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Benjamin Britten music

Peter and the Wolf / Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra / Carnival of the Animals

I bought this CD for my almost four year old and he thinks it's great. He is able to recognise the different melodies and instruments as the characters in the story (i.e. "that's the grandfather"). He's not so into the other music afterwards, as it doesn't have a story that goes with it - he wants more of Peter and the Wolf. I thought it was mildly disturbing that the story ends with the duck alive inside the wolf, but my little man just accepted this was the end of the story.

Titles:
    1. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: Introduction
    2. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: The Story Begins
    3. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: The Bird
    4. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: The Duck; Dialogue With the Birds; Attack o
    5. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: Grandfather
    6. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: The Wolf
    7. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: the Duck Is Caught
    8. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: The Wolf Stalks the Bird and Cat
    9. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: Peter Prepares to Catch the Wolf
    10. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: The Bird Diverts the Wolf
    11. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: Peter Catches the Wolf
    12. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: The Hunters Arrive
    13. Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67: Peter and the Wolf: The Procession to the Zoo
    14. Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell), for speaker ad lib & orchestra, Op. 34: Theme: Fu
    15. Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell), for speaker ad lib & orchestra, Op. 34: Theme: Wo
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Tabula Rasa

This must be one of the most beautiful pieces of modern classical field. It is my favorite album by Arvo Part. Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten could be to me the most amazing 5 minutes of any and all music. This album is timeless and if you have not heard it yet, you really should. The power of Arvo Part's minimalism is such that as much as you hear the music with your ears playing here in the outer space your inner space grows alive and that is where the real experience takes place. As organized religion is dying in front of our eyes the spirituality of events of a magnitude of this album here fills that emptying space.

Titles:
    1. Fratres
    2. Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten
    3. Fratres
    4. Tabula Rasa
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Britten: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra; Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge; Simple Symphony

I find the title of this CD completely missleading. I was expecting a GUIDE to the orchestra being a complete ignorant, but there is no guidance at all. I was expecting Benjamin Britten to comment the instruments that were playing but there is nothing like that. All you hear is beautifull music.

Titles:
    1. Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell), for speaker ad lib & orchestra, Op. 34
    2. Simple Symphony, for string orchestra, Op. 4: 1. Boisterous Bourree
    3. Simple Symphony, for string orchestra, Op. 4: 2. Playful Pizzicato
    4. Simple Symphony, for string orchestra, Op. 4: 3. Sentimental Saraband
    5. Simple Symphony, for string orchestra, Op. 4: 4. Frolicsome Finale
    6. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Introduction and Theme
    7. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 1: Adagio
    8. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 2: March
    9. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 3: Romance
    10. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 4: Aria Italiana
    11. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 5: Bourree classique
    12. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 6: Wiener Waltzer
    13. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 7: Moto perpetuo
    14. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 8: Funeral March
    15. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 9: Chant
    16. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10: Variation 10: Fugue and Finale
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Schubert, Debussy / Rostropovich, Britten

The melodies in Schubert's Arpeggione sonata are so sad, beautiful, moving they are the closest a person can get to heaven through music.

I never tire of listening to this CD. This CD is truly legendary in the interpretation by Rostropovich and Britten. The sound is larger than life but I feel as if Rostropovich is playing for me.

If you have never heard of Schubert's Arpeggione sonata - listen to the samples here, you will be swept away. This is the definitive version.

Titles:
    1. Sonata for arpeggione & piano in A minor ('Arpeggione Sonata'), D. 821: Allegro moderato
    2. Sonata for arpeggione & piano in A minor ('Arpeggione Sonata'), D. 821: Adagio
    3. Sonata for arpeggione & piano in A minor ('Arpeggione Sonata'), D. 821: Allegretto
    4. Stücke im Volkston (5) for cello (or violin) & piano, Op. 102: No. 1, Mit humor, in A mior, 'Vanitas vanitatum'
    5. Stücke im Volkston (5) for cello (or violin) & piano, Op. 102: No. 2, Langsam, in F major
    6. Stücke im Volkston (5) for cello (or violin) & piano, Op. 102: No. 3, Nicht schnell, mit viel Ton zu spielen, in A minor
    7. Stücke im Volkston (5) for cello (or violin) & piano, Op. 102: No. 4, Nicht zu rasch, in D major
    8. Stücke im Volkston (5) for cello (or violin) & piano, Op. 102: No. 5, Stark and markirt, in A minor
    9. Sonata for cello & piano, L. 135: 1. Prologue. Lent
    10. Sonata for cello & piano, L. 135: 2. Serenade. Moderement Anime
    11. Sonata for cello & piano, L. 135: 3. Finale. Anime
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