Advantages: An excellent introduction to Classical Music Disadvantages: None
This is a companion set to Naxos' "The A~Z of Opera" (previously reviewed.. It follows the same format and is an ideal compilation for people who are new to classical music as well as classical music buffs. It contains a double CD with two and a half hours of classical music (as you would expect) and a 562 page book (not quite as thick as the Opera one) compiled and written again by Keith Anderson.
So what's in the pack?
~~ The Book
This contains ... ...same size as a CD and fairly thick. The text is concise and clear and informative, with portraits of composers throughout. After the index you get 450 pages of concise histories of composers, with recommendations of recordings from the Naxos catalogue. It is arranged in alphabetical order, and starts with Adolphe Adam and is completed by Bernd Alois Zimmerman. As well as details about the composer there are sections on the different types of music ...
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 ...
Advantages: I found this so relaxing I did fall a sleep the first time I played it, so it works for me. Disadvantages: Have to say again as I fell asleep the first time I played it I had to play it again, but I guess thats not that much of a disadvantage really.
If like me you like to have a Sunday relaxing with soothing sounds that can transport you anywhere you would rather be, then try this one out. Ok I like to have thos e Sunday moments any day of the week & I found this music brings me those moments.
I loved the pure sounds as they gently build to fill my mind with peace, sounds strange but that is what this music does. There is enough emotion in some of the music to inspire the heart, but most are ... ...to end your day off after a mad boss or raging family, come to think of it... nice item to give your made boss to bring them down, or give the family members that need chilling!.
Nearly 6 hours of chill time, with composers such as: Ralph Vaughan Williams & Alexander Porfir'yevich Borodin; Conducted by: Neville Marriner & Stephen Cleobury; amoung other proformers as: Stephen Hough (Piano); Danielle Millet (Mezzo soprano); Mady Mesplé (Soprano); ...
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 (*)
