CD-Charts Position 1
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Handel's "Messiah": Choral Edition

by: Watkins Shaw

Release Date 1999-08
This 264 page Watkins Shaw edition, popular for performances, is good, clearly set out and easy to read for both those new to 'Messiah' and the experienced requiring a copy of this edition.
BUT, it is thick (about 15mm), and hence relatively heavy due partly to a lengthy Preface but more so to its 33 page Appendix! It can make the arms ache when involved in a full performance, particularly when one has to stand for most of it!!
On the plus side, the current Amazon discounted price for a copy, with free p&p, is very attractive.

CD-Charts Position 2
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Verdi - Requiem

from: EMI Classics

Release Date October 08, 2001
Well I would have to disagree with the previous reviewers. Of course, it's all a matter of personal taste, but I was quite disappointed (having read the first review before I purchased) with this recording. I thought the pace a little slow -- ponderous, even -- at times, especially the "Te decet hymnus" passage. And the soloists, who look so promising on paper, failed to deliver, to my mind. The singers are supposed to serve the music, not the other way around. Having said that, Gheorghiu does hit some beautiful notes. I'm afraid that Daniela Barcellona's voice has a tinny quality, and Roberto Alagna may have been having an off day. Picky of me? Probably, but I expect more of such a line-up.
The orchestra and the chorus, on the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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Handel: Water/Fireworks Music

from: Baroque Esprit

Release Date February 03, 1996
This is a great piece of music. It is classic Handel that anyone can enjoy.

CD-Charts Position 4
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Holst: The Planets / Elgar: Enigma Variations

from: EMI Classics

Release Date March 11, 2002
This version of The Planets has replaced my recent LSO version.
Why? Well, the balance between the contributing elements is the best i've heard so far: The bass is thunderous analogue and the high woodwind/strings are like crystal in equal measure. This is a superb achievement and exceptionally important for, 'large orchestra' where Dynamics become a recording engineer's delight or problem depending on how good they are. And these people are the best: Abbey road have done a fantastic job on the remastering of a late 70's classic, although there is one thing they could never tackle: Is this as Holst intended?

Bolt was a friend of Holst and was given the opportunity to first conduct the piece; Bolt read and heard the original 'two piano' score ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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Bach - Brandenburg Concertos

from: Universal Classics

Release Date March 03, 1995
I don't know much about classical music unlike the other reviewers for this CD. However, I was fortunate in that my mother bought me a record (remember them?) of Concertos no 1,3 and 5. You get

1. all 6 Brandenburg concertos beautifully played by English Chamber Orchestra. Normally albums of Bach's Brandenburg concertos only have three of the concertos. Having listened to a few of these, the quality of this CD is at least equal to those recordings in my opinion.

2. two additional concertos: the Concerto for Oboe, Violin and Strings and the Concerto for Flute and Strings. The first of these, as observed in the other reviews, is stunning.

I think this CD is fabulous to listen to and is a complete steal for the price.

CD-Charts Position 6
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Mozart: Requiem, K.626

from: Decca

Release Date February 11, 1992
Excellent BUT... I thought the the spoken words would be a bonus but they are in German. With hindsight I should have picked a different recording without them - or with them in Latin or English.

CD-Charts Position 7
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Mozart: Requiem

from: Sony Classical

Release Date November 05, 2001
Where to start? It seems sensible to review both the work itself and this performance of it here, although the score I have given it relates only to the performance.

The work itself is a masterpiece. As you probably know, Mozart left this unfinished when he died, and it was completed by Franz Sussmayr, supposedly to Mozart's plan. However, the work certainly flows as a whole, and all of the individual sections work well. The highlights of the piece are, unsurprisingly for Mozart, the cannons and fugal passages, perhaps most notably in the Domine Jesu and Kyrie. Mozart was a master of weaving lines together to create complex polyphony which is simultaneously exciting, melodic and jaw-dropping. His greatest skill was to create melodies which are seemingly awkward ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Fauré: Requiem

from: Naxos

Release Date December 31, 1993
This edition is amongst my very favourite choral recordings. The simplicity of Fauré's original score (as opposed to the great orchestral rendering he was made to write by his publisher) shows typical Fauré at work - great harmonic language and melody through the simplest of means - compare this with his D minor Piano Trio Op.120. There is so much more to it than Classic FM would have you think!

The performances are excellent, as one would hope from this great choir from Oxford, and the acoustic of Hertford College Chapel suits perfectly. The supplementals of the Messe Basse, some organ works and also de Severac's now-popular Tantum ergo (no doubt aided by this fine recording) add to what is a very good recording at an astonishing price! A must for every fan of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Orff: Carmina Burana

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 a more appropriately ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Carols from King's

from: EMI Classics

Release Date November 17, 1997
Having just heard the CD, I am warmed by the quality of ALL the tracks, the singing is beautiful and sung so professionally.
If you are looking for a traditional Carol CD, then I would definately recommend this one,