CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Gaetano Donizetti - La Fille du regiment / Dessay, Florez, Palmer, Corbelli, French, Campanella, Pelly (Royal Opera House 2007)

starring: Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Florez, Felicity Palmer, Alessandro Corbelli, Dawn French
directed by: Laurent Pelly

Release Date April 15, 2008
As another reviewer has noted, this Covent Garden production was recently (spring 2008) performed at the Met in New York. I had the pleasure of seeing that production via the Met's closed circuit HD broadcasts.

While I am on that subject, I congratulate and thank the Met for those broadcasts. While not quite the same as being in Lincoln Center for the live performance, it is the next best thing. Those of you who are opera lovers and have not yet discovered or attended those broadcasts should buy your tickets for the 2008-09 season.

Natalie Dessay is a petit French soprano whose acting ability, especially in this comic opera, and whose energy level, matches her excellent musicianship and beautiful voice. Juan ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Rossini - Il Barbiere Di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)

starring: Juan Diego Florez, Ruggero Raimondi, Maria Bayo, Pietro Spagnoli, Bruno Pratico
directed by: Emilio Sagi

Release Date November 15, 2005
I almost didn't buy it because of the STUPID COSTUMES. But the DVD I had bought featured a homely guy with a great voice. He just wasn't convincing as a "love interest." This tenor JUAN, on the other hand, is the handsomest opera singer I've ever seen, and my girlfriend went NUTS over him as well as the audience. The enunciation of the singers was superb, and the whole cast was hilariouly funny. So much more enjoyable than the other DVD with the American singer from Detroit. I would just love to slap the costumer because the polka dots didn't work, and made the leading lady look like a matron instead of a young girl. The sets were terrific though. This is an opera you can see over and over again for the acting and the laughs.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Donizetti - Don Pasquale

starring: Juan Diego Florez, Ruggero Raimondi, Isabel Rey, Oliver Widmer, Valeriy Murga
directed by: Grischa Asagaroff

Release Date September 25, 2007
What a shame that the only existing DVD of Juan Diego Florez in one of his signature roles is in this wrong-headed "Don Pasquale." Wrong-headed because once again we have an opera director for whom restraint seems to be a four-letter word. Yes, this is opera buffa, but as anyone who has seen a successful performance of this piece knows, the moments of comedy are leavened with those of genuine heart and poignancy. None of which is in evidence here...unless Senor Florez is on stage -- alone. The opening of Act II is magnificently sung, passionate and sincere. Donizetti is known for giving his tenors these moments of emotional clarity in his comic operas, and Florez makes the most of it; honestly, I've never heard him sing better. And then ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Donizetti - La Fille du Régiment

starring: Patrizia Ciofi, Juan Diego Florez, Nicola Ulivieri, Francesco Franci, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice
directed by: Riccardo Frizza, Emilio Sagi

Release Date October 10, 2006
Juan Diego Florez is reason enough to give this recording a 5 star rating! However, the entire production is a major delight and one you will want to hear over and over again. And then I keep recalling "Mes Amis"--vocal pyrotechnics of the highest order...Hmmmm--I think I will go now to play it yet again!

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Verdi - Falstaff / Muti, Maestri, Frittoli, Florez, Frontali, Antonacci, Busseto Teatro Verdi

starring: Barbara Frittoli, Ambrogio Maestri, Juan Diego Florez, Roberto Frontali, Riccardo Muti

Release Date November 18, 2003
Famous Verdi`s operatic last words: "Tutto nel mondo e burla, l`uomo e nato burlone burlon" would translate in something like "Everything in this world is a tease. Human beings were born teasers". Everytime I listen at this opera I get the strange feeling that indeed, old Verdi has been teasing us with an opera that breaks every single stylistic paradigm, demonstrating to the hypercritical young composers of his times (including Arrigo Boito himself) that old Verdi could rule even on the territory of the verismo. If I should have to define Falstaff with a single word that would be: "Exquisite". The monumental darkness of Othello and the Requiem are left behind and Falstaff rises as a completely fresh, "young" and enlightened approach to the Italian ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Falstaff

starring: Ambrosio Maestri, Roberto Frontali, Juan Diego Flórez, Barbara Frittoli, Inva Mula
directed by: Pierre Cavassilas

Release Date
Famous Verdi`s operatic last words: "Tutto nel mondo e burla, l`uomo e nato burlone burlon" would translate in something like "Everything in this world is a tease. Human beings were born teasers". Everytime I listen at this opera I get the strange feeling that indeed, old Verdi has been teasing us with an opera that breaks every single stylistic paradigm, demonstrating to the hypercritical young composers of his times (including Arrigo Boito himself) that old Verdi could rule even on the territory of the verismo. If I should have to define Falstaff with a single word that would be: "Exquisite". The monumental darkness of Othello and the Requiem are left behind and Falstaff rises as a completely fresh, "young" and enlightened approach to the Italian ... Read More: