Rattle Staatsoper

Simon Rattle has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra since 2002, and this recording is their 10th anniversary present to one another. It is also timed to coincide with performances of the opera in Salzburg with Rattle and exactly the same cast of singers. At the Easter festival the Berliners joined them in the pit for their final hurrah before they controversially relocate their Easter operatic business to Baden-Baden. For performances of the Salzburg production this summer the Vienna Philharmonic take over.

Sure. You know your Chuck Berry from your Teddy Bears, but maybe there's a 1,500-year gap in your knowledge of music. To know, know, know classical music is to love, love, love it. The 6 CDs in this collection take you from the middle ages to the Renaissance, the Baroque, to Romanicism to Modernism. They greatest conductors and orchestras play some of the greatest sonatas and symphonies ever written as you read about them in a special 48-page book. Before you know it, you'll be exploring works by your favorite composers or from your favorite era in music. This is the perfect newcomer's guide to music that is no where near as daunting, elitist or impenetrable as you might think.

Sure. You know your Chuck Berry from your Teddy Bears, but maybe there's a 1,500-year gap in your knowledge of music. To know, know, know classical music is to love, love, love it. The 6 CDs in this collection take you from the middle ages to the Renaissance, the Baroque, to Romanicism to Modernism. They greatest conductors and orchestras play some of the greatest sonatas and symphonies ever written as you read about them in a special 48-page book. Before you know it, you'll be exploring works by your favorite composers or from your favorite era in music. This is the perfect newcomer's guide to music that is no where near as daunting, elitist or impenetrable as you might think.