Vivaldi, Corelli, Telemann, Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini,
Chopin, Grieg, Dvorak, Wagner, Bruch, Lyadov, Rachmaninov, Williams
- feinfühlig ausgewählte Musik für besinnliche Stunden.
the project
Classical music is hot. In fact, it is probably the
biggest story of the l990s in the recording industry. Classical
crossover
hits like
Nigel Kennedy's recording of
Vivaldi's
The Four Seasons,
Henryk Gorecki's
Symphony
no. 3, the Gregorian Chant album by the monks of Silo, and
Michael Nyman's score for the
Jane Campion
film
The Piano—to name just a few—have broken
out of classical music's traditional bounds and hit the pop charts.
Suddenly, a classical recording that sells 10,000 units is no longer
pushing the envelope; today's top classical releases are reaching
sales heights formerly reserved for pop icons like
Madonna
and the
Rolling Stones.
This stunning turnaround in classical music's marketing
power did not come out of nowhere, though. Celestial Harmonies helped
set the stage for it with its Adagio (Complete Edition) (19908)
series. Since 1981, long before the current interest in classical
music began, Celestial Harmonies' compilations have been used worldwide
for relaxation, meditation and even music therapy. And in a stunning
reversal of music industry rules, absolutely no advertising or promotion
was needed to achieve substantial sales figures. And while the rest
of the classical world scurries around looking for the next big hit,
Celestial Harmonies has released an updated digital version of an
already proven winner: The Adagio series, a total
of seven double–CDs. With sales of over 300,000 units in the
past decade, the reason for the series' success is no mystery. As
modern life has become increasingly complex and stressful, listeners
have turned to music as a source of relief—especially the timeless,
contemplative sounds of classical music. It seems that as the pace
of our lives gets progressively faster, the music that many listeners
are seeking is increasingly slow. The Adagio series,
presents over seventeen hours of the world's finest slow music, making
it the largest such collection anywhere.
the music
Adagio I (
14050) includes
the famous
Air from the
Bach Suite
no. 3 (better known as the
Air on the G String)
and the heartrending
Adagio for Strings by
Samuel
Barber, which listeners have heard in countless films (most
notably
Platoon).
Adagio I also includes the immensely
popular slow movement of
Dvorak's
New World
Symphony—better known in the United States as the haunting
spiritual
Goin' Home. But this set also includes the
rarely–heard Invocation from
Jules Massenet's
Les Erinnyes and the beautiful but overlooked
Poème
of
Ernest Chausson.
Adagio II includes some idyllic instrumental
music from Rossini and Wagner; both
were better known for their dramatic operas, but both knew the value
of a beautiful melody, and of having the time to enjoy it. Popular
movements from the Mozart Clarinet Concerto
and the Rakhmoninov Piano Concerto no. 2
are among the other sixteen works on this set.
the musicians
These compilations were put together by Celestial
Harmonies' President,
Eckart Rahn, and
Sister
Marie Therese Levey, RSJ, of Australia. They drew upon a
vast repertoire of classical and sacred music recordings, from some
of the most talented orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists in
Europe. The
Polish National Radio Symphony, the
Slovak
Philharmonic Orchestra, and the
Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra are among the ensembles heard in the Adagio recordings.
tracklist
| |
Disk 1: |
|
| 1 |
Largo from Piano Concerto
No. 3 in C Minor Op. 37 by Ludwig van Beethoven |
9'52" |
| 2 |
Andantino from Sonata
for Strings No. 2 in A Major by Gioacchino Rossini |
3'12" |
| 3 |
Andantino from Sonata
for Strings No. 4 in B Flat Major by Gioacchino Rossini |
4'33" |
| 4 |
Largo from Viola Concerto
in G Major by Georg Philipp Telemann |
3'43" |
| 5 |
Adagio from Cello Concerto
in C Minor RV 434 by Antonio Vivaldi |
3'04" |
| 6 |
Adagio-Allegro-Adagio from
Concerto Grosso in G Minor Op. 6 No. 8 by Arcangelo Corelli |
3'33" |
| 7 |
Adagio from Clarinet
Concerto in A Major KV 622 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
7'16" |
| 8 |
Larghetto from Concerto
No. 8 in A Minor for two violins and basso continuo RV 522
by Antonio Vivaldi |
3'45" |
| 9 |
Adagio from Cello Concerto
in E Minor Op. 85 by Edward Elgar |
5'08" |
| 10 |
The Enchanted Lake Op. 62 by
Anatol Lyadov |
7'56" |
| 11 |
Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner |
22'14" |
| |
Total Time: |
75'19" |
| |
Disk 2: |
|
| 1 |
Larghetto from Piano
Concerto No. 2 in F Minor Op. 21 by Frederic Chopin |
9'22" |
| 2 |
Adagio from Violin Concerto
in G Minor Op. 26 by Max Bruch |
8'06" |
| 3 |
Adagio from Piano Concerto
No. 2 in C Minor Op. 18 by Sergey Rakhmaninov |
11'18" |
| 4 |
Adagio from Piano Concerto
in A Minor Op. 16 by Edvard Grieg |
5'49" |
| 5 |
Adagio from Cello Concerto
in B Minor Op. 104 by Antonín Dvorák |
12'26" |
| 6 |
Kol Nidrei Op. 27 by Max Bruch |
10'59" |
| 7 |
The Lark Ascending by Ralph
Vaughan Williams |
15'14" |
| |
Total Time: |
73'50" |
the series
| Adagio I: A Special 2 ½
Hour Collection of Orchestral Classics |
(14050) |
| Adagio II: A Special 2 ½ Hour Collection
of Orchestral Classics |
(14052) |
| Andante: A Special 2 ½ Hour Collection
of Chamber Music Classics |
(14054) |
| Largo I: A Special 2 ½
Hour Collection of Piano Classics |
(14056) |
| Largo II: A Special 2 ½ Hour Collection
of Piano Classics |
(14058) |
| Magnum Mysterium I: A Special 2 ½ Hour
Collection of Sacred Music Classics |
(14060) |
| Magnum Mysterium II: A Special 2 ½
Hour Collection of Sacred Music Classics |
(14062) |
