Greatest Hits ~ Baroque

George Frideric Handel (Artist), Jean-Philippe Rameau (Artist), Antonio Vivaldi (Artist), Johann Sebastian Bach (Artist), Jean-Joseph Mouret (Artist), Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Artist), Johann Pachelbel (Artist), Henry Purcell (Artist), Tomaso Albinoni (Artist), Alessandro Marcello (Artist), Jeremiah Clarke (Artist), New York Sinfonietta (Artist), Philadelphia Orchestra (Artist), Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Artist), Hartmut Haenchen (Artist), Jean-Claude Malgoire (Artist), Raymond Leppard (Artist), Richard Kapp (Artist), Max Goberman (Artist), Eugene Ormandy (Artist), Vladimir Goischmann (Artist), Glenn Gould (Artist), Carolyn Watkinson (Artist), Teiko Maehashi (Artist), La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy (Artist), William Bennett (Artist), English Chamber Orchestra (Artist), Budapest Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra (Artist), John [guitar] Williams (Artist), New York Philharmonia Virtuosi (Artist), Gerard Schwarz (Artist), Eugenia Earle (Artist), Sol Goichberg (Artist), Anthony Newman (Artist), Wynton Marsalis (Artist), Archi Della Scala Ensemble (Artist), Philippe Entremont (Artist), Neil Black (Artist), Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 13, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002AVS
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,477 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #39 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Strings > Lute
  • #51 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Brass > Trumpet
  • #54 in Music > Classical > Chamber Music > Quartets

Track Listings

1. Water Music Suite No.2 for orchestra in D major, HWV 349: Alla Hornpipe

2. Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in E major ('La Primavera,' The Four Seasons; 'Il cimento' No. 1), Op.8/1, RV 269: l.

3. Adagio, for violin, strings & organ in G minor, T. Mi 26 (composed by Remo Giazotto; not by Albinoni)

4. Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067: Badinerie

5. Lute (Chamber) Concerto, for lute (or guitar), 2 violins & continuo in D major, RV 93: ll. Largo

6. Rondeau, for brass, strings & timpani (from Suite of Symphonies No. 1; 'Masterpiece Theater' Theme)

7. Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068: Air [excerpt]

8. Mandolin Concerto, for mandolin, strings & continuo in C major, RV 425: l. Allegro

9. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Aria

10. Prélude pour le Te Deum à 8, for strings, H. 145a

11. Notebooks for Anna Magdalena Bach, manuscript sources (2) of sacred songs and keyboard pieces (30): Minuet

12. Canon in D major, instrumental arrangement: Canon for 3 Trumpets and strings

13. Serse (Xerxes), opera, HWV 40: Largo ('Ombra mai fù')

14. Abdelazer, or, the Moor's Revenge, incidental music, Z. 570: Rondeau

15. Tambourin, for harpsichord in E minor (Pièces de clavecin avec une méthode): Le Tambourin

16. Concerto for oboe, strings & continuo in D minor, SF. 935 (often transposed to C minor): ll. Adagio

17. Solomon, oratorio, HWV 67: Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

18. Cantata No. 147, 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben,' BWV 147 (BC A174): Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

19. Concerto for harpsichord, strings & continuo No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056: ll. Largo

20. Partita for lute in E major, BWV 1006a (BC L171): l. Prélude

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding sampler, February 25, 2001

By 

"pspa" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greatest Hits ~ Baroque (Audio CD)

It is impossible of course to capture Baroque music on a single CD, but if you want just one it doesn't get any better than this. Outstanding and generous selection of many of the best known excerpts of the period, excellent performances throughout, and superior sound quality. Even the casual listener will recognize many of these great works, such as the theme from Masterpiece Theater, Pachelbel's Canon, Handel's Water Music, and so on.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Of Baroque Collection, February 21, 2004

By 

Rudy Avila "Saint Seiya" (Lennox, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greatest Hits ~ Baroque (Audio CD)

This compilation album features some well-known Baroque Era musical works and serves as a perfect introduction to classical music. The great Baroque composers are showcased here - Bach, considered the greatest of them all, Handel, Vivaldi, Corelli and others. The Baroque period (from 1600 to 1750) was a time of great development and change in music. Before the Baroque Era, music was single-melody and primitive, in much the same way it had been since the Old World of the Greeks and Romans. Plaintive chorus was the only new invention of the medieval days- the Gregorian monk chant and Hildegard Bingen's nuns' chant. But during the Baroque Era, instruments were created and with them a new sound. Flutes, oboes, clarinets, drums, violins, violas and most significantly the trumpet, was played in a new medium called the orchestra. This music was played before royalty, kings of England, Germany and France, and often elitist aristocratic crowds. The same applied to Baroque Opera, which re-told Greek legends and classical heroes through music and the human singing voice of opera. Finally, music broke out from the old and into the new.

Johann Sebastian Bach is regarded as the best of the Baroque composers. He wrote prolifically for orchestra, for harpsichord (the earliest piano or keyboard instrument), as well as the organ. Among Bach's popular pieces are the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (which is the theme for "Dracula" and was made into an orchestra version by conductor Leopold Stokowski as seen in the Disney film Fantasia of 1940), his Brandenburg Concertos- a total of six concertos that showcase the tone color of several instruments of the orchestra and are considered the height of the Baroque musical style. The Brandenburg Concerti that are most famous are th 3rd and 5th. Bach's Golberg Variations for keyboard are also very virtuosic as well as his Organ Preludes. Bach's Orchestral Suites are the skeletons of the first symphonies, even if it it's not exactly a symphony form, and Bach's cantatas and Mass In B have long been hailed as the best works of chorus.

George Frederic Handel, a German-born composer, adapted the Italian musical technique, especially the new invention of opera, but performed publically in England, even writing the famous "Messiah" oratorio in English. Handel's skills were most keen in the orchestra. His "Concerti Grossi" which total a number of 12, are virtuoso and expressive of instrumental color. The Water Music and the Royal Fireworks music are also very famous and written in a grandiose style that was quintessentially Baroque. Vivaldi, a former priest, became a composer who specialized in small-scale chamber music. He created the "tone poem" long before it was even called that in the 19th century. His "Four Seasons" are his most acclaimed. The music expresses the four seasons of fall, winter, spring and summer. The violins, the woodwinds, the trumpets, each deliver a picture of pastoral scenes. Vivaldi also wrote numerous other concerti, including some for mandolin, an early guitar.

This collection is a must have for music lovers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best baroque cd.......ever!, March 5, 2011

By 

prospero "classiccrs" (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greatest Hits ~ Baroque (Audio CD)

Purchased this cd for the long car rides. It is one that I always go back to..........always brings a smile to my face. Great sound and music you will not soon forget. For those who love Baroque, this is a must have. For those who are not Baroque listeners, give it a try...............you may be pleasantly surprised. Such musical enrichment is not often found in one cd. BTW. I usually do not buy compilations (having various composer works).............on this cd, everything works extremely well.