CD-Charts Position 1

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Antill - Corroboree

by: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Release Date June 30, 2008

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

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Classic FM: Music for Babies

by: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Release Date March 14, 2005
My mum bought me this as she thought it would calm my screaming tiny baby. Can't say that it worked straight off, however I reached for it again when I was looking for something to signal "sleeping time" when I had to remove the mobile from his cot. Sick to the back teeth of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" after 8 months, this was a good alternative - plus you don't have to pop back to wind up a CD...

I prefer disc 1 to disc 2, but my son seems not to care! It just gives him clear notice that it is bedtime, and nothing more exciting than milk and a book or 6, followed by sleep, is coming. Set at a low volume, there is really nothing too sudden to disturb a child, and if you put this on every night, it will all become familiar ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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Vaughan Williams - Orchestral Favourites

by: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Release Date June 02, 2003
My mum bought me this as she thought it would calm my screaming tiny baby. Can't say that it worked straight off, however I reached for it again when I was looking for something to signal "sleeping time" when I had to remove the mobile from his cot. Sick to the back teeth of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" after 8 months, this was a good alternative - plus you don't have to pop back to wind up a CD...

I prefer disc 1 to disc 2, but my son seems not to care! It just gives him clear notice that it is bedtime, and nothing more exciting than milk and a book or 6, followed by sleep, is coming. Set at a low volume, there is really nothing too sudden to disturb a child, and if you put this on every night, it will all become familiar ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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Bowen; Walton - Viola Concertos

by: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Marc Taddei

Release Date May 01, 2006
I can't think of another recording that packs this much outstanding music for viola and orchestra onto one CD. That is all wonderful English music from the golden era of Enlish music, the early 20th-century, with the likes of Vaughan Williams and Walton is excellent. Further, new discoveries, for me at least, of the Howells Elegy and Bowen Concerto is even better. And best of all is that violist Helen Callus is superb. She plays with such passion and drama, with a richness of sound that seems to have a thousand different possibilities, each one perfectly suited to every mood and nuance. Take the Vaughan Williams, for example which opens the CD. The Prelude is full and bold, the Carol is touching and intimate, the Christmas Dance is raucus ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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Bridge - Enter Spring; (2) Poems; The Sea; Summer

by: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Release Date June 28, 2004
I bought this CD because it was budget-priced and because I wanted to try out Frank Bridge. It's very good. "Enter Spring" and "The Sea" are clearly the heavier-weight here. I think I agree with the first reviewer that the performance is rather well-behaved, which is not to say it is bad! It would make for a more cultivated experience I guess.

Against these the symphonic poems feel much less inspired. "Summer" is the slightest of the pieces and, whilst appropriate, detracts from the overall CD quite a bit. The "Two Poems for Orchestra" are more up-tempo, and that seems, judging from this disc, what Bridge does better at.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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Goodwin: Orchestral Works

from: Marco Polo

Release Date April 24, 1996
I bought this CD because it was budget-priced and because I wanted to try out Frank Bridge. It's very good. "Enter Spring" and "The Sea" are clearly the heavier-weight here. I think I agree with the first reviewer that the performance is rather well-behaved, which is not to say it is bad! It would make for a more cultivated experience I guess.

Against these the symphonic poems feel much less inspired. "Summer" is the slightest of the pieces and, whilst appropriate, detracts from the overall CD quite a bit. The "Two Poems for Orchestra" are more up-tempo, and that seems, judging from this disc, what Bridge does better at.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

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Elgar - The Wand of Youth; Nursery Suite

by: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Release Date March 01, 2004
This CD of Elgar's music has most - not all, by any means - but many of my favourite pieces; both `Wand of Youth Suites' and the `Nursery Suite'. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is sensitively conducted by James Judd and it is a CD which can be listened to - as I do - time and time, again.

Highly recommended.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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Elgar - Orchestral Miniatures

by: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Release Date July 31, 2006
Getting the right orchestral sound for Elgar is harder than it might seem. It is rare that a non-English orchestra does. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, a marvelous group who seem to be making more recordings in recent years, does it well. They somehow get that Edwardian feel that American and especially Austro-German orchestras never quite manage. Listen, for instance, to the little string portamento at :40 of the 'Froissart Overture.' Marvelous. It's delicately done but still noticeable and precisely right. And they also don't overdo the trudging basses that can sound so heavy and heartless in less in-the-style orchestras. James Judd, of course, is a British conductor and that probably counts for a lot here.

Amazon has not, as of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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Poulenc: Barbar the Elephant/Ravel: Mother Goose Suite

from: Classics

Release Date January 01, 1997
Getting the right orchestral sound for Elgar is harder than it might seem. It is rare that a non-English orchestra does. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, a marvelous group who seem to be making more recordings in recent years, does it well. They somehow get that Edwardian feel that American and especially Austro-German orchestras never quite manage. Listen, for instance, to the little string portamento at :40 of the 'Froissart Overture.' Marvelous. It's delicately done but still noticeable and precisely right. And they also don't overdo the trudging basses that can sound so heavy and heartless in less in-the-style orchestras. James Judd, of course, is a British conductor and that probably counts for a lot here.

Amazon has not, as of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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Kraus - Violin Concerto

by: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Release Date October 29, 2007
Getting the right orchestral sound for Elgar is harder than it might seem. It is rare that a non-English orchestra does. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, a marvelous group who seem to be making more recordings in recent years, does it well. They somehow get that Edwardian feel that American and especially Austro-German orchestras never quite manage. Listen, for instance, to the little string portamento at :40 of the 'Froissart Overture.' Marvelous. It's delicately done but still noticeable and precisely right. And they also don't overdo the trudging basses that can sound so heavy and heartless in less in-the-style orchestras. James Judd, of course, is a British conductor and that probably counts for a lot here.

Amazon has not, as of ... Read More: