CD-Charts Position 1
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The Only Classical Album You'll Ever Need

from: Classics

Release Date November 03, 2003

The budget price doesn't reflect the quality of this 2 disc collection of classical music highlights, for the soloists, orchestras, conductors and the recordings themselves ensure it is a good quality selection of mostly familiar music from the classical music repertoire.

The choices lean heavily towards the opera style, so for that reason alone will not be the only album necessary to cover everyone's taste - even the complete classical beginner will find many of their familiar favourites are absent.

The tracks are mostly single movements from the whole score, which may not please the more enthusiastic classical fan, but it's unavoidable given the short time permitted by only 2 CDs. In any case, this album really ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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The Only Opera Album You'll Ever Need

by: Covent Garden Royal Opera House Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Release Date March 31, 2001
The tracks on this cd are excellent and well worth the money. I get worried about the packaging of this sort of disc though because it reminds me of Tesco's attempt to sell wine to the masses by renaming a mediocre chablis as 'Good with meat' or whatever. If this was called 'Fine Opera' or 'An Opera Sampler' then I'd be a lot happier but the dumb approach of 'The Only Opera Album You'll Ever Need' makes me cringe. Once again though: the music is very good and the performances are excellent on the whole.

CD-Charts Position 3
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The Only Choral Album You'll Ever Need

from: Victor

Release Date October 06, 2003
whoever wrote the 'whats on this cd' blurb mislead me to buy this item - I needed the WHOLE of the Messiah AND THE WHOLE of Faure's Requiem and reading this blurb you think you have it - but guess what - there are only extracts - the titles given are just for the whole work - not the individual piece of music - so I cannot learn the pieces for two concerts I am performing in before Christmas off this - very misleading. Sorry - but it is not the only album Ill ever need.

CD-Charts Position 4
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The Only Guitar Album You'll Ever Need

by: Various Artists

Release Date October 06, 2003
as the old saying goes{i may not know art but i know what i like}. i may not be an expert on spanish classical guitar music but this cd is excellent. track 5 disc 1 is 10 minutes of heaven.you may recognise it as the music from the film el cid.there are 1 or 2 tracks that dont quite hit the mark but mostly this is a fantastic compilation album and will satisfy most peoples needs. just relax with a bottle of rioja,turn off your phone and dont answer the door bell. you will be transported back to that little secret tapas bar that only you and your loved one know about. the sevilla feria 05 is where it takes us.

CD-Charts Position 5
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Only classical Album You'll Ever Need, vol 2

from: Bmg

Release Date November 03, 2003

If the original 2CD `The Only Classical Album You'll Ever Need' was true to its claim, then surely there'd be no need for this volume 2 would there? Never mind, all good things deserve a sequel I guess.

This follow up 2CD release matches the original in that the budget price doesn't reflect the quality, for the soloists, orchestras, conductors and the recordings themselves ensure it is a good quality selection of mostly familiar music from the classical music repertoire.

The choices this time offer a slightly more varied repertoire than the opera-biased original, for example there are film soundtracks such as `The Mission' (Ennio Morricone), `Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore), `The Deerhunter' (Stanley Myers) and `2001 ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Spanish Guitar Music

from: Essential Classics

Release Date November 19, 2001
This is a clasical guitar album recorded by John Williams in his style of ultimate perfection. Don't confuse this with Flamenco Spanish guitar.

CD-Charts Position 7
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Most Relaxing Classical Piano Music in the Universe

by: Various

Release Date June 29, 2004
This is a clasical guitar album recorded by John Williams in his style of ultimate perfection. Don't confuse this with Flamenco Spanish guitar.

CD-Charts Position 8
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100 Classical Hits

by: Various Artists

Release Date October 13, 2003

This is a great low cost box set which does exactly what it says on the box - it gives you 100 classical music hits, covering all the styles such as baroque, classical, romantic and modern, and includes music from all the popular composers.

Some of the tracks are simply excerpts from the full piece, for example Beethoven's Ninth symphony, originally over 60 minutes long, is reduced to a two and a half minute rousing chorus of the popular `Ode to Joy'. Likewise, Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture is cut from 15 minutes down to the last few minutes of the exciting thunder and fireworks finale.

This editing enables a great range of `hits' to be squeezed onto five discs, and gives the classical music novice a chance to dip their toe in ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Nyman - The Piano

from: EMI

Release Date May 01, 2006

This is a great low cost box set which does exactly what it says on the box - it gives you 100 classical music hits, covering all the styles such as baroque, classical, romantic and modern, and includes music from all the popular composers.

Some of the tracks are simply excerpts from the full piece, for example Beethoven's Ninth symphony, originally over 60 minutes long, is reduced to a two and a half minute rousing chorus of the popular `Ode to Joy'. Likewise, Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture is cut from 15 minutes down to the last few minutes of the exciting thunder and fireworks finale.

This editing enables a great range of `hits' to be squeezed onto five discs, and gives the classical music novice a chance to dip their toe in ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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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.