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'm new to opera, but this CD has really beautiful music. I use it in my CD clock radio (Timex, that I purchased here also) to go to sleep to.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

The Most Famous Opera Arias

from: EMI Classics

Release Date July 19, 1994
The conductor and the singers can make a beautiful song the opera that everyone jeers and hates. To have a Russian singer doing o mio babbino caro is just plain silly...give the woman a break and play something from Russian opera...give a beautiful melodic aria to a lyrical singer like Caballe...boo hiss. Try Opera's Greatest Moments where they give Hvorostvsky an aria from Pique Dame and leave the bel canto to bel canto singers.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Puccini - The Great Opera Collection

from: Decca

Release Date March 11, 2008
Let me say that these Puccini operas are beautifully performed by Renata Tebaldi who I always believed had a beautiful voice with the sole of a true musician. I should always acknowledge that I don;t at all feel that way about Maria Callas who sings flat and sharp and wobbles. Terrible singer and judging from clips I've seen of her stage work, also a melodramatic over-the-top actress. My main criticism of this set (and I have the same criticism for made opera boxed sets, these days) is that it was not designed for easy transfer to I-Tunes and Ipod. Is it really brain surgery to consistently name the disc in any one opera. For instance how able calling them Tosca Disc 1 and Tosca Disc 2, instead of Tosca Disc 1 and Puccini Tosca Disc 2 or some ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

The Best of Italian Opera

from: EMI Classics

Release Date January 21, 1997
This is an excellent CD of singers from the past century, origonally recorded in analog and very well remastered.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Essential Verdi

from: Decca

Release Date February 13, 2001
I don't know opera.

Last summer we had an incredible 20th anniversary trip to Italy. As a side trip from Venice, we planned a night in Verona. Neither my wife or I had been to an opera.

Is this how its supposed to be...

...an incredible star filled night with a three quarter moon, the largest stage and outdoor theatrical production on the planet, all taking place in a roman colleseum (arena) built in 180 a.d., an incredible colorful set and production with a full symphony orchestra and voices that don't come easy. Aida.

Now I know what all the hpye is as you opera fans sure are lucky to have such a beautiful setting for all your productions.

Okay, we got spoiled. But I also found myself getting ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Movie Adagios

from: Decca

Release Date October 09, 2001
This CD was all that I hoped for. Beautiful, evocative music just made for a relaxing evening at home.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

The Very Best of Nicolai Gedda

by: Nicolai Gedda, Adolphe Adam, Ludwig van Beethoven, Vincenzo Bellini, Hector Berlioz, Georges Bizet, Gaetano Donizetti, Friedrich von Flotow, Mikhail Glinka, Karl Goldmark

Release Date September 02, 2003
No doubt the most versatile tenor between Caruso and Domingo. 359 Met performances, in five different languages, with perfect diction in each.
This versatility clearly represented on this recording, not only in languages, but also in musicality. The pensive "Una furtiva lagrima," the heroic "Dimitri! Tsaryevich! Dimitri!" the wonderful softness of "Magische Tone."
Thank you, EMI, for bringing together such a representative compilation of this marvelous tenor's works!
And, thank you, Amazon, for making it available at such a reasonable cost--$16.98 for more than two and a half hours beautiful singing.
(I may stand corrected on the five languages at the Met. I am not certain when "Eugene Onegin" was first sung in Russian.)

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Very Best of

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, for more spine ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Amor--Opera's Great Love Songs

from: Decca

Release Date August 11, 1998
I absolutely love opera music, and this c.d. is great for the most part. However, I am completely shocked that Maria Callas is nowhere to be found! In my opinion Callas' versions of Vissi D'arte, Vissi D'amore, L'Amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle, Oh! MI Babbino Caro, Signore, Ascolta!, and Un bel di vedremo were much better than the versions feature on this c.d. Even Tribaldi made the list! If people enjoy amazing opera music, they would be better off buying a c.d. by Maria Callas. Of course, Pavarotti is also amazing.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Ottorino Respighi: Orchestral Works

from: EMI Classics

Release Date August 13, 1996
Belfagor is interesting for its rarity. Rousing overture. Pines and Fountains acceptable. Acceptable is OK for Fountains, but Pines call out for outstanding Triptych and Ancient Airs and Dances are excellent. Considering the bargain price, this 2-fer is a winner.