Antonio Cobo

I found this cd to be a beautiful addition to my collection. I do vinotherapy in my spa and use it for the background music. It is perfect for this wonderful therapy. Imagine a "Bella Lucce"" grapeseed crush body scrub, honey and wine mask and a relaxing massage, all listening to this beautiful cd. Highly recommend it.

It's like a little trip back to Tuscany. Also recommend Tuscany a Romantic Journey.

Very beautiful music. If you close your eyes when you listen to it, you can actually pretend you're really there!

A wonderful compellation of Italian classical music. I love to hear it while I'm driving; it makes road rage disappear.

Very enjoyable listening to this classical CD. I also highly recommend the CD of this series "LaBelle France Music Inspried by France".

It is not often that i review an item but this is an exeption.The music on the second cd of the set is soothing played elegantly though unexeptionaly.But i don't write this to judge the quality of the music... The first of the two cds in the boxset i received is not classical music but Rock!Although the cd surface is printed ok the contents is pop-rock songs one of which is song no.2 by Blur if i am not mistaken...I discovered this a few months after it was delivered, because i buy more cds than i can hear.I like rock but this is too much..A similar problem happened to me only once before with another cd so i don't know if there is a problem with the particular set.Obviously the quality control of some record companies is insufficient.The set of discs is worthless for me and it is obviously a hustle trying to replace it now, since it is after all a cheap set and not worth the trouble.And even if i buy it again, how will i know that i won't face the same problem?Dissapointing to say the least..

That is how I describe Maurice Andre's sound. So smooth and suave, and accurate every time. The Michael Haydn Concerto In D is one of the most impressive trumpet works ever recorded. Andre does it better than anyone else ever did, if you ask me. He also takes on J.S. Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2" and the results are majestic. The essential Joseph Haydn Trumpet Concerto is on here as well, a piece in which Andre plays an especially stunning cadenza on the first movement. The Telemann, Tartini, Handel, Vivaldi and Marcello are all impeccably played. Maurice Andre was the second or third trumpet player I started listening to after Miles Davis. I also discovered Clifford Brown around then, back in 6th grade. Since then, they have all remained in my list of all-time favorite trumpet players and musicians.

The incredible playing of Maurice Andre fills up all two of these cds. From the incredible brandenberg reading to the Cimarosa. This album from start to finish is a text book on beauty, style, phrasing, and how to play the trumpet. Andre is a true master of the trumpet and even more a true master musician.

Maurice André is one of those people whom one suspects isn't quite human like the rest of us (Michala Petri is another). To anyone who has ever struggled to get as much as a parp or a toot out of a trumpet, the astounding technical facility and the pure, clear, pitch-perfect sound and wonderful tone of an André is a revelation that some people are indeed more equal than others. This collection represents André in his prime (he's now sadly semi-retired) and he does a wonderful job. Many of these works are not originally for trumpet, and only a modern piccolo valved trumpet allows them to be played. Nevertheless, they come up shining.

If you're into trumpet concertos, Maurice Andre is as smooth and technical as they come. This two-CD set contains not only Bach, but also Handel, Telemann, Haydn, Albinoni, and others. If you have Andre's concertos in your sheet music library, these CD's make for great accompaniment. The CDs are great while studying as well. Mega cerebral (when you're into that kind of thing)!

We use this for falling asleep at night. Well-modulated, tasteful selections of slow passages from great composers. No sudden loud or fast parts that wake you. Works every time.

It's got all of the great skating prorams AND its' the full piece of music. It's not some lame edited version. Love it!

When listening to this CD I can see all the past figure skating performances that I have loved. I listen to it daily and never tire of the rich sound!

I recently received this as a present but I was already familiar with many of these recordings, having owned the complete versions of the works presented. Yes, these are great recordings but if you settle for this compilation you will be missing out big time on great music. I own Fennell's recording on the Holst suite--while the March from the suite is very good, you will miss out on the beautiful 'Song Without Words' and the 'Fantasia on the Dargason,' which are the seond and fourth movements of the suite, respectively. If you get the original CD from which this movement was taken you will be able to enjoy the wonderful playing of members of the Cleveland Orchsestra as they play Holst's First suite and a wonderful rendition of Handel's Fireworks Music.

Maazel's Pictures at an Exhibition is excellnt, precise with excellent blends and fantastic orchestral playing, but you can hardly feel the power of the Great Gate of Kiev without the promenades and pictures that preceed it--you loose the whole sense of climax and fulfillment following the half hour of difficult music that preceeds the Great Gate. Beethoven's Emperor concerto is top-notch music but I think you might rather hear the second movement between the first and third movements which are full of powerful orchestral playing and keyboard virtuosity. Robert Spano's recording of Scheherazade that was released just a few months ago is brilliant. It's his first recording with the Atlanta Symphony and it's great--and you should own the complete thing which comes on a CD with the beuatiful Russian Easter Overture.

Spend some time looking for these complete recordings and you will be rewarded. What makes the compilation even worse is that in many cases the CD does not even present a full movement but just a part of a movement.

As I said, I own many of these individual recordings and they are all great: Telarc captures the best musicians at their best. Having two or three CDs from which these excerpts were taken is much better than owning this compilation. I highly recommend Fennell's Holst (Telarc - #80038), Maazel's Pictures (Telarc - #80042), and Spano's Scheherazade (Telarc - #80568), instead of this disc. Rachmaninoff's Second Sonata and Sibelius' Second Symphony are great but these are not my preferred recordings (find Van Cliburn's Rachmaninoff and Maazel's Sibelius), and you can do better by swapping some other performers as well.