Customer Reviews

The Classical Album 2005

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First, let me begin by saying that I am by no means an expert in classical music, but have grown to appreciate it immensely in the past year. I can say wholeheartedly that this is the most beautiful compilation of music I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. It's simple irresistible. There are few words to describe how emotional it is to hear Pavarotti sing "II Canto", or Placido Domingo belt out "Questa o quella". You just get numb with joy!! I have NO idea what they are saying but a translation not necessary. The entire collection (TWo jammed-packed CDs) is phenomenal (excluding the selections from "Bond" which I found to be particularly annoying and not at all "classical" in the true sense of the word). There is something here for everyone, regardless of your personal musical tastes or tolerances.

A guaranteed hit -- Don't miss this one.

CD One

Andrea Bocelli "En Aranjuez con tu amor"
Bryn Terfel - "Granada"
Bond - "Viva" ( not my favorite, sounds almost disco-ish)
Hayley Westenra - "Pokarekare Ana"
Luciano Pavarotti - "Una Mattina"
Katherine jenkins - "Time To Say Goodbye" (a heart stopper - so beautiful!)
Duel - "Canon" (lovely!)
Janine Jansen - "Allegro from 'Spring'"
Andreas Scholl - "Ombra mai fu"
Nigel Kennedy - "The Unknown Soldier"
Kiri Te Kanawa - "Nuns' Chorus"
Nelson Freire - "Chopin Etude No. 1 op. 25
Julian Lloyd Webber - "Flight of the Bumble-bee"
James Horner - "For the Love of a Princess
Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard "Now We Are Free"
Renee Fleming - "Mesicku na nebi hlubokem"
Russell Watson - "Amore e Musica"

CD TWO

Luciano Pavarotti - "II Canto" (I MUST see him sing this in person!!)
Placido Domingo - "Questa o quello" (I never tire of hearing this)
Andrea Bocelli & Bryn Terfel - "the Pearl Fisher's Duet"
Jose Carreras - "Funiculi, funicula
Dominc Miller & Kaori Muraji - "Fragile"
Tavener - "Song for Athene"
Josep Calleja - "La donna e mobile"
Jean-Yves Thibaudet - "Gymopedie No. 1"
Juan Diego Florez - "Una furtiva lagrima"
Kathleen Ferrier - "Blow the Wind Southerly"
Angela Gheorghiu - "Ave Maria"
Janine Jansen - "Schindler's List Main Theme"
Bond - "explosive"
Secret Garden - "You Raise Me Up"
Hayley Westenra - "Never Say Goodbye"
The Three Tenors - "Nessun Dorma"

Enjoy!

Cris Cunningham for Amazon.com

This is very good collection of music that brings to life a wide variety of music that is both old and contemporary. The selections vary from composers, historical and famous such as Pavarotti and Puccini to today's James Horner (Titanic, A Beauituful Mind) and John Williams (Star Wars, Sabrina, Jaws, Saving Private Ryan).

If you enjoy the sounds of Sarah Brightman, Charlotte Church, Enya, Kate Bush, Andrea Bocelli, and various theatre music (Andrew Lloyd Webber (Evita, Cats), then you will find this collection worthy of your appreciation.

I have often wondered why classical music radio channels do not play modern composers (i.e., Horner, Willams), and am glad that this album gives them credit that they deserve. There is so many good compositions being created every day that only appear to have a voice on the big screen, which is unfortunate.

Track 11, composed by The Doors, and is a nice version, indeed. I also enjoy the Bond players giving a new twist to some old favourites.

Ciao,
Neil

The 2004 release in this annual series (always titled one year later, just like children's annuals, because they come out in time for Christmas) provides a nice sample of the most popular classical crossover music of the year although not all of it was new that year. The music in these compilations doesn't fit my former stereotypical idea of what classical music is all about. It mainly features vocalists but they don't necessarily sing traditional operatic pieces though some do. Often they sing covers of pop, folk or gospel songs, albeit in an operatic style. The few instrumental tracks here feature soloists rather than symphony orchestras. The credits give pictures of album covers together with titles and catalog numbers to tempt you to pick out your favorite artists and buy their individual albums.

The featured artists here include Hayley Westenra, Russell Watson, Katherine Jenkins, Bryn Terfel, Lesley Garrett, Nigel Kennedy, Luciano Pavarotti, Vanessa Mae, Placido Domingo, Bond and Renée Fleming. Highlights among the tracks include Time to say goodbye (performed by Katherine Jenkins), Granada (performed by Bryn Terfel), Song to the moon (performed by Lesley Garrett), Flight of the bumblebee (performed by Julian Lloyd Webber), The entertainer (performed by Emma Johnson), Sabre dance (performed by Vanessa Mae), River of dreams (performed by Hayley Westenra) and Blow the wind southerly (performed by Kathleen Ferrier). The last-named track was already more than half a century old when this set was compiled, its inclusion being due to a revival in the singer's music.

This series is aimed at those who don't take classical music too seriously, but who like to dabble in it. On that level, it works brilliantly.

Ordered in good faith but I received a 2 disc set containing two disc one's. I waited too long to complain.

This was supposed to contain 2 CDs. It did, but two copies of CD #1, and NO copy of CD #2! I didn't discover this immediately. I'm happy to have what I have, but would be happier if CD#2 had been included rather than a duplicate of CD#1. I'm sure Amazon had no way of knowing!