CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

.

The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

by: Alex Ross

Release Date March 03, 2008
This is a huge subject, and Alex Ross does a great job of covering it. Not everyone will be happy if their pet composer or movement has been tackled only briefly (if at all), but it would be impossible to fit the entire century into a single volume. As a result of reading this I have been moved to listen to Schoenberg and Strauss (esp. the Metamorphosen) for the first time; they are challenging works but rewarding and it has been great to have my musical horizons expanded by reading this book.
For me, the book was worth buying for the chapter on Sibelius alone; the passage describing the walk around Ainola and linking it to Sibelius' music is just superb - it sent me straight back to my CD collection to dig out and listen to the symphonies ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

.

Jacqueline Du Pré - Complete EMI Recordings

by: Jacqueline Du Pre

Release Date October 22, 2007

Most, if not all, of these recordings have been released previously by EMI, while some of them - notably the 1965 Elgar Cello Concerto - have proved so popular that they have been continuously available since their initial release.

Despite the inevitable duplication - du Pre fans will almost certainly already have the Elgar and Haydn concertos - this is undoubtedly the definitive Jacqueline du Pre collection, providing 17 CDs of cello works by a huge array of composers from baroque (Bach and Handel) to Beethoven and the romantics and modernists such as Chopin & Bruch. There are no fewer than 25 different composers represented.

The set really does demonstrate the versatility of the cellist, with so many works which have ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

.

The Collector's Edition [30 CD]

by: Edward Elgar

Release Date October 08, 2007
This box is worth buying for the Barbirolli disks alone (if you don't have them). Then there are the Groves recordings of King Olaf, Caractacus, and minor orchestral works, not to mention Boult's Apostles and Kingdom (never bettered in my view), and many other things. I suppose I am biased. I cut my teeth on many of these recordings, when they were first released on LP. Any disappointments for me? Perhaps. The final disk of Elgar conducting Elgar struck me as a thrown-together assortment of bits and pieces, a missed opportunity, but that's a small quibble given the sheer quality and quantity of fine things in this box.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

.

Bach: The Art of the Fugue

by: Glenn Gould

Release Date September 09, 2002
I cannot understand how this wonderful recording is available at this low price. I also cannot compete with the musical erudition of the two previous reviewers, but I thank them for their reviews and can only say, if you love J.S.Bach, buy this.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

.

The Alban Berg Collection

by: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, LaSalle Qt, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Release Date November 10, 2003
Alban Berg (1885-1935) Discover this world of beauty and love , horror , death and defiance .

I first heard and then studied this man's music in my early twenties , and I fell in love.

I bought this CD edition from the U.S (at a crazy inflated price) and have revisited the man and his music anew and I have to say that - unlike many other returns - this is no nostalgic re-living ; I find it afresh, and his light undimmed and far brighter . The orchestral writing , and playing , is an inspiration. Here is colour and texture that you simply won't find anywhere else .Buy it immediately . Indulge that early 21st century longing for Real Life with ...

I can't put my finger on the reason for this , but Alban atomises all my usual ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

.

Vaughan Williams - Complete Symphonies

by: London Philharmonic Orchestra

Release Date September 20, 2004
and I like the box too: I can always pick it out among the other VW sets ;-)
A wonderful evocative 3rd, a tense war study. Not very pastoral, nor bucolic or lyrical: I do not agree much with Vernon Handley's interpretation. Rather it is the past remembered, resigned melancholy that something is not quite right, yet with self-discovery and steely determination that is discussed and evolved by the soloists. Never forget that a war demands and makes a different mindset we do not understand. I find Rued Langgaard's deeply disturbing 4th Symphony, "Leaf Fall" 1916, to be in good company here.
Haitink's take on things generally differs just a bit from the English conductors, but I think "In the Fen Country" in particular justifies buying the set. Yeah, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

.

Vaughan Williams: The Collectors Edition

by: Various Artists

Release Date April 28, 2008
EMI's new 30-disc box-set is one of the truly outstanding contributions to Vaughan Williams' 50th anniversary celebrations. In one collection listeners now have virtually his entire output in recordings ranging from the very good to the exceptional: this set is a tribute of EMI's long-standing commitment to British music (now sadly curtailed).

Vernon Handley's magisterial cycle of the symphonies is beautifully played and recorded, and the major choral works and operas are all presented in excellent performances and recordings. There are some omissions (of course, since EMI did not record absolutely everything Vaughan Williams wrote) but these can be easily rectified through the additional purchase of the opera 'The Poisoned Kiss' and the original version of the 'London' Symphony ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

.

Mahler: Complete Symphonies 1-10 & Songs (Rattle) [14cd]

by: Gustav Mahler

Release Date September 24, 2007
Rattle's Mahler is really for people with open minds: people who don't hold on to Karajan and Barbirolli like comfort blankets! It's a great set, with the awarding winning second head and shoulders above anything else on the market (and yes, I've heard them all). The eighth (I was actually at the concert) is as perfect as you will hear anywhere too. And remember, several of these, including 1, 5, 7 & 8 are live recordings, really getting across the excitement and musicality not only of great events, but great Mahler.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

.

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2008

by: Ivan March

Release Date September 27, 2007
...the poor old Penguin Guide is trading on it's past glories. I don't think our erstwhile reviewers are listening too closely to the music or else the dreadful recording of Mravinsky's rendition of Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony would have earned a solitary star instead of the **(*) it gets. There are other examples, especially in the reviews of opera. Our editors appear to have their favourites (or perhaps a limited knowledge of opera). Callas and Bjorling were good in their day, but opera - and recording technology - has moved on...

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

.

Vaughan Williams: Choral Works

from: British Composers

Release Date August 23, 1993
Neither work is particularly well known, even among enthusiasts for Vaughan Williams music. Don't let that put you off. Both are original and gripping works and Sancta Civitas is an extraordinary piece unlike any other work I know. It is the work in which the composer found the unique colours and dissonance that would lead to works like Job and the Fourth Symphony and is, perhaps, even finer than those great works. It is certainly original. The only previous recording that came anywhere near to doing the work justice was that conducted by Sir David Willcocks. This new account is in the same class and has the benefit of a superb modern recording that the earlier record cannot match. I genuinely believe that Sancta Civitas is one of Vaughan Williams' most under-rated works. Dona Nobis Pacem is also given a great ... Read More: