Advantages: One of Beethoven's finest symphonies. Disadvantages: None from me, but some will say "classical music is boring".
THE END OF AN ERA
1812 can be seen as the markerpoint where Beethoven's middle-period came to an end and his late-period was ushered in. Beethoven's middle-period saw the composer at his most creative high with one masterpiece following the other in rapid succession. The beginning of this period can roughly be timed as starting in 1803 with the appearance of the Third Symphony "Eroica" and the "Kreutzer" sonata. These two works signalled Beethoven ... ...behind him and taking on a completely new and individual voice. This individuality became more and more apparent in the works that followed: the "Waldstein" and "Appassionata" piano sonatas, the "Razumovski" quartets, the Violin Concerto, the three last cello sonatas, the "Archduke" piano trio, Fidelio, the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, the Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos, to name the most important. With Napoleon heading up his war campaign all over ...
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 ...
Ode to joy was written by one of the worlds most renounced composers - Beethoven. This is in my opinion the best of beethoven's symphonies.
This song is the easy to play and the tune is very catchy. The music is E E F G G F E D C C D E E D D E E F G G F E D C C D E D C C. The easy tune is very catchy and quite easy to remember. If you are learning to play the piano or keyboard I would suggest that you start by learning this one. I would recommend ...
TerryMan123 06.05.2006 ·Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Ode to Joy
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 (*)
