CD-Charts Position 241
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Mozart: Requiem etc...

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Double

Release Date March 01, 1994
I'm glad I bought this recording. Not only is it good value for money, with the "Coronation Mass" and the "Exsultate Jubilate" included, as well as the Litany K195, it's a fine performance of one of the most moving works ever written. It also has the added bonus of giving us the (I think) rarely heard edition by Franz Beyer, who "cleaned up" the more regularly performed Sussmayr version. Marriner and the Academy show their mettle to perfection here. If I have one quibble, it lies in the inexplicable arrangement of the items on disc one. Why place them in the order: Exsultate, then the "Coronation", then the Litany? The only reason I can conceive is that they were arranged from shortest to longest work, which doesn't make logical sense. Surely ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 242
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Regimental Marches, Vol.2

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Regimental Band of the Coldstream Guards

Release Date October 01, 1999
This, and the sister CD are the finest recordings of the type I have heard.

Just like playing in the longest playoff ever.

CD-Charts Position 243
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Goodall: Choral Works

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: ASV

Release Date June 03, 2008
I have to admit I'd never heard of Howard Goodall before searching on Amazon. I'm a fan of choral music, and for a long time I've had "find Mr. Bean music" on my to-do list.
I was surprised to learn it was by a contemporary composer, and ordered the CD.

It's quite a revelation; each piece is thoughtful, deep, and quietly masterful. I love choral, but I prefer Renaissance to contemporary. In just 24 hours, however, this recording has changed all that; a beautiful collection of pieces - I'd put this album right at the top of my favourites list.

So far my favourite is 'Palm 23' - I've never actually watched 'The Vicar of Dibley', so I don't to have to disassociate the music from a TV show. It's sublime, sheer comfort; a ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 244
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Essential Purcell

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Hyperion

Release Date October 01, 1994
This is very enjoyable, and Dido's 'When I am laid in the cold ground' is especially moving, especially at this time of year! (England in a damp November!)

CD-Charts Position 245
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Monteverdi: Vespers 1610 · Venetian Vesper Music 1642 /Tavener Consort, Choir & Players · Parrott

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Taverner Consort, Andrew Parrott

Release Date January 24, 2000
I was very disappointed to find that Virgin/Veritas have not included the very full and interesting 68 page booklet, containing the libretto, essays and notes, which came with the original EMI publication.

CD-Charts Position 246
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Part - Spiegel Im Spiegel

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Jürgen Kruse, Benjamin Hudson, Sebastian Klinger

Release Date November 26, 2007
This is a better CD than ECM's Alina, as it covers the same ground - i.e. Arvo's tintinnabuli chamber work - but offers a slightly fuller repertoire. In other words, unlike the ECM, this CD offers three different Spiegels (all largely similiar, it has to be admitted, but beautiful nonetheless, and does include all three versions - for violin, viola and cello, where the ECM only offered violin and cello); Alina in its original version (this is where the ECM disc is at it's best and most annoying in only offering great improvisations on this simplest and most beautiful of Arvo's early tintinnabuli works, but neglecting to include the original version); and the wonderful Variations for Arinuschka. My only slight gripe is that it doesn't include Hymn to a ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 247
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Sibelius - Finlandia; Karelia Suite

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Naxos

Release Date October 01, 1999
It's hard to go wrong with Naxos discs; quality recordings at excellent prices, and wonderful selections. For a middlebrow listener like myself who has never managed to get into the more demanding side of classical music but is a bit jaded by the oft-repeated selections that keep appearing on compilation albums, this disc must be hard to beat for an introduction to Sibelius, covering at it does a variety of moods, from the soaring and powerful Finlandia, through the lilting Karelia Suite intermezzo to the haunting 'Valse Triste' (used to great effect in Bruno Bozetto's animated film 'Allegro non Troppo'). The other longer tracks are a bit ponderous to my undereduacated ear but this is still good value even if you skip those.

CD-Charts Position 248
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Beethoven - Piano Sonatas, Vol 4 (Paul Lewis) Winner of the Gramophone Award for Record of the Year 2008

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Paul Lewis

Release Date April 28, 2008
The reviewer above is spot-on in his assessment of this set. Lewis' virtuosity allows him to sound spontaneous, secure and sensitive at the same time. He presents Beethoven as a much more agreeable character than we are used to when listening to more extreme interpreters such as Kovacevich or Pollini.

The flipside of the human Beethoven is that the frenzy that can be created in the Hammerklavier (one of the previous volumes) or the last movement of Op 111 is replaced by a range of more down-to-earth emotions. Lewis' Beethoven doesn't do jazz. It's different, but extremely impressive nonetheless. And in further agreement with the other reviewer: the ending of Op111 is pure magic...

CD-Charts Position 249
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Mahler: Complete Symphonies

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: EMI

Release Date September 28, 1998
The late Klaus Tennstedt was a very great Mahler conductor and this set, in part, reflects that very well. Symphonies 3, 6 and 8 (and especially number 8) are right up with the very finest performances ever recorded. Symphonies 1, 2 and 4 are of a very high quality. Symphony 7 sounds fine until you hear the live BBC Legends recording (Mahler - Symphony No 7; Mozart - Symphony No 41 and you realise just how ALIVE a live Tennstedt performance can be (I know it costs almost as much as the complete set being reviewed here but please believe me, it is worth every penny!). As for symphonies 5 and 9 I personally find them rather four-square and unyielding. So on balance this is a very good set to buy as a super budget investment beating the Tabakov/Sophia ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 250
Average Rating:

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Debussy - Complete Piano Works, Vol 4

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Chandos

Release Date October 27, 2008
The late Klaus Tennstedt was a very great Mahler conductor and this set, in part, reflects that very well. Symphonies 3, 6 and 8 (and especially number 8) are right up with the very finest performances ever recorded. Symphonies 1, 2 and 4 are of a very high quality. Symphony 7 sounds fine until you hear the live BBC Legends recording (Mahler - Symphony No 7; Mozart - Symphony No 41 and you realise just how ALIVE a live Tennstedt performance can be (I know it costs almost as much as the complete set being reviewed here but please believe me, it is worth every penny!). As for symphonies 5 and 9 I personally find them rather four-square and unyielding. So on balance this is a very good set to buy as a super budget investment beating the Tabakov/Sophia ... Read More: