The play list on "Pieces" reads like a classical music lover's dream collection: Barber's "Adagio for Strings," Ravel's "Pavane pour une Infante Défunte," the "Largo From Xerxes" by Handel, an excerpt from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," and many more, but this is not your typical classical music. William Orbit has taken these familiar pieces and arranged them for a variety of keyboards and guitars. The effect is stunning and unusual.

If the name William Orbit seems familiar, it might be because he won two Grammys along with Madonna for his production work on her album "Ray of Light." He continues to work with Madonna both on her albums and her upcoming film "The Next Best Thing."

Orbit explains his purpose in creating "Pieces in a Modern Style" as a desire "to make a record that's stylistically simple." He says of these pieces, as they are usually performed, "Some pieces of classical music you've heard so many times [that] you become immune to them. They become invisible, almost. There's definitely a reverence for every piece on the record. But I didn't let that inhibit me from doing my own spin."

Some of the pieces are easily recognized: "Adagio for Strings," " Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana" by Pietro Mascagni, Vivaldi's "Winter," and "Largo from Xerxes" by Handel are the best examples. I thoroughly enjoy hearing the main theme from "Largo" done on guitar. Some of the other pieces are almost unrecognizable, as Orbit has allowed his whimsical side to take over.

I still don't know whether to highly recommend this album to you or not. The classical purist might feel insulted by some of what Orbit has done. The non-classicist will certainly enjoy much of it. If you remember when "Switched on Bach" came out in 1968, you will also remember the uproar and discussions that went on about it, but face it -- it was the first classical album to sell over a million copies. Anything that gets these great pieces of music heard these days has to be a good thing. So buy it and enjoy it. Who knows? You might find the original versions of these pieces just as enjoyable!