CD-Charts Position 1
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Gaetano Donizetti - La Fille du regiment / Dessay, Florez, Palmer, Corbelli, French, Campanella, Pelly (Royal Opera House 2007)

CD-Charts > DVD > Featured Composers- A-Z
starring: Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Florez, Felicity Palmer, Alessandro Corbelli, Dawn French
directed by: Laurent Pelly

Release Date April 15, 2008
Marvelous singing, fun to watch, wonderful acting and great comic timing by Natalie Dessay, 9 high Cs by Juan Diego Florez. If you want to buy only one bel canto opera buffa, get this one.

CD-Charts Position 2
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Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin / Fleming, Vargas, Hvorostovsky, Gergiev, Carsen [Metropolitan Opera 2007]

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starring: Renee Fleming, Ramon Vargas, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Valery Gergiev, Jean-Paul Fouchecourt
directed by: Brian Large, Robert Carsen

Release Date December 18, 2007
This is a stellar performance by a superb cast and conducted expertly by Valery Gergiev. Hvorostovsky and Fleming are ideal as Onegin and Tatiana The stark set, indeed a "non-set", is at first disappointing, but does succeed in focusing attention on the human drama instead of toward lavish production elements. Color is used very effectively to saturate each scene and outline the singers. This production no doubt benefited from the close scrutiny of the camera because the performances were finely tuned and sublty nuanced. As an example, the usual "dance spectacle" accompanying the Polonaise which opens Act III is replaced here by Onegin attended to by his valet staff while changing from dueling attire to formal dress. Although I enjoy a lavish production ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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Verdi - La Traviata

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starring: Renee Fleming, Rolando Villazon, Renato Bruson, James Conlon, Ania Alkimova
directed by: Marta Domingo

Release Date October 30, 2007
Martha Domingo's production has taste and style. Opera lovers are lucky to experience - in the days of Euro trash - a well done Traviata.
I was relieved that Ms.Domiongo's direction seems to have eliminated some of
Rolando Villazon's clownish acting we had to endure in the unbearable Salzburg production.
I like Renee Fleming's well sung and acted Violetta, and she looks beautiful.However, her interpretation is marred by the missing E flat.Violetta is a part sung by a multitude of sopranos, and if a star soprano attempts it, she should be spectacular in every way. Usually, she is not shy of acuti - so why not here, where everybody expects it?! And where it is part of the score!

CD-Charts Position 4
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R. Strauss - Salome

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starring: Teresa Stratas, Astrid Varnay, Bernd Weikl, Hans Beirer, Wieslaw Ochman
directed by: Götz Friedrich

Release Date July 10, 2007
I saw this production on TV many years ago and thought then that it was really good, I have now changed my mind, it is brilliant, although Teresa Stratas probably could not have sung the role on stage she excels here, her acting, dancing and singing is superb, is there any end to this womans talent? the rest of the cast is so well made that this is a masterpiece, the great Astrid Varnay is well cast here, vocally she is well past her prime but her experience in opera makes her the ideal Herodias. I have a number of performances with Stratas including Nedda and Violetta in La Traviata and she never puts a foot wrong no matter what she is doing. If you want Salome this has to be the only way to go. Brilliant, tense, sexy and overall frightening performance from Teresa ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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The Opera Gala: Live from Baden-Baden

CD-Charts > DVD > Featured Composers- A-Z
starring: Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Ramón Vargas, Ludovic Tezier

Release Date January 08, 2008
Do not hesitate to buy this DVD. It is worth every dollar. The four singers really stand out, Netrebko with her angel-like voice, Vargas with a wonderful tenor voice, Garanca as a colorful mezzo and Tezier as a brilliant baritone. Each and every aria are outstandingly sung and when the four of them join to sing both an aria from Rigoletto and from Traviata their voices blend wonderfully. It is one of those treasures that are worth being discovered. Javier from Bariloche

CD-Charts Position 6
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The Italian Opera Collection

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starring: Luciano Pavarotti, Metropolitan Opera

Release Date April 08, 2008
Like the Verdi Pavarotti album,this register like all the ones coming from Metropolitan are made under original conception.This together with the best performances of Pavarotti become an unavoidable DVD for people that likes these operas and that wont be repeated again

CD-Charts Position 7
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Mozart - Die Zauberflote [Blu-ray]

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starring: Simon Keenlyside, Dorothea Röschmann, Will Hartmann, Diana Damrau, Franz-Josef Selig

Release Date April 29, 2008
There is a clever juxtaposition of avant garde staging/theatrical setting with period subject material. The Queen of the Night is downright hot, not to mention the 3 maids. Pappageno stole the ovation! Although a small part, Pappagena is delightful. Regrettably, I don't know what to say about Tamino and Pamina but I'm sure they were great.

The singing is superbly articulate and the acting is second to none. Not just standing there singing with cheap backdrops! The orchestra is strong and the chorus powerful. The sets are meticulously done, eye catching but not distracting. The fire and water sequence is very creative. Its quite a production. Be sure to watch the ovations after it ends. The accolades are appropriately given to those who deserve ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

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starring: Siegfried Jerusalem, Waltraud Meier, Matthias Holle, Falk Struckmann, Uta Priew
directed by: Daniel Barenboim

Release Date July 08, 2008
Tristan and Isolde is one of the most emblematic Operas ever made along the history of the Western music, because among other facts, carves in relief the impossibility to achieve the love as supreme bliss for a long time.

Tristan is the epitome of the noble, valorous, bold and courageous hero who suddenly finds himself literally trapped between his duty and his bliss, between the loyalty and his most intimate desires.

But also, there` s not other Opera that reveals with chilling reality these inner contradictions immersed into the human soul and those unexplored labyrinths of the human physique.

This version reflects and captures with magisterial precision this complex universe of never felt before feelings, the supreme bliss of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Mozart /Chopin/Rachmaninov: Richter - Classic Archive

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from: Euroarts

Release Date June 24, 2008
This recital was originally broadcast on BBC-TV in 1989. Richter was 74 then but clearly had not lost any of his powers. He had, however, developed some idiosyncrasies that have a bearing on this recording. He was playing this recital, consisting of three Mozart sonatas and a selection from Chopin's Op. 10 and 25 études, before a live audience but insisted on having no lighting on the stage except for a crook-neck lamp shone directly on the keyboard and on the scores from which he was playing. This came as news to the BBC-TV crew and they had to, at the last moment, make do with filming him on a darkened stage. Still, after a few moments one does not mind this at all because the filming is primarily of his hands which, for me at least, was an education in itself.

Needless ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Vincenzo Bellini - I Puritani

CD-Charts > DVD > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date December 18, 2007
I loved this film, and enjoyed it very much. Netrebko is a most excellent Elvira, and the rest of the cast completely lived up to her. Recommend this DVD highly for anyone who loves opera on film.