CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

The #1 Opera Album

by: Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Léo Delibes, Georges Bizet, Umberto Giordano, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Wagner, Gioachino Rossini, Alfredo Catalani, Jacques Offenbach, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Charles Gounod, Gaetano Donizetti, Pietro Mascagni, Antonin Dvorak, Richard Bonynge, Herbert von Karajan, Alberto Erede, Lamberto Gardelli, Giuseppe Patane, John Mauceri, Zubin Mehta, Charles Dutoit, Gyorgy Fischer, Riccardo Chailly, Istvan Kertesz, Leone Magiera, Evelino Pido, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Luciano Pavarotti, Jussi Bjorling, Renata Tebaldi

Release Date February 27, 2001
I heard this CD on a PBS pledge drive (it was a premium) and found myself loving every cut on it! I was in my car and just wanted to keep on driving and listening. This is by far my most-played CD - I've had to make it a weekend only listen to prevent getting burned out on it. HIGHLY recommend it. Even if you are unfamiliar with some of the pieces, you will quickly learn to love them. . . . I must end this review - I'm off to listen to the "flower duet" for the 100th time. . .

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Nessun Dorma ~ 20 Great Tenor Arias / Pavarotti, Carreras, Domingo, Bergonzi, Aragall, Björling, Di Stefano, Kollo, Corelli, Del Monaco...

from: Decca

Release Date June 09, 1998
What beautiful music. I'm new to opera, but the tracks on this CD are awesome. My only complaint is that Nessun Dorma is the last tract...so I start out there first.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

The Greatest Opera Show on Earth

from: Polygram Records

Release Date September 16, 1997
I just bought my second copy of this excellent CD because I literally wore the first one out. No matter how I feel before I play this music, I feel joy whenever I listen to it. Highly recommended to beginners and the more experienced opera listeners as well.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

The Ave Maria Album

from: RCA

Release Date August 11, 1998
One of the best I have heard a variation of Ave Maria. I had been looking for and Ave Maria Album. This filled all my need the different vertions. Deep and Holy Divine Mother. Thank you Great.

Sincerely.
A Friend

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Romantic Adagios

from: Decca

Release Date June 13, 2000
This is a very nice cd to listen to and sip red wine in one's back yard while reading a good book. Well worth to add to your collection.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana & Leoncavallo - Pagliacci / Pavarotti, Freni, Varady, Cappuccilli, Gavazzeni, Patanè

by: Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Giuseppe Patanè, Luciano Pavarotti, Julia Varady, Mirella Freni, London Opera Chorus, Piero Cappuccilli, Carmen Gonzales, Vincenzo Bello, Finchley Children's Music Group, Ingvar Wixell, Lorenzo Saccomani, Ida Bormida

Release Date October 25, 1990
This CD-Box is outstanding. Here you will find Pavarotti at his best, surrounded by other great artists. The few minutes of "Ridi pagliaccio", by itself, is worth more than the full price. When I listen to this CD, or to "La Boheme", or "Turandot", by the same label (Decca), all sung by Pavarotti during his peak years, I cannot avoid finding myself, at some point, with tears in my eyes. If you love opera, you should own all Puccini sung by Pavarotti in his best years. I think that whatever Pavarotti did or sung in his latest years cannot stain a life of wonderful achievements. And it's beautiful that his achievements will be available for everybody to listen for ages to come.
But beware... After listening to these wonderful Decca-Pavarotti recordings, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

The Ultimate Aria Collection ~ A Passion for Opera

by: Georges Bizet, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Gaetano Donizetti, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Gioachino Rossini, Gustave Charpentier, Leo Delibes, Vincenzo Bellini, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Pietro Mascagni, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Francesco Cilea, Edouard Lalo, Camille Saint-Saens, Arrigo Boito, George Frideric Handel, Alfredo Catalani, Amilcare Ponchielli, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Ambroise Thomas, Fritz Wunderlich, Rome Opera Theater Orchestra & Chorus, Maria Callas, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestre de Paris, Carlo Maria Giulini, Tullio Serafin, Sir Charles Mackerras, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Riccardo Muti, Leone Magiera

Release Date August 11, 1998
Probely this is a good buy for someone who is gest getting into the world of OPERA.Still a very good purchaes with fimiluar songs.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Woody Allen Classics

from: Sony

Release Date August 24, 1993
Really interesting selection. Not popular pieces, but yes charmes ones.
Highly recommended for intense and sensefull music lovers

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Choral Adagios

from: Decca

Release Date September 14, 2004
It is a cut and paste job, and the overall result reflects that. Some of the pieces are rather good. Some are works that are not choral works, and do not lend themselves well to being morphed into a choral piece.

If you are looking for a musical experience, then pass on this one. If you are looking for pleasant music in the background that no one really listens too...then you may want to consider.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

The Very Best of Montserrat Caballé

by: Montserrat Caballe

Release Date April 22, 2003
Leaving the hype aside, EMI would have been more accurate to entitle this 2-CD ssurvey "Opera Arias by the Young Caballe." In the whole generous 151 min. there are only 6 songs to represent her extensive recital repertoire, and no Zarzuela. For those items you have to go to rCA. Here we get Caballe mostly from the Seventies (1971-79) with bits form the early Eighties.

The reviewers below have given deserved praise to Caballe's abilities as diva. My onw opinion is that she was better on records than in the opera house. She wasn't gifted as an actress and cut a short, wide figure onstage. But as a vocal actress on disc she was very convincing, despite her over-reliance on pathos and delicacy. One longs at times, amid all the beauitful floated notes, ... Read More: