CD-Charts Position 1
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The Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World...Ever!

from: Classics

Release Date October 27, 1997
While there are some lovely pieces of music on these CDs they don't match the titles. When I bought this 2-set CD I thought that maybe I had received Vol2. or something by mistake as none of the tracks match the information on the CD insert. I decided to check by listening to the samples here on Amazon & discovered that they too are incorrect. Just to ensure I wasn't going mad I found the CD set on a US website and listened to their samples & they were correct!!! I wish someone could explain.

CD-Charts Position 2
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Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty narrated by Brian Cant

by: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

Release Date October 04, 1999
This is an excellent CD to introduce young children to classical music generally , and ballet music in particular. If you are thinking of taking young children to see either of these ballets, then get this CD first and Brian Cant will tell the stories, and the orchestra will play the main themes.
Higly recomended and at a good low price.

CD-Charts Position 3
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Classics for Children

from: Decca

Release Date October 18, 1999
The recordings found on this disc are some of the best available (...in fact, the Britten conducting Britten is the Gramophone's Recommended Recording!). Add to that the most delightful account of Schumann's "Scenes from Childhood", and you find a fantastic disc. Then look at the price! 5 stars for a well rounded CD, which wont break the bank.

CD-Charts Position 4
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The Essential Classics Collection

by: Myung-Whun Chung Géza Anda Rudolf Baumgartner Trevor Pinnock Karl Böhm Eugen Jochum Ferdinand Leitner Ferenc Fricsay Neeme Järvi Claudio Abbado

Release Date July 03, 2000
I bought this as a gift for my niece, since I wanted her to be educated about classical music as she was on her way to college. Ended up buying two copies as I found I loved it so much. Normally I like to pick and choose my orchestras, composers, and conductors, but this collection has jujst about everything. Also, I'd never bought some of the more "popular" items (Strauss and Grieg) as I'd heard them a million times, but now I have them and the performances are all great. This truly has a smattering of it all, and if you're not a classical music lover, it's bound to turn you on to the stuff.

CD-Charts Position 5
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The Essential Yo-Yo Ma

directed by: Ton Koopman, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Release Date August 09, 2004
I bought this as a gift for my niece, since I wanted her to be educated about classical music as she was on her way to college. Ended up buying two copies as I found I loved it so much. Normally I like to pick and choose my orchestras, composers, and conductors, but this collection has jujst about everything. Also, I'd never bought some of the more "popular" items (Strauss and Grieg) as I'd heard them a million times, but now I have them and the performances are all great. This truly has a smattering of it all, and if you're not a classical music lover, it's bound to turn you on to the stuff.

CD-Charts Position 6
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Secret Garden: Dreamcatcher

by: SECRET GARDEN

Release Date May 15, 2000
Sheer pleasure to listen & relax to. This has got to be their best album (and includes their Eurovision winner Nocturne)!

CD-Charts Position 7
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Smetana - Má Vlast

from: Naxos

Release Date December 15, 1994
I too had only heard Vltava -- an orchestra I play in is doing it this year -- before I was bought this. I hadn't realised how 'enchanting' (good word for it, really!) this was! If you've only heard one of the poems and want to listen around them, this is a wonderful edition. The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra is a brilliant orchestra - especially noted after I went to see them play Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique last year.

Utterly brilliant and highly recommended.

CD-Charts Position 8
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Rachmaninov - Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3

from: Naxos

Release Date October 05, 1998
Prior to this release, Naxos already had two versions each of Rachmaninov’s Second and Third Piano Concertos in their catalogue, so why the continued duplication of repertoire that is already more than adequately represented? The reason can surely be summed up in two words: Bernd Glemser. Glemser’s first recording of the Third Concerto for Naxos was excellent and must have led, one way or another, to his recording of the complete cycle, even though this had already been done for Naxos by Idil Biret.

What does Glemser bring to these works to justify these new recordings? Passion, style, and a truly awesome technique, that’s what. Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto is, I think, a work that is extremely difficult to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 / Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1

by: Sviatoslav Richter Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra Stanislaw Wislocki Wiener Symphoniker Herbert Karajan

Release Date April 04, 1995
a sublime recording from the soloist, surpassed only by his earlier sanderling recording.

on this version is there an enormously irritating fluff note by the horn at 6:21 in the rachmaninov slow movement?

CD-Charts Position 10
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Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition

by: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

Release Date March 10, 2003
I bought this cd for one track - Night on Bald Mountian. This one piece of music is so inventive, so impressive, so invigorating, that I would happily pay this amount for a cd with just this one track on it.
But it gets better! Not only does it include this fantastic track, it has two versions of the track, plus the entirety of "Pictures at an Exhibition" another wonderful treat. It also icludes two of his lesser known pieces, that while don't measure up to these other goliaths of classical music, are worth listening to.

Mussorgsky at his best. I recommend you play "night on bald mountain" very loud on a good stereo system - only then can you truly appreciate the brilliance.