Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Canon
2. Allegro
3. Largo / Allegro
4. 1. Rondeau ("Masterpiece Theatre" theme)
5. No. 2, Air
6. Allegro
7. Andante
8. Introduction
9. Overture [excerpt: finale]
10. Triumphal March
11. Waltz of the Flowers
12. Finale

Disc 2:

1. Sabre Dance
2. Overture [excerpt: finale]
3. The Toreadors
4. Wedding March
5. Finale
6. Polovstian Dance No. 17
7. Jesu, joy of man's desiring
8. Solveig's Song
9. Wachet auf!
10. Hornpipe
11. Largo
12. St. Anthony's Chorale
13. Barcarolle
14. Farandole
15. Dance of the Mirlitons
16. Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy
17. [Excerpt]
18. Can-can

Disc 3:

1. Introduction
2. Saltarello. Presto
3. Romance
4. Ride of the Valkyries
5. Allegro
6. La Réjouissance. Allegro
7. Adagio sostenuto
8. Overture
9. Adagio sostenuto

Disc 4:

1. Introduction
2. Dawn
3. Prelude
4. Troïka
5. Habañera
6. Allegro
7. Overture
8. 3. Rondo alla turca
9. Allegro vivace
10. Enchanted Lake

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21681 in Music
• Released on: 1994-06-09
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Box set

Customer Reviews

Fabulous set!
I am a musician and I generally dislike classical compilation CD's, but my friend brought this in to work one day and I was hooked. It covers many different styles of classical music with a wonderful combination of pieces. The only negative for me was that some of the longer pieces had to be cut down to fit them on, but that was minor when compared with all of the good things in this set. I recommend it for musicians and non-musicians alike.

Ear-Candy and good introduction to Classical Music
This compilation offers the most popular themes and familiar tunes in small doses, in a sampler. Unless you've lived under a rock, you can't have helped but have heard of some of these tunes, whether at a wedding, or as background music to some action scene in a movie. You get 4 CDs for the price of 1, so it's a great value, and who cares if they are not the most famous orchestras or performers. The only thing is that the pieces are somewhat abridged, and are designed to please the uninitiated, hence ear-candy. Good enough to whet your appetite for something more substantial and a start a music appreciation.

Why not just listen to the real stuff?
It frightens me that so many musicians and aspiring musicians below me (and no doubt, by now above me too) are praising this CD. If you want to learn about this music, as they claim they do, here's a radical thought: why not go out and get the actual recordings? The ones here are just excerpts, from no-name performers and orchestras. If you were interested in Shakespeare would you read one soliloquy from Hamlet? If you were interested in Dickens, would one chapter from Copperfield do? Part of studying music is understanding how sections relate to one another, how they develop and evolve and progress over time. Just "knowing the melody" to Eine Kleine Nachtmusik tells you no more about Mozart than knowing the line "We All Live In A Yellow Submarine" tells you anything worth a damn about the Beatles. Music students--even beginners--who think they are getting an education from this rubbish are fooling themselves.

Some will oppose this view and say everyone needs an eezie introduction to classical music. That's fine. There are plenty of them--and I've reviewed and endorsed a number of them. But some introductions are so "easy" that they've literally had all the content removed, but want to give you the illusion you are learning so you feel good about forking over your bucks.

But my complaints will probably fall on deaf ears, and soon the top of this review will say something like "0 of 96 people found this review helpful." Sad. People like the easy, no-effort way in everthing, be it dieting, "spirituality" or music appreciation. So fear not if you order this: you won't have to stretch yourself in any way, but you'll be led to believe you have learned something in the end. God bless us all.