Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #672 in Music
• Released on: 2003-11-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Customer Reviews

Great value, but certainly not the 'only one' you'll ever need

The budget price doesn't reflect the quality of this 2 disc collection of classical music highlights, for the soloists, orchestras, conductors and the recordings themselves ensure it is a good quality selection of mostly familiar music from the classical music repertoire.

The choices lean heavily towards the opera style, so for that reason alone will not be the only album necessary to cover everyone's taste - even the complete classical beginner will find many of their familiar favourites are absent.

The tracks are mostly single movements from the whole score, which may not please the more enthusiastic classical fan, but it's unavoidable given the short time permitted by only 2 CDs. In any case, this album really is only aimed at those wanting a brief 'best of' product rather than an in depth study, and for that purpose it does its job well.

I would recommend the album as a bargain value, well perfomed selection of classical/opera music. It's not the only one as its title claims, but it's not a bad starting point.

A brilliant job of showmanship and programming
"The Only. . . " album may sound like a superficial pastiche to reviewer 1, but it isn't. I'm a classical music activist and an advocate for imaginative ways to reverse classical's decline. From this standpoint this product demonstrates first-rate creative showmanship and sophistication on the part of its producers. As the second reviewer indicates, the album does more than just stimulate impulse purchase. The outrageously inspired title was obviously designed to attract newcomers to classical. Having lured the uninitiated, a wrong start on the first track could be the last heard. The inspired choice of Orff, with his primal rhythms and simple harmonic structure, probably breaks with stereotypes people may have about classical. The listener then gets an abrupt change of pace with luscious, delicate ballet melodies by Delibes, followed by all-meat-and-no-potatoes romantic masterpieces in the Dvorak 9th Symphony (appropriately performed by a Czech orchestra) and the Grieg Peer Gynt Suite. The album includes popular classic hits like the Pachelbel Canon and Albinoni Adagio but embraces diverse styles ranging from Khatchaturian and Prokofiev to Bizet's the Pearl Fishers (opera) and Satie's Gymnopedie. Toward the end come full and unchopped performances of core classical repertory like the Bach instrumental suites and Vivaldi violin concerti (in dynamic, living-tradition style, led by James Galway). Reviewer No. 2 is on target. This is a superb present for newcomers. More experienced listeners can relax and enjoy masterly programming of great classics, executed by fine performers and ensembles.

It is as it is titled.
I was visiting from USA and found this CD in Birmingham. I have not taken it out of my CD player since 1999! Buy one and leave it in slot 3...you won't regret it. The variety is perfect, changing moods just when you feel worn from the last track. Two colleagues bargained over the last CD available and the won who lost borrows mine. Today I ordered it for him and sent one to my son, a metallic music lover, who likes just a bit of classical and this CD will fit the bill.