Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Adagio Sostenuto
2. 1 & 3
3. Adagio
4. Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia
5. Adagio sostenuto
6. Nimrod

Disc 2:

1. Andante
2. Andante Cantabile
3. Adagio
4. Largo
5. Variation 18
6. Intermezzo
7. Adagio
8. Andante

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76718 in Music
• Released on: 2000-06-13
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

A great, great collection!
I was stunned to see only two and a half stars for romantic adagios. I don't know how much you get to know by listening to only one "song" out of so many in this collection, but in my opinion this CD collection deserves a lot of credit. I had heard of Samuel Barber's Adagio for strings many times before and I was impressed but this was the first time that I was completely mesmerized. I highly recommend to any Barber fans to listen to this interpretation by David Zinman which is incredible. There seems to be so much passion and emotion! Also others such as Adagio of Spartacus and Clarinet Concerto just make the collection even better.

great music! not so great sound variations!
The selections and the arrangements are truly excellent. There are some hard to find (on the same CD) pieces and adagios--Spartacus ; Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez; Mascagni's Intermezzo from Cavelleria...
But, better turn up the sound and then get away from the speakers. Parts of the selections are played so very softly that, when you turn up the volume to hear them, you will get blasted by those sections that have cresendos, or just plain louder sections. Too bad!
Very hard to enjoy in a car--or, even at home. if this problem did not exist, this is a 5 star plus!

An Excellent intro to Faure & Barber
This is a collection of tranquil pieces (not "songs", which, by definition, must have vocals) and individual movements excerpted from larger classical works. All of the performances are at least good, some excellent. Especially satisfying are the Barber and Faure. As this recording shows, David Zinman is an outsanding interpreter of Barber while Dutoit handles the Faure with the style, polish, and grace that this music requires. Although the "Pavanne" was originally composed as an instrumental piece, a year after its composition Faure adapted it to fit the text that is given on the CD. He would hardly have been insulted to find a choral version of this work. In fact, given Dutoit's elegantly understated performance, he would probably think his music well served. Also recommendable from this disc is Solti's excerpt from Mahler's 5th and Kennedy's rendition of Massenet's "Thais." In a nutshell, if you are interested in exploring some very enjoyable (if not totally on the beaten path) music, this set is an excellent choice.