I was pretty impressed by this sampler, which contains some real gems and exposed me to some music I had never heard before. While I didn't find every track to my taste, as far as free samplers go this is a very nice one. Here's a rundown by track and composer:
1. Chris Brubeck - Danza del Soul: Celebraçion de Vida. This is a jazzy orchestral track with a Latin groove by Chris Brubeck -- Dave Brubeck's son. I hadn't heard Chris Brubeck before and I was pretty impressed.
2. Matthias Pintscher - Sonic Eclipse: Occultation. An avant-garde piece, a little too wild for my melody-loving, pedestrian tastes. If you like composers such as George Crumb or Pierre Boulez from back in the 1960s, you might enjoy this one.
3. Camille Saint-Saëns - Allegro Appassionato in B minor. Excellent performance of this short Romantic work for piano and cello.
4. Bach - Variation No. 10 (from the Goldberg Variations). Excellent performance of this excerpt. I enjoyed the way the pianist was able to bring out the cut-off, staccato feeling of harpsichord notes although playing a grand piano. Very precise reading, not a flowing Romanticized one -- which is just fine by me for Bach.
5. Beethoven - Symphony No. 2, 3rd movement. A fine performance.
6. Giuseppe Ferlendis - Oboe Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Adagio. I had never heard of Giuseppe Ferlandis before -- an oboe player from Mozart's day. This is a pleasant piece for oboe in a light Classical style. I'm glad to have heard it here.
7. Gustav Holst - Mercury, The Winged Messenger (from The Planets). Again, a fine performance.
8. Claude Debussy - Arabesque No 1 in E from L 66. Made me remember once again why I like Debussy's piano style so much, with all its watery-sounding whole-tone runs. A pleasure.
9. Pietro Mascagni - Scene from Cavalleria Rusticana. An excerpt from a live performance at La Scala. The sound is not perfect, and I don't much care for snippets of opera taken out of context, but well performed of course.
On the whole, a fine experience and I particularly enjoyed the Brubeck, Saint-Saëns and Debussy, and the chance to become acquainted with the Ferlendis. Allegro Classical Summer 2011 Sampler
Reviewers here seem to be pleased with this album. I certainly don't want to take away from the enjoyment people have gotten from this album, but I wasn't very pleased with it myself. I found all the music to be given performances that were decent, but not much more. At the same time, you don't pay anything for the album, so you might as well download just to see what you think. It can always be sent straight to your recycle bin if you don't like it.
But if you want good Classical music that you don't have to buy, there's an album that does a much better job than this one. It's the Linn Records Sampler, which is still available here on Amazon. Just type in "Linn Records 'Label of the Year' Classical Highlights" under the MP3 download category and prepare to enjoy a full of CD of great music!
Allegro Classical Summer 2011 Sampler is a beautiful music album and the best part is it was a free download to my Kindle. The album contains music by Beethoven, Bach, and Debussy plus other classical pieces. There is one jazz piece by Chris Brubeck, Dave Brubeck's son that has a latin feel and is very good. It is an excellent ablum for pleasant listening.
I think Classical music should always be free. How could anyone ever pass up Camille Saint-Saëns? This is the first batch of songs I've downloaded from Amazon and based off this I will continue to download more. - Compilation - Music'
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