The Temple of Fortuna

A unique 8-CD collection comprising nine hours of the best loved classical music!
This Box-Set from the company Naxos could be called "Short Course of Classical Music" or "Music Encyclopedia." And indeed - the publication includes, perhaps, the most famous, popular, rumored and accessible even unprepared listener works, fully consistent with the company's philosophy: the provision of a wide range of good music, well-played and high-quality recorded, accessible to everyone. A great opportunity to discover this endless world of music, proven for centuries.

To celebrate its 50th Anniversay, harmonia mundi presents 50 masterworks in the development of Western classical music, performed by undisputed masters in their field. This set features over 36 hours of music (all complete works, no excerpts) of music in audiophile-quality sound, elequently packaged in a deluxe boxed set and offered at a very low price. Whether you are an inquisitive novice or a discerning connoisseur, you will be thrilled to experience the sonic triumphs of the world's most innovative independent label.

Discover some of the greatest pieces of minimalist music ever written, performed here by Signum artists including Tenebrae, Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Julian Bliss and the Armonico Consort.

Decca/London introduced Phase 4 Stereo in 1961. For classical music, the Phase 4 approach was based on miking every orchestra section individually, along with mics for selected instruments – up to a maximum of 20 channels, which were then mixed via a recording console. This resulted in a dynamic, in your face sound with relatively little hall ambience. The quality of the sound mostly depended on how skillfully the recording engineer balanced each channel – and the results were not always consistent. Thus, the Phase 4 sound was the antithesis of the minimally miked, “simplicity is wisdom” approach of the RCA’s early Living Stereo and Mercury’s Living Presence recordings, along with Telarc’s early digital recordings.