Customer Rating:  
Summary: Dreadful, isn't it?
Comment: What you get here is one more review from a person who has not heard this compilation. But don't be hasty to skip it. I will try to make it informative.
About the product: you get several short excerpts from "catchy" classical pieces from awful interpreters and dubious sound engineering.
In case you can't figure all the things, which are wrong about the above sentence, let me expand.
"Short excerpts" means you will never get to appreciate the full meaning and value of the piece, as the composer intended it.
"Catchy pieces" means that someone picked the pieces they think you want to listen, and thus you miss a large number of things. Just to name two: 1. great pieces that were left out 2. the pleasure of discovery
"awful interpreters" means that the artists performing the pieces cannot do them justice. They can't render the pieces in a satisfactory fashion, and you will enjoy the pieces less. A personal note here: The first recording I owned of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony "Choral" (featured in this compilation) was from a mediocre orchestra (Sueddeutsche or something like that; I have "misplaced" the CD). The first time I listened to the Symphony performed by reputable artists (Vienna, Boehm) it was a revelation. Since then I have moved on to listen other conductors' approaches (Furtwaengler, Fricsay). Well maybe this story doesn't say much to you.
But I say it anyway, so as to point out this: If you are going to buy a compilation such as this, please do yourself a favour and buy something like "Best of the Millennium: Top 40 Classical Hits". At least there you get the likes of Karajan, Abbado, Barenboim... Perhaps these names mean nothing to you. But they will make some difference, whether you know them or not.
"dubious sound engineering": perhaps you wonder how I know this, if I haven't heard the compilation. I simply read all the other reviews! Yes, you've got here a chap with plenty of time in his hands. Well, whenever there was a mention about the sound quality, it wasn't favourable.
And for those who read "rattfink"'s review and are a little too quick to judge him, let me tell you in as much confidence as I can have about someone I don't know: he's being ironic. I checked his other reviews, and sure enough Aaron Copland conducted by L. Bernstein turns up among others. I think he's being ironic towards both ends. It is pointless to argue here, whether being ironic is productive.
For those of you who don't like long texts, here it is:
Bottom line AKA Conclusion
Don't buy this compilation. It is awful. Your money is better spent elsewhere. If you hate classical music, stay that way. If you don't know much about classical, but would like to learn, then steer clear of this and search for something else.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Most Startling Developement
Comment: I am disturbed by the way modern pop culture has been stealing familiar melodies and excerpts from classical masterpieces such as Mozart's 40th Symphony, Bizet's Carmen, and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and incorporating them into cell phone rings and commercials. This CD is a shockingly popular continuation of that trend.
If one has the desire to listen to classical music after years of listening to pop, it would be wise to do a little research in the field and purchase historic recordings of complete pieces, on labels like Deutsche Grammophon and EMI. For instance, rather than just listening to the Allegro from the Third Brandenburg Concerto on this CD, it would be preferable to purchase the complete I Musici recording on the Philips Classics label, which includes all six brilliant concertos. Classical Music for People Who Hate Classical Music is not an adequate introduction to Western classical music, rather it is a corruption of the music and an attempt to turn art music into trite pop.
I understand that attitudes like my own regarding this issue are percieved as pretentious, and for some that is a valid point of view. However, if you think classical music and the people who listen to it are pretentious and annoying (in other words you hate classical music) then in my opinion you should not listen to it. And if you are someone who is genuinely interested in the complexity and beauty of western classical music but haven't had the opportunity to really explore its depth (and therefore are in the demographic for whom this CD was likely intended), then you should check out the complete recordings of some of these pieces under conducters like Toscanini, Szell, Solti, Bưhm, Bernstein, Furtwưngler, and von Karajan, just to name a few luminaries.
Classical music is not DIFFICULT to listen to, in fact it is highly enjoyable and immensely rewarding. It does, however, often take a bit of knowledge to appreciate. This knowledge is not particularly elusive or recondite, and within a few months, one can be fully immersed in a world of classical enjoyment. In the meantime, steer clear of this hateful CD, for if this becomes the 21st century standard for classical music listening, the distinction between art and pop music may be lost forever.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A wonderful compilation of classical music.
Comment: This is a perfect introduction to classical music and I do not understand some of the overtly negative criticism from others. It is an excellent way to "get your feet wet," so to speak and then you can decide which composers you wish to become more familiar with. You would have to buy quite a few CDs to experience all this set has to offer. Although the CD title is tongue-in-cheek...and perhaps that is what people object to...there is nothing to criticize here.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I doubt people who hate classical music would buy this
Comment: I figure this set is mainly for people who want to teach themselves to appreciate classical music. However, it's not how I started out (age about 17). In those days nobody seemed to think anyone would want to learn how to listen to classical music. I was held up by my family as a real freak. :-) Anyway, at the time, World Record Club was run by people with a wide knowledge of classical music (whereas today it's run by market-driven managers who know nothing about it) so I was able to buy LPs at such reasonable prices it didn't matter if I later found I didn't like what I'd bought. I could have done with some guidance, of course, because I honestly couldn't tell the difference between Bach and Bartok; that's how bad my listening skills were. One of my first Bach recordings was definitely not one I would recommend to a beginner (Menuhun's performance of The Musical Offering) so I could have landed up deciding I didn't like Bach. If this type of production is what it takes to bring more people to classical music, then I guess it has to be a good thing. I've given it only one star because there is no way I would want to own it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: When we can listen to a CD for people who hate rock/pop etc. music?
Comment: Please change this very IDIOT title, someone must tell this to the producer. I don't think there are people who hate classical music, and if there are I do not want to express a thought about them.....
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