Customer Reviews

Meditation: Classical Relaxation (Box Set)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Excellent recordings of excellent performances. You are undoubtedly skeptical that you can buy 10 quality CDs for 20 bucks. But here they are! Notice the sales ranking...people are finding this by word of mouth? Now, if you are a serious listener, you might think you would not enjoy the excerpt format. But the arrangement of these tracks has been very well designed. And why be a serious listener all the time? These make wonderful background music while you are filling out your tax forms, etc.

Here's the deal: If you check out the individual CDs of this collection, you'll pay way too much. That said, compare this price, and realize it is a steal at twice the price.

The list of selections is immense. 101 selections. Most of it you've heard before, but that's OK. Despite the various cute names -- quite creative -- "Vol. 9"!... you can load your CD player and enjoy them without feeling a transition of style.

It's true these aren't meditative in the sense of a Gregorian chant. Anyone familiar with classical music will recognize the composers and various movements to know this. What is true is that you can sit down and write Amazon reviews with it in the background quite comfortably. No weird interpretations, just the music as you know it.

It is also meditative in the sense of popping on it your portable player as you go for a Sunday afternoon walk. The music has just the right pacing: no quite aerobics class, but not ready for the office elevator either.

The box and jewel cases are not that flimsy kind of thing often associated with box sets. It sounds silly to review the jewel cases, but I'm frustrated with the ones I've received lately that have no meat to them. This'll do the job.

I fully recommend "Meditation: Classical Relaxation, 10 Volume Set [BOX SET].

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

This isn't a bad set of CDs, if you like strings and bits of things. There are lots of `adagio sostenutos,' intermezzos, and movements from such and such. However, Delta Music didn't stint on the performers. The Budapest Philharmonic is a major presence, along with the Berlin Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Mozart Ensemble, Budapest String Quartet, and Prague Festival Orchestra. I didn't recognize any of the soloists, but that doesn't mean much. They are probably first chairs with the orchestras.

I disagreed with some of the selections as not really conducive to meditation, e.g. Bizet's `Intermezzo from "L'Arlésienne," Suite No. 2' (BOMM, BOM, BOM, BOMP BA BOMP!). Everyone will probably wish for some exclusions since this is a ten-CD set.

The really great news is that "Meditation" is a ten-CD set and you can purchase the whole thing for the price of a single CD. The performances are good, and most of the excerpts are very peaceful.

Note: there are no liner notes to speak of, except for a quotation from Ludwig van Beethoven: "Music is the mediator between the spiritual [geistigem] and the sensual [sinnlichem] life." The back of each CD case identifies the exerpt, performance, and timing for its tracks.

You own full length, premium priced, selectively chosen versions of classical works numbering into the hundreds and you hear a well known excerpt from a work that you don't own. You notice that this collection contains what you're after (and ten CD's full of extras) at little more than the price of one premium CD and at about half the price of an opera. You decide: If I don't want the whole work, why buy it?

My opinion: All of the renditions are acceptable, while a few rival some of the full priced versions I own. The recordings are all marked as digitally recorded, and the sonics are good.

This is a ton of good music, decently recorded, at a great price.

John Cheng's review, below, said it's "an undeniable bargain," and I whole heartedly agree! I especially LOVE Volume 5. I have a Typing/Resume business, and I listen to Volume 5 ALL the time on my computer while I'm doing my work. It inspires me to be creative and calms me down when I'm stressed.

I would say I've _easily_ listened to Volume 5 at least 100 times, and I'm still not tired of it. That's amazing for me, because I'm also a musician (singer/pianist) and I get bored easily. I actually found the Volume 5 CD at a Thrift store, and loved it so much that I bought the whole set recently. So I've only listened to a few of the other CD's in this set, so far, and they're also great.

This is NOT boring music. My clients and family have heard it also, and they've also mentioned how soothing and wonderful these pieces are. Most of you will probably recognize a lot of these songs! You'll be saying, "OH! I remember THIS one! I haven't heard this for YEARS!!!"

It's well worth the money for 10 very full CD's!!! Try it! You won't be disappointed!

Happy listening!
Betty, Owner of Betty's Desk Typing Service and Quality Resumes

If you want a bunch of classical tunes at an unbelievably great price, here it is. My gripe is with the labeling. Meditation? Relaxation? While there is plenty of stuff here you can relax to, plenty, there also are symphonic pieces that rattle the roof. If you're trying to meditate, expect a migraine to erupt now and then. One example: If you can meditate to the spritely "Dance of the Hours," you are a better man than I. Better than the Dalai Lama, too.

This great deal should be pushed simply as a classical collection without the emphasis on peace and quiet.

This is a wonderful collection of some of my most favorite classical selections. Most I already own, but still like having these all together. I could only wish that the recording level was the same for all selections. Yes, some are written to be softer, but I found it often necessary to turn the volume up or down for different selections. But aside from this minor preference, the quality, the choices, and the price are all super.

This grouping of music is OK but it doesn't grab me and make me want to play it over and over like most of my other CDs. There's something about the accoustics or the audio of the CDs that doesn't blend with my other CDs. The sound is recorded too quiet or low to be played with other CDs unless I'm able to adjust the volume for each different CD. I'm not real thrilled with this purchase but I do listen to this group of CDs at times.

This is a GREAT 10-CD set!The performances are top-notch, the music is varied, and the feelings engendered are wondrously beautiful.

Very nice set of CD's, very beatiful and relaxing, but don't pay $27, get it for $9 at Sam's Club. I know this will be censored but come on, how can you guys charge those saps that much! Amazon should try to find the best price for its customers, even if it sends them to different vendors. Censoring this message is a crime, DON'T DO IT. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!