14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful set of orchestral music for an amazing price, August 5, 2007
This review is from: Passion - Most Famous Orchestral Spectaculars [20 CD Set] (Audio CD)
I will admit that when I first ordered this 20 cd set from Amazon I was very skeptical and hesitant. I figured what kind of quality am I going to get for $16.97?! But when I got it in the mail and started listening to some of the cd's I was more than pleasantly surprised. The music contents on each is cd has the complete versions of the each song or theme. You know how a lot of cd sets just have the short versions or arrangemnts of songs to cut down on the price, but not on this set. Every cd runs anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours of listening time. Even though the box set is called orchestral spectaculars if you like piano music there is a Liszt cd in the set with The Fantasy on Beethoven's The Ruins of Athens for piano, Malediction for piano and orchestra and Grande Fantasie Symphonique on Berlioz's Lelio for piano and orchestra. There is also a Rachmaninov in the set with his First Piano Concerto in F Sharp Minor and the original full length 30 minute version of his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Even if you listen to mostly piano music there are many versions based on them. For example, Brahms 21 Hungarian Dances that were written for solo piano, but in this set they are orchestrated. I had never heard the pieces like that before. It was nice to get a different perspective of the music. The same goes for Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition also written for piano, but here it is in a symphonic form and I enjoyed it just as much as the solo piano version. If you love opera, but are maybe someone that likes the orchestral part more than the singing there are many cd's in this set for that as well. There are 2 cd's of Wagner's music with my favorite prelude of all time Isolde's Love Death from Tristan and Isolde. Overtures from all of Rossini's and Rimsky Korsakov's operas. I think this cd would be a great place to start for someone who is new to classical music and doesn't want to spend a lot of money or if you love classical music as I do and want to hear new versions of your favorite pieces or just want to add to your cd collection you can do that for under $1.00 a cd. How many times have we all spent more than the price of this set for only one cd? I highly recommend this set. The sound quality and choices of music are excellent. Anyone who buys this will not be disappointed.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful compilation, August 12, 2007
This review is from: Passion - Most Famous Orchestral Spectaculars [20 CD Set] (Audio CD)
Based on a review of this set from an Amazon friend whose opinion I trust (and the fantastic price of about $15.00), I ordered this set with some excitement. Even if the set goes back up to it's normal price of about $50 it is worth it; but if you can be patient, hold out becuase the price does go up and down.
I was not let down. Every disc contains a mountain of music. Some of these discs are re-releases of some of the CDs that I already own and I can assure you that they have been remastered and sound much better than earlier releases of the same recordings. One disc in particular that I own has so much background noise that I can hardly enjoy the music, but the disc in this set, which is the exact same recording, remastered, is so much better it is amazing; I hardly believe it's the same recording, but it is.
I had recently posted a question on the Amazon discussion board asking for recommendations of classical composers; this box set was the perfect answer to that question. I was exposed to new composers, new compostions and different versions of recordings that I already own. This is a wonderful collection.
If you are new to classical, or are looking for new composers, compositions or recordings, look no further. Buy this with confidence. It is a welcome addition to my collection and it has opened my eyes to many new artists, which was exactly what I wanted.
I also ordered 2 other box sets from the same line and they are equally impressive, and at the price of 1 CD, you really can't go wrong. The other 2 sets that may be of interest to others are:
Rhapsody in Blue - Ultimate Piano Collection &
Rendezvous of Angels - Concert Collection
ENJOY!!!
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0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed, January 24, 2008
This review is from: Passion - Most Famous Orchestral Spectaculars [20 CD Set] (Audio CD)
I was rather disappointed with the selections and the orchestras that were featured. For such a large collection I thought I'd enjoy more of what was offered, but overall found it boring. In addition, I felt the audio quality was poor. In fact, there's only one piece out of the entire set I can say I really enjoyed and liked the performance. I would have found it a much better buy had there been more interesting and popular selections chosen. In hindsight, I would have done better buying individual discs rather than the collection.
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