Most Relaxing Classics— Various Artists (EMI 82160)
This is a sometimes-surprising 2009 collection of—as the cover art implies—classical music for unwinding at the end of the day. While there are some ‘usual suspects’ here, like the slow movement from Vivaldi’s Lute Concerto in D and the Larghetto from Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, there are less familiar, even obscure pieces. Who would have expected to find love duets from Bellini’s La sonnambula or Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea? And have you ever even heard the Act 5 Entr’acte from Massenet’s Don Quichotte? Great artists like clarinetist Sabine Meyer, sopranos Mirella Freni and Suzie LeBlanc, tenor Nicolai Gedda, harpist Andrew Lawrence-King and conductor Michel Plasson enliven the proceedings.