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Vaughan Williams: Orchestral Works

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
from: British Composers

September 09, 1991
I JUST WANT TO AGREE WITH EVERY WORD THAT MR JORDAN HAD SAID ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR RECORDING, NOT JUST OF 'THE LARK', BUT OF SERENADE TO MUSIC ALSO. IN FACT I JUST LOVE EVERYTHING ON THIS ALBUM! I BOUGHT MY VINYL COPY IN THE EARLY 70'S AND IT IS NOW SO WORN OUT THAT I DECIDED TO LOOK TO SEE IF A CD WAS AVAILABLE. WHAT JOY! NOT ONLY HAVE I BEEN ABLE TO FIND A CD OF MY TREASURED RECORDING, BUT WITH BONUS TRACKS, AND AT AN INCREDIBLY LOW PRICE. FOR ME THIS IS THE PURCHASE OF THE MONTH.

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Fiesta

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
by: Gustavo Dudamel

May 19, 2008
I JUST WANT TO AGREE WITH EVERY WORD THAT MR JORDAN HAD SAID ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR RECORDING, NOT JUST OF 'THE LARK', BUT OF SERENADE TO MUSIC ALSO. IN FACT I JUST LOVE EVERYTHING ON THIS ALBUM! I BOUGHT MY VINYL COPY IN THE EARLY 70'S AND IT IS NOW SO WORN OUT THAT I DECIDED TO LOOK TO SEE IF A CD WAS AVAILABLE. WHAT JOY! NOT ONLY HAVE I BEEN ABLE TO FIND A CD OF MY TREASURED RECORDING, BUT WITH BONUS TRACKS, AND AT AN INCREDIBLY LOW PRICE. FOR ME THIS IS THE PURCHASE OF THE MONTH.

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Spanish Guitar Music

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
from: Essential Classics

November 19, 2001
This is a clasical guitar album recorded by John Williams in his style of ultimate perfection. Don't confuse this with Flamenco Spanish guitar.

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Classic FM Music for Babies

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
from: Classic FM.(Export

July 18, 2005
A few of the tracks on this CD are perfect, beautiful, soft, mesmerising and something Mummy could enjoy too... but I found the majority of tracks incredibly depressing - and thats not what you need after having a baby!!! I wish I'd paid more attention to the track listing and bought something else...

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Vaughan Williams - Complete Symphonies

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
by: London Philharmonic Orchestra

September 20, 2004
and I like the box too: I can always pick it out among the other VW sets ;-)
A wonderful evocative 3rd, a tense war study. Not very pastoral, nor bucolic or lyrical: I do not agree much with Vernon Handley's interpretation. Rather it is the past remembered, resigned melancholy that something is not quite right, yet with self-discovery and steely determination that is discussed and evolved by the soloists. Never forget that a war demands and makes a different mindset we do not understand. I find Rued Langgaard's deeply disturbing 4th Symphony, "Leaf Fall" 1916, to be in good company here.
Haitink's take on things generally differs just a bit from the English conductors, but I think "In the Fen Country" in particular justifies buying ... Read More:

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Holst: The Planets / Elgar: Enigma Variations

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
from: EMI Classics

March 11, 2002
This version of The Planets has replaced my recent LSO version.
Why? Well, the balance between the contributing elements is the best i've heard so far: The bass is thunderous analogue and the high woodwind/strings are like crystal in equal measure. This is a superb achievement and exceptionally important for, 'large orchestra' where Dynamics become a recording engineer's delight or problem depending on how good they are. And these people are the best: Abbey road have done a fantastic job on the remastering of a late 70's classic, although there is one thing they could never tackle: Is this as Holst intended?

Bolt was a friend of Holst and was given the opportunity to first conduct the piece; Bolt read and heard the original 'two piano' score and ... Read More:

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Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia; Fantasia on Greensleeves; The Lark Ascending etc.

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
from: Universal Classics

April 03, 1986
Loved it~the Tallis fantasia is glorious~if you like music that fills your head...this is for you.

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Orff: Carmina Burana

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
from: Great Recordings of the Century

October 05, 1998
Okay, first, for the uninitiated, what is Carmina Burana? It is that piece of music which they play if someone (prizefighters love it) needs a particualrly ostentatious entrance. Those in the UK who remember the Old Spice ads of the 70's and 80's featuring a surfer - that's Carmina Burana; specifically the first and last track "O Fortuna", "Fortune, you are like the moon; waxing and waning, bringing one man good forune and the next man ill luck" being an approximate translation. It is one of those pieces everybody has heard if they watch television or films at all (Oh yes, John Boorman's Excalibur uses a version). So, subtle it ain't? Wrong! - it has some of the most beaufiful, subtle, sophisticated, and charming pieces of music in it. Dulchissimo was never a more appropriately ... Read More:

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Elgar - Cello Concerto; Cockaigne; Sea Pictures

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
from: EMI Classics

August 02, 2004

There are now many releases in the EMI 'Great Recordings of the Century' series, and this has to be one of the best I've heard.

The three pieces on this CD date from the 1960's and all have benefited from recent remastering.

The 'Cello Concerto' is a 1965 recording performed by Jacqueline du Pre (who else would you expect?) and remains today, more than 40 years on, the standard to which all other performances of this work are measured. I'm sure I am amongst many others who regret not having seen such a gifted musician play live. I've seen several performances of Elgar's cello concerto, and always find that the best are when the soloist totally immerses him/herself into the music and brings out the emotions from somewhere deep within themselves. This recording ... Read More:

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The Only Classical Album You'll Ever Need

Childrens Toy Shop > Classical Music > Performers
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 is only aimed at those wanting a brief 'best of' product ... Read More: