Essential Relaxing Classics Various

This album brings together many of the most relaxing pieces of classical music, most of which have been heard in major films. The Baroque era is represented by familiar compositions like Albinoni's Adagio, Pachelbel's Canon in D and Bach's Air on the G string. The repertoire then ranges through popular items by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Mendelssohn to the romantic composers like Rachmaninov, Elgar and Vaughan Williams. The set ends with the Adagietto from Mahler's 5th Symphony, memorably used in the film Death in Venice, followed by the famous 'Méditation' from Massenet's opera Thaïs. Artists include soloists Martha Argerich, Julian Bream, James Galway, Yehudi Menuhin, Sabine Meyer and Jacqueline du Pré, and conductors Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Adrian Boult, Herbert von Karajan, Sir Neville Marriner, Riccardo Muti and Sir Simon Rattle.