Pachelbel's Canon: Baroque Favorites

Johann Pachelbel (Composer), George Frederick Handel (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Henry Purcell (Composer), Tomaso Albinoni (Composer), Antonio Vivaldi (Composer), Jean-Joseph Mouret (Composer), Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Composer), Alessandro Marcello (Composer), Jeremiah Clarke (Composer), Raymond Leppard (Conductor), English Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra
• Conductor: Raymond Leppard
• Composer: Johann Pachelbel, George Frederick Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell, Tomaso Albinoni, et al.
• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000025TV
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,440 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #7 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Canons
  • #28 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Rondos
  • #41 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Brass > Trumpet

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite classical cd, January 29, 2004

By 

B. Fullerton "bigfully" (TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pachelbel's Canon: Baroque Favorites (Audio CD)

This is my favorite classical cd of all time. Perhaps these arrangements are not exactly as they are "supposed to be";however, that is of little consequence. The arrangement of the Canon is the best I have ever heard. I have listened to this cd for the past twelve years and it has become the music of my life. This arrangement of the Canon is the most emotional I've ever come across. It is so moving it has brought tears to my eyes on more than one occaision. The rest of the cd is very good as well, but you should buy this cd for the Canon.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad for an "excerpt" cd, April 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Pachelbel's Canon: Baroque Favorites (Audio CD)

This cd does not demonstrate, as the previous reviewer reports, "how it's supposed to sound", because Leppard's arrangements are just that: ARRANGEMENTS and ADAPTATIONS of many famous baroque pieces. The fact is that Pachelbel's canon is not scored for massed strings with additional viola parts, as found on this disc. Handel's "Sarabande" from his harpsichord suite in d minor is for HARPSICHORD, not a group of strings accompanied by harpsichord. The list could go on, but suffice it to say: For all my criticism, this cd, "Great Performances" is very good, with excellent arrangements and great sound for an old recording. I would suggest it to anyone looking for "familiar" sounding recordings of these pieces, but to those who want an authentic recording of baroque "favorites", you must allow yourself to purchase the cd "Pachelbel Canon" conducted by Christopher Hogwood with the Academy of Ancient Music. Read my review of Hogwood's Cd to learn more.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Short But Good Sound Quality!, May 26, 2006

By 

Frederick Baptist (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pachelbel's Canon: Baroque Favorites (Audio CD)

Although the arrangements are very different from the way these great compositions were originally written, this is still a very enjoyable listen and is a great sampler of the Baroque genre of Classical music for those new to the field. The movie "Ordinary People" introduced the masses to Leppard's version of "Canon" which has since become the most familiar and favorite one.

What's good about this collection is also that you get along with the usual pieces that you'd expect to find on any best of Baroque compilation such as Bach's "Air" and Handel's "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" gems such as my favourite piece here, Vivaldi's "Largo" the melody of which is brilliantly played on classical guitar and is probably one of the most emotionally beautiful pieces of classical music you'll ever hear.

Overall, the sound quality is very good too for an undigitally remastered cd and the reason is explained on the back of the cover which says the recordings have been digitally transferred from "newly remixed original session tapes" and seeing as how the oldest material here was recorded in 1975 by which time they had quite decent sound recording technology translates into great sound quality overall.

The problem with most "good" classical music by the giants such as Bernstein and Von Karajan is that they were recorded decades ago and many times before the 50s on terrible equipment and sometimes worse, in mono! and so you'll have to imagine how good they must have sounded live in the concert hall because they sound horrible on disc.

Final verdict: recommended for the surprisingly good sound quality for a classical disc and as a Baroque sampler (albeit quite short playing time) for those curious and new to the idiom.