Movie Adagios

Janos Starker (Performer), Julian Lloyd Webber (Performer), Jack Brymer (Performer), Richard Addinsell (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Samuel Barber (Composer), John [1] Barry (Composer), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Alfredo Catalani (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Edward Elgar (Composer), Gustav Mahler (Composer), Pietro Mascagni (Composer), Ennio Morricone (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Michael Nyman (Composer), Jacques Offenbach (Composer), Johann Pachelbel (Composer), Giacomo Puccini (Composer), Sergey Rachmaninov (Composer)

Product Details

• Performer: Janos Starker, Julian Lloyd Webber, Jack Brymer
• Composer: Richard Addinsell, Johann Sebastian Bach, Samuel Barber, John [1] Barry, Ludwig van Beethoven, et al.
• Audio CD (October 9, 2001)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00005OC0D
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,918 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime!, September 8, 2002

By	Joseph C. Jones (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Of course, I'm nuts for classical music and classic movies, so this compilation of music featured in some of the most famous movies ever made is an absolutely ideal CD.

Filmmakers have been raiding the classical music files since the days of the silents in order to heighten the mood of a scene and provide a greater emotional impact. Barber's Adagio for Strings has been used not only in "Platoon", as this CD lists, but also in "The Elephant Man". While there's only a small snippet of Rachmininoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 here, it's worth remembering that the entire piece is used throughout the magnificent "Brief Encounter" to heighten the impact of the romance. Mozart's Trio (Cosi fan tutte) was brilliantly used in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" to comment on a complex romantic triangle.

There are also 5 pieces written directly for the screen, two by Ennio Morricone (the haunting Gabriel's Oboe from "The Mission" and the exquisite Nuovo Cinema Paradiso from "Cinema Paradiso"), two by John Barry (a lovely version of We Have All the Time in the World from the James Bond classic "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and the elegiac John Dunbar Theme from "Dances With Wolves") and one by Michael Nyman (The heart asks pleasure first from "The Piano").

I love this CD, to relax with, to read with, and just immerse myself in the spectacular sounds of genius.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably Decca's best "Adagios" set, July 25, 2006

By	Chris Cathcart (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I say "probably," since it's hard to outdo its "Beethoven Adagios" set. I've only bought a few of these "Adagios" sets because, looking over the track listings of so many, there's just so much overlap. Here, you get the best single collection of the bunch. Here, I was introduced to Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto," and for that alone it was worth the price. But let's not forget a significant number of other gorgeous classic adagios: Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto (used in a gorgeous film, "Picnic at Hanging Rock"), Bach's "Air on a G String," Mahler's Adaghietto from Symphony no. 5, some obligatory Mozart, the Barber adagio, Debussy's Claire de lune, and - oh lovely! - Schubert's String Quintet in C. Then there are much-appreciated entries (Cinema Paradiso, Gabriel's Oboe) from a personal favorite composer, Ennio Morricone, one of the actual official film composers (as distinct from long-dead composers whose music was used in film) used for this collection, along with a couple from another personal favorite, John Barry. (You'd really need to get Barry's own set of "adagios," titled "Moviola," to get his best, e.g., the title theme to "Out of Africa" and to "Somewhere in Time." For Morricone, the master of the romantic adagio in the past century, go with "Itinerary of a Genius" or individual soundtracks like "Legend of 1900," "Lolita," "Once Upon a Time in America," "Once Upon a Time in the West," and others.)

A couple drawbacks to this set: (1) The adagio from Rachmaninov's 2nd is truncated to a mere 4 minutes. For this, one is well advised to purchase a CD with the entire concerto, or get a full version of just the adagio elsewhere (Decca does include a full version on its "Romantic Adagios" collection). (2) So much from so many composers is included, that there is too little room for more Beethoven. I'd prefer the adagio from the "Pathetique" sonata to the "Moonlight" one which was included here. For Beethoven adagios, you need the "Beethoven Adagios" set as an accompaniment (where you get, among other things, adagios for the op. 130 string quartet, the 6th symphony, the violin concerto, piano concerto no. 3, the 7th symphony, and the romance for violin no. 2, op. 50). If you're a fan of Mozart music often used in the movies, there's the "Mozart Adagios" set and/or the "Amadeus" soundtrack.

I'm a "purist" as to a few works; I'd rather hear the entirety of the "Emperor" concerto than merely the adagio, for instance. In plenty of other cases, an adagio movement is heard just fine as a stand-alone work; plenty of the most beautiful music is used for adagio movements, as these sets make clear enough.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best CDs you'll ever own, March 22, 2003

By A Customer

This is an excellent selection of music. I listen to it every chance I get. It is great just to put in your CD player on "repeat" and allow it to soothe and inspire you for a few hours, for an evening, or an for entire day.

One reason I chose it was that I was looking for music that could simply be a nice background noise for when I'm working on things that require reading and concentration. I wanted music that would not be a distraction, and this does a good job. It is also great to listen to when doing almost anything, like even cleaning the house or doing laundry. I will admit though, that listening to the selection from Swan Lake might make you want to dance around the living room.

Also, besides the obvious ones that everybody knows (Beethoven's 5th, or Canon in D, etc.) I do not know enough to distinguish specific songs from their composers, which is why I was hesitant to buy a classical CD soley of one artist because once I got it I may not have liked it or been familiar with any of the songs. That is why I picked Movie Adagios because I knew it would be a selection of some of the best classical music from the movies, which it is.