Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia & Barber: Adagio

While I agree with the comments made by Maxwell Johnson regarding the Satie and Barber performances on this CD, I cannot do without this version of Vaughan Williams's Fantasia. It is by far the finest, most thoughtful and most moving rendition I've heard. Sure, the recording quality could be better. However, I have three other better quality recordings of this piece, and the performances are all unlistenable after having my discovery this particular one. I suspect to someone who is more accustomed to hearing a conductor rush through this piece, usually out of fear it'll come across ponderous and tedious, this performance may sound sluggish. But this rendition is truly more fitting for Vaughan Wiilliams, who can be a bit more indulgent for more impatient listeners, and also for Thomas Tallis, whose brilliant theme deserves to be relished thoroughly, istead of merely glanced at in passing on a hurried way to the end.The other thing is I find the woodwind performance on the Faure to be excellant, and seeing this piece is usually recorded as the choral version, thus the voices obscure Faure's gorgeous woodwind orchestration, this is a rare delight.I am happy this CD is still available, despite it's drawbacks. While I doubt I'll ever like the Satie pieces on this (they are rather lifeless), I can enjoy the Barber despite the performance's flaws (it's an overrated piece anyhow). Regardless, I just consider those extra tracks to the Vaughan Williams and Faure, which make this CD worth my money.

This recording captures incredibly cohesive and inspired renditions of great repertoire.

I purchased the same CD (with different artwork on the cover) about 20 years ago. I recently took a friend to hear the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra play a concert with the first track and he loved the piece! So I bought him the CD as Leonard Slatkin's interpretation was so close to the ISO's.

Another piece I heard for the first time on classical radio and went out and bought it for myself. When I like something, I tend to play it over and over until there is groove formed in my brain just for that music. I was happy to have this music form it's own groove and it will be with me for a long, long time. And, this is so well done - beautiful orchestration.

The first time I heard Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia," I thought, "Earth people don't write music like this." It's sad, sweet, and majestic at the same time, without ever being cloying or mawkish. The gift to posterity from a truly gifted composer; the recording is superb, with just the right acoustics.The rest of the album is excellent. The rendition of Barber's "Adagio for Strings" is one of the best available.

I love the pieces involved and the performances are quite good, but there are volume issues with this disc, where I needed to crank my player to hear one song and then it blasted when it switched to the next track, sort of like how TV commercials used to be substantially louder than the TV show itself.

Often I purchase music based on one or two songs and then am unhappy I did. Haven't bridged over to MP's. So, what I really liked in this Cd was the continuity of music. It was all music generated in a time period early 1900's , that flows seamlessly from piece to piece.

The Tallis Fantasia always sends chills up and down my spine whenever I perform or play it. The Barber has become sacred to me for so many reasons I think it is an American prayer.

v.good

Beautiful cd.

This is the perfect CD to lull you to sleep. You know the tunes, it's inspiring but mellow and you will probably never hear Danny Boy!!

Hervorragend geeignet zum "über den Tellerrand hinausgucken" (bzw. - hören)...Auch wenn bspw. das Adagio von Barber aus dem ursprünglichen Zusammenhang gelöst wurde und nur noch dieser eine Teil in der Öffentlichkeit präsent ist (eigentlich ist es ja der 2. Satz seines Streichquartett B-Dur; überarbeitet und tlw. neu arrangiert) - jedes der Stücke ist einem nicht nur einmal als Teil von Filmmelodien wiederbegegnet. So mag manchem Hörer ein "Ach, daher ist dieses Stück?" durch den Kopf gehen, s. auch E. Satie.Die Interpretationen sind angenehm unaufgeregt und unprätentiös. In Bezug auf das Streichquartett for Strings/Adagio von Barber ziehe ich diese Einspielung der von L. Bernstein deutlich vor.Letztlich bleibt nur festzuhalten: für kleines Geld ein echter Gewinn.

Wie kommt man denn eigentlich auf so eine Musik? Indem man ein Buch liest wo Tallis erwähnt wird. Da ich den Herrn Tallis nicht kannte, habe ich im Netz danach gesucht und bin über eben jenes Album gestolpert. Großartige Klänge, einfühlsam und ans Herz gehend. Wer auf den reinen Orchester Klang steht (ohne Gesang), der ist hiermit bestens bedient.