Everyday living

I think this music is intended for adults, though the photo on the cover is of a sleeping baby. In any event, Schumann's work, Scenes From Childhood, Op. 15, featured here is more likely to bolt you out of bed than put you to sleep, as the mike is far too close to the piano being played by Cyprien Katsaris. Purcell's Adagio from The Indian Queen is magnificent, performed by John Elliott Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists. The Weird Award goes to triple harpist Tim Hobrough and lutenist Stephen Barber for their bizarre, spiky rendition of Minuets Nos. 4 and 5 from the Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach. I would like to meet Bill Holland, producer of all these Atlantic Records classical compilations. He's programmed Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1 on three different CDs, billed alternately as sensuous, romantic, and now here: good for a long snooze. --Gwendolyn Freed