Best Allemandes
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A CD ROM is also included with History and other interesting facts plus the complete Libretto. As I'm writing this, I'm listening to the Mass in B Minor from the collection performed by The Sixteen Choir and Orchestra."
"It is just amazing to sort through the variety of Bach's work just by instrument and voice. I agree that you could find a better Brandenburg Concertos, as I have, but it is still good enough to stand a listen."
"I just received this set this evening and have listened to three CDs chosen at random. Given that Bach is by far my favorite composer, and that I prefer performances on period instruments, I am much more than impressed with what I have heard so far. Normally I would wait longer to review a purchase, but it will take at least a couple of months to listen to the entire set, and I am very pleased already. UPDATE: Wish I had checked the price on Amazon.UK, which sells it for about twenty dollars less, including delivery, making it about fifty-five cents per disc."
"Be advised however that a handful of items are missing: First of all, although the documentation mentions the St. Mark Passion (CD V-22 and V-23) and the St. Luke Passion (CD V-24 and V-25), these items are not actually included in the set -- they are not even listed in the directory of vocal works on the inside lid (and these CDs contain other selections). I have now been listening to these for one full year, typically while I am driving to/from work or while hiking."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great to have JS Bach's COMPLETE works!"
"My main reason for purchase was the sacred Cantatas, presented here in 1999 recordings by the Holland Boy Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium (period instruments) and soloists including Ruth Holton and Bas Ramseller directed by Pieter Jan Leusink. If you already have the Cantatas led by John Eliot Gardiner (SDG), Helmuth Rilling (Hanssler) or Masaaki Suzuki (BIS), you don't need this."
Couperin also showed in his four Livres de Clavecin in 27 Ordres that he was interested in every aspect of his times, from the great personages at court whom he frequented as music master to the royal family (Les Lis Naissans, an evocation for the twelve-year-old Louis XV) to the delights of childhood (Les Petits Ages), not to mention satire of the parochial quarrels of musicians (Les Fastes de la Grande et Ancienne Ménéstrandise) and the taste for pastoral (Les Bergeries).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The artist plays absolutely beautifully!"
"I love to listen to the various interpretations of his pieces."
"Two things I had to adapt to on this recording were first the amount of rhythmic inflection that Mme Verlet deploys, particularly in Barricades itself, and second the powerful tone of the three harpsichords used -- I find I need a fairly low volume-setting."
"A wonderful CD once you turn down the volume."
Best Musettes
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A CD ROM is also included with History and other interesting facts plus the complete Libretto. As I'm writing this, I'm listening to the Mass in B Minor from the collection performed by The Sixteen Choir and Orchestra."
"It is just amazing to sort through the variety of Bach's work just by instrument and voice. I agree that you could find a better Brandenburg Concertos, as I have, but it is still good enough to stand a listen."
"I just received this set this evening and have listened to three CDs chosen at random. Given that Bach is by far my favorite composer, and that I prefer performances on period instruments, I am much more than impressed with what I have heard so far. Normally I would wait longer to review a purchase, but it will take at least a couple of months to listen to the entire set, and I am very pleased already. UPDATE: Wish I had checked the price on Amazon.UK, which sells it for about twenty dollars less, including delivery, making it about fifty-five cents per disc."
"Be advised however that a handful of items are missing: First of all, although the documentation mentions the St. Mark Passion (CD V-22 and V-23) and the St. Luke Passion (CD V-24 and V-25), these items are not actually included in the set -- they are not even listed in the directory of vocal works on the inside lid (and these CDs contain other selections). I have now been listening to these for one full year, typically while I am driving to/from work or while hiking."
Best Courantes
To celebrate its 50th Anniversay, harmonia mundi presents 50 masterworks in the development of Western classical music, performed by undisputed masters in their field. Whether you are an inquisitive novice or a discerning connoisseur, you will be thrilled to experience the sonic triumphs of the world's most innovative independent label. This imaginative collection offers exceprts from some of the label's most memorable albums, featuring such artists as William Christie, Isabelle Faust, Rene Jacobs, and Andrew Manze. ". Anonymous 4, Alfred Deller, Andrew Manze, Rene Jacobs, and Phillippe Herreweghe among them, this is a special treat.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I sat on the fence for a long time before purchasing this Harmonia Mundi 50th anniversary box set. The works themselves range from those you have probably heard, or know to some extant (Bach / Matthew'sPassion, Art of Fugue, Chopin Ballads, Schubert Sonata D960, Fantasy in C etc) to those you are probably not as familiar with (Purcell/ King Arthur) to those that are completely unfamiliar (Keiser / Croesus). Herreweghe's first recording of Matthew's Passion was a gorgeous, soulful interpretation of this masterwork that has me seeking out his other performances. Fretwork's interpretation of the Art of Fugue was nothing but delightful, and complements the versions on the shelf featuring piano, string quartet and organ (you know who) without replacing them."
"No matter where you live, Amazon UK is offering this superb boxset at an unbeatable price (the original European retail)."
"Imagine my good fortune, and surprise, when this arrievd at my house! I have been picking out and listening to CDs that immediately appealed to me, either because of the composer, or the orchestra/artist playing it, or the venue where it was recorded (there are several CDs that have a Belgian connection, and I am from Belgium originally)."
"I have been thoroughly surprised to enjoy 98% of the music on the 30 CDs."
"Wonderfully varied selection of works, a treasure trove - everyone will discover something new, about 90% was new to me."
"I have found this interesting and informative."
Best Galliardes
6 CDs feature collaborations with his famous colleagues Sigiswald Kuijken, Frans Bruggen and Anner Bylsma, the Leonhardt-Consort and Harry van der Kamp.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It is always a great pleasure to listen to Gustav Leonhardt playing baroque music at cembalo and organ."
"I bought it for my husband because reviews stated that Leonhardt's version of Bach's Goldberg Suite was the best."
"Masterly performances from the great masters of early music."
"A no brainer for the price."
"Excellent quality production almost as good as Archiv."
"Leonhardt was always so faithful to the scores - I give it 5 for my utmost respect for the man, but I don't like all the cds (9 or 10) equally well, but none are bad."
"My God, could this guy play."
"Wonderful music beautifully played."
Best Sarabande
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If they can now be found, I actually prefer the later re-makes from the 1990s by de Leeuw of Satie's early works Piano Music [3 CD/DVD Box Set] -- they are played for the most part at marginally faster tempi, and I like the sound better (there are other reviewers that report audio short comings. These later versions are also paired with some of Satie's songs from an earlier LP, and a DVD of an artsy Satie film from the early 90s, which has a sound track also played by de Leeuw (alas, I believe this 4-disc set is very long out-of-print, find it if you can). For Satie played at just the right pace, the "golden mean" perhaps, one may wish to check out the work of Håkon Austbø Satie: Gymnopédies, Gnossiennes, who also tends to play rather slow, but not in the shocking manner of de Leeuw."
"These renditions are played incredibly slowly--that is the key feature of this recording, and if a listener is used to how these pieces are generally played, they may find the slow pace disconcerting."
"Compelling performances of the gymnopedies AND the much less known Gnostic fantasies."
"I feel de Leuuw's interpretation of Satie to be the most beautiful and satisfying."
"Very good recording if you like the style of the artist."
"Mr. de Leeuw's slow, spacious interpretations have caused some controversy."
"The best Gymnopdies and Gnossiennes performance."
"This is the man that brought real basic dark music to the piano."
Best Gigue
Mozart Edition: The Complete Works will make a great gift this Holiday season for the music lover in your life or someone who is hard to buy for.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are loading some of the works into your iTunes library for use on an iPod, as I am, there are inconveniences in variability of the disc labeling such that the format of the labeling varies between parts of the same opera so that iTunes loads the tracks on one part out of order in the library. You will have to manually correct the labeling of each track in order to get the tracks of the operas affected by this problem in correct order for iTunes and your iPod to play them in correct order. For instance, the CD in the envelope labeled part 3 of Cosi Fan Tutte, volume 9 CD 40 with the CD itself labeled part 3, volume 9 CD 40, actually contains the tracks for part 1, volume 9 CD 38, so you get a duplicate of CD 38 but no CD 40, thus missing the last tracks of Cosi Fan Tutte. There are also several cases so far of tracks that "freeze" and cycle the read head in the CD drive and preventing ejection of the CD without closing iTunes and starting it up again with the offending track unchecked to cause iTunes to bypass it. So far (about 60% of the discs reviewed) the errors have occurred on only a few discs, with manual relabeling correcting all but a couple of incorrect track content problems."
"It is hard to justify spending $120 for one opera, but if you do buy this Mozart box set you will be rewarded with a delightful Così fan tutte. Huub Claessens brings the correct blend to Don Alfonso -- a character actor's comic patter plus a lyrical ability to actually sing the music. Soile Isokoski tosses off Fiordiligi's "Come scoglio" without making it sound like an Olympic routine on the uneven parallel bars. While her trouser impersonations of the doctor and notary are somewhat sloppy (albeit for intentional comic purposes), I'll take her chesty blustering over the standard drill of ear-piercing nasality. Don Giovanni is quite good, although the cast is not as strong as for Così, and the tempos seem out of proportion in the Act One finale. I like Le nozze di Figaro despite its flaws -- blatant nepotism is perpetrated by Marie Kuijken (the conductor's wife? I have found a few unfamiliar (to me) treasures in the box set: The Divertimenti of Volume 3 make pleasant background music while I am working."
"Mozart, along with all piano music composers/players of that period, would have given his right arm for a modern piano; well maybe not an arm, but possibly a leg. Most of those are very well done as well, although I must point out to those performers as well as all other "period practice" cultists, that Bach did not write for countertenors."