Relaxing Adagios – Decca 2-CD Set, 33 Classical Tracks

A classical pause in your day

After a busy day, choose a comfortable chair, open a book or give the music your full attention. Relaxing Adagios offers gentle classical music to set the scene for these moments. Two CDs to listen to as the mood takes you, revisiting familiar melodies and discovering others.

Explore musical worlds from Bach to Mozart

The programme includes the Flower Duet from Lakmé, Gymnopédie No.3, the Adagio from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Saint-Saëns’s The Swan. Orchestral pages, chamber music and vocal passages follow one another. Performers featured in the compilation include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Joan Sutherland and Herbert von Karajan.

A set to revisit or give

With 33 tracks and 2 hr 37 min 24 sec, this Decca set can enrich a collection or make a gift for a classical music lover. Choose a disc for a quiet evening or return to a piece that speaks to you. An invitation to make time to listen.

Complete 33-track list

CD 1

1. J.S. Bach : Double Concerto, BWV 1043 - Largo, ma non tanto
2. Delibes : Lakmé, Flower duet
3. Borodin : String Quartet No.2 - Notturno
4. Satie : Gymnopédie No.3
5. Satie : Gnossienne No.3
6. Mozart : Piano Concerto No.21, K467 - Andante
7. Vaughan Williams : Fantasia on Greensleeves
8. Schubert : String Quintet, D956 - Adagio (excerpt)
9. Beethoven : "Moonlight" sonata - Adagio sostenuto
10. J.S. Bach : Sheep may safely graze
11. Te lucis ante terminum, arr. Higginbottom
12. Fauré : Berceuse
13. Bidaola : Aritz Adarean
14. Boccherini : String Quintet, op.13 no.5 - Minuet
15. Dvořák : "New World" Symphony - Largo (excerpt)
16. Bizet : Carmen suite no.1 - Intermezzo
17. Vivaldi : "Winter", RV 297 - Largo

CD 2

1. Gluck : Dance of the Blessed Spirits
2. Handel : Crux fidelis
3. Hofstetter : String Quartet, op.3 no.5 (attrib. Haydn) - Serenade: Andante cantabile
4. Respighi : Ancient Airs and dances - Italiana
5. Mozart : Clarinet Concerto, K622 - Adagio
6. Offenbach : The tales of Hoffmann - Barcarolle
7. Puccini : Madama Butterfly - Humming Chorus
8. Beethoven : "Emperor" concerto - Adagio un poco mosso
9. Rodrigo : Fantasia para un gentilhombre - Españoleta (excerpt)
10. Saint-Saëns : The carnival of animals - The Swan
11. Grieg : Peer Gynt - Prelude : Morning Mood
12. J.S. Bach : Air on the G string
13. Boccherini : Cello Concerto No.6 - Andante cantabile
14. Chopin : Nocturne No.2
15. Fauré : Requiem - Sanctus
16. Rachmaninov : Symphony No.2 - Adagio (excerpt)

Questions about this set

How many CDs and tracks are included?

The set contains two audio CDs, with 17 tracks on the first and 16 on the second, making 33 in total.

What is the total running time?

The stated total running time is 157 min 24 sec, or 2 hr 37 min 24 sec.

Is the programme entirely instrumental?

It combines instrumental and vocal music, including the Flower Duet from Lakmé and the Sanctus from Fauré’s Requiem.