I got this 10 cd set from a friend last christmas. This is truly a wonderful collection of works from very well known composers. The 10 cds cover a wide range of classical eras and styles, and they come in excellent packaging. Each disc is in its own seperate case, and all ten cases are put in a small yet sturdy cardboard box. The length of playing time on each disc varies from ~57 min to ~67 min, with most discs lasting longer than an hour. In addition, the inner flap of the cover case also provides a short yet informative biography of each composer. This disc set serves as a great way to begin for new classical music listeners. All the composers are well known and also new listeners of classical music may have even listened to a few pieces of the works.
J.W. "thak007" – Amazon

Leonard Bernstein's own version bettered? Yes, indeed! This is, handily, the best sung, best played, most intelligently interpreted recording of Mass currently available. Of course, Bernstein's rendition always will have sterling qualities, including some wonderful solo singers with really characterful "pop" and Broadway voices, but for its sheer musical integrity combined with the advantage of the composer's final revisions to the score, this version is unbeatable. Jubilant Sykes, as the Celebrant, easily outclasses Alan Titus' very fine premiere recording of the role. His voice has more edge; he's more at ease with the various pop idioms; he sounds radiant at the work's opening and grows increasingly desperate as it proceeds. This only serves to make his climactic breakdown tragically believable.

The various street singers are, one and all, terrific. "God Said" becomes the work's comic climax, which is as it should be. "I believe in God", "Confession", "World Without End", and "Thank You" are both idiomatic and beautifully sung. The children's choir sounds luminous in the Sanctus, while the adult chorus, from Morgan State University, sings with gusto as well as immaculate diction, with every word clearly comprehensible. Marin Alsop knits the whole ensemble together with infallible insight and verve. Her tempos, a bit different from Bernstein's, quicker here ("God Said"), a touch slower there (the wild dance in the Offertory), are no less right.

David Hurwitz - classicstoday

One could definitely argue that this 16-track album doesn't in fact contain the best of Muddy Waters since it lacks any of his template-setting and explosive 1950s sides from Chess Records, being compiled instead from Waters' late-'70s and early-'80s output on the Blue Sky label with Johnny Winter in the producer's chair. No, the Chess tracks are the ones to get first, but the Blue Sky material makes for a nice addendum, featuring a slightly more refined sound that allows each song to develop easily and naturally. Highlights include a wonderfully ragged and loose acoustic do-over of "I Can't Be Satisfied," a sturdy "Good Morning Little School Girl," and a copycat but still fun version of Slim Harpo's "I'm a King Bee."

Steve Leggett - All Music

Majestic versions of the Alpine Symphony have been piling up in the CD ranks in almost indecent abundance. This is perhaps the summit of recent achievements for its masterly balance between profound contemplation and decent urgency. Emerging out of the mists of the Dresden Lukaskirche acoustics, Strauss’s succession of mountain themes never stand out in rough profile but swim in the sauce, to paraphrase Sibelius. Luisi knows where he wants his centres of gravity: there’s unique space around the rhapsody with solo strings that unfolds after entering the forest, the climaxes of the summit paean are surely placed, and the Epilogue is graced by superlative horn tone. Graphic touches also outstrip every rival version, among them the shrill birdsong, the bleating oboes on the high pastures and the shriek of delight which follows. The recording helps to avoid sonic overkill with fine perspectives and some helpful reverberation.

BBC Music Magazine

Let me be honest: I got this for the Mahler, and it's excellent. I'll look at the Beethoven concerto some time down the road. But for me, this was my best encounter with the Mahler first in a long, long time. Even though I didn't agree with every interpretive decision that Fabio Luisi made, he knew exactly what he wanted, and exactly how to express what he wanted to the Dresdeners via his hands, eyes, and face. This guy is amazing.

As such, this is my third encounter with Luisi. The first two were the Bruckner 9th and Richard Strauss' "Alpine" symphony; both on Sony, and both of those are excellent. But then again, the Staatskapelle has had a long history with both Bruckner and Strauss. But I think this orchestra was also born to play the Mahler 1st. In fact, they've already made two very good commercial recordings of M1: one with Otmar Suitner in 1962 (sans expo repeat), and one with Hiroshi Wakasugi in 1986 (I own that one). However, both are now hard to find. I want to cover some specifics, so indulge me in some subjective blather first.

B. Guerrero – Amazon

Mahler's 8th Symphony, incorporating the Faust story, is an unwieldy monster, notorious for it massive body of instrumentalists, three choruses, and eight soloists. This album is the third attempt over three years of Mahler's 8th Symphony by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. I was in the audience for the first two, which were first awful and the following year reasonably good. But the old principle of threes is fulfilled yet again, for this rendition of November 2008 at last is excellent and worthy to be presented to the vast public by CD album. My gold standard has been the Solti recording, analogue LP and digital mastering, and MTT & the SFS matches it in exuberance and excitement and excels by its modern surround sound engineering. This majestic recording truly sounds live and being in Davies Symphony Hall, perhaps sitting in the dress circle. The soloists are heard distinctly and their performances are very fine, with especially fine singing by tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and soprano Elza van den Heever. Even the children's choruses are crystal clear and no shrillness, the bane of old recordings, is present. Tilson Thomas completes the Mahler symphony cycle with the Adagio of unfinished Symphony 10, which was recorded two years earlier. I now have a new standard for Mahler's Eighth. Yes, it is that good.

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel – Amazon