50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AN AMAZING COLLECTION AT AN AMAZING PRICE, November 12, 2009
This review is from: Sacred Music/Various (Ltd) (Box) (Audio CD)
What follows is a listing of this 30 CD box's contents. I have copied this listing from another review on amazon.com/uk where you can purchase this box at a lower price with free shipping from amazon (see it here: [...])
I'm enjoying this set immensely - but you should note that while the discs contain complete works, some do not necessarily contain the complete contents of the original discs. For example, you get the Duruffle Qaurtre Motets, but not his Requiem with the sublime performance by Jeffrey Best and the Englsih Chamber Orchestra. This is an outstandingly beautiful chamber performance and deserves to be heard - even if you need to purchase it separately
Maurice Duruflé: Requiem; Quatre Motets
As for the performances conducted by Herreweghe, well, if you haven't heard them you are in for a treat. Virtually any of his recordings top most critics "Best Recordings" lists - both for overall performance as well as Hyperion's outstanding engineering.
So what are you waiting for? If you enjoy Sacred Music you will surely be moved profoundly and deeply. Even if you are an agnostic like myself, you will no doubt consider this collection a blessing! These are performances for the ages; grouped together in an unusually sturdy and attractive box, all at an attractive price.
Here is are the disc contents from amazon.com/UK along with the original reviewers pithy comments:
CD1 Early Christian Chant (5th -13th Century)
Chant, chant, chant! You won't want to listen to this many times unless you are a chant specialist.
CD2 Gregorian Chant
Includes Messe de Requiem gregorienne, Cistercian Chant and Magnus liber organi More chant...
CD3 Birth of Polyphony (1100-1300)
Includes music from Notre-Dame School, hockets from the Bamberg Manuscript, etc., etc. Now it's getting more interesting!
CD4 Polyphonic Motet from Ars Antiqua to the Renaissance
Includes 14th Century English music (Hilliard Ensemble), Dufay, Dunstable, Plummer, and from the Renaissance Desprez, Janequin, Byrd, Gesualdo and Hassler
CD5&6 Polyphonic Mass from Middle Ages to the Renaissance
Machaut - Messe de Notre Dame, Desprez - Missa Pange Lingua, Janequin - Messe `La Bataille'
Lassus - Missa `Tous les regretz', Palestrina - Missa `Viri Galilaei, Byrd - Mass for 4 Voices
CD7 French `Petit Motet' and `Grand Motet'
Dumont, Lully, Delalande and Charpentier Te Deum.
CD8 Lamentations & Tenebrae
Music by Massaino, Lassus, Charpentier, Couperin, and Krenek
CD9/10 Monteverdi Vespro della beata Vergine - Herreweghe
In my opinion not such a good recording as the one by Rene Jacobs, but nice to have to compare.
Also Vespro Solenne by G Rovetta (1596-1668) from Cantus Colln and Konrad Junghanel. This is beautiful!
CD11/12 Alessandro Scarlatti - Cain overo Il Primo Omicidio - Rene Jacobs
A great recording of Scarlatti's oratorio of the story of Cain and Abel. Good orchestral playing, excellent soloists.
CD13/14 Handel - Messiah - Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
A very creditable Messiah. It certainly beats both my Huddersfield Choral Society and my Bernstein version, and comes pretty close to the more exciting Rene Jacobs version. The soloists here are good - Barbara Schlick, Sandrine Piau, Andreas Scholl (excellent), Mark Padmore and Nathan Berg.
CD15/16 Mendelssohn - Paulus - Herreweghe
This work was new to me, and on a single hearing is beautifully performed, if perhaps a little understated.
CD17 Music for the Reformed Church
Music by Sermisy, L'Estocart, Tallis, Purcell, Schutz, Bruhns and a Missa brevis in F by Bach.
The Bruhns cantata made me want to investigate his music further.
CD18&19 Bach - Christmas Oratorio - Rene Jacobs
A simply stunning recording. Soloists are Dorothea Roschmann, Andreas Scholl, Werner Gura and Klaus Hager.
CD20&21 Stabat Mater
On these CDs we get Stabat Maters by Pergolesi (the well known Rene Jacobs/Sebastian Hennig performance), Boccherini (Agnes Mellon/Ensemble 415/Chiara Banchini), Vivaldi (Scholl/Ensemble 415/Chiara Banchini) and Rossini (RIAS Kammerchor/Creed). The Rossini work was new to me, and particularly appealed.
CD22/23/24 Requiem
On three CDs we get the Requiems by Mozart (Herreweghe), Brahms (Herreweghe), Faure (1893 version) (also Herreweghe), and Durufle (Magdalen College Oxford)
CD25/26/27/28 19th & 20th Centuries
Beethoven - Missa Solemnis (Herreweghe), Mendelssohn - various motets, Bruckner - motets
Poulenc - 8 motets & Messe en Sol majeur, Bernstein - Mass - what a gloriously mixed up work - bass guitar meets marching band with a bit of West Side Story and Jesus Christ Superstar thrown in for good measure!
CD29 Orthodox Church Music - 80mins
Various pieces from the 17th & 18th century and Rachmaninov - All Night Vigil Op37 Vespers all superbly sung by the Estonian Chamber Choir.
CD30 PDF file of all the texts
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just another "Compilation" - A collection of masterpiece performances, November 25, 2009
This review is from: Sacred Music/Various (Ltd) (Box) (Audio CD)
There are many survey-like compilations available these days covering musical styles, compositon types, periods, artists, composers-complete-works, and much more. This set stands out as a unique triumph in the hoard though. Few compilations combine high-quality presentation and selection with equally exemplary artistic quality. Most of the CDs in this collection would cost $14-20 individually, and many continue to top the lists of recommended recordings of the individual works. Harmonia Mundi has drawn from some of their best artists, such as conductors Rene Jacobs and Phillipe Herreweghe, for this set. There are no second-rate performances here! The selections are presented in chronological order covering periods from the earliest days of Christianity to the late twentieth century. With "only" 30 CDs, the set certainly only touches the tip of the iceberg of Western Sacred Music. But I cannot think of a better place to send someone to get a good survey of the development of that genre over the centuries.
The additional CD of sung texts is also excellent.
Collectors should not overlook the set either. I possess several thousand CDs, and there are only 2 CDs in the set that are duplicates of recordings already in my existing archives.
I am sure the set will not be on the shelves (in the warehouses is probably the better terminology these days) very long, so don't hesitate.
I would only hesitate to buy this box if you do not have much time to just sit quietly and listen to the extraordinary music without interruptions or distractions. After all, this is "Sacred" music, designed to relieve the anxieties, stir the soul, and calm the heart. This music must be both heard and experienced. And you can't do that if you listen to it while sweeping the pfloor, reading email, perusing a magazine, etc.
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