Classical > Instrumental Classical > Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

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 ... Read review

Advantages: Some great music
Disadvantages: Compilations!

...on? I don't think Classic FMs listeners are quite ready for that yet. The track list for the Opera is: 1. Delibes: Flower Duet (Lakmé) 2. Rossini: Largo al Factotum (Barber of Seville) 3. Puccini: Nessun Dorma (Turandot) 4. Dvorak: Song to the Moon (Rusalka) 5. Bizet: Au Fond du Temple Saint (The Pearl Fishers) 6. Bellini: Casta Diva (Norma) 7. Puccini: Che Gelida Manina (La Boheme) 8. Mascagni: Easter Hymn (Cavalleria Rusticana) 9. Bizet: ...
...(Madame Butterfly) 12. Verdi: Celeste Aidi (Aidi) 13. Mozart: La ci darem la mano (Don Giovanni) 14. Verdi: Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (Nabucco) 15. Puccini: O mio Babbino Caro (Gianni Schicchi) The Opera CD is probably my least listened to of the three, not because I dislike Opera, to the contrary I love it, but after all I have said about background music I tend to use the CD's when we have people round and Opera is not everyone's cup of ... Read review

Advantages: everything
Disadvantages: nothing

...Newman Any Other Name (from the film "American Beauty") James Horner My Heart Will Go On Georg Friedrich Handel Hallelujah Chorus (Messiah) Zadok the Priest (Coronation Anthem No. 1, HWV 258) Gregorio Allegri Miserere mei, Deus John Jenkins Agnus Dei Christoph Willibald Gluck J'ai perdu mon Eurydice (Orfeo ed Euridice) Charles Gounod, Johann Sebastian Bach Ave Maria Leo Delibes Dome epais (Lakme (1883)) Georges Bizet Au fond du ...
...Burana) Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov The Flight of the Bumble-bee Johann II Strauss An der schonen, blauen Donau, Op.314 Edvard Hagerup Grieg Allegro molto moderato (Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.16) George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue (1924) jazzband version Gustav Holst The Planets: Jupiter - excerpt Sergei Prokofiev Montagues and Capulets (Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64) Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso (Piano Concerto ... Read review

Advantages: Unparalleled playing, Unbelievably good bargain for 6 CDs!
Disadvantages: Um, paper sleeves? No, seriously, it's great

...comprises recordings from 1985-89, when Horowitz was 81 years old! In 1986 Horowitz returned to Russia after 60 years away to give his monumental Moscow recital of which the live recording is included in this set. I personally find this performance of Liszt's Sonetto 104 del Petrarca to be the finest ever recorded. Alongside this is Scarlatti, Mozart, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Schumann, Chopin, Moszkowski, and Schubert. Accompanying this recital is ...
...got older, Horowitz's playing became a sort of caricature of itself in the nicest possible way. By this I mean, his dynamics became more extreme, he became more expressive than ever, and his sense of style was heightened to new levels. Horowitz's Mozart playing has been criticized for being too free and not in Mozart's style, but really what he did was fuse his own bombastic and honest personality with the elegance, fire, and beauty of Mozart's. ... Read review

Advantages: Virtuosic operatic vocalism, unusual repertoire, mad scenes...
Disadvantages: Fleming's voice is maybe not best suited for this...

...CD featuring renowned American soprano Renée Fleming? Simply put: Bel canto is the Italian term for "beautiful singing", but it is specifically applied towards a vocal technique which first developed in the 17th century in Italy and continued to develop towards a peak in the 19th century with many bel canto operas by composers such as Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti - all of whom feature on this CD. It is a very technically based way of singing, where ...
...de force. Performers: Renée Fleming is the soprano soloist on this disc. She was born in 1959 in America and has developed a world class career singing at the major world opera houses, enjoying a particularly close relationship with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Her voice is regarded as mainly lyrical, and her biggest successes have been in works from that part of the operatic repertoire, such as "Der Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss and ... Read review