"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."
Ear-Candy and good introduction to Classical Music
C. Chu | 01/17/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Fabulous set!
12/06/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
It Is What It Is
Mark Runsvold | Moscow, Idaho United States | 10/27/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"It's fitting that this page is fraught with the same kind of silly snobbery that turns people off from classical music (and necessitates collections like this) in the first place.
Any criticism of this compilation, which focuses on the quality of the performances or the fact that many tracks are excerpts, misses the point. This is not a collection for people who consider such things, nor does it purport to be. The idea is to package as many ultra-famous classical melodies as possible in one affordable collection and market it to people who have never purchased a classical recording. As such, top-tier performances are likely too expensive to be sold so cheaply and are unnecessary anyway. Those of us who already know and love a piece or two can forgive the compilers the inclusion of sub-par recordings, when we are exposed to so many other beautiful pieces for the first time.
It probably comes as a shock for some to hear that most people are not familiar with these classics. We may hear snippets on TV or movies, but are left with no idea as to the composer or historical context. With that in mind, it is extremely intimidating to begin buying classical. I suppose those among us, who so thoroughly dismissed the very notion of a boxed set like this, would have us begin by buying full albums by reputable interpreters. Surprisingly enough though, the majority of people would consider that a tad cost-prohibitive.
To conclude, this is a STARTER collection. It will either affirm a listener's feelings about classical music or lead to an interest in purchasing better recordings. Ideally, I suppose the interpretations would be better, but, for reasons mentioned above, that just isn't in the cards for a collection of this nature. If you're familiar with 50 different recordings of "The Ring" series, or have season tickets to the New York Philharmonic, then this probably isn't for you. For us cretins with limited foreknowledge of classical music though, it serves as a succinct introduction with little to complain about."
It all depends on the listener.
Matthew Vaughan | Palo Alto, CA United States | 02/16/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Whether this is a good introduction to classical music, or will instead turn people off even more, depends on where the listener is coming from.For those who just don't know much about classical music, maybe aren't very passionate about a particular kind of music in the first place, just want something nice to listen to, or maybe want to explore and learn about classical music but don't know where to start, this may be a perfect introduction.But for people who actually think they HATE classical music, this may simply emphasize to them all the things they already don't like about it. For the most part, it's pretty, but not powerful. It's polite, but not demonstrative. It's passive, not aggressive. Etc. If you're a fan of rap or hard rock or alternative rock or something that's more or less the opposite of classical music, and hate the dainty, delicate politeness of classical music (not to mention its lack of obvious powerful "beat"), then this won't do anything to change your mind, even though there's a lot of classical music out there that is neither dainty nor delicate and is sometimes not even polite! If what you like about your music is the angst, this collection emphasizes the opposite. There is classical music to equal the intensity and power (and the angst) of the hardest hard rock (and even some with a pretty good beat), but you won't find much of it on this collection.The most frequent complaint I've heard about classical music from people who don't like it is along the lines of "it puts you to sleep." Like my local classical radio station, which emphasizes "soothing, relaxing, stress-free..." in its marketing, this type of collection only serves to reinforce that attitude."Classical Music for Beginners" might be an apt title for this collection, but "...for People Who (Actually) Hate Classical Music" is probably not."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1
