Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Like another box set, 'Great Composer', this four CD package is currently being distributed to UK Christian retail by Joining The Dots. "Over 50 tracks of The World's finest Classical Music, from Bach to Vivaldi perfect for every occasion" shouts the blurb on the back of the box. For those with a more precise mind I can say that there are in fact 53 tracks but I dispute the designation of "The World's finest" as all the featured composers are European and in my world there are one or two non-European composers worthy of mention. And another picky point: we do indeed meet a Bach, without being told which one and we do reach Vivaldi with a couple of extracts from - surprise, surprise - "The Four Seasons" but there is also a piece by Weber who comes after Viv, at least in my alphabet. I guess that this box is aimed at potential listeners who have heard of Bach and Vivaldi but not Weber and, let's face it, their respective album sales tell us that is probably the case. There is considerable great instrumental music in this collection and plenty that even those with only a passing familiarity with classical music will have heard of or will recognise when they hear it again. To pick one example from each disc we have: Bach's "Air On A 'G' String", Debussy's "Clare De Lune", Mendelssohn's "On Wings Of Song" and Tchaikovsky's "Song Without Words". Curiously we are given only the surnames of the composers: no initials and no dates, making it difficult for those who want to find out more to know where to look. (Try this at home: type "Bach" into your search engine and see what you find!) The playing is generally adequate or better and although the performers are named none were recognised by this reviewer and there is no further information on the very sketchy sleevenotes. There are lots of extracts - Haydn and Mozart feature heavily - but little by way of context, other than a helpful "Explanation of musical terms used on this album". This reviewer would have preferred fewer but longer extracts but as a taster it does leave us wanting more; the shame is that the sleevenotes are no help in finding it. Taken on its own terms as a cheap and cheerful introduction to classical music themed around four different occasions, "Candlelight", "Dreams", "Friends" and "Romance", this ticks some although not all the boxes. However, our most significant caveat for readers of this website is that there is nothing with any discernible Christian content.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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