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, ...
Advantages: Superb collection of beautifully recorded pieces Disadvantages: Nothing particularly abstract, few 'original' interpretations
The Classic FM CDs tend to excel particularly in the regions of recording quality, original and varied choices of music from all periods, and a well-enforced central theme.
This CD is no different-from the most ancient of Baroque composers to Modern Film pieces each style is well-represented here. As ever, the recordings are crystal-clear, which is to be expected from this franchise.
However, the music, though varied in period and musical aspects, ... ...Classic FM style the music is recorded for the casual listener, and as with all compilations the educated musician will often be frustrated at the incompleteness of full works, and also perhaps the often unoriginal interpretations of the pieces. This is definitely a compilation again aimed at the listener with a piece in mind who doesn't particularly wish to delve into the academic realms of study but is perfectly content being able to listen to ...
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: 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 (*)
