Off The Bookshelf UK - Music Search Vaughan Williams: The Collectors Edition New & Used Search

Adès	Arnold	Barber
Bartók	Bax	Berg
Berio	Bernstein	Birtwistle
Bloch	Boulez	Britten
Busoni	Cage	Carter
Copland	Dohnányi	Dupré
Duruflé	Eisler	Enescu
Falla	Feldman	Górecki
Gershwin	Glière	Grainger
Harvey	Henze	Hindemith
Holst	Honegger	Hovhaness
Howells	Humperdinck	Ives
Kabalevsky	Khachaturian	Kodály
Korngold	Kurtág	Ligeti
Lutoslawski	MacMillan	Martinu
Maxwell Davies	Medtner	Messiaen
Miaskovsky	Milhaud	Mompou
Orff	Pärt	Penderecki
Piazzolla	Poulenc	Prokofiev
Rautavaara	Ravel	Schnittke
Schoenberg	Schulhoff	Shostakovich
Simpson	Stockhausen	Stravinsky
Szymanowski	Tippett	Turina
Turnage	Vaughn Williams	Villa-Lobos
Walton	Webern	Weill

1.Works of Igor Stravinsky [22cd] by: Igor Stravinsky July 02, 2007
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £29.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £17.99 You Save: £12.00 (40%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £33.50
the master himself-why SONY/BMG dont do this with other artists is curious; but the playing is excellent as well as the sound, for the dates of recording-and Im exposed to pieces ive never heard, or even heard of before. Who knew IS stuck his big toe in to the water of Jazz...? The shoddy booklet is a real shame, but I cannot complain, its a box set that doesnt require a fork lift to bring into the house- and I spent EXACTLY $26.00 USD for it at TOWER Mail Order true value for money.

2.Howells : Requiem from: Naxos October 04, 1999
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £5.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £4.98 You Save: £1.01 (17%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £5.40
This is surely the finest recording of Howells' beautiful Requiem, which was originally written for Kings' College Cambridge, and not in memory of his son, Michael, as previously thought (Michael's memorial is that other great Howells work, "Hymnus Paridisi"). Like Brahms, Howells exchanged the text of the traditional Latin "Missa Defunctis" for a sequence of Psalms and other sacred texts, including the "Salvator Mundi" in English, the 23rd psalm, and the Introit from the Requiem Mass, amongst others. Alongside the Requiem features the beautiful St Paul's Service, two glorious organ pieces (the pedal reeds make the speakers shake!), and the motet "Take him, earth, for cherishing" - one of the most moving and perfect of choral motets to ... Read More:

3.Vaughan Williams - Complete Symphonies by: London Philharmonic Orchestra September 20, 2004
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £22.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £14.47 You Save: £8.52 (37%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £18.58
and I like the box too: I can always pick it out among the other VW sets ;-) A wonderful evocative 3rd, a tense war study. Not very pastoral, nor bucolic or lyrical: I do not agree much with Vernon Handley's interpretation. Rather it is the past remembered, resigned melancholy that something is not quite right, yet with self-discovery and steely determination that is discussed and evolved by the soloists. Never forget that a war demands and makes a different mindset we do not understand. I find Rued Langgaard's deeply disturbing 4th Symphony, "Leaf Fall" 1916, to be in good company here. Haitink's take on things generally differs just a bit from the English conductors, but I think "In the Fen Country" in particular justifies buying ... Read More:

4.Pärt: Alina from: ECM New Series October 25, 1999
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £14.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £13.98 You Save: £1.01 ( 7%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £10.91
If someone was to ask me to go through my music collection and pick out the perfect piece of music, Alina would be it. Neither offensive nor boring or shallow, it's uncomplicated with thought provoking phrasing, holding one's attention time after time without growing tiring. Yes, the tracks are slightly repetitive and the CD only has 2 tracks (albeit varied), but believe me you could stick your player on repeat and have this running for a couple of hours without wanting to change it. What is interesting is that everyone who has heard this CD playing has complemented the music and asked for the details. It's a winner with my wife, who despises at least 90% of my music taste. It even manages to calm my baby down.

5.Vaughan Williams: Fantasia On Christmas Carols, Hodie from: British Composers October 02, 2000
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £6.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £5.98 You Save: £1.01 (14%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £5.41
I bought this a couple of years ago and return to it regularly - a sure sign of a good recording. I like the music of Vaughan Williams and this is a good example of his music. The Fantasia was a big surprise - its a lovely setting of some well known carols. John Barrow has a superb baritone voice. The Hodie takes a little more getting into but it is worth the effort. Both choirs and orchestra have good sounds. At this price you can't go wrong!

6.Britten: War Requiem by: Galina Vishnevskaya Peter Pears Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau The Bach Choir London Symphony Chorus The Melos Ensemble Of London London Symphony Orchestra Benjamin Britten May 15, 2006
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £19.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £12.98 You Save: £7.01 (35%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £11.70
This was the piece of music that first really turned me on to classical music, listening to the very first performance from Coventry Cathedral on a small tranny radio. What I failed to realise then was that this massive impact was achieved by brilliant structural simplicity. The whole work is effectively a study on the tritone, the 'diabolus in musica', that most disturbing and unstable of intervals. From the bells at the start to the harmonically ambiguous endings of the first and second movements and of the entire work; from the alternating tonics of the boys' Te Decet Hymnus to the alternating tintinnabulations of the soprano's Sanctus; from the fanfares of the Dies Irae to the two halves of the tenor's ineffable Dona Nobis Pacem at the end of the ... Read More:

7.Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne/Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No.5 by: Kiri Kanawa Lynn Harrell English Chamber Orchestra Jeffrey Tate September 18, 1995
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £10.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £7.98 You Save: £3.01 (27%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £6.05
This album has brought me hours of pleasure. It is beautifully sung by Kiri te Kanawa, her floating legato voice simply soaring and caressing the notes, and it is such relaxing music, it will dispel all your tiredness and tension. Not only are there lovely floating songs, but also cheeky little 'stories' that are told in song as well, and the whole album is brilliantly complied and structured. It is an absolute joy!

8.Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia; Fantasia on Greensleeves; The Lark Ascending etc. by: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Neville Marriner April 03, 1986
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £15.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £11.98 You Save: £4.01 (25%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £10.37
Whilst all the reviews are 5 star for this cd, I think it is worth noting a couple of points that may be helpful for anyone not particularly well aquainted with RVW. For my money the version of the Tallis Fantasia on this disc is the best I have heard from the many available. You really get the sense of awsome grandeur and spirituality that I think were intended. Many versions, by really great conductors/orchestras somehow fall short. For that reason alone this is an essential purchase. However, as an added bonus you also get one of my favourite RVW pieces, the very beautiful and moving Dives and Lazarus, which must be one of the most lovely melodies in English music.

9.Gorecki - Symphony No.3: Sorrowful Songs from: Nonesuch July 06, 1992
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £15.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £10.98 You Save: £5.01 (31%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £1.99
I can't judge this from a musicians point of view, or from anything apart from that this music connects with some bit inside of me that I can't explain in technical language. Sorrowful yes, you certainly feel that raw emotion from this album. It is also very peaceful and grounding - not great over-worked symphony that makes you wallow in your own depression. Very simple and beautiful. All I can say is that this music connects with some inner part of me and that I love it. It's rather personal and you should take a listen to it before you buy it - but I'm sure you'll love it.

10.Vaughan Williams: The Collectors Edition by: Various Artists April 28, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £47.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £40.98 You Save: £7.01 (15%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £33.94
EMI's new 30-disc box-set is one of the truly outstanding contributions to Vaughan Williams' 50th anniversary celebrations. In one collection listeners now have virtually his entire output in recordings ranging from the very good to the exceptional: this set is a tribute of EMI's long-standing commitment to British music (now sadly curtailed). Vernon Handley's magisterial cycle of the symphonies is beautifully played and recorded, and the major choral works and operas are all presented in excellent performances and recordings. There are some omissions (of course, since EMI did not record absolutely everything Vaughan Williams wrote) but these can be easily rectified through the additional purchase of the opera 'The Poisoned Kiss' and the original version of the 'London' ... Read More:

HomePage > Music > 20th Century and Modern