CD-Charts Position 51
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Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Vladimir Ashkenazy London Symphony Orchestra André Previn

Release Date September 18, 1995
To my ears this was a very good recording of the great composer's piano concertos.

CD-Charts Position 52
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The Ultimate Guitar Collection

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
by: John Williams

Release Date August 20, 2007
To my ears this was a very good recording of the great composer's piano concertos.

CD-Charts Position 53
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Abide with Me - 50 Favourite Hymns

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
from: Double Decca

Release Date July 08, 1996
I have often listened to church music thinking to myself is it all manifested in the same place and released under different titles? However this selection 'hits the spot' with some great renditions of worshipful music and if you like to listen to part singing then cd 1 is excellent. There also some lovely descants some of which i had not heard before, an inspiring selection. Excellent.

CD-Charts Position 54
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Songs Of Praise

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Various Artists

Release Date May 16, 2005
Well, I think I must have a different version of this CD to the other reviewers because Cliff Richard - Faithful One has a strong Christian message e.g "I will bow down before God's only son".

The first track (How Great Thou Art - Aled Jones) is worth the price of the CD on its own.

CD-Charts Position 55
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Orff: Carmina Burana

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
from: Great Recordings of the Century

Release Date October 05, 1998
Okay, first, for the uninitiated, what is Carmina Burana? It is that piece of music which they play if someone (prizefighters love it) needs a particualrly ostentatious entrance. Those in the UK who remember the Old Spice ads of the 70's and 80's featuring a surfer - that's Carmina Burana; specifically the first and last track "O Fortuna", "Fortune, you are like the moon; waxing and waning, bringing one man good forune and the next man ill luck" being an approximate translation. It is one of those pieces everybody has heard if they watch television or films at all (Oh yes, John Boorman's Excalibur uses a version). So, subtle it ain't? Wrong! - it has some of the most beaufiful, subtle, sophisticated, and charming pieces of music in it. Dulchissimo was never ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 56
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Christmas Music from Medieval and Renaissance Europe

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
from: Hyperion

Release Date July 01, 1994
This is now the 11th Christmas that this music has been part of the tradition of my holiday season, and although I've acquired numerous other holiday music collections over the years, this far surpasses any other collection that I own. It is difficult to do justice to this music by describing it in mere words. The collection ranges from the 14th to the 16th Century, and is unlike any other collection of Christmas music available. It evokes the true spirit of the Christmas season, is enlightening, inspirational, and transports the listener far from the trite elements of the 'modern' holiday season. No other choral group can compare to the Harry Christophers The Sixteen (named such as the group consists of four treble/mean, four alto, four tenor and four ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 57
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Book of Longing

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Philip Glass, Leonard Cohen

Release Date November 26, 2007
I wholeheartedly disagree with some of the reviewers who claim that Glass has provided the perfect setting for Cohen's later poetry. For one, Cohen on paper is not as great a poet as he is in song. In fact, his later poetry harks back a good deal to the poetry of the beats (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, etc) and is comparable to a great degree to the late, great Charles Bukowski, but not as good, in my opinion. The difference being that Bukowski had no choice but to immerse himself in a squalid existence, and write, as it were, inside the belly of the whale. Cohen, on the other hand, has always exuded real class, and he has a much higher-minded side to his character, so that i.e. in 'The Energy Of Slaves' when he writes of Valentina, that "I loved to creep up behind her/when ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 58
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A Carol Symphony

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
by: City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Release Date November 04, 2002
If you’re seeking a quieter, more restful and (dare I say) traditional form of Christmas Spirit than you’re getting from Slade, Wizzard and Phil Spector, then here’s something very beautiful: a collection of classical, orchestral pieces all themed around the Yuletide season.
Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s splendid Carol Symphony (the third movement of which achieved greater fame in the 1980s as the creepy-but-festive theme to the BBC series “The Box Of Delights”) appears here in one of perhaps only two recent (and available) recordings and is beautifully played/ recorded. This alone justifies Naxos’ bargain price!

But let’s not ignore the remaining tracks. Each one is a miniature gem that manages to capture something of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 59
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The Only Piano Album You'll Ever Need

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Various Artists

Release Date May 26, 2003
As a professional concert pianist for the last thirty years or so, it was a great relief to find that they have released everything you need on 2 CDs. Sure enough, since I bought it I have been able to discard the 1000 or so CDs that I had collected of performers like Cortot, Horowitz, Rachmaninoff and Schnabel (and I now have enough room for a pool table!). They are simply not necessary when you have these two CDs.

CD-Charts Position 60
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Songs my mother taught me

CD-Charts > Music > Classical Instrumental
by: Magdalena Kozená Dorothea Röschmann Michael Freimuth Malcolm Martineau

Release Date September 22, 2008
This is an amazing recital from the fab Ms Kozena. This woman could sing the phone book and it would move me. Magdalena sings with such power and emotion. I have played this CD everyday since I brought it and went to see Magdalena perform some of the arias/songs from this CD at the Barbican in London and the whole audience seemed to be spellbound her her presence. I do recommed this CD along with last year's Handel recital.