Listen, Learn and Grow

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Luigi Boccherini (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Gioachino Rossini (Composer), Franz Joseph Haydn (Composer), George Frederick Handel (Composer), Johann Pachelbel (Composer), Antonio Vivaldi (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Luigi Boccherini, Johann Sebastian Bach, Gioachino Rossini, Franz Joseph Haydn, et al.
• Audio CD (April 27, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00000IMGF
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #323,147 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No-brainer compilation, August 6, 2000

By 

John Abbott (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Listen, Learn and Grow (Audio CD)

A whole sub-genre of the compilation CD has emerged over the last few years, based on the premise that music - and especially Mozart's music - can stimulate the developing brain. That notion first hit the headlines in 1993, when physicist Gordon Shaw published early results of his research exploring the relationship between music, intelligence and learning. There are now many best-selling compilations, including this one and Sony's Build Your Baby's Brain, Volumes 1 and 2. They are perfectly acceptable mixtures of popular and tuneful short movements from the classics. This disk and Sony's first volume both include the Romance from Mozart's "Eine kliene Nachtmusik," Bach's "Air on a G String" and Pachabel's Canon, and use various movements from Handel's "Water Music" and Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." Musically, there's little to distinguish them from literally hundreds of similar compilations.

But Shaw himself has recently been hitting back over the hype that others have built up around his work. He says that recordings such as these, and books such as Don Campbell's "The Mozart Effect", which proposes music as the cure for just about everything from cancer to war "have nothing to do with reality." Shaw's work has indicated that, under the right circumstances, music may indeed boost the brain's mathematical and reasoning capabilities. But the effect is often only temporary, and is very hard to measure.

Moreover, compilation CDs such as these have tended towards the lighter side of Mozart and the classics, whereas Shaw has based all his research on just one Mozart work, the Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K448). He specifically chose the piece because of its "breathtaking complexity." It isn't included in either of these CDs. The developing brain, it appears, needs more challenging stuff than compilations aimed at mass market sales are prepared to offer. Those really interested in Shaw's theories need to spend a hefty sun on his own book, Keeping Mozart in Mind, which comes with a CD recording of the Sonata for Two Pianos by Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu, and a "spatial-temporal animation reasoning" software program for children, designed to help the stimulation process along.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baby Loves It, July 16, 2004

By 

Deesgee "deesgee" (Ca United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Listen, Learn and Grow (Audio CD)

I was given this CD as a gift while pregnant with my first child. He is now over 2 1/2, and asks for this CD by name. Regardless of the debate over the "Mozart effect," this music is beautiful and well-played, and is definitely contributing to teaching my son. He has learned how to load and start the CD by himself, and will sit happily and sing along to the various pieces, sometimes waving his hand like a conductor, or dancing to the music. He is developing a good musical ear and a sense of rhythm. The other benefit is that it is relaxing for both of us to listen to, which is a huge plus to a sometimes harried mom!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful CD for soothing little ones, January 31, 2002

By 

Kristin Ward (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Listen, Learn and Grow (Audio CD)

This is a wonderful CD and is at the top of the list of the "things we cannot do without" along with his blanket and pacifier, etc. I don't pay too much attention to the arguments of the Mozart Effect -- I am a music teacher, however, and I like that this CD has the real songs with real instrumentation, not synthesized music like so many children's CD's are. My son listens to this CD every night before bed and is a crucial part of his bedtime ritual, and I do sing "Twinkle Twinkle" right along with the orchestra. This CD soothes him whenever he is sick or upset. I would recommend this to every mother out there.