Customer Rating:  
Summary: A rather awful recording
Comment: I've had the misfortune to hear this CD and all the perversions of Johann Andreas Pachelbel's chamber piece on this CD once too often.
The work was written for three solo violins and basso continuo [violoncello or viola da gamba + organ or harpsichord] and it is a rather virtuoso work, typical of works written for a small group of violins [or cornetti] over an ostinato bass line in the 17th century.
All but one "interpretation" on this CD bares little or no similarity to the written score at all and almost all of the arrangements of the piece are complete kitsch, trash, even. Cleo Laine's "song" is probably the worst example.
So what do we learn about the composer from this CD? Virtually nothing. However, it is instructive to learn how tastelessly a piece of music can be pushed, strained, pummelled, shredded, extracted, decimated, pumped up, deflated, force-fed, mutated and generally exploited by musicians, singers and arrangers who clearly have no knowledge of 17th century music and couldn't care less about acquiring any knowledge of that music.
I work in a music shop and it always amuses me when people who've bought CDs like this one decide to explore Pachelbel's music a little further and discover that they've been completely hoodwinked and that the composer's actual music sounds nothing like any interpretation of the Canon [& Gigue] they've ever heard - except, of course, if they've been fortunate enough to hear Musica Antiqua Köln's or London Baroque's recordings. They walk away bewildered by the organ music, chamber music and cantatas of J. A. Pachelbel.
Two stars for the one rather pleasant H.I.P. recording on this CD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR
Comment: We're getting married in June 08 and this is exactly the music We were looking for! Great cd and an excellent price!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Save your money
Comment: I walked down the aisle to the Canon years ago, such a masterful and beautiful piece. Most of these versions just don't do justice. Sorry.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This CD is awesome!
Comment: Despite the fact just one (1) tune is played on this entire CD, I promise you won't be bored if you love
Pachelbel's Canon as much as I. Interpreted by a variety of artists--one rendition even has a vocal accompaniment--the Canon never grows tiring, never grows old. Wonderful background music for just sitting around the house, reading, or as a backdrop for an intimate social event or evening.
Buy it! You'll love it!!
NOTE: This was supposed to be a 5-star rating. I'm new at this.......
Customer Rating:
Summary: This will make a classical listener out of a hillbillie
Comment: I sort of think of myself as a Viginia Hillbillie... educated however. I am not into classical music either. There is, however, something about Pachelbel's Canon that does something miraculous to my mind. The music is beautiful... very very beautiful. I put the CD in my car, roll the windows up and turn up the sound and listen to it end-to-end over and over again. It is so soothing... causing a rush of seratonin in your brain making the world seeming all part of your euphoria.
Even if you aren't into classical... buy this one and you will impress your friends with your new found sophistication... and you won't have to fake it either!!!
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