Track Listing

1. Water Music Suite No.2 for orchestra in D major, HWV 349: Alla Hornpipe
2. Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in E major ('La Primavera,' The Four Seasons; 'Il cimento' No. 1), Op.8/1, RV 269: l.
3. Adagio, for violin, strings & organ in G minor, T. Mi 26 (composed by Remo Giazotto; not by Albinoni)
4. Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067: Badinerie
5. Lute (Chamber) Concerto, for lute (or guitar), 2 violins & continuo in D major, RV 93: ll. Largo
6. Rondeau, for brass, strings & timpani (from Suite of Symphonies No. 1; 'Masterpiece Theater' Theme)
7. Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068: Air [excerpt]
8. Mandolin Concerto, for mandolin, strings & continuo in C major, RV 425: l. Allegro
9. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Aria
10. Prélude pour le Te Deum à 8, for strings, H. 145a
11. Notebooks for Anna Magdalena Bach, manuscript sources (2) of sacred songs and keyboard pieces (30): Minuet
12. Canon in D major, instrumental arrangement: Canon for 3 Trumpets and strings
13. Serse (Xerxes), opera, HWV 40: Largo ("Ombra mai fù")
14. Abdelazer, or, the Moor's Revenge, incidental music, Z. 570: Rondeau
15. Tambourin, for harpsichord in E minor (Pièces de clavecin avec une méthode): Le Tambourin
16. Concerto for oboe, strings & continuo in D minor, SF. 935 (often transposed to C minor): ll. Adagio
17. Solomon, oratorio, HWV 67: Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
18. Cantata No. 147, 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben,' BWV 147 (BC A174): Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
19. Concerto for harpsichord, strings & continuo No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056: ll. Largo
20. Partita for lute in E major, BWV 1006a (BC L171): l. Prélude
21. The Prince of Denmark's March (Trumpet Voluntary) for brass, winds & percussion (or keyboard or trumpet & organ) in D major
22. Concerto Grosso in G minor ('Christmas Concerto'), Op. 6/8: No 8 Concerto Grosso in G Minor "Christmas Concerto" ll Largo Pastoral
23. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Hallelujah Chorus

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21019 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 1995-06-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Customer Reviews

Outstanding sampler
It is impossible of course to capture Baroque music on a single CD, but if you want just one it doesn't get any better than this. Outstanding and generous selection of many of the best known excerpts of the period, excellent performances throughout, and superior sound quality. Even the casual listener will recognize many of these great works, such as the theme from Masterpiece Theater, Pachelbel's Canon, Handel's Water Music, and so on.

The Best Of Baroque Collection
This compilation album features some well-known Baroque Era musical works and serves as a perfect introduction to classical music. The great Baroque composers are showcased here - Bach, considered the greatest of them all, Handel, Vivaldi, Corelli and others. The Baroque period (from 1600 to 1750) was a time of great development and change in music. Before the Baroque Era, music was single-melody and primitive, in much the same way it had been since the Old World of the Greeks and Romans. Plaintive chorus was the only new invention of the medieval days- the Gregorian monk chant and Hildegard Bingen's nuns' chant. But during the Baroque Era, instruments were created and with them a new sound. Flutes, oboes, clarinets, drums, violins, violas and most significantly the trumpet, was played in a new medium called the orchestra. This music was played before royalty, kings of England, Germany and France, and often elitist aristocratic crowds. The same applied to Baroque Opera, which re-told Greek legends and classical heroes through music and the human singing voice of opera. Finally, music broke out from the old and into the new.

Johann Sebastian Bach is regarded as the best of the Baroque composers. He wrote prolifically for orchestra, for harpsichord (the earliest piano or keyboard instrument), as well as the organ. Among Bach's popular pieces are the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (which is the theme for "Dracula" and was made into an orchestra version by conductor Leopold Stokowski as seen in the Disney film Fantasia of 1940), his Brandenburg Concertos- a total of six concertos that showcase the tone color of several instruments of the orchestra and are considered the height of the Baroque musical style. The Brandenburg Concerti that are most famous are th 3rd and 5th. Bach's Golberg Variations for keyboard are also very virtuosic as well as his Organ Preludes. Bach's Orchestral Suites are the skeletons of the first symphonies, even if it it's not exactly a symphony form, and Bach's cantatas and Mass In B have long been hailed as the best works of chorus.

George Frederic Handel, a German-born composer, adapted the Italian musical technique, especially the new invention of opera, but performed publically in England, even writing the famous "Messiah" oratorio in English. Handel's skills were most keen in the orchestra. His "Concerti Grossi" which total a number of 12, are virtuoso and expressive of instrumental color. The Water Music and the Royal Fireworks music are also very famous and written in a grandiose style that was quintessentially Baroque. Vivaldi, a former priest, became a composer who specialized in small-scale chamber music. He created the "tone poem" long before it was even called that in the 19th century. His "Four Seasons" are his most acclaimed. The music expresses the four seasons of fall, winter, spring and summer. The violins, the woodwinds, the trumpets, each deliver a picture of pastoral scenes. Vivaldi also wrote numerous other concerti, including some for mandolin, an early guitar.

This collection is a must have for music lovers.