CD-Charts Position 1
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Wynton Marsalis - Baroque Music for Trumpet

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: Sony

Release Date October 25, 1990
I first encountered this on cassette, quite by accident. It later became the background for my work at morning at the easel painting watercolours. But this is no wallpaper music. The technical genius of matching separate recordings of different trumpet parts is surpassed only by Marsalis's bright and lively technique. The masters would be pleased. As for the watercolours, I can now stand before them and see the music's influence on paper. Well worth the listening...

CD-Charts Position 2
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Elgar: The Collector's Edition (30 CDs)

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: Emi Classics

Release Date November 06, 2007
It's hard not to like Elgar -- his music is tuneful, bombastic in all the right ways, and has an air of ceremony that somehow perfectly fits what British music should sound like. I guess it's just that Elgar defines "British" music.

There are certainly highlights in this set -- Falstaff and the Cello Concerto are so good that I think any other performance I'll ever hear of either of them will be ruined because they won't compare. The oratorios The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles as presented are widely considered the best out there. And I haven't heard better. There's plenty more here to enjoy even if they're not absolutely authoritative.

I don't like Barbirolli's interpretation of the symphonies -- he takes ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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Essential Purcell

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: Henry Purcell, New College Choir Oxford, King's Consort, Robert King, Roy Goodman, Charles Daniels, John Mark Ainsley, James Bowman, Peter Buckoke, Jane Coe, Rogers Covey-Crump, Gillian Fisher, Michael George, Miles Golding, Jane Norman, Barbara Bonney, Mark Caudle, William Carter, King's Consort Choir, Helen Gough, Paul Nicholson, Angela East, Barry Guy, Tessa Bonner, Jerome Finnis, Rupert Bawden, Lucy Howard, Richard Campbell, Susan Addison, James O'Donnell, Stephen Saunders

Release Date April 10, 1995
"O Fair Cedaria..." is a gorgeous song and yet this is the only cd recording of this incredible work.
The other song which deserves fame is "The Sparrow and the Gentle Dove." There is so much feeling, emotion and musical development in this song that it really is one my personal favorites. Its interpretation here is beyond beautiful.
If you've never heard these songs be ready to add them to your list of favorite Purcell songs.

CD-Charts Position 4
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Purcell: Songs & Airs / Argenta, North, Boothby, Nicholson, Toll

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: Henry Purcell, Nancy Argenta, Nigel North

Release Date June 05, 2001
I have many collections of Purcell's Music. This collection stands up to them at half the price. Solid buy.

CD-Charts Position 5
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100 Best Baroque

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: EMI Classics

Release Date January 01, 2006
"100 Best Baroque" is what it seems - a compilation of the 100 definitive Baroque compositions. For a very low price you get a complete overview of the Baroque style, and while the sound quality of the recordings will not satisfy a serious student or fan of classical music, they are more than enough for a classical neophyte such as myself.

The compilation breaks down the songs into six categories on six separate CDs:

1. England and the Baroque - Handel's Zadok the Priest and Messiah, Purcell's O Solitude, Byrd's With Lillies White, etc.

2. The Best of Italian Baroque - Handel's Alcina and others, Albinoni's Adagio, Gabrielli's Sonata Pian e forte, Vivaldi's "Summer," etc.

3. Treasures of the Mediterranean ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Kathleen Ferrier - Mahler ~ Kindertotenlieder & Gluck ~ Greene ~ Handel ~ Mendelssohn ~ Purcell / Baillie, Moore, B. Walter

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: Kathleen Ferrier, Bruno Walter, Vienna Philharmonic, Isobel Baillie

Release Date March 09, 1999
This review duplicates the one written for Ferrier's Decca recording of Kindertotenlieder with the Concertgebouw in concert:

Kathleen Ferrier left so few commercial recordings that despite its scratchy, AM-radio sound, Decca was fully justified in releasing this inspired Kindertotenlieder from the Holland Festival. Sonically it can't compare with her studio recording, now refurbished on EMI, with the Vienna Phil. under her mentor Bruno Walter. But there are significant differences that can only be appreciated by hearing both versions.

The two orchestras are placed backward in both recordings, with considerable loss of inner detail. The focus is on Ferrier, who sounds darker and more sombr under Walter. Her voice is brighter and her mood ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
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Gardiner Purcell Collection - Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, Birthday Ode "Come Ye Sons of Art"

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: Henry Purcell, Equale Brass Ensemble, Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner, Felicity Lott, Thomas Allen, Charles Brett, John Williams [countertenor]

Release Date May 02, 1995
Everything I know about classical music I learned in one single class at high school over thirty years ago. Last week a dear friend of mine passed away. It was left to me to make the arrangements. In this new 21st century most funeral homes allow the "Grieved" to bring music of their own choice on CD for the services. For you younger reviewers let me tell you this is really convenient. At 53 I've put on 3 funerals in the last 2 years. My pal Jim simply loved "Clockwork Orange", kept his own DVD copy (even traveled with it!). So "Funeral of Queen Mary" was a "no-brainer". For "Jim's Show", we started with Bach on G-string, moved to Rolling Stones then Grateful Dead and finally closed with tracks 10 thru 18 of this CD (runs about 20min). We made it to our local watering hole ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Martin: Mass / Songs Of Ariel / Cantate / Chansons / Ode A La Musique

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: Frank Martin, The Sixteen, Harry Christophers

Release Date March 15, 2005
This is a reissue of a 1996 Collins Classics CD. Here's what I said about that disc, slightly updated:
With the exception of the enormously popular Mass for Unaccompanied Double Choir (1922/26) & the oft-recorded English-language Songs of Ariel (1950) to texts from Shakespeare, Frank Martin's most significant choral music is found in his 4 large-scale oratorios: In Terra Pax (1944), Golgotha (1945-8), Le Mystere de la Nativite (1957-9) & the Requiem (1970-1). This CD gathers together some of the shorter pieces from throughout his career, together with the Mass & Ariel Songs. Some of the performances come off better than others, largely because the various works were written for very different resources. The Sixteen do very well in the challenging 5 Songs of Ariel, composed ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Purcell: Odes for St. Cecilia's Day - Music for Queen Mary / Taverner Consort

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: Henry Purcell, Emma Kirkby, Charles Daniels, David Thomas, John Mark Ainsley, Michael Chance, Choir & Players Taverner Consort, Roger Covey-Crump, Michael George, Simon Grant, Paul Elliott, Kevin Smith

Release Date June 08, 1999
The mind boggles when listening to Purcell. Certainly his was a genius that could vie with any great contrapuntist. It is sad that he had to go so early in his life. But then I guess we wouldn't have seen the rise and rise of Handel.

Having said that, this recording is a marvellous one, one of uncommon brilliance I might add. It does not represent a summary of his work and style, even if restricted to just his vocal music, such was the originality and fertility of his invention. But it is revealing of the enormity of his command of music. Why this composer isn't as well-known as Mozart or Bach, or yes even Handel, I will never know.

I assure all that the quality of these recordings is unrivalled. Careful attention is paid to detail, and a first-rate line up of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Rule Britannia

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: Nimbus Records

Release Date October 17, 2000
This CD features several particular composers who have written pieces of music that are quintessentially British: Jeremiah Clarke, George Frideric Handel, John Stanley, John Eccles, Henry Purcell, William Corbett, Edward Elgar, Arthur Sullivan, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst and Thomas Arne. The pieces here are triumphant, celebrating that particular period of Empire when the British ruled vastly such that the sun never set upon it - one of the key elements of such triumphant music-making, particularly for the time, was the use of brass and trumpet. Some of the later composers included here draw on inspirations from these earlier times.

One of the featured performers on this collection is John Wallace, who was principal trumpet of the Philharmonia Orchestra since the 1970s; he founded ... Read More: