National Anthems of the World: Swarovski Orchestra

	List Price: $17.98 Special Price: $17.98 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Koch Int'l Classics
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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0099923758129 Label: Koch Int'l Classics Manufacturer: Koch Int'l Classics Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Koch Int'l Classics Release Date: 2004-07-27 Studio: Koch Int'l Classics
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Editorial Reviews:
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Large collection for the price, but not perfect Comment: As with these sorts of all-inclusive collections, there are issues to be had with 'National Anthems of the World' as performed by the Swarovski Orchestra. Primary--to me--is that these performances and arrangements come off as being rather sterile and bland, though it's perhaps not surprising since I doubt very much that most of the nationalities of the nations represented here have citizens actually in the Swarovski Orchestra. There's little of the passion that a national band or orchestra would have in playing their own nation's anthem, much like listening to a generic studio band play play a collection of college fight songs (and there ARE CDs of those out for sale as well). That said, this 2-disc CD set does offer a wide spectrum of national anthems, though it does a far better job of covering European nations more so than any other region. For instance, Central America is poorly represented in this collection as is Africa which, aside from Cameroon, the heart of that continent is conspicuously ill-depicted. But the biggest omission is China; neither the mainland or Taiwanese anthems are included in this set. Considering that The People's Republic of China is the most populous nation on earth, as well as a global political and economic force to be reckoned with, even in 1996 (this CD set dates from 2004, but at least one online database list the contents from the mid-1990s), this is a glaring oversight in my opinion. The final gripe deals with the included documentation. Each of these anthems DO have titles to them, none of which the producers of this collection ever bother to mention and provide. One has to go to Wikipedia or some other resource to look up the actual name of the anthems included here. This is information that is relatively cheap to research and out of courtesy to the consumer should've been provided for this set, especially since this collection has been around in some form for over a decade already. For the money, it's a fairly good buy for those who want a collection of national anthems. But the producers could've done a better job of compiling the contents of this collection, and what music there is would've certainly benefitted from a bit more impassioned play. Customer Rating: Summary: excellent selection & quality sound Comment: Swarovski Orchestra did an excellent job in this compilation. I work in Foreign Service & I use this CD to play US anthem & the host country anthem during events. Unlike other compilations which shorten the pieces, this offers full-length pieces saving me from embarrassment. More Reviews