Grand Mass in C Minor

Track Listings

1. Kyrie (soprano I, four-part chorus)

2. Gloria (four-part chorus)

3. Laudamus te (soprano II)

4. Gratias (five-part chorus)

5. Domine (soprano I & II)

6. Qui Tollis (double chorus)

7. Quoniam (soprano I & II, tenor)

8. Jesuy Christe (four-part chorus)

9. Credo (five-part chorus)

10. Et Incarnatus est (soprano I)

11. Sanctus (double chorus)

12. Benedictus (soprano I & II, tenor, bass, doubls chorus)

13. Agnus Dei (soprano I, four-part chorus)

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
Anna Haagenson, soprano, is a performer and teacher based in Vancouver, Washington. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the national winner of the Mother of the Year Vocal Competition and the Schubert Club of Minnesota Scholarship Competition. She has studied at the HageGården Music Center in Sweden with Swedish opera singer, Håkan Hagegård. She has also coached under Martin Issep, Lucy Shelton and Thomas Houser. Anna received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Colorado and the Master of Music degree from the University of Minnesota, where she appeared as Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff. Other roles include Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites by Francis Poulenc and Kate in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance. Recently she was heard in the Minnesota Opera productions of Verdi’s Aida and Otello, and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and as the soprano soloist in the Minnesota Chorale’s presentation of Mendelssohn’s Elijah! . Other solo repertoire includes Brahms’ German Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, and Poulenc’s Gloria. She is the soprano soloist on Exultate’s recording of the Brahms Requiem.

Karen Wilkerson, mezzo-soprano, holds her Bachelor of Arts in Music degree from California State University and a Masters in Music from Westminster Choir College. Wilkerson is active as a professional singer, conductor and teacher. As a recitalist she has appeared most recently in Princeton, NJ, Valparaiso, IN, Philadelphia and in Minneapolis. Her extensive choral background includes performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra. Wilkerson performed for four years with the Dale Warland Singers, and three seasons with the Minnesota Opera. She currently studies with Mary Kay Schmidt of Minneapolis, and Janet Bookspan of New York City. She also continues her studies with Rita Patane in Milano, Italy. Wilkerson teaches at Northwestern College, St. Paul and is on the music staff of St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Roseville.

Russ Carlson, tenor, serves as Director of Music at Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church, Minneapolis. He received his formal musical education at Golden Valley Lutheran College and Augsburg College in Minneapolis earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education. As a singer he has performed with the Minnesota Singer’s Theatre and Glass Theatre. He made his professional opera debut with Opera St. Paul’s production of Puccini’s La Boheme. While singing with the Minnesota Chorale, he was a soloist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has sung solos in the Mozart Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat in D, Theodore Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Christ, Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio and Schubert’s Mass in G. He is presently tenor section leader and assistant conductor of Exultate and can be heard on several Exultate recordings.

Waynne Hornicke, bass, is a graduate of Augsburg College, Minneapolios where he sang with the Augsburg Choir under Leland B. Sateren. He has sung with the Bach Society, Minnesota Chorale and the Dale Warland Singers. He is currently a bass soloist with the Augsburg Centennial Singers and at Grace-Trinity Community Church, Edina, Minnesota. His principal voice teachers were Ed Eklof and Leroy Lehr.

Album Description
Mozart began work on the Mass in C Minor in the summer of 1782. To fulfill a promise to Constanze he would perform a Mass in her honor when he took her to Salzburg to meet his father, who had not given the marriage his blessing. The Mass was rehearsed on August 23rd, and performed in the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter on August 26, 1783 with Constanze herself singing one of the solo soprano parts. The next performance did not occur until April 3rd of 1901.

The score was published from incomplete materials in 1840. The Kyrie, Gloria, most of the Sanctus, including the Osanna and the Benedictus, were finished, but regarding the Credo we find only“Credo in unum Deum and Et incarnatus est. In this performance the Credo ends after the text, "...Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man." The remaining portion of the second article as well as the entire third article of the creed are missing.

On this recording we have chosen to present the incomplete mass. The Agnus Dei is a reworking of the Kyrie and was not in the original score. We include it here for two reasons. First, it rounds out the Mass by using a technique often used by composers, that of having the same or similar music at the beginning and the end of a composition and secondly, it makes the Mass somewhat more complete. By including an Agnus Dei we at least have portions of all five parts of the Mass. There is evidence that Mozart intended to finish the work but his life ended less than 10 years later and the composition remained unfinished alongside the also unfinished Requiem Mass.

The Mass in C Minor is the most ambitious and elaborate of Mozart’s church works, planned on a scale comparable to that of Bach’s Mass in B minor. At the very time Mozart was writing it, he was also studying the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. It is evident in the counterpoint and basic structure of this mass that Mozart was impressed with the works of Bach and was influenced by his hearing of Bach’s compositional style. Because of that the Grand Mass is the single most elaborate, complex and difficult of all the Mozart vocal works. In this one composition we see a different Mozart, a supreme composer who is most mature and most accomplished in his craft of placing notes on paper. What a wonderful treasure it is! - TDR

Tracks:

Overture To 'Tannhauser'
Domna, Pos Vos Ay Chausida
We Don't Merely Use Instruments, We Play On Them. And They Play On Us.
Hungarian Dance No.7
The Violin Is One Of The Most Tender And Beautiful Instruments Ever Invented.
Violin Concerto In D Major (Adagio)
But For A Long Time It Was Seen As The Instrument Of The Devil.
The Soldier's Tale: Triumphal March Of The Devil
The Manipulative Seductiveness Of The Gypsy Violin.
Csardas Music
The Violin And The Initiation Of Nature
The Four Seasons (Spring, Mvt 1)
Birds Are Again Evoked In The Second Concerto, Especially Music's Natural Favourite.
The Four Seasons (Summer, Mvt 1)
Like The Devil, The Violin Is A Master Of Disguise.
Old Viennese Dance No.3 'Schon Rosmarin'
The Menacing Sensuality Of Ravel's Tzigane: A Very Different Side Of The Violin:
Tzigane
Do We Now Have The True Measure Of This Instrument? Not Just Yet.
Caprice No.24
The Many Effects Of The String Tremolando: Brandenburg Concerto No.4 (Last Mvt)/From Joy To Fright/Quartettsatz In C Minor/The String Tremolo Practically Spells The World Agitato.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No.7)
Prokofiev's Tremolo In Romeo And Juliet Should Not Be Heard Just Before Bedtime.
Romeo And Juliet: Act IV
Vivaldi Use It To Illustrate The Shivering Of Travellers Crossing The Ice.
The Four Seasons (Winter, Mvt 1)
The Violin Muted
Clair De Lune
The Gentleness Of Muted Strings Persists Even When A Whole Orchestra Plays.
Piano Concerto No.21 In C Major, K.467 (Slow Mvt)
The Pizzicato Violin
Pizzicato Polka
In Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto, The Accompaniment Is Pizzicato.
Violin Concerto No.2 In G Minor (Slow Mvt)
Varieties Of Pizzicato: Colas Breugnon (The People's Feast)/Now A Drier, Leaner, Hungrier Pizzicato. There's Not A Lot Of Comfort Here./Capriol Suite (Tordion)/The Use Of Pizzicato As 'Percussion'/Romeo And Juliet (Act I)/Mahler Used Pizzicato...
The Planets (Mars - The Bringer Of War)
The Technique Of Double-Stopping Enables The Violin To Play Duets With Itself./Sonata No.3 In C Major For Unaccompanied Violin (Fugue)/Now A Later Example Of The Same Technique
Hungarian Dance No.4
Double-Stopping Is A Standard Feature Of A Lot Of Folk Music.
The Four Seasons (Autumn, Mvt 1)
Now The Same Technique, But The Sound Might Have Come From Another World.
Bolero
Double-Stopping Can Only Approximate The Sound Of A Real Violin Duet.
Cadenza To The Violin Concerto By Brahms
Now Compare That With A Real Violin Duet.
Forty-Four Duos (No. 1: Teasing Song)
Another Duo By Bartok, Demonstrating The Violin's Rich Lower Register
Forty-Four Duos (No.2: Maypole Dance)
And Now What May Be The Most Beautiful Accompanied Violin Duet In History
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
The Soul Of The Violin Is In Song; But What About This Weird Passage?
Violin Concerto No.1 In D Major (Mvt 2)
The Use Of Harmonies In The Orchestra Can Be Both Magical And Unsettling.
Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 1, Opening)
Tchaikovsky's Use Of Harmonics In The Sleeping Beauty Is Both Strange And Darling.
The Sleeping Beauty (Act II, No.15: Entr'Acte)
Ravel's Harmonics In Mother Goose Effect A Magical Transformation.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
Stravinsky's Harmonics In The Firebird Transport Us Almost Into Another World./The Firebird (Introduction)
The Natural Upper Notes Of The Violins Have A Unique Emotional 'Grab'.
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Of The Afterworldsmen)
Still In Their Upper Register, The Violins Unleash The Energy Of A Young Colt.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No. 4)
Elsewhere, Britten Uses The Same High Register To Create A Very Different Mood.
Four Sea Interludes (Dawn) From 'Peter Grimes'
To End This Outing With The Violins, A Charming Little Elfin Dance
Elfenreigen

Tracks:

Introduction To The Viola
Viola Concerto (Mvt 1)
Khatchaturian Gets A Very Different Sound From It: Fuller, Fruitier, More Exotic.
Gayane Suite No.1 (Armen's Solo)
Very Nearly The Whole Of The Violin's Upper Register Is Also Available To The Viola.
Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'
The Viola Can Bring A Special, Rich Twanginess To Pizzicato That The Violins Lack./Don Quixote/Berlioz Drew Sounds From It That Retain Their Metallic Strangeness Even Today.
Harold In Italy (Mvt 4)
The Muted Viola: Intimate, Gentle, Poignant In Dvork
Cypresses (No.9)
The Massed Violas Of The Modern Symphony Orchestra In Mahler
Symphony No.4 (Mvt 3)
The 'Period' Viola In Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No.6 (Last Mvt)
The Cello: A Voice Of Unique Nobility
Suite No.1 For Unaccompanied Cello (Prelude)
Brahms And The 'Soul' Of The Cello
Piano Concerto No.2 In B Flat Major (Mvt 3)
Most Orchestral Composers Tend To Emphasize The Cello's Lower Register.
Cantata 'Herz Und Mund Und Tat Und Leben', BWV 147 (Soprana Aria: Bereite Dir, Jesu)
In The Time Of Beethoven The Cello Remained As Fundamental As Ever.
Symphony No.3 'Eroica' (Finale)
But The Cello Is Not Condemned To Spend Its Life In The Basement.
Elfentanz, Op.39
Not Only In Recital Showpieces Like That Is The Cello Is Used In Its Highest Register.
The Protecting Veil (Opening)
A Cello With An Identity-Crisis: The Pizzicato Flamencan
Flamenco
Double-Stopping In The Lower Reaches Of The Cello's Range
Solo Suiet For Cello And Piano (Sardana)
It's In The Middle Register That The Cello Really Comes Into Its Own.
Oriental Dance, Op.2 No.2
It Was To The Cellos That Beethoven Gave Two Of His Most Famous Themes./Symphony No.5 (Mvt 2)/Still More Famous Than That Theme Is This One From The Ninth Symphony.
Symphony No.9 (Finale)
Introduction To The Double-Bass
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Elephant)
But The Double-Bass Can Be Intensely Expressive And Graceful.
Elegy No.1 In D Major
The Range Of The Double-Bass Is The Greatest Of All The String Instruments/Allegro Di Concerto, 'Alla Mendelssohn'/And It's Also Capable Of Very Considerable Virtuosity.
Capriccio Di Bravura
Double-Bass Solos In Orchestral Scores Are Rare But Often Memorable./Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 3)/In His Third Symphony Mahler Makes A Very Different Use Of The Instrument./Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1)
The Double-Bass Muted In Prokofiev/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Kije's Wedding)/In Another Work Prokofiev Uses The Double-Bass To Enhance The Winds./Romeo And Juliet (Act III)/And He Combines The Bass Clarinet With A Shivering Tremolo From The Double-Basses....
Symphony No.5 (Mvt 3)/So Much For The Strings/On Now To The Winds

Tracks:

The Antiquity And Magic Of The Flute
Prelude A L'Apres-Midi D'Un Faune
The Versatility And Agility Of The Flute
Orchestral Suite No.2 In B Minor (Badinerie)
The Flute In Fifteenth-Century Spain
Sa'Dawi
Other Flutes: The Bass And Alto
Chamber Music No.II
The Piccolo - Aptly Named
La Naissance D'Osiris (Mvt 6)
From A Piccolo Of The Eighteenth Century To One Of Its Descendants In The Twentieth
Suite No.1 For Small Orchestra (Valse)
A Variety Of Techniques
Chamber Music No.II
Flutter-Tonguing. But Tchaikovsky Got There Eighty Years Before.
The Nutcracker (Act II, No.2: Scene)
From The Transverse To The Vertical: The Baroque Recorder
Recorded Suite In A Minor (Menuet II)
An Unfamiliar, Early Vision Of The Instrument
Naelden, Naelden
The Bachian Oboe
Cantata 'Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott', BWV 80 (No.7: Duetto)
Introduction To The Cor Anglais Or 'English Born'
Symphony No.9 'From The New World' (Mvt 2)
The Loneliness Of The Cor Anglais
The Swan Of Tuonela
The Cor Anglais Joins The French Horn In Haydn.
Symphony No.22 'The Philosopher' (Opening)
Introduction To The Oboe D'Amore, Beloved Of Bach - But Also Of Ravel
Bolero
The Clarinet Family: Boxing The Compass, From The Depths Of The Bass Clarinet.../The Egyptian (Violence)/...To The Raucous And Squealy.../Taras Bulba (The Death Of Ostap)/...To The Shrill And Complaining...
Petrushka (No.8: Peasant With Bear)/...To The High Sprits Of A Playful Puppy./Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)/And To The Downright Jazzy/Romeo And Juliet (Act II)
As The High Clarinets Tend To Be Loud, So The Bass Tends To Be Soft:
Gayane Suite No. 1 (Mvt 5)
The Bass Clarinet Is Used By Most Composers Mainly As A Colouring Agent.../Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/...But It Does Occasionally Get A Whole Tune To Itself./Iberia (Almeria).
The Range Of The Normal Clarinet Parts Goes Quite High...
The Snow Maiden (Scene 5: Melodrama)
...And Quite Low.
Peter And The Wolf (The Cat)
The Clarinet As Concerto Soloist
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
But That's Not The Instrument Mozart Wrote It For; This Is:
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
Introduction To The Saxophone
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 4)
The Soprano Saxophone Has Quite A Different Feel To It.
L'Arlesienne Suite No.1 (Minuet)
The Little Sopranino Sax Goes Even Higher.
Bolero
The Most Famous Use Of The Saxophone Is In An Orchestration By Ravel.
Pictures At An Exhibition (The Old Castle)
The Saxophone Can Be Quite Contagiously Good-Humoured.
Sax-O-Phun
The Puffa-Puffa Image Of The Bassoon
Peter And The Wolf (Grandfather)
The Bachian Bassoon, In Accompanimental Mode
Cantata 'Weichet Nur, Betrubte Schatten' ('Wedding Cantata'), BWV 202 (Aria No.1)
Bizet Leaves The Puffa-Puffa Image Out, Allowing The Bassoon To Sing./Carmen Suite No.1 (Les Dragons D'Alcala)
And Ravel, Also In Spanish Mode, Does Likewise.
Bolero
The Bassoon As A Voice Of High Seriousness, Indeed Desolate Loneliness
Symphony No.3 (Opening)
The Eerie Bassoon In Its Highest Register
The Rite Of Spring (Opening)
Stravinsky Now Draws On Its Lowest Register, Lonely And Melancholy.
The Firebird Suite (1919, Berceuse)
The Bassoon As Concerto Soloist, Avoiding All Exaggeration
Bassoon Concerto In G Minor (Finale)
The Deep-Voiced Contra-Bassoon, As A Fairy-Tale Beast
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
The French Horn Under Its Woodwind Hat
Wind Quintet, Op.43 (Last Mvt)
Now A More Prominent Role, In A Woodwind Quintet From An Earlier Era
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Mvt 2)
The Horn In Harmonious Blend With Strings In Another Quintet
Horn Quintet, K.407 (Finale)

Tracks:

The Trumpet As Virtuoso Soloist
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Last Mvt)
The Special Brillance Of Paired Trumpets
Concerto In C For Two Trumpets, RV537 (Mvt 1)
The Ceremonial Trumpet
Fanfare For The Common Man
Trumpets And Drums - An Incomparable Alliance
Messiah (The Trumpet Shall Sound)
The Versatility Of The Trumpet, From The Most Public To The Most Lonely
Piano Concerto In F (Slow Mvt)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of The City/An American In Paris/The Trumpet As Recruitment Officer/The Soldier's Tale (The March)/The Trumpet As Swaggerer
Carmen Suite No.2 (Habanera)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of Strength And Courage
Carmet Suite No.2 (Toreador's Song)
The Trumpet Muted/Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Opening)/The Trumpet As The Voice Of Weariness
Billy The Kid
The Trumpet As Character Actor
Pictures At An Exhibition (No.6)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of God
Mass In B Minor ('Et Exspecto')
The Birth Of The Trombone
Aenmerckt Nu Hier
The Birth Of The Brass As A Family
Canzon 12 In Double Echo
The Trombone In The Eighteenth Century
Trombone Concerto In B Flat Major (Finale)
The Tone Of The Tenor Trombone/Romance For Trombone And Organ/The Memorable Voice Of The Bass Trombone/Requiem (Mvt 2)/But The Bass Trombone Is More Than An Instrumental Bullfrog.
Hosannah
The Trombones Become Part Of The Orchestra.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
The Wagnerian Trombone:/Overture To 'Tannhauser'
The Trombone As Caricaturist
Pulcinella (No.19: Vivo)
The Trombone As Raspberry/Concerto For Orchestra (Intermezzo)
The Horn And The Hunt
Horn Concerto No.4 In E Flat, K.495 (Finale)
The Challenging Horn Of The Baroque
Abaris Ou Les Boreades (Menuet)
The Scarcity Of First-Rate Players In Handel's Time
Walter Music (Minuet 1)
The Horn As Magician/The Firebird Suite (1919, Finale)
Horns And The Sound Of Nobility
Overture To 'Tannhauser' (Opening)
The Special Sound Of The Horn In Its Higher Register
Mass In B Minor ('Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus')
The Trumpet-Like Sound Of Massed Horns
Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1, Opening)
The Tuba - Unfairly Maligned?
Symphony No.6 (Mvt 3)
The Tuba Perfectly Cast By Ravel
Pictures At An Exhibition (Bydlo)

Tracks:

Introduction. And We Begin With A Bang.
Fanfare For The Common Man/The Bass Drum On The Battlefields/Wellington's Victory, Op.91 (Opening)
At The Opposite Extreme Is The Triangle.
Piano Concerto No.1 In E Flat (Scherzo)
Categories Of Percussion: Tuned And Untuned. The Side Drum
Overture To 'La Gazza Ladra' - The Thieving Magpie (Opening)
The Side Drum In An Effective But Unexpected Role/Clarinet Concerto (Mvt 1)
The Tambourine. One Of The Oldest Instruments In The World
Den Hoboecken Dans
Even Older Is The Originally Oriental Gong.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
No Single Instrument Can Match The Gong In Evoking The Breaking Of Waves./Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'/But Gongs Don't Have To Be Struck To Be Effective.
Gymnopedie No.2
The Cymbals Are Generally Discovered Early In Life./The Sanguine Fan/And They Do More Than Clash Together Loudly. They Can Be Clashed Together Softly./Studio Example: But They Needn't Be Clashed Together At All/Studio Example: They Can Be Lightly...
Other Untuned Percussion Instruments Include The Whip.: Piano Concerto In G Major (Opening)/And Here Are No Fewer Than Twenty, Cracked By Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Act I, Scene 5)
More Versatile Than The Whip Are The Wood Blocks.../Studio Example/...Which Crop Up All Over The Place In Twentieth-Century American Music.
Rodeo (Hoe-Down)
Related To The Wood Blocks, By Sound, Are The Castanets./Jota Aragonesa/But The Castanets Were Also Used By Monteverdi Back In The Seventeenth Century.
Scherzi Musicali (Damigella Tutta Belle)
A Still Earlier Example From Fifteenth-Century Spain
Yo M'Enamori D'Un Aire
The Birth Of The Bongo
Symphonic Dances From 'West Side Story'
From The Streets Of New York To The Blacksmith's Shop/Il Trovatore ('Anvil Chorus')
Desert-Island Decibels: Grand Canyon Suite (On The Trail)/Arcana
From One Vegetable To Another: The Humble Squash, Or Marrow/Huapango
Onwards To The Tuned Percussion. First, The Timpani
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Introduction)
But The Drum Roll Can Be More Effectively Frightening Than The Big Bang.: Symphony No.2 'Resurrection' (Mvt 3)
Not One Drum Roll, But Many/Grand Canyon Suite (Sunrise)/Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)
Taking Advantage Of Tunability
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Mvt 2)
The Russian Composer Rodion Shchedrin Takes A Downward Turn./Carmen Suite (Changing Of The Guard)/Tuned, Yes; But For The Truly Melodic We Must Look Elsewhere.
Introducing The Glockenspiel/Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Saint-Saens And The Xylophone
The Carnival Of The Animals (Fossils)
Ravel And The Xylophone
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
Introducing The Marimba/Carmen Suite (First Intermezzo)
Introducing The Vibraphone
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Narange Dolce)
The Vibraphone Goes Russian.../Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)/...And Is Joined By The Marimba./Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Introducing The Hungarian Cimbalom
Folk Dances
The Cimbalom And The Symphony Orchestra
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 3)
Introducing The Tubular Bells
Hary Janos Suite (Viennese Musical Clock)
A More 'Up-Front' Approach From Rodion Shchedrin
Carmen Suite (Introduction)
But The Bells Can Also Make The Sinister Even More Sinister./Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Introducing The Celeste
The Nutcracker (Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy)
Magic, In The Use Of Collective Percussion
Miroirs (La Vallee Des Cloches)
Plucked Instruments: The 'Undercover Percussion'/Carmen Suite (Scene)
A Prime Case In Point Is The Harp, Irresistible To The Romantics./The Nutcracker (Act II, No.1: Scene)/The Non-Solo Harp As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Hungarian Rhapsody No.1
The Traditionally Subservient Role Of The Harpsichord In The Baroque Orchestra
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Slow Mvt)
The Piano: King Of The Tuned Percussion/Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Mvt 3)/And A Quarter Of A Century After That:
Petrushka (Russian Dance)
The Anti-Romantic Piano As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Last Mvt)

Tracks:

Keyboard Instruments In The Orchestra - The Most Powerful Of Them All:
Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Finale)
But Things In Handel's Day Were Very Different.
Organ Concerto In B Flat, Op.4 No.3 (Last Mvt)
The Organ Is Difficult To Classify.
An Unexpected, Organ-related Guest
Concerto Pour Zampogna (Last Mvt)
Peasant-Fancying... And A Touch Of The Roaming Cowboy
Les Miserables (Drink With Me)
Outside Artefacts And The Power Of Association
Mahler's Sleighbells
Symphony No.4 (Opening)
A Roll-Call Of Some Unusual Guests/The Typewriter/Parade
Chains, And More/Integrales/An American In Paris/Sandpaper Ballet
Purpose-Built Oddities: Wind Machines/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Opening)
Don Quixote (Variation VIII)
National Calling Cards: The Guitar For Spain/Concierto De Aranjuez (Finale)
And The Guitar's Poor American Relative, The Banjo/Washington Breakdown
And Poorer Still, The Mouth Organ/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Packing Up)
The Balalaika For Russia/Romeo And Juliet (Act II: No.14)
The Maracas For Mexico/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (El Desayuno)
The Bongos And Congas And A Whole Wealth Of Other Drums For Africa And Central America/Studio Example
The Sitar Of India/Evening Raga: Bhapoli
The Accordion For France (Especially Paris)/Paris Canaille
The Zither For Vienna/The Third Man (Theme)
The Cimbalom For Hungary/Folk Dances
The Guitar As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Rondena
There Are Whole Orchestras Of Balalaikas./Sveit Mesiats
The Effect Of The Wordless Human Voice, Used Purely As An Instrument/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Nocturnes
Instruments And the Imitation Of Nature. The Clarinet As Cuckoo
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Cuckoo)
The Flute As An All-purpose Aviary
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aviary)
The Oboe As Duck
Peter And The Wolf (The Duck)
The Recording Of Reality. Does It Work As Well?
The Pines Of Rome (The Pines Of The Janiculum)
The Recording Of Reality Electronically Reborn In New Guises
Cantus Articus - Concerto For Birds And Orchesra (Mvt 2)
Beethoven Turns Avian: Cuckoo, Nightingale, And Quail
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral' (Andante Molto Mosso)
Some Improbable Casting: The Violin As Braying Donkey
The Carnival Of The Animals (Persons With Long Ears)
A Truly Orchestral Hee-haw To Be Reckoned With
Overture To 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
A Thunderstorm In A Million
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral (Allegro-Allegretto)
the Instrumental Depiction Of A Silent World
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aquarium)
Saint-Saens' Menagerie Takes A Curtain Call.
The Carnival Of The Animals (Finale)

Tracks:

The Grouping Of Instrumental Families. An Additive Approach. First, Two Violins
Forty-Four Duos (No.4)
A Great Contrast, Of Both Pitch And Character: Violin And Viola
Duo For Violin And Viola In B Flat Major, K.424 (Finale, Vars 1 & 2)/Studio Example
Arrival Of The Standard String Trio: Violin, Viola, And Cello
String Trio In B Flat (Menuetto)
The String Quartet: Two Violins, Viola, And Cello
String Quartet In F, Op.18 No.1 (Mvt 3)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Viola
String Quartet No.5 In D, K.593 (Adagio)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Cello
String Quintet In C (Mvt 3)
The String Sextet: Two Violins, Two Violas, And Two Cellos
String Sextet In B Flat (Mvt 2)
The String Octet: The Standard String Quaret Times Two
Octet In E Flat, Op.20 (Mvt 1)
Double The String Octet: A Fully Fledged String Orchestra
String Symphony No.2 (Finale)
The Massed Strings Of A Symphony Orchestra
Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis
Contrasts Of Pitch And Instrumental 'Colour' In The Woodwind Section
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Theme)
In The First Variation It's The Horn That Gets The Lion's Share.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 1
In Variation Two The Torch Is Handed To The Bassoon.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 2
In Variation Three The Oboe Leads.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 3
Variation Four: Conversation Before Returning To A Solo-dominated Texture
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 4
And Variation Five is Dominated By The Clarinet.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 5
The Next To Be Featured Is The Virtuoso Flute.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 6
Individual Farewells And A Closing Chorus
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 7
A Mixed Group: Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, String Quartet, And Double-Bass
Octet In F (Mvt 3)
The Early Classical Symphony Orchestra Of Haydn And Mozart
Symphony No.29 In A, K.201 (Finale)
Strings, Wind, But No Brass. What Haydn And Mozart Never Knew
Canzon 28
Beethoven's Fifth: Two Horns, Two Trumpets, And Three Trombones Join The Team.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
From Beethoven To The Massive Orchestras Of Berlioz, Wagner, And Mahler
Beethoven Changed The Face Of The Symphony And The Orchestra Forever
Symphoy No.6 'Tragic' (Mvt 1)
The Cult Of Orchestral Elephantiasis Reaches Its Peak.
Symphony No.1 'Gothic' (VI: Te Ergo Quaesumus)
When Large Doesn't Necessarily Mean Loud: Debussy
Images (Gigues)
A Crisis Of Confidence; The Orchestra's Survival Hangs In The Balance, But It Still Develops. The Ondes Martenot:
Turangalila Symphony (Chant D'amour 1)
The Advent Of The 'Early Music' Movement Brings A New Vitality And Freshness.
Balle De Xerxes (Gavotte En Rondeau)
Computer And Synthesiser: Friends Or Foes?
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
A Speculative Look Ahead/Mass In B Minor ('Dona Nobis Pacem')

Customer Reviews:

Instruments of the Orchestra - Great Reference Material!.......2007-04-04

This set lends itself to greatly enhancing one's knowledge of the orchestra, instruments in it, and their usage. I am a huge music buff, and I still picked up a great deal I previously did not know. I highly recommend this for all who wish to understand the origin of music, as well as the processes that are employed to create music!

Beginner or Expert.......2007-03-12

This CD is excellent for the beginner or expert! To be able to haear the instrumets separately and then together really provides a good education. and/or refresher. The book thaty comes with the CD is alomost worth the price by itself!

Very Informative and Enjoyable.......2006-11-20

Whether you're a music novice or pro, "The instruments of the Orchestra" is a very worthwhile purchase. The 7 CDs, with a total of 8 hours, are expertly narrated by Jeremy Siepmann. He's a great speaker, very much like the late Leonard Bernstein was. Mr. Siepmann takes you on an unforgetable musical journey covering the origins and use of the various orchestral instruments throughout musical history. The balance between his narration and a wealth of musical examples, which range from snippets to entire movements, is superb. The comprehensive enclosed booklet is excellent and faithfully follows the 7 CDs in content. Even with my 40+ years of music training I still learned new things from this wonderful collection. Considering the excellence of the content, and a cost that translates to about $5 per disc, this collection is a great value. Grab it, you won't regret that you did. Five solid stars!

Frank's view.......2006-08-19

This boxed set of CD's with booklet achieved all I had hoped that it would. There are good samples of individual instruments and well done commentary on each. The only drawback was that some of the samples were too brief and could have been longer, hoiwever I guess this fits in with time constraints of the medium. It has given me a lot of clues as to future purchases of CD's for listening to individual instruments. Altogeth a satisfactory purchase and a welcome addition to my collection.

Excellent Intro for Those Not Familiar with the Orchestra.......2003-11-08

I've listened to classical music for years and am interested in composition. I bought this CD set to learn how an orchestra and its instruments work. I thought the CDs would be a nice but boring lecture. They aren't! Not only are they FUN but they are informative as well. I learned a huge amount from each CD and couldn't wait to listen to the next one.

The narrator and writer is a great speaker and holds your attention well. He is definitely knowledgeable. He provides musical examples for each point he makes, so you get to "hear" what he just talked about. I'd say the CDs are about 65% music and 35% narration. You'll learn about the range of instruments, some history, different ways to play them, how they sound, and how they are used in the orchestra. This CD set was a great learning experience and is sold at such a low price!

I recommend this CD for those who want to learn about classical music and those who know about it but are interested in learning more about the inner workings of an orchestra. You'll learn much useful information. For instance, the Rite of Spring (with that eerie start) is written for bassoon! I never knew a bassoon could sound like that but now I do.

Tracks:

Requiem: Dies Irae
Carmina Burana: O Fortuna
The Planets: Mars
The Ride Of The Valkyries
Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves
Fanfare For The Common Man
Pomp And Circumstance March No. 1
Aida: Grand March
Summer - Four Seasons: Presto
Te Deum: Prelude
The Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra
Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
Symphony No. 5: First Movement
Spartacus: Adagio
Sabre Dance
Symphony No. 40: First Movement
Zadok The Priest
Turandot: Nessun Dorma

Tracks:

Also Sprach Zarathoustra
Romeo And Juliet: Dance Of The Knights
Requiem: Dies Irae
1812 Overture
Piano Concerto
Spring - Four Seasons: Allegro
Messiah: Hallelujah Chorus
The Royal Fireworks: La Ruissance From Music
Flight Of The Bumble Bee
Symphonie Fantastique: March To The Scaffold
Carmen: Overture
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Jerusalem
The Planets: Jupiter
Symphony No 9, 'Ode To Joy'
Swan Lake: Scene
Enigma Variations: Nimrod
Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini [Variation 18]
Pictures At An Exibitions: Promenade
Symphony For Organ No 3: Finale, Symphony For Organ No 3

Customer Reviews:

perfect selection for commencement/ graduation.......2007-06-11

We were concerned after reading some other reviews that this version of Pomp and Circumstance wouldn't be the correct movement or the full length version. This selection has the song for graduation AND the extended length, so it gives plenty of time for processionals. If this is what you need, this is the CD to get.

Great Starting Point for Classical Music Novices.......2004-08-13

"Simply the Best Classicial Anthems" is exactly what the title indicates. This is a collection of what the CD says are "36 of the most powerful classics on Earth". My review of this CD comes from someone who is a Classical Music Novice. I'm familiar with some of the composers, musical styles, musical periods, and some of the terminology that is key to understanding Classical Music. By no means am I an expert. I have basically popped in this two CD collection into my player and have enjoyed the sounds it produces. If you are in the same category as I am or maybe just wanting to be introduced to Classical Music - this is going to be a very good CD to have in your collection. For the more seasoned Classical Music fan, this could be either enjoyable or overkill.

The CD contains 36 songs composed by the legends of Classical Music Composers from the past. The bulk of the works come from Composers in the the 19th and 20th century, but there are works from the Romantic and Classical eras of the late 18th and early 19th century (such as Beethoven and Mozart). In general you will find most of the major names of Composers you would expect to find - names such as Tchiakovsky, Handel, Verdi, Strauss, Elgar, and Bach are all there. The only major composer who I would have expected to see on this CD that I don't see is Frederic Chopin. The composers of the late 20th century are not included on this collection - so you won't see Leonard Bernstein or John Williams on this set. While these Composers are excellent, I do think style of the tracks on this collection pre-date their style.

The recordings themselves are done by the great Orchestras around the world. For the most part, European Orchestras were used to deliver the tracks. There are a few exceptions: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra delivers "The Ride of the Valkyries"; The Toronto Symphony Orchestra delivers "Dance of the Knights"; and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra delivers Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture". Some of the European Orchestras that are well known include: BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, Choeur Philhamonique de Strasbourg, and more. Also included are performances by well known names in the Classical space such as Marie-Claire Alain (Bach's "Toccate and Fogue in D Minor" and Saint-Saens' "Symphony for Organ No 3"), Piero Toso (Vivaldi's "Allegro From Spring - Four Seasons"), and Placido Domingo appears on Puccini's "Nessun Dorma".

The 2 Disc collection contains a total of over 2 hours and 6 minutes of music. The selections that are included in the set will sound very familiar to you when you play them. You probably have both heard and seen the names of tracks such as: Oref's "O Fortuna"; Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man"; Beethoven's "First Movement from Symphony Number 5" and "Ode To Joy"; Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance", and Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture". Many of the other tracks will also sound familiar, but maybe not so much by name - such as Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries", Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathoustra"; Grieg's "Piano Concerto", and "Dies Irae" (versions included by Mozart and Verdi - you can compare the two and judge for yourself). As for the Discs themselves, I think most of the casual fans will like the selections on Disc Two better, but Disc One is still very good. On a sidebar, the Israel Philharmonic's version of "1812 Overture" is by far the best you will hear - particularly at the end, the booming drums create almost a 3 dimensional vision of fireworks being launched into the air.

There one big negative on this collection is some of the recording quality. The clarity of the recording is there, but some of the recording levels leave a lot to be desired. On some of the softer parts, it is barely audible without significantly turning up your volume. This is very evident on "O Fortuna" where you will hear almost dead silence during from the 30 second to 1:30 mark of the track unless you crank your volume up. Same with the first few seconds of Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathoustra" and Tchiakovsky's "1812 Overture". When the volume is cranked up you will hear them - but then the other sections will be way too loud. I'm surprised with modern technology that this couldn't be addressed better.

The liner notes are pretty thin. You do get the Composers, Performers/Orchestras, and recording dates. There isn't any more details than that and you won't learn anymore insight on the tracks than this information. Despite some of the shortcomings of the liner notes and recording volume, I still think this is an excellent place to start and do recommend this CD if you are a novice to Classical Music and are looking for a great place to start listening to what the Classics have to offer.

**An Exquisite Album**.......2004-02-21

Simply The Best Classical Anthems

Simply The Best Classical Anthems is a compilation album of `36 of the most powerful Anthems on Earth'. But, it is also said to be something else. It is said to be a gateway. A gateway to another world. A world where our imagination can run free without being shackled down by any borders or boundaries or rules or limits. A world that we have all seen or perhaps more accurately have all heard of but for many of us a world that we have never dared to enter. Never dared to enter because of fear. The fear of being ostracised and shunned by our community.

THE MYTH
`Classical Music!', I can hear some of you cry. `That isn't another world. That's just music for the upperclass, the high-brow, and the pompous.' Surprisingly, I too felt this way for a long time until I accepted the invitation made to me by Simply The Best Classical Anthems. I always felt that Classical Music was nice to listen to as background music for a Levis ad or a Car ad but I would consider people strange if they chose to hear it on its own. However, after having listened to this album I realised how wrong I was in my assumptions.

THE TRUTH
Music as with all forms of amusement helps to take you away from where you are now. It helps to relax you when you are stressed with anger; it helps to give you strength when you are vulnerable; it helps to keep your spirits up when you have faced tragedy or loss. It helps. And, for me the type of music that best conjures up the most passionate emotions (love, hate, courage and anger) at our most testing times is Classical Music.
How? I don't know.
Why? I don't know.
I can only promise you that in my experience it does.

THE CHEST
The album, in visual terms, is very difficult to overlook amongst the plethora of records that may surround it. This is because the album has a very distinct purple sleeve cover. Not any kind of purple mind you but the Cadbury's kind of purple. The kind of purple that carries with it an invitation. An invitation that if accepted promises you a treasure inside.
And since, I have always enjoyed the treasure within the purple Cadbury's Dairy Milk wrapper, I asked myself why would an album carrying the same invitation promise to be anything different? Thus, I parted with my tuppence worth and went back home to open this purple chest of promised treasures.

THE PROMISED TREASURE
As you may have guessed, the contents of the album are somewhat different to the contents of a Cadbury's bar. When I opened the album, I was presented with two compact discs. At first glance, there did not seem to be anything special about them. They were just your average, everyday, run of the mill compact discs. To tell you the truth, I was a bit disappointed because I suppose I had hoped for something more.
However, looks can be deceptive. (Afterall, a Cadbury's Dairy Milk does not seem very appetising until you taste it!) And, also come November each year, I am always bemused and surprised at how the shabby contents of a cardboard box can both light up the sky and light up the faces of the neighbourhood. Thus, I pushed aside my assumptions and I ignited the discs (not literally of course, I just pressed the play button on the CD player). And, I let the fireworks begin.

THE KEY
From the very beginning, you will feel like you have unlocked the doorway to something special. And, after a full two hours of listening to both discs, you will feel like you have been taken out of this world and transported to another. Welcome to the world of Classical Music.

GUIDANCE
In the beginning, continue to listen to both discs in one go (i.e. one after the other). After a while, you will know which tracks you enjoy listening to the most. For those tracks you enjoyed the most make a promise to yourself that you will listen to the whole of the piece from which that track came from.
Good Luck on your quest if you choose to accept it.
Ride amongst the Valkyries, listen to the Flight of the Bumblebees, and use The Planets to keep you on the path.

I am not a good reviewer because as with all of my reviews I refuse to comment too much about what is inside the product but rather more about what effect the product has had on me. (Me, me, me. Vain & Egotistic, I know, so my friends and family keep telling me). But, I just want to cause a raucous about the product, enough not to spoil but enough of a raucous to let you experience it for yourself.

So my final words are:
Simply The Best Classical Anthems is an invitation. An invitation to the world of classical music. A world where you can begin a never-ending quest of curiosity. A curiosity that will always be rewarded with fulfilment.

Do you accept such an invitation?

Hope you found this review helpful.

Samples.......2003-11-23

The samples are too short and the quality leaves a lot to be desired. Having said that the choices are wonderful and the price is great. If you're looking for a overview of the best of classical music then this is for you. However if it's quality you're looking for then spent the extra money and look at other choices.

Great Sampler!.......2002-03-20

This is a good sampler, since it covers what you would want in a classical music CD. Looking at the tracks, it has the classic hits, such as "Ride of the Valkyries," "Toccata and Fugue," "Fanfare for the Common Man," "'Jupiter' from `The Planets,'" "Eine Klein Nachtmusik," and "Hallelujah Chorus."

There are also some new pieces that I have fallen in love with, such as "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," "'Promenade' from Pictures at an Exhibition." The compilers did an interesting double take by including both Verdi's and Mozart's "Dies Ire." I'm not sure which is better.

This music is good for the brain and good for the soul. There is a power and passion that the blaring and glaring music that makes up most of the FM band. I'm reminded of the religious man who said that there is no music in hell. Probably because they wouldn't appreciate it there.

Customer Reviews:

Mostly good.......2007-05-26

A bit of a mixed bag. The symphonies are superb. This is one of the great symphony cycles. The piano sonatas are good, very good (analog) sound. The quartets are well recorded indeed, but there are better cycles out there. The rest is OK, and the sound is genrally good.

Look at the List of Performers First.......2006-11-17

If you want most of Beethoven sitting on one bookshelf, this is a great bargain (especially if you shop for it on amazon.de). But few if any of the performances represent the pinnacles of interpretation that most listeners demand when Beethoven is the composer. The symphonies for instance: can Blomstedt be compared to Furtwangler or (if you lean toward historically informed instrumentation) Gardiner? Most amazingly, the artists who perform the quartets -- the heart of Beethoven's music -- are not even named in the listing.
On the other hand: Vivaldi: The Masterworks is a collection including the very best interpreters, such as Fabio Biondi! Bach Edition (complete Bach) is a fabulous selection of recordings made over 20 years, and almost the same praise can be given the Complete Mozart.

this "masterworks" series is available much more cheaply from Amazon France.......2006-05-28

there are several sets in this series and it's much cheaper to buy these from Amazon France.

included are bach, beethoven, vivaldi, brahms, dvorak, schubert, handel, hayden, and mendelssohn.

they're even cheaper than the list price once u go through the checkout (VAT is removed for overseas (out-of-france) purchases).

**also, the 'complete works of mozart' set is much cheaper there (or at Amazon Germany), too. the 'complete works of bach' is due out later this year.

You heard guy below: Beethoven needs the royality checks! .......2006-04-07

There is quality beyond the Austrian green cardboard (which is lovely to look at, to say the least). In fact, the performance of the symphonies (Dresden Staatskapelle and Herbert Blomstedt) is alone worth the price. The Staatskapelle is a solid group, and Blomstedt, although less wellknown, holds his own. It should be mentioned that Blomstedt recorded many of the most celebrated 20th composition CDs on the market, and definitely knows his stuff. Peter Wohlert recorded mostly for compiliation lables, but to be selected by the Berlin Phil shows that he is a formdiable conductor in rank as well.

Should you buy this collection then? Given the fact that each CD cost $1.75, there is definitely the bargin factor. However, Beethoven's music desveres the top interpreters and musicians of our time - and this applies for all of his music, not just the symphonic. If you are into bargins, then proceed to buy this collection. However, if you save up a bit more, you can buy Karajan's 1963 Beethovens symphonies along with Kempff's 1956 sonata cycles for just a bit more than 70 bucks. Shop around for the string quartets, and the complete overtures should range anywhere from 15 to 30 bucks depending on the conductor/ensemble.

Overall, this is certainly an exceptional bargin. However, quality matter more than money. Besides, chicks dig people with sophisticated tastes.

Buy my box Set!.......2006-03-21

Awesome deal, 40 CD box set of me, Beethoven! There are 3 principle reasons you should buy this box set:

This box is QUALITY my friend, made of the finest, Austrian cardboard with a lovely green finish, it is made to last! You can just set it on your dresser and whenever you need a Beethoven fix you can just pull a CD out. But don't you hate getting your CDs out of order so you can't find what the hell you're looking for?! Not with this set! They are well organized into symphonies, concerti, sonatas and such, so you can find EXACTLY what your looking for, and they have big numbers on them so you can put them right back where they belong.

And the music! Need we go into this, composed through the inspiration of God himself and penned by the greatest composer who ever walked the streets of Vienna, me, Beethoven! Top notch, all done by top performers and recorded at high, clear, digital quality, stick one in your stereo and rock out man! All of my great and mighty works are here, absolutely sublime!

Lastly, you'll be supporting me, I need those royalty checks to keep rolling in!

Buy it if you love me or just buy it if you want people to think that you're sophisticated (the chicks also dig it, I should know: Antonie Brentano, giggity!), you can't go wrong!

Average customer rating:

I can name that tune in three notes
A Fabulous CD
Mega-Sampler! This really does have 99 tracks!
Fun Sampler
Useful.

Idiot's Guide to Classical Music

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Quintets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Scherzo | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Russian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

1990s | By Decade | Pop | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
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Scott Joplin: Greatest Hits
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Music
Classical Guitar, Vol. 2
Classical Music for People Who Hate Classical Music
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ASIN: B000003FPT
Release Date: 1995-02-14

Tracks:

Adagio
Air on the G String: Air on the G String, Excerpt
Brandenburg Concerto: Third Movement, Excerpt
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Excerpt
Tocatta & Fugue: Excerpt
Adagio for Strings: Excerpt
Synphony No. 5: First Movement, Excerpt
Symphony No. 9: Fourth Movement, Excerpt
Fse: Excerpt
Turkish March: Turkish March, Excerpt
Moonlight Sonata: Excerpt
Symphonie Fantastique: March Ot the Scaffold, Excerpt
Damnation of Faust: Excerpt
Carmen - Habanera: Habanera, Excerpt
Toreador Song [From Carmen]
Minuet: Minuet, Excerpt
Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dance No 17, Excerpt
Hungarian Dance No. 5: No 5, Excerpt
Lullaby: No 4, Lullaby, Excerpt
"Minute" Waltz: Excerpt
Grande Valse Brillante: Excerpt
Marche Fune: Marche Fune
Appalachian Spring: Excerpt
Fanfare for the Common Man: Excerpt
Clair de Lune: Excerpt
Prelude to the Afternoon: Excerpt
Lakm Flower Duet: Flower Duet, Excerpt
Symphony No. 9 "New World": Second Movement, "Going Home" Theme, ...
The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Excerpt
Pomp & Circumstance: Excerpt
El Amor Brujo
Pavane: Excerpt
Rhapsody in Blue: Excerpt
American in Paris: Excerpt
Funeral March of Marionette: Excerpt
Piano Concerto in a Minor: Excerpt
Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 - Morning: Morning, Excerpt
Messiah - Hallelujah Chorus: Hallelujah Chorus, Excerpt
Water Music - Hornpipe: Hornpipe, Excerpt
Symphony No. 94 "Surprise": Second Movement, Excerpt
The Planets - Mars: Mars, Excerpt
Sabre Dance: Sabre Dance, Excerpt
Pagliacci: Vesti la Giubba, Excerpt
Hungarian Rhapsody
Liebestraum No. 3: No 3, Excerpt
Cavalleria Rusticana - Intermezzo: Intermezzo, Excerpt
Midsummer Night's Dream - Wedding March: Wedding March, Excerpt
Symphony No. 4 "Italian": Fourth Movement, Excerpt
Rondeau: No 1, Rondeau
Piano Concerto No. 21: Andante, Excerpt
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: First Movement, Excerpt
The Marriage of Figaro - Overture: Overture, Excerpt
Sonata in A - Rondo Alla Turca: Rondo Alla Turca, Excerpt
Symphony No. 40: First Movement, Excerpt
Night on Bald Mountain: Excerpt
Pictures at an Exhibition - Great Cave of Kiev: Great Gate of ...
Barcarolle: Barcarolle, Excerpt
Orpheus in Hades - Theme II: Excerpt (Theme)
Carmina Burana - O Fortuna: O Fortuna, Excerpt
Canon: Canon, Excerpt
Romeo & Juliet - Montagues & Capulets: Montagues & Capulets, Excerpt
Lt. Kije's Wedding: Lt. Kije's Wedding, Excerpt
Turandot - Nessun Dorma: Nessun Dorma, Excerpt
Piano Concerto No. 2: Second Movement, Excerpt
Symphony No. 2: Third Movement, Opening, Excerpt
Rhapsody on a Theme: Variation 18, Excerpt
Bolero
Flight of the Bumblebee
Concierto de Aranjuez - Adagio: Adagio, Excerpt
The Barber of Seville - Overture: Excerpt
The Barber of Sville - Largo Al Factotum: Largo Al Factotum, Excerpt
William Tell Overture - Theme II: Excerpt
Danse Macabre: Excerpt
Gymnope No. 1
Symphony N0. 8 "Unfinished": Excerpt
Ave Maria: Excerpt
Finlandia [Finale: Finale, Excerpt]
Valse Triste: No 1, Valse Triste, Excerpt
Stars & Stripes Forever: Excerpt
Semper Fidelis: Excerpt
Blue Danube Waltz: Excerpt
Tales from the Vienna Woods: Excerpt
Also Sprach Zarathustra: Fanfare, Excerpt
Firebird - Infernal Dance & Main Theme: Infernal Dance & Main ...
The Nutcracker - Waltz of the Flowers: Waltz of the Flowers, Excerpt
Swan Lake - Waltz: Waltz, Excerpt
Sleeping Beauty -: Waltz, Excerpt
Romeo & Juliet - Theme II: Theme LL, Excerpt
Piano Concerto No. 1 - Opening: Opening, Excerpt
1812 Overture - Finale: Finale, Excerpt
Fantasia on "Greensleeves": Excerpt
Alda - Grand March: Grand March, Excerpt
Il Trovatore - Anvil Chorus: Anvil Chorus, Excerpt
Requiem - Dies Irae: Dies Irae, Excerpt
Rigoletto - La Donna Mobile: La Donna Mobile, Excerpt
The Four Seasons "Spring" - Allegro: Allegro, Excerpt
The Four Season "Winter" - Largo: Largo, Excerpt
Lohengrin - Bridal Chorus: Bridal Chorus, Excerpt
Die WalkRide of the Valkyries: Ride of the Valkyries, Excerpt

Customer Reviews:

I can name that tune in three notes.......2005-02-19

My family likes to put this disc in on shuffle and play name that tune. I wish they made more discs like this, only with more obscure works.

A Fabulous CD.......2004-10-14

The Idiot's Guide to Calssical Music is an awesome Cd for those people who want to have a tiny sample of all the great classical compositions. Track 61 and 63 are my favorite.

Mega-Sampler! This really does have 99 tracks!.......2002-03-20

Yes, this CD really does have 99 tracks. How do they do it? Each is about a minuet long. Some are longer, some are shorter, but you get the micro-essential moments of the music.

If you like burning your own CDs, then this is a great source for intra-track fillers, along the lines of They Might Be Giants' "Apollo 18" album, which has all of those short tracks on the end. The idea is to put your CD player on shuffle, so the short tracks get mixed in with the bona fide songs. The result being a very unusual album.

The booklet gives an explanation of the track, where you heard it (i.e. the Warner Brother's Cartoons, or on famous films), and where you can get the full piece of music. So it's a mega sampler CD.

I can honestly say that this CD is a great gift for the friend who has everything.

Fun Sampler.......2001-11-09

For the beginner. You will be surprised at how many of the 99 themes you recognize here. It is an easy introduction to classical music. Nice booklet too.

Useful........1999-03-22

Take it for what it is, a clever and useful GUIDE to classical music. No, it is NOT an uncut rendition of Beethoven's 9th symphony. It IS a cd that will jog your memory. You have heard many of the tunes presented here, but not always knowing what the work was. This is your chance to catch up with all the great classical music you have been exposed to. Cheap too.

Average customer rating:

One of the best of the Masterworks series
Will not buy this
Worth it!
Great way to jumpstart a schubert collection
Better to Pick a Few First-rate Performances

Schubert: The Masterworks [Box Set]

Manufacturer: Brilliant Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ecossaises | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

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Mendelssohn: The Masterworks [Box Set]
Dvorák: The Masterworks [Box Set]
Handel: The Masterworks (Box Set)
Brahms: The Masterworks (Box Set)
Haydn: The Masterworks [Box Set]

ASIN: B00062FLJC
Release Date: 2004-11-30

Customer Reviews:

One of the best of the Masterworks series.......2007-07-06

Brilliant Classics' "Masterworks" series, if you can get them cheaply (and currently they go for about $1/CD from Amazon's France Web site), are a great way to amass a significant library of the works of several great computers. The production values and the performances themselves are uneven, and the interpretations are not always historically-informed (unlike the bulk of Brilliant's "Complete Editions" of the works of Bach and Mozart). But there are numerous gems in the rough in The Masterworks, and the economic value is unsurpassed, even if you were to throw away half of the CDs in each set.

You're unlikely to throw away much of this Schubert collection though. This seems to be the finest of the Masterworks sets, with a succession of solid, often first-rate performances of most of the major Schubert works. Here's what you get:

- The symphonies, performed by The Hanover Band in a historically-informed style. Very interesting performances perhaps marred by an odd recording balance that makes the woodwinds sound distant. Takes up four CDs
- The six Latin masses. Also the Deutsche Messe in the version with wind instruments. Five CDs in all
- Edison Denisov's completion of Schubert's unfinished dramatic work Lazarus (2 CDs, Helmuth Rilling's premier recording)
- The last four string quartets (including the Quartettsatz) with #9 thrown in. Also the octet, piano quintet ("The Trout"), string quintet and both piano trios. In short all the canonical chamber works. Performances are strong, and well recorded
- Two CDs of violin/piano duets, including Op. 137 and Op. 162
- 19 of the 21 "canonical" piano sonatas (missing #7 and #12) as well as the Moments Musicaux, Impromptus, German Dances, Wanderer Fantasy and several other piano works, 11 CDs in all. As with the chamber music, the performances and recordings are strong, often stunning
- Two CDs of piano duets, including the Divertissements and D. 617
- Song cycles: Die Schöne Müllerin, Winterreise, Schwanengesang, and four CDs of standalone songs, including such "standards" as Erlkönig and Gretchen am Spinnrade. The singers are a bit uneven here, ranging from standouts Robert Holl, Deitrich Fischer-Dieskau and John Shirley-Quirk to the somewhat shrill Arleen Augér

Missing from the collection is Rosamunde, and a number of famous songs: Die Forelle (The Trout), Death and the Maiden, Ellens Gesang III (the so-called Ave Maria, D. 839), Der Hirt auf dem Felsen and Der Wanderer. But you do have almost all the important instrumental works, and most of the vocal works generally considered to be essential, with some padding added in the form of minor works such as the parochial Deutsche Messe, the German Dances, and the modernist-informed completion of Lazarus by the 20th Century Russian composer Denisov.

As with the other Masterworks sets, there are no program notes. You'll need to do your own research. Answers.com is a good starting point for Schubert compositions. There are also no song texts or translations provided, so again you'll need to track down your own. Try "The Lied and Art Song Texts Page" for lieder lyrics and translations. Hunt down a good price on this collection, browsing one of Amazon's European sites if necessary, and treat yourself to many hours of lovely music for the cost of a modest night out.

Will not buy this.......2007-03-16

I can't see D965 or D945 on this 40 disks worth of Schubert. Bizarre! There are so many great songs missing it scares me.

Worth it!.......2006-12-19

One of the best in "The Masterpices" series. Many of the discs (the symphonies in particular) were licensed from Nimbus and other full-line labels. Not all that long ago these discs would have set you back $18 to $20 a piece. That said, I still wouldn't part with my Hyperion collection. 40 CD's at this price... you can't go wrong.

Great way to jumpstart a schubert collection.......2006-12-19

Hartmut Holl, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Stephanie Brown, and Jaime Laredo as well as the Stuttgart Bach Collegium performing Schubert are hardly "left-behind artists and ensembles" as the previous naysayer states. These are licensed from major label releases and from the original masters issued at a bargain price, especially for the number of discs you get. Sound quality ranges from good to excellent. Good for all Schubertians and anyone who wants to jumpstart a Schubert collection.

Better to Pick a Few First-rate Performances.......2006-11-14

This is a bargain in dollar/listening time ratio, but who cares? There are many second-rate performances by left-behind artists and ensembles. Obviously the economics of resurrecting disks that don't require royalties has been the driving factor of selection. (On the other hand, the complete edition boxed sets of Bach and Mozart, which you'll find if you look, are stupendous successes artistically.)

Average customer rating:

It's only snippets of the music!

Classical Music 101

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Classical Music for People Who Hate Classical Music
Classical Music 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Classical Music
25 Classical Favorites
The Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World...Ever!
Best of the Millennium: Top 40 Classical Hits

ASIN: B0002XEECK
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Tracks:

Adagio - Baroque Chamber Orchestra
Air On The G String - Festival Strings Lucerne
Mvmt. III - Festival Strings Lucerne
Aria - Peter Serkin
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring - Norman Luboff Choir
Toccata & Fugue In D Minor - Philadelphia Orchestra
Adagio For Strings - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Mvmt. I - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Mvmt. IV - New York Philharmonic
Fur Elise - Nellie Kokinos
Turkish March - Arthur Fiedler
'Moonlight' Sonata - Jorg Demus
March To The Scaffold - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Rakoczy March - Arthur Fiedler
Habanera/Toreador Song - Arthur Fiedler
Minuet - Arthur Fiedler
Polovtsian Dance No.17 - Arthur Fiedler
Hungarian Dance No.5 - London Festival Orchestra
Lullaby - Arthur Fiedler
Minute Waltz - Geza Anda
Grande Valse Brillante - Geza Anda
Marche Funebre - Emanuel Ax
Simple Gifts - Copland
Fanfare For The Common Man - Philadelphia Orchestra
Clair De Lune - Arthur Fiedler
Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Faun - Philadelphia Orchestra
Flower Duet - Philharmonia Virtuosi
Mvmt II. Going Home Theme - Arthur Fiedler
The Sorcerer's apprentice - Philadelphia Orchestra
March No.1 - Arthur Fiedler
Ritual Fire Dance - Arthur Fiedler
Pavane - National Philharmonic
Rhapsody In Blue - Arthur Fiedler
An American In Paris - Arthur Fiedler
Funeral March Of A Marionette - Arthur Fiedler
Piano Concerto In A Minor - Kjel Baekkelund
Morning - Philadelphia Orchestra
Hallelujah Chorus - Royal Philharmonic Chorus
Alla Hornpipe - Festival Strings Lucerne
Mvmt. II - English Chamber Orchestra
Mars - Philadelphia Orchestra
Sabre Dance - Arthur Fiedler
Vesti La Giubba - Placido Domingo
Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 - Philadelphia Orchestra
Liebestraum No.3 - Arthur Fiedler
Intermezzo - National Philharmonic
Wedding March - Philadelphia Orchestra
Mvmt. IV - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Rondeau - U.K. Symphony
Andante - Geza Anda
Mvmt. I - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Overture - Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Rondo Alla Turca - Walter Hautzig
Mvmt. I - English Chamber Orchestra
A Night On Bald Mountain - Philadelphia Orchestra
Great Gate Of Kiev - Philadelphia Orchestra
Barcarolle - Arthur Fiedler
Theme II (Can Can) - Arthur Fiedler
O Fortuna - New England Conservatory Chorus
Canon - Baroque Chamber Orchestra
Montagues & Capulets - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Lt. Kije's Wedding - Arthur Fiedler
Nessun Dorma - Jussi Bjorling
Mvmt. III - Rome Opera Chorus
Mvmt. III. Opening - London Symphony Orchestra
Var. 18 - Leonard Pennario
Bolero - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Flight Of The Bumblebee - Arthur Fiedler
Adagio - Julian Beam
Overture/Largo Al Factotum - Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Theme II - Arthur Fiedler
Danse Macabre - Philadelphia Orchestra
Gymnopedie No.1 - National Philharmonic
Symphony No.8 'Unfinished' - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Ave Maria - Robert Shaw Chorale
Finle - Morton Gould & His Orchestra
Valse Triste - Finnish Radio Orchestra
Stars & Stripes Forever - Arthur Fiedler
Semper Fidelis - Arthur Fiedler
Blue Danube Waltz - Arthur Fiedler
Tales From The Vienna Woods - Arthur Fiedler
Fanfare - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Infernal Dance & Main Theme - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Waltz Of The Flowers - Arthur Fiedler
Waltz - Philadelphia Orchestra
Waltz - Philadelphia Orchestra
Theme II - Philadelphia Orchestra
Opening - Barry Douglas
Finale - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Fantasia On Greensleeves - Philadelphia Orchestra
Grand March - Arthur Fiedler
Anvil Chorus - Rome Opera Chorus
Libiamo (Drinking Song) - Carlo Bergonzi
Die Irae - Chicago Symphony Chorus
Rigoletto - Placido Domingo
Allegro - Jose-Luis Garcia
Largo - Jose-Luis Garcia
Bridal Chorus - Robert Shaw Chorale
Ride Of The Valkyries - Philadelphia Orchestra

Customer Reviews:

It's only snippets of the music!.......2006-02-12

This CD only contains 30-60 second long snippets of each of the pieces. It could be a teaching tool but is not something you can just put on to listen. It does contain reference to popular TV and Film works that contain the music.

Average customer rating:

A gateway drug, nothing more, nothing less.
Decent Selection, But...
A must-have classical music set!

Best Classics 100

Manufacturer: Capitol
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0001M65HE
Release Date: 2004-08-10

Tracks:

Handel: The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba
Vivaldi: Spring (The Four Seasons)
J.S. Bach: Toccata in D Minor
Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 in E Flat
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
Tchaikovsky: '1812' Overture
Beethoven: Ode To Joy (Symphony #9)
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor
Sibelius: Alla Marcia (Karelia Suite)
Holst: Jupiter, The Bringer Of Jollity
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1
Sibelius: Finlandia
Verdi: Gloria All'egitto (Aida)
Prokofiev: Montagues And Capulets (Romeo & Juliet)
J. Strauss I: Radetzky March
Elgar: Pomp And Circumstance March No.1
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3
Saint-Saens: Symphony No. 3 'Organ'

Tracks:

J. S. Bach: Air 'On The G String'
Gluck: Dance Of The Blessed Spirits
Pachelbel: Canon
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A
J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations
Albinoni: Adagio
Beethoven: Piano Sonata 'Moonlight'
Mozart: Flute & Harp Concerto in C
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor
Mozart: Piano Concerto 'Elivira Madigan'
Dvorak: Symphony No. 9
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1
Elgar: Nimrod
Rodrigo: Concierto De Aranjuez
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Mahler: Symphony No. 5
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody On A Theme of Paganini

Tracks:

Bizet: Au fond du temple saint (Les Pjcheurs de perles)
Dvorak: Song to the Moon (Rusalka)
Delibes: Dtme Epais (Lakmi)
Bizet: La Fleur Que Tu M'avais Jetie (Carmen)
Gluck: Che Farr Senza Euridice? (Orfeo & Euridice)
Bellini: Casta Diva (Norma)
Puccini: Che Gelida Manina (La Bohhme)
Puccini: O Mio Babbino Caro (Gianno Schicchi)
Trad: Baolhro
Puccini: Vogliatemi Bene (Madama Butterfly)
Verdi: Va, Pensiero (Nabucco)
Lehar: Es Lebt' Eine Vilja (Die Lustige Witwe)
Handel: Ombra Mai Fy (Serse)
Schubert: Ave Maria
Adam: Minuit, Chritiens (O Holy Night)
Puccini: Nessun Dorma (Turandot)

Tracks:

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
J.S. Bach: Jesus bleibet meine Freud
Beethoven: Piano Concerto 'Emperor'
Clarke: Trumpet Voluntary
Gounod: Judex
Rossini: La scala di Seta
Handel: Sarabande
Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers
Prokofiev: Troika
Williams: Fantasia on 'Greensleeves'
Debussy: Clair de lune
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake
Myers: Cavatina
Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1
Horner: My Heart Will Go On
Quarantotto: Time to Say Goodbye
J. Strauss II: The Blue Danube

Tracks:

Mascagni: Intermezzo
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2
Grieg: Morning (Peer Gynt)
Shostakovich: Romance
Barber: Adagio For Strings
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Massenet: Miditation
Borodin: Polovtsian Dances
Khachaturian: Adagio Of Spartacus And Phrygia
Tchaikovsky: Romeo And Juliet Overture
Beethoven: Symphony No.7
J. S. Bach: Double Violin Concerto
Williams: Schindler's List Theme
Tchaikovsky: Dance Of The Reed Flutes
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral'

Tracks:

Handel: Zadok The Priest
J. S. Bach: Zion Hvrt Die Wdchter
Allegri: Miserere Mei, Deus
Schubert: German Mass
Franck: Panis Angelicus
Berlioz: L'adieu Des Bergers
Gounod: St Cecilia Mass
Faure: In Paradisum
Mozart: Laudate Dominum
Faure: Cantique De Jean Racine
Verdi: Ingemisco
Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus
Handel: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth
Haydn: The Heavens Are Telling
Faure: Pie Jesu
Mozart: Lacrimosa (Requiem)
Handel: Hallelujah Chorus

Customer Reviews:

A gateway drug, nothing more, nothing less. .......2007-03-11

To say that this album constitutes a necessity for the classical music enthusiast would be a great big unarguable lie. It has nothing innovative to offer you as a listener, except for maybe the labelling of melodies such as "My Heart Will Go On" (that god-awful Love Theme from the gruesome film Titanic) as a worthy member of "Best Classics 100". But than again, every collection of things that does not naturally belong together, is bound to have at least one outcast where the connection clearly isn't based on anything but cost and sale-ability.

This might sound like the beginning of a CD-slaughter, or a snobbish review where only the Deutche Grammophone's recordings are meting my standards, but although I am fairly picky when it comes to musical collections, best of albums, and such horrifying destructions of the universality of the works and the intentions of the artist behind it, I am willing to give this collection another chance, since classical music is somewhere between Arabic and wine in degree of unmanageability. It also helps that all the tunes are familiar to almost every one of us, and the fact that the artists' intentions probably got killed by the hundreds of different conductors trying to convey their personal interpretation of the works.

What I am saying is that this CD can be to classical music enthusiast what 'absolute rock' can be to a rock enthusiast, or to someone slightly interested, with no conceptual frames of where to start the search for knowledge. "Best Classics 100" offers nothing except a selection of melodies where there's bound to be one for every taste, but where the album feeling, the entirety or completeness intended by the composer, or conductor, or performer is completely lost in a trade-off made with variety.

The collection is attempted organised by giving each CD a different theme, supposedly to describe the mood of the music, and the labeller succeeds only to a limited extent as we move from themes such as 'uplifting' and 'relaxing' towards 'golden'. I wonder what that golden feeling constitutes. It apparently is to be found in, amongst others, "Jesus Bleibet Meine Freunde", and in "My Heart Will Go On"?

But no matter how I try to describe this CD it will sound worse than it actually is. This because to me it works as a great reference to which I can always turn with my classical music questions. Was it Schumann or Schubert who were the sad one? Of all the -inis, which where which again? Who composed "O Mio Babbino Caro"? The starting point for finding out if you belong to the romantic or the renascence wing, lies within this assemblage, if you look with your ears.

If you feel that classical music is something you like, and you'd like to learn more about it, this is a way to get started. If used together with a book on classical music, or wikipedia, it can be a gateway drug, leading you towards the great different experiences to be found within the different genres of classical music, and within the different periods ranging from the 12th century, maybe even earlier, towards yesterdays and tomorrows spectacular compositions of melodies that conveys a feeling, a state of mind with much more precision than any other musical genre. Expect a fairly alright collection of classical prunes, and you won't be disappointed.

Decent Selection, But..........2005-04-21

...The Audio Quality is really not great. I bought this CD because I am new to classical, and the price was great! 100 songs for 25 bucks, thats like 25 cents a song, most songs are 1 dollar or more. Now I know why it's cheaper. The audio quality isn't that good. I imported the entire collection to my computer using Apple Lossless, and it sounded fuzzy, not crisp, with background noise, and sounded like compressed music, cutting off the frequency response.
I then played the CD's through my home stereo, with the same results. I plugged in my SHURE E5c headphones and the sound was soft, uninviting, lacking punch, with significant backgound noise (not just from the headphones), which was especially distracting when the music would get softer. I have heard much of the music before, and it was much more dynamic, entertaining, this recording seems too flat.
The music selection is ok, but I was hoping for some more interesting selections from the vast classical genre.
Overall, not that great of a recording, but many might not notice the difference, so if you are new to classical or aren't like an audiophile, get this album because it's a great overview of pop-culture classical, and it's pretty inexpensive.

A must-have classical music set!.......2005-01-06

Classical music is, by far, my favorite type of music. It can make you happy or sad, it can make you laugh or cry, and it can make you want to fall asleep or get up and dance. This 6-disc set is a must-have for and classical music-lover! It has all the great composers like Handel, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Bach, and Pachelbel. Some great songs include: Canon In D(Pachelbel), Morning: Peergynt(Grieg), Adagio For Strings(Barber), Cavatina(Myers), and much, much more. Every classical song you can think of is on here and the sound quality is great. So if you're looking for a good classical music CD, this set is all you need. Be prepared to be blown away!

Sviatoslav Richter Concert Performances And Broadcasts, 1958-1976

Average customer rating:

A thousand carats album!

Sviatoslav Richter Concert Performances And Broadcasts, 1958-1976

Manufacturer: Music & Arts Program
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Scherzo | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000006KG3
Release Date: 1993-11-01

Customer Reviews:

A thousand carats album!.......2006-07-31

This fabulous set gives us a fabulous and complete selection from Richter's oeuvre that spans the years 1958-1976; it includes a kaleidoscopic variety of composers, a wide range of musical styles. The famed pianist Glenn Gould once affirmed : "There are musicians who try to bypass the whole question of the performing mechanism, to create the illusion, at any rate, of a direct link between themselves and a particular musical score, helping therefore the listener to achieve a sensation of involvement, not with the performance per se, but rather, with the music itself." And that is absolutely valid in the case of Richer.

For many Beethoven purists, Richer may result quite propulsive and even unaware. But that is just an illusion. It's a question of temperament. Richter uses to explore directly without reflexive pauses the soul of Beethoven. In fact, you may feel Richter plays as a huge mirror that reflects the multiple facets of any composer as a whole. In this superb compilation Beethoven occupies two and a quarter CD' s . His Variations & Fugue for piano Op. 35 are even much more emotive and volcanic respect the famous performance given in Carnegie Hall of 1965. (I just have this recording and have compared them one each other.). The Sonata Op. 10 is extraordinary. The Sonata Op. 4 is an excellent performance that denotes the multiplicity of vision (listen to Benedetti Michelangeli and Schnabel, for instance). The Sonata 32 is memorable although it's far to reach the unbeatable version of Paul Badura Skoda ` s version of 1973.

Believe or not the impressive performance of Richter around Pictures at exhibition is not so far respect to the well known and best acclaimed version of Sofia. You may realize this recital in Budapest was made just a week after Sofia' s performance and the most notable feature is how different is. If it's true the overall texture is visibly lighter and less dark respect Sophie, in certain passages I find it wildest, aggressive and even volcanic. The Catacombs and the Great Gate of Kiev are to my mind, much reposed analytical and colder but better performed. In my case, I have another additional Pictures of Richter and I use to compare between themselves.

Tchaikovsky pieces are quite sensitive and beautifully phrased. Scriabin' s Ninth Sonata has always been a personal trademark of this formidable pianist, although I rather his mesmerizing Warsaw live version of 1972. Prokoviev' s Fourth Sonata has constituted for Richter another treasured battle horse in most of his recitals. He possesses that required intensity, black humor and bitter cynicism that nestles along the score, because of the fact nobody like him knew about the nature of the monster and the oppressive atmosphere in those years. In sum, this is a very remarkable musical document for treasure and enjoy it over and over.

Highly recommended for those Richter' s hard fans and even you don' t.

Average customer rating:

Historic Organ Of Louisville

Manufacturer: Organ Hist. Society
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Fugues | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Hymns | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Partsongs | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000004AHS
Release Date: 1996-12-17

Tracks:

Funeral March And Humn Of Seraphs
Sonata No.1, Op.42: III. Finale
'The Little Red Lark'
Fireside Francies, Op.29
Lord Enthroned
Suite Folklorique: Canzona
Lied des Chrysanthemes, Op.3, No.1
Fantasie And Fugue In B-Flat
We Know That Christ Is Raised
Peer Gynt Suite I.: Ases Tod
Andante
Concerto No.1: Organ Solo
Johnson Rag

Tracks:

Sonata IV.
Ave Maria, Op.104, No.2
Allegro Maestoso And Fugue On America
Homage To Persichetti
Dawn Hymn, Op.138
Sunset To Sunrise
O God, Thou Faithful God, Op.65
Church Cantata: b. Aria
Hymn Interpret: Beach Spring
Sonata V.
Elevation, No.30
Secondo Dialogo
Monologue, Op.162, No.1: Fughetta On B-A-C-H
Homeward Bound
Prayer
Offertoire (La madone)
Chanson de nuit, Op.15, No.1
Thais: Meditation
Prelude On Pisgah

Tracks:

Sonata No.4 In B-Flat Major: I., II.
Fugue In A-Flat Minor
Prelude On Hyfrydol
L'Apres midi faune: Prelude
The Ride Of The Walkuren
The Last Rose Of Summer
Laudate Dominum: O Praise Ye the Lord
Three Pieces
Fantasie

Tracks:

Partita On Ein fest Burg
A Mighty Fortress
Sonata II.: I. Lebhaft
Prelude And Fugue In E-Flat
Sing Alleluia Forth
Trumpet Tune
Grand March In B-Flat Major
Partita On Resonet In laudibus
When In Our Music: Chorale

Average customer rating:

Excellent Overview of the Life of Mozart

Life & Works
Mozart
Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Instructional | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000069HGJ
Release Date: 2002-11-19

Tracks:

Leopold Mozart: Sinfonia Di Caccia
Minuet In G, K. 1
A Miracle Exported
Molto Allegro In G, K. 72a
Prodigy And The Child: At Home And Abroad
A Musical Joke, K. 522
A Prodigy At Home
Cassation In G, K. 63
The Grand Tour
Symphony No. 1 In E Flat, K. 16 (Mvt. I)
Salzburg's Ambassadors
Piano Concerto No. 3 In D, K. 40 (Finale)
Italian Investments
Allegri: Miserere
A Dream Come True
Ascanio In Alba, K. 111 (Act I, Scene I)

Tracks:

Mozart As Eternal Child
'Riconosci In Questo Amplesso' From 'The Marriage Of Figaro', K. 492
Leopold And The Eternal Child
Piano Concerto No. 5 In D, K. 175 (Finale)
Dashed Hopes Of Escape
Symphony No. 25 In G Minor, K. 183 (Mvt. 1)
The Composer Comes Of Age
Symphony No. 29 In A, K. 201 (Finale)
The Genius Emerges Fully Fledged
Piano Concerto No. 9 In E Flat, K. 271 (Mvt. II)
Fired By The Archbishop, Mozart Seeks His Fortune Elsewhere
Violin Concerto No. 3 In G, K. 16 (Finale)
Sexual Awakening
Piano Concerto No. 8 In B Flat, K. 238 (Finale)
Mozart, Love And Filial Obedience
piano Sonata No. 7 In C, K. 309 (Slow Mvt.)

Tracks:

To Paris Under Protest
Concerto In C For Flute And Harp, K. 299 (Finale)
An Unexpected Triumph
Symphony No. 31 In D, K. 297 ('Paris' Finale)
Death, Deception, And Grief
Piano Sonata No. 8 In A Minor, K. 310 (Slow Mvt.)
Recrimination And Capitulation
Mass In C, K. 317 ('Coronation' Kyrie)
Liberation In Vienna
Clementi: Piano Sonata In B Flat, Op. 24 No. 2 (Mvt. I)
variations On 'Ah, Vous DiraiJe, Maman', K. 265
Love, Marriage... And Leopold
Overture To 'The Abduction From The Seraglio, K. 384

Tracks:

A Miraculous Outpouring
Serenade In B Flat For Thirteen Wind Instruments, K. 361 (Mvt. 6: Romanze)
On The Cadge
Concerto Rondo In D For Piano And Orchestra, K. 382
Reunion, Parenthood, Grief Resilience
Horn Concerto No. 1 In D, K. 412 (Rondo)
Father, Father-Figure, And Friendship
String Quartet No. 19 In C, K. 465 ('Dissonance' Mvt. I)
Destiny Versus Popularity
piano Concerto no. 20 In D Minor, K. 466 (Last Mvt.)
Prague, Figaro, And Celebrity
'Se Vuol Ballare' From 'The Marriage Of Figaro', K. 492
Don Giovanni, Death And Desolation
Symphony No. 40 In G Minor, K. 550 (Slow Mvt.)
Despair And Recovery
Cosi Fan Tutte, K. 588 (Act II, Finale)
Genius In Adversity
Adagio In C For Glass Harmonica, K. 356
Decline, Death And Immortality
Piano Concerto No. 25 In C, K. 503 (Finale)

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Overview of the Life of Mozart.......2006-12-21

"Life & Works" is an excellent telling of the life of Mozart that primarily uses his letters, the letters of his family and friends, and his excerpts of his music. It is a rich combination that avoids many of the cliches of other biographical pieces (such as not ending with the Requiem)and gives a freshness and vibrancy to his life. The narrator was charming and quite entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed "Life & Works" and recommend it to Mozart lovers and those new to his work!

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Smash Your Head Against the Wall

The Art of Cora Canne Miejer in Opera

Tango Brasileiro

Say It Loud!

Touch My Soul, Vol. 7 [Import]

Tranquil World: Mystic Easter Island

Speaking Extravagantly

The Unknown [Extra tracks]

Ten Songs in the Key of Betrayal [Import]

The Complete 1950's Concerto Recordings [Box set]

Toshiko Plays Toshiko [Import]

Se Remata El Jacalito

Sima! [Import]

Rhythm & Romance

EndSerenading

1. Kyrie (soprano I, four-part chorus)
2. Gloria (four-part chorus)
3. Laudamus te (soprano II)
4. Gratias (five-part chorus)
5. Domine (soprano I & II)
6. Qui Tollis (double chorus)
7. Quoniam (soprano I & II, tenor)
8. Jesuy Christe (four-part chorus)
9. Credo (five-part chorus)
10. Et Incarnatus est (soprano I)
11. Sanctus (double chorus)
12. Benedictus (soprano I & II, tenor, bass, doubls chorus)
13. Agnus Dei (soprano I, four-part chorus)