'The best classical album in the world . . . ever' is exactly what it says it is. This product is best suited to the general listener, rather than the listener with a specific interest in a particular composer. But all will enjoy the variety and class that this Cd offers. Music ranging from all periods of music ... ...for everyone. The selection of moods chosen are hugely varied, from schindlers list with its moving lyrical violin solo to the hallelujah chorus with its triumphant melodies. So whether you want to chill out or to be inspired, this is the collection for you. A bargain at under £10 ...
Advantages: Every tune's a winner Disadvantages: Nothing new
...Grieg- Peer Gynt (In the Hall of the Mountain King)
If you don't know these pieces, then this would be an ideal CD for you if you feel you ought to know what the most commonly known classical pieces are. It could be treated as a mini-course on accepted masterpieces, and the booklet, (minimal, 2 CD-sized sides per CD), gives you a pert selection of related anecdotes to astound your friends with. (For example, Rutter's pick is "A Gaelic Blessing". ... ...as "garlic dressing". Radio 3 would not share this blasphemy with you I'm sure!
If you already know all these pieces (and are something of a music buff), don't instantly dismiss this CD. I'm a music graduate and knew almost all of them inside out, and I usually prefer to have "whole" works on CD. But this set does fill a gap- that "I can't decide what I really want to listen to but I want something jolly or that I haven't heard for ages because ...
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 ...
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 ...
Package, to drive, nippy, economical, relaible (*)
