Customer Reviews

Pachelbel Greatest Hits

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This is definitely a fabulous cd to add to one's classical collection, especially due to the fact that it contains one of the best versions of Pachelbel's well-known "Canon" in addition to some of his other works. Various historic composers of classical music are well represented here, from Bach and his Brandenburg Concerto to Antonio Vivaldi's "Autumn" from the Four Seasons. Many of the pieces are played by string instruments, such as the "Canon," which is professionally performed by a string quartet. Overall, the Baroque period of classical period tends to be the main concentration of this cd. This cd offers listeners the valuable opportunity to be introduced to classical music that has been played for centuries throughout the world.

The title of this CD, Pachelbel - Greatest Hits, is a misnomer. First, less than a third of the selections are by Johann Pachelbel, the German organist and composer of about a generation-and-a-half before J.S. Bach, whose Canon for strings and continuo was a mega runaway hit when it was reintroduced to the world in the early 1970s in the recording made by the Paillard Chamber Orchestra (still the reference performance in my opinion). The album might be better called Pachelbel and His Successors, as it contains works by Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel, among others. Most of the works are baroque chestnuts that are familiar to anyone previously exposed to classical music. Many are excerpts from larger works, which begs the question: Why this compilation? Frankly, I cannot give you an answer. This collection, while including selections from such well-known works as Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and the Fireworks Music, Water Music and Messiah of Handel, also contains a lot of music that is as obscure as the composers who wrote it. What's more, the versions presented here aren't orthodox: Pachelbel's now famous Canon is performed not by a string ensemble but the Canadian Brass; the Hallelujah Chorus is sung in German, rather than in the English of the original Messiah. These quirks render this assemblage of interest only to those who are already familiar with these pieces and won't mind listening to them again but in different clothing. For the uninitiated, there are better collections of baroque hits. For those interested in the masterworks from which excerpts are packaged here, they would be best advised to seek recordings of the complete Brandenburgs or Goldberg Variations or Four Seasons. As for poor Pachelbel, his greatest hits really boil down to just one work: that Canon. Not that his music isn't worth investigating, but he is, in the final analysis, a minor figure, known to us today (aside from professional organists) only because of the accident of the Paillard recording and the music's use in the film Ordinary People. I bought this CD in a rush because I needed it for a podcast [...] in which I wanted to include Bach's Sinfonia to Cantata No. 29. For my own interest, if I had not been in such a panic, I would have preferred to have bought a recording of the entire cantata. With those caveats, Pachelbel - Greatest Hits is pleasant if unusual listening. The performances, all taken from the Columbia/Sony Classical archives, are good and the recorded sound decent. I would recommend this CD only to those who are already very familiar with the more famous among these works and wouldn't mind listening to different versions during, say, Sunday brunch.

This is a great collection of classics that are wonderfully executed. A nice addition to any classical library.

I was very disappointed with this CD because most all of the pieces are strange arrangements of the pieces and not the "normal" renditions. I say "normal" because most of these pieces are known by versions played on modern instruments. The disk should have been labeled "arrangements" and the Amazon description should have included that information. Add to this annoyance the fact that the arrangements themselves were bizarre. I was certainly not expecting many of these chestnuts to be adapted to a brass ensemble. So don't get this if you want a compilation of Baroque chestnuts played as we normally hear them.

You know what would be funnier than Pachabel in the woods, or Pachabel with whale noises, or Pachabel with the sounds of the rainforest in a snowstorm on a July day with a couple camels giving birth? Pachabel in Taco Bell. I would buy that CD.

I'd just like to point out the fact that Pachebel is far and away the worst, most overrated, most boring classical piece ever written. And if it wasn't before, it has been played so much, on so many occasions, with so many stupid accompaniments (yes, this includes with whale noises) that it is now. You want a beautiful piece? I give you Barbar's Adagio for Strings. I give you Meditation from Thais. I'll even give you sentimental, sappy garbage like Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet. Just please, for the sake of good taste everywhere, put down that Pachebel CD.