Search - Rrso Symphony Orchestra :: Beatles: Music Of

Mediocre, but not without merits

A. J. Thomas | Ohio | 10/11/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I was interested in this album because as a violinist, the richness of a full orchestra playing music is almost always preferable to a handful of musicians. Being a fan of the Beatles, I was intrigued by the concept of hearing some of their music orchestrated. After browsing the available options at Amazon, I decided to opt for this collection as it seemed the most comprehensive, and the price wasn't too bad either.



What I got wasn't all that I had expected or hoped it would be, but it would be misleading to say that this album is a waste. The orchestra isn't the best, and some of the arrangements are--well, lackluster. The most disappointing aspect to me is that the majority of the songs are still accompanied by an electric bass line. This screams to me of laziness and lends many of the tracks this flaw is found in a certain level of cheesiness that gets on one's nerves. That said, many of the versions of their earlier compositions--pre-Rubber Soul--give the songs an added weight and texture that they did not possess originally; these are the most pleasing to my ear.



As much as you get out of the 3 discs, there are a few tracks that, to my disappointment, were not included in this album, "Norwegian Wood" being one of them. Luckily, I found the album "Beatles for Strings" on Amazon by the same orchestra. Unluckily, being by the same group, the songs are of no higher quality than those found on this set.



I have some reservations about recommending this item. It does have several well-done tracks. However, there is a level of "cheese" found on much of this set that the Beatles' originals never had, and that is a definite negative. Furthermore, the omission of several of the pieces that would seem to be best suited to such an orchestral treatment from this set--while they can be found elsewhere--is another flaw, requiring you to pay more.



This is the most comprehensive of the orchestrated compilations, but it has a few major issues."

What you would expect

Robbie Dorion | 02/24/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"this is the music of the beatles played by some symphony no-one's ever heard of, pretty ho hum, not bad but not good. if you have a desire to hear the songs of the beatles symphonically you might as well pick this up, its not a bad price for a 3 cd set"