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A Classic Christmas: the Ultimate Collection of Christmas Classics and Carols

from: EMI Classics

November 03, 2003
This CD is a delight capturing the sparkle and fun of Xmas. It is light classical music at its very best. I play Troika and I know the festive season has begun.

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Prokofiev: Peter And The Wolf

by: Dame Edna Everage

September 29, 1997
I'm 37 years old and this is on my iPod. I love it.

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The Only Classical Album You'll Ever Need

from: Classics

November 03, 2003

The budget price doesn't reflect the quality of this 2 disc collection of classical music highlights, for the soloists, orchestras, conductors and the recordings themselves ensure it is a good quality selection of mostly familiar music from the classical music repertoire.

The choices lean heavily towards the opera style, so for that reason alone will not be the only album necessary to cover everyone's taste - even the complete classical beginner will find many of their familiar favourites are absent.

The tracks are mostly single movements from the whole score, which may not please the more enthusiastic classical fan, but it's unavoidable given the short time permitted by only 2 CDs. In any case, this album really ... Read More:

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100 Classical Hits

by: Various Artists

October 13, 2003

This is a great low cost box set which does exactly what it says on the box - it gives you 100 classical music hits, covering all the styles such as baroque, classical, romantic and modern, and includes music from all the popular composers.

Some of the tracks are simply excerpts from the full piece, for example Beethoven's Ninth symphony, originally over 60 minutes long, is reduced to a two and a half minute rousing chorus of the popular `Ode to Joy'. Likewise, Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture is cut from 15 minutes down to the last few minutes of the exciting thunder and fireworks finale.

This editing enables a great range of `hits' to be squeezed onto five discs, and gives the classical music novice a chance to dip their ... Read More:

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Prokofiev - Peter and the Wolf

by: Philharmonia Orchestra

February 05, 2007
I had the Peter and the Wolf album, with Richard Baker narrating, when I was little and it is one of the best things that I can remember from my childhood. It is still one of my favourite pieces of classical music and listening to it still makes me feel slightly scared of that wolf! Together with Richard Baker's calm narration it is just brilliant. I would recommend this to any parent for their child - it will keep them quiet for hours!

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The Best Classical Album in the World...Ever!

from: Virgin TV

November 08, 2004
I have never been into classical music, however the TV programs Maestro and Last Choir standing (I know trash TV... sorry) made me realise I did like some classical music. So time to test that theory, and of course this CD fitted the bill perfectly, a bit of everything and 99% you will probably know. Good album, maybe I may have discovered culture :-)

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Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty narrated by Brian Cant

by: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

October 04, 1999
This is an excellent CD to introduce young children to classical music generally , and ballet music in particular. If you are thinking of taking young children to see either of these ballets, then get this CD first and Brian Cant will tell the stories, and the orchestra will play the main themes.
Higly recomended and at a good low price.

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Romeo and Juliet (Previn)

by: Sergey Prokofiev

October 04, 2004
Ballet scores don't come any better than this. Prokofiev's score is an order of magnitude greater than Tchaikovsky's, and this classic version by Previn and the LSO does full justice to superlative music. It is intelligent, sensual and witty and offers outstanding value.

Prokofiev's score manages to match Shakespeare's drama in its intensity, complexity and economy. A notable feature of the play is its time compression. In the world of the play, all the action takes place in three or four days. In stage-time, this is reduced to a mere trice: 'the two-hour's traffic of our stage'. In Prokofiev's version, ideas come equally thick and fast - and enough of them to last most composers a lifetime. What's more, like the play, the ballet score is full ... Read More:

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The Essential Classics Collection

by: Myung-Whun Chung Géza Anda Rudolf Baumgartner Trevor Pinnock Karl Böhm Eugen Jochum Ferdinand Leitner Ferenc Fricsay Neeme Järvi Claudio Abbado

July 03, 2000
I bought this as a gift for my niece, since I wanted her to be educated about classical music as she was on her way to college. Ended up buying two copies as I found I loved it so much. Normally I like to pick and choose my orchestras, composers, and conductors, but this collection has jujst about everything. Also, I'd never bought some of the more "popular" items (Strauss and Grieg) as I'd heard them a million times, but now I have them and the performances are all great. This truly has a smattering of it all, and if you're not a classical music lover, it's bound to turn you on to the stuff.

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Classics for Children

from: Decca

October 18, 1999
The recordings found on this disc are some of the best available (...in fact, the Britten conducting Britten is the Gramophone's Recommended Recording!). Add to that the most delightful account of Schumann's "Scenes from Childhood", and you find a fantastic disc. Then look at the price! 5 stars for a well rounded CD, which wont break the bank.