VA - Romantic Adagios II (2003)

The title is Romantic Adagios II. The description is "Over 2 1/2 hours of the world's most passionate music." What these are, in other words, are two discs of seduction music, which is fine. Using music for seductive purposes is the oldest ploy in the world. From Orpheus up to Ol' Blue Eyes, music hath charms to arouse, inflame, and incite lascivious and lubricious behavior. The whole purpose of this disc is to ensure a successful seduction. It sure isn't because sticking all of these Adagios together doesn't make any sort of musical sense. How could Wagner's "make love and die" Prelude from Tristan possibly be followed by anything except Tristan, much less by the smarmy Rose Adagio from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty? How could Debussy's "imagine naked nymphs" Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune possibly be followed by Grieg's tenderly sentimental Adagio from his piano concerto? And how could Rachmaninov's "song of sweet despair" Vocalise be followed by Vaughan Williams' transcendent Tallis Fantasia? None of this fits and the selected performances don't make any sense. Why couple Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Concertgebouw Orchestra's throbbing Adagio from Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2 with Riccardo Chailly's dreary Crisantemi by Puccini? Why couple Arthur Grumiaux's exquisitely lyrical Romance No. 2 by Beethoven with Jaap Schroder's austere and severe Largo from Bach's double violin concerto? Why couple Clifford Curzon's ethereal Adagio from Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major with Misha Dichter's mundane Libestraum No. 3 by Liszt? Does it work as seduction music? Some of the music can't miss, such as the Rachmaninov Adagio, Wagner's Prelude, and Debussy's Prelude. Some of it seems unlikely to succeed, such as the Elgar Adagio and Brahms' Adagio.