CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Bach - Magnificat / Handel - Dixit Dominus

from: Virgin Classics

Release Date November 20, 2007
There's little I could add to Mike Birman's elegant review of this CD except enthusiastic agreement and a few personal impressions, so, friends, dat's whatcha gonna get.

In terms of emotional impact, Handel's Dixit Dominus and Bach's Magnificat are well matched, both fiery exclamations of religious fervour, both extended works of contrapuntal complexity and soloistic virtuosity, the Bull and the Bear in the ring of one CD. I won't tell where I'd place my wager, but it's high drama to have these two pieces performed together.

Emmanuelle Haim never lets up in intensity. Her tempi on some of the Bach movements and on the concluding Gloria Patri of Handel are faster than I've ever heard anyone attempt. Especially on the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Berlioz - Benvenuto Cellini

from: Virgin Classics / EMI

Release Date January 11, 2005
As far as I am concerned, even Berlioz' "failures" are usually masterpieces. and this opera is no exception. It really was too complex and innovative for its time and we had to wait until Colin Davis' groundbreaking recording in 1972 before we could hear it pretty much as it should be performed - though even that set is nowhere near as complete as this one, which restores the original, longer overture and all the subsequent cuts, plus the original arias for Balducci and Teresa. Berlioz' later additions (including Cellini's lovely Romance) are thoughtfully provided in appendices.

This is a really energised performance that positively zips along. All the soloists are first-rate, the chorus and orchestra spot-on, the direction unflagging. I have ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Anne Sofie von Otter sings Offenbach

from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date September 10, 2002
I have always enjoyed Frederica von Stade's Offenbach recital, and was looking forward to von Otter, as she'd proved such a charmer in Kurt Weill and other popular music theatre works. Her liedersinging experience gives her the edge over many in this repertoire. Simply put, I can not imagine many singers doing a better job than von Otter in this repertoire. Perhaps the aria from "La Belle Helene" has a touch more pathos sung by Jessye Norman.

My problem is with the repertoire. If you know the music of Offenbach, then you know what you are getting. If you are unfamiliar with the French version of the Viennese Operetta, then it would be wise to listen to this disc first. I simply do not care much for it. Therefore the three stars. Advertising ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Rameau - Hippolyte et Aricie / Padmore, Panzarella, Hunt, Naouri, E. James, Petibon, Mechaly, Delunsch, Les Arts Florissants, Christie

from: Erato / Warner Music

Release Date March 18, 1997
An interesting way to compare these mythological operas is to notice how personally involved certain gods and goddesses become. First place goes to Cybele of Lully's Atys. She enters a love triangle with mortals and loses out. Second place belongs to Diana of the present opera. The heroine Aricie has taken refuge at Diana's temple and confesses to the goddess that she cannot become a full-fledged priestess because her love for Hippolyte keeps her from taking the necessary vow of chastity. The chief evil party in the plot is Hippolyte's stepmother Phaedra, who falls in "love" with her stepson and offends Diana when she threatens to burn down her temple in order to persecute her rival Aricie. Diana descends like Cybele and becomes both an enemy to Phaedra and a warm ally to the two ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Handel - Alcina / Fleming · Graham · Dessay · Les Arts Florissants · Christie [Highlights]

by: George Frideric Handel, William Christie, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Les Arts Florissants, Kathleen Kuhlmann, Laurent Naouri Natalie Dessay

Release Date October 16, 2001
I got this because I was curious to see what it was like, but afraid it would be so awful that I wasn't willing to spend the money on the full set. I was right--it was awful. When William Christie is working with good period singers he's generally not too bad, but about 50% of this cast are not that. Dessay was exactly what I expected and Kathleen Kuhlman, a singer I don't know, was actually pretty good. Fleming and Graham on the other hand, not so much!

Fleming sobbed, sighed and emoted her way through the whole thing in a style more suited to Verdi and generally getting in the way of the music. Even given she's Alcina and a true bad girl, she was so over the top it was was painful. Susan Graham was also all wrong--too restrained and to apologetic about the bottom of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Offenbach - Orphée aux Enfers / Dessay, Naouri, Fouchécourt, Beuron, Podles, Petibon, Smith, Gens, Cole, Minkowski

by: Jacques Offenbach, Marc Minkowski, Natalie Dessay, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Choeur et Orchestre de l'Opéra, Orchestre de Chambre de Grenoble, Laurent Naouri, Patricia Petibon, Yann Beuron, Lydie Pruvot, Ewa Podles, Etienne Lescroart, Jennifer Smith, Virginie Pochon, Véronique Gens, Steven Cole

Release Date November 11, 2002
This CD should be illegal - everyone from the singers to the musicians obviously had way too much fun - and so will you! Natalie Dessay shines as Eurydice and Laurent Naouri is a delightful (if rather roving) Jupiter, while Yann Beuron makes Orphee come alive. Ewa Podles gives Public Opinion exactly the right amount of santimonious self-rightousness.

A truly delightful recording - even if you aren't an opera lover, you owe it to yourself to listen to this wonderful romp to Mount Olympus and the Underworld...a case of Heaven in Hell!

Great performances all around, great sound...doesn't get any better (or more fun) than this.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Handel - Alcina / Fleming, Graham, Dessay, Kuhlmann, Robinson, Naouri, Lascarro, Les Arts Florissants, Christie

from: Erato

Release Date April 25, 2000
I'm not a purist.
If a performance is done with great respect for the music in general and more importantly if I like what I hear than it's obviously ok for me.

I love this recording.
Frankly I haven't heard any other version, so my opinion hasn't any weight at all.

This is a live recording which you'll hear very clearly, especially in the beginning (disc 1).
Stage noises are prominent in the chorus and the recorded sound might come as a disappointment at first...it's rather dry and sounds thin in many parts on disc 1, if all 3 cd's sounded like this it would've been a crime to release these discs at full-price, but luckily the sound improves dramatically on disc 2 and 3.

Christie's direction is dramatic, but with a subtle touch, not in yer ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Opera New Generation: Greatest Duets

from: Virgin Classics

Release Date March 11, 2008
I'm not a purist.
If a performance is done with great respect for the music in general and more importantly if I like what I hear than it's obviously ok for me.

I love this recording.
Frankly I haven't heard any other version, so my opinion hasn't any weight at all.

This is a live recording which you'll hear very clearly, especially in the beginning (disc 1).
Stage noises are prominent in the chorus and the recorded sound might come as a disappointment at first...it's rather dry and sounds thin in many parts on disc 1, if all 3 cd's sounded like this it would've been a crime to release these discs at full-price, but luckily the sound improves dramatically on disc 2 and 3.

Christie's direction is dramatic, but with a subtle touch, not in yer ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Lully - Phaëton / Crook, Smith, Yakar, Gens, Théruel, Fouchécourt, Naouri, Huttenlocher, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski

from: Warner Music France

Release Date June 07, 1994
This is a great opera. I think Phaeton is Lully's best opera. This one is exciting and fresh. The music and singing are very good. There are many memorable moments in Phaeton. Track 23 of disc 1 and track 24 of disc 2 prove that Lully is the baroque master. Baroque doesn't get any more powerful than those tracks! The opera's last track will have you remember the name Lully. The music is quite fitting for the time of King Louis XIV.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Mozart - Die Zauberflöte / Mannion, Dessay, Blochwitz, Scharinger, Hagen, Les Art Florissants, Christie

from: Warner Music France

Release Date February 13, 1996
I'm sorry, but to all these 5-star reviewers... has nobody here listened to Klemperer's version? or Fricsay's ? or Karajan's ? or Gardiner's at least? yes, I know, those (expect Gardinder's) are not on original instruments and the singers don't "sing on their breath", as Christie says he wanted them to in his notes. However, I think that a music with a level of contrasts that only Mozart is capable of, with all these opposite binaries of light and dark, truth and lie, man and woman, etc. that are posed in the libretto and the score, this version seems way too retrained to me. Apolinean, almost. I love to hear a strong queen of the night, a wise Sarastros, an infuriating Monostatos, a charming Papagena, a not-so-thoughtful but adorable Papageno... none of which I find in Christie's version. Sure, the singing ... Read More: