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The Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World...Ever!
: :You want relaxing classical music that'll soothe your soul but won't lull you into sleep? Here's a double CD for you. The Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World ... Ever! does its best to cover both well-worn classical favorites (Bach's 'Air on the G String,' Pachelbel's 'Cannon,' Debussy's 'Clair de Lune') and some eclectic left-field choices (an excerpt from Górecki's Symphony No. 3, Jocelyn Pook's 'Blow the Wind,' and Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. The performances of most of these excerpts are top-notch--artists include Sir ...
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Henryk Gorecki: Symphony 3 'Sorrowful Songs'
from: Nonesuch
: essential recording:This album, which catapulted Polish composer Henryk Gorecki to into the international spotlight, takes texts born in pain and turns them into statements of affirmation through the use of music that ebbs and flows in mystic minimalism. The clear voice of soprano Dawn Upshaw, singing the Polish texts, is a large part of the success of this particular recording, but the music, contemporary without either dissonance or movie-music mawkishness, clarifies and uplifts the words. This is a moving and essential element of the modern ...
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Agnus Dei: Music of Inner Harmony: The Choir of New College Oxford
from: Erato
: :Beyond this recording's new age packaging and title is a splendid sampling of some of the world's finest choral music, sung by one of the world's outstanding choirs. This 'anthology of sacred choral music' spans 400 years and includes such masterpieces as Allegri's Miserere, Bach's 'Jesu, joy of man's desiring,' and Barber's exquisite Agnus Dei, which is the composer's choral setting of his famous Adagio for Strings. Along the way we also hear Mozart's sublime 'Ave verum corpus,' Elgar's 'Lux aeterna,' and the Kyrie from Palestrina's ...
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Simply the Best Movie Themes
from: Rhino / Wea
: :Beyond this recording's new age packaging and title is a splendid sampling of some of the world's finest choral music, sung by one of the world's outstanding choirs. This 'anthology of sacred choral music' spans 400 years and includes such masterpieces as Allegri's Miserere, Bach's 'Jesu, joy of man's desiring,' and Barber's exquisite Agnus Dei, which is the composer's choral setting of his famous Adagio for Strings. Along the way we also hear Mozart's sublime 'Ave verum corpus,' Elgar's 'Lux aeterna,' and the Kyrie from Palestrina's ...
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Pieces in a Modern Style
: :William Orbit's Pieces in a Modern Style is an ambient album that rejigs 11 works by classical composers in a particularly tacky fashion. Even though Orbit has proved his mettle as an innovative and exciting producer for others--Blur's 13 and Madonna's Ray of Light--this is an ungainly meeting of the sublime and the absurd that, frankly, doesn't work. Samuel Barber's 'Adagio for Strings,' Ludwig van Beethoven's 'Triple Concerto,' Henryk Gorecki's 'Piece in the Old Style I,' and Antonio Vivaldi's 'L'Inverno' are four that unfortunately meet their ...
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Renaissance: Music For Inner Peace
: :This new release is somewhat mistitled: while most of the pieces are, in fact, from the Renaissance (or early Baroque), there are works here also by Samuel Barber, Poulenc, John Tavener, Bruckne,r and Gorecki. What they all have in common is their beauty and serenity. Perhaps the CDs subtitle, 'Music for Inner Peace,' also refers to a type of renaissance, i.e., spiritual re-birth: in which case, they're right on the money. The Sixteen, led by Harry Christophers, is one of the greatest proponents of this sort ...
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O Magnum Mysterium
: :The trademark qualities of a Robert Shaw-trained chorus included perfect tonal blend and balance, expressive phrasing, and superb tuning. As an interpreter, Shaw hewed to the middle road, steering clear of eccentricities and honoring the composer's intentions. On this tribute disc, we hear these virtues coalesce in works such as Poulenc's austere Christmas hymn 'O magnum mysterium,' one of three settings of the text here. Shaw was at his best in works whose fervent spirituality he shared, and the selection from Rachmaninov's Vespers, with its repeated ...
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The Best Classical Album in the World... Ever!
: :The trademark qualities of a Robert Shaw-trained chorus included perfect tonal blend and balance, expressive phrasing, and superb tuning. As an interpreter, Shaw hewed to the middle road, steering clear of eccentricities and honoring the composer's intentions. On this tribute disc, we hear these virtues coalesce in works such as Poulenc's austere Christmas hymn 'O magnum mysterium,' one of three settings of the text here. Shaw was at his best in works whose fervent spirituality he shared, and the selection from Rachmaninov's Vespers, with its repeated ...
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Górecki: Symphony No. 3 ('Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'); Three Olden Style Pieces
: :The current Schwann catalog lists nine versions of Górecki's phenomenally popular Symphony 3 (Sorrowful Songs) composed in 1976. During his early career, Górecki embraced serialism and concentrated on instrumental sonorities in the vein of Messiaen. But in Symphony 3, his atonality disappears into a strategy of gently mounting thematic pitches, taking the strings through all possible registers. All three movements are marked lento, rare for any symphony. The Elektra Nonesuch recording has tended to be the bestseller, but give this Naxos release a try--it's just as ...
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Discover Music of the 20th Century
from: Naxos
: :The current Schwann catalog lists nine versions of Górecki's phenomenally popular Symphony 3 (Sorrowful Songs) composed in 1976. During his early career, Górecki embraced serialism and concentrated on instrumental sonorities in the vein of Messiaen. But in Symphony 3, his atonality disappears into a strategy of gently mounting thematic pitches, taking the strings through all possible registers. All three movements are marked lento, rare for any symphony. The Elektra Nonesuch recording has tended to be the bestseller, but give this Naxos release a try--it's just as ...
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