[bigshot]

The titles I recommended all contain complete works. The other sets are made up of excerpts.

The best ones are...

Rise of the Masters
99 Essential for composers not in Rise of the Masters
Any Bach Guild set

 

[AppleheadMay]

Ah, that's as clear as it gets, thanks!
 
I did indeed read complaints about th "50 Essential" series not containing complete works or if they did the tracks were mixed all around on the disc, not in succession.
 
I'll start buying them from iTunes then. I'll get the whole "Rise" series and the missing composers form the "99 Essential" series. I won't bother with the other discs as they will be a mix of something of everything anyway. I had series on CDs like that before and didn't like that very much.
 
Thanks! Will be nice to explore!

 

[AppleheadMay]

Busy downloading 1895 songs ...  

 

[bigshot]

The Bach Guild sets are excellent. They really don't overlap. I'd skip the Summer box though. It isn't as good. Mahler is not represented in the Rise or 99 sets. You definitely should get that one.

 

[AppleheadMay]

The problem with the Bach Guild is I wouldn't know where to buy them. I can't buy MP3's from any Amazon site since there isn't an Amzon in Belgium. And iTunes doesn't have them.
 
No use to buy a composer from both Rise and 99? I bought all from Rise and filled in the missing ones with the 99 series.

 

[StratocasterMan]

Hey bigshot, I bought the Rise of the Masters: 100 Supreme Classical Masterpieces. It is the one with various composers. I'd like to buy some of the others from the Rise series, but I'd like to steer away from music that has vocals.
 
Which composer sets from the Rise series should I choose if I want to avoid music with vocals?
 
Thanks. 

 

[bigshot]

I don't think any of the sets have vocals. It's mostly symphonies, concertos and instrumental music.

 

[bigshot]

Quote:

No use to buy a composer from both Rise and 99? I bought all from Rise and filled in the missing ones with the 99 series.

 
No need to buy both versions of the same composer. Lots of overlap.

 

[StratocasterMan]

Quote:

I don't think any of the sets have vocals. It's mostly symphonies, concertos and instrumental music.

 
Okay, thanks. There were vocals on some of the tracks on the one I bought - sort of backing vocal choirs I guess...
 
I'm going to pick one of the Rise composer sets now...

 

[bigshot]

Beethoven's 9th probably, but that is one piece that should be in everyone's collection, regardless of vocals

 

[StratocasterMan]

One that has vocals is "The Messiah, HWV 56: Hallelujah Chorus" by Midori Suzuki, Yoshikazu Mela, John Elwes, David Thomas, Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki. 
 
Another is "Rinaldo, HWV 7: "Lascia ch'io pianga" " by Yoshikazu Mela, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Shigeo Genda.
 
A third is "Xerxes, HWV 40: "Ombra mai fu": Largo" by Yoshikazu Mela, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Shigeo Genda.
 
I still have tons of stuff to go through since the running time for the 100 tracks I bought so far is 10:42:56! 

 

[mitchflorida]

      This a fantastic classical download  for 3 cents a masterpiece on Amazon.
 
http://www.amazon.com/99-Must-Have-Power-Classics-Masterpieces/dp/B005X3L7N8/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[mitchflorida]

Quote:

So, I've always had a few random classical albums in my collection here and there, but I've decided to seriously start exploring.
 
My first "album" is Harnoncourt's version of Mozart's Requiem, and I'm pretty in love.
 
So, my question is, "What's next?".
 
I'm sure my tastes will expand as time goes on, but my inclination is to say that I will greatly prefer dark and mysterious pieces.  Basically, anything that could conjure images of deer frolicking through the meadows is probably not going to be for me...not yet, at least 

 
Does anyone have any ideas for me?
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

[bigshot]

The Planets and Darkest Pieces are "bleeding chunk" excerpts. If you don't mind that, they're fine, but they're not as comprehensive as the composer sets.
 
It's worth getting accustomed to choral and vocal music, StratMan. As you progress in exploring classical music, you'll find that cantatas, oratorios and most of all operas are extremely rich veins of amazing music.

 

[StratocasterMan]

For now, I added the Rise of the Masters - Mozart - 100 Supreme Classical Masterpieces to my collection. 

 
So now, from the Rise of the Masters series, I have the Mozart one and the one that is a mixture of various composers. Those two combined are over 21 hours of music, so I'm going to work my way through those two for a bit. 

 
Thanks, bigshot.