CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Andrea Bocelli - Sacred Arias / Myung-Whun Chung

by: George Frideric Handel, Giulio Caccini, Charles Gounod, Franz Schubert, Cesar Franck, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Wagner, Pietro Mascagni, Louis Niedermeyer, Franz Xaver Gruber, John Francis Wade, Jean-Paul Lecot, Myung-Whun Chung, Andrea Bocelli

Release Date November 09, 1999
What a wonderful CD! This is music I will listen to over and over - his voice is amazing!

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Sacred Arias [Special Edition with Bonus DVD]

by: Andrea Bocelli, Giulio Caccini, Cesar Franck, Charles Gounod, Franz Xaver Gruber, George Frideric Handel, Jean-Paul Lecot, Eric Levi, Steven Mercurio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Louis Niedermeyer, Gioachino Rossini, Franz Schubert, Giuseppe Verdi, John Francis Wade, Richard Wagner, Myung-Whun Chung, Santa Cecilia National Academy Orchestra Rome

Release Date October 14, 2003
This CD/DVD combo is a huge bargain and sounds as though the music was coming directly from heaven. The Church in which the concert was held is beautiful, with vaulted ceiling. Highly recommended for serious lovers of sacred arias.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

O Holy Night / Luciano Pavarotti / Special Deluxe Edition (Decca)

from: Decca

Release Date October 11, 2005
Pavarotti is in his prime for this one and the selections are both touching and grand. Mille Cherubini, a tender lullaby, is my favorite but his Agnus Dei is rich and grand. The choral backgrounds are also very good. I bought the cassette when it came out in the 70's and I am thrilled that they reissued it as CD to grace my 2007 Christmas .

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Christmas with Pavarotti

from: Delta

Release Date October 11, 2005
Christmas with Pavarotti has some flaws, mainly that of the 10 songs on the CD, two are arias not particularly associated with Christmas (at least by me). Also, the sound quality is compromised on some of the recordings. It sounds like the songs were recorded before a live audience which is OK, but the quality suffers accordingly. I hope that somewhere, out there, there is a better recording of Pavarotti singing "O Holy Night" as his voice sounds strained and the recording ends abrubtly. If you like Pavarotti, this is an OK CD, but I don't consider it his best.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

The Soul of Italy

from: Sony

Release Date November 09, 1999
Being an aspiring tenor I have been researching various music and was looking for different renditions of Nina. After seeing the review "Drown Pavarotti" I ordered the CD. It is magic. I see so many Cd's that talk about the "Three Tenors". After hearing this CD there is only one tenor as far as I am concerned. I listened to Nina first, and it was stunning. I was amazed. It is now my mission to own any and everything this incredible artist has done. If you want to hear a great tenor look no further. This CD is my new favorite and I have a feeling it will be number one for a long time. I just received the CD today and I felt so strongly about this I couldn't wait to post a review.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Sacred Songs

from: Angel Records

Release Date September 16, 1997
The beautiful voice of Barbara Hendricks and these outstanding Sacred Songs make a great combination. I bought this CD about a decade ago and am still entraced by Mendelssohn's dramatic "Hear My Prayer" and Bernstein's powerful "Kaddish." "Hear My Prayer" is based upon Psalm 55, the very same psalm that Merton Densher quotes in Henry James' The Wings of the Dove (and thus gives the book its title).

Barbara Hendricks is not only a great singer, but quite the actress. "Hear My Prayer" reminds me a mini-vocal drama not unlike Mahler's song cycles and choral symphonies. You feel the soprano's urgency as she sings about her confusion ("perplexed and bewildered...") her despair, "my heart is sorely pained, my soul with deathly terror is oppressed, trembling and fearfulness ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Christmas with The Three Tenors

from: Delta

Release Date October 11, 2005
The beautiful voice of Barbara Hendricks and these outstanding Sacred Songs make a great combination. I bought this CD about a decade ago and am still entraced by Mendelssohn's dramatic "Hear My Prayer" and Bernstein's powerful "Kaddish." "Hear My Prayer" is based upon Psalm 55, the very same psalm that Merton Densher quotes in Henry James' The Wings of the Dove (and thus gives the book its title).

Barbara Hendricks is not only a great singer, but quite the actress. "Hear My Prayer" reminds me a mini-vocal drama not unlike Mahler's song cycles and choral symphonies. You feel the soprano's urgency as she sings about her confusion ("perplexed and bewildered...") her despair, "my heart is sorely pained, my soul with deathly terror is oppressed, trembling and fearfulness ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Lieder, Songs, Aria, Duets

from: Guild

Release Date January 17, 2005
The beautiful voice of Barbara Hendricks and these outstanding Sacred Songs make a great combination. I bought this CD about a decade ago and am still entraced by Mendelssohn's dramatic "Hear My Prayer" and Bernstein's powerful "Kaddish." "Hear My Prayer" is based upon Psalm 55, the very same psalm that Merton Densher quotes in Henry James' The Wings of the Dove (and thus gives the book its title).

Barbara Hendricks is not only a great singer, but quite the actress. "Hear My Prayer" reminds me a mini-vocal drama not unlike Mahler's song cycles and choral symphonies. You feel the soprano's urgency as she sings about her confusion ("perplexed and bewildered...") her despair, "my heart is sorely pained, my soul with deathly terror is oppressed, trembling and fearfulness ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Hear My Prayer

from: Delos Records

Release Date March 30, 2004
The beautiful voice of Barbara Hendricks and these outstanding Sacred Songs make a great combination. I bought this CD about a decade ago and am still entraced by Mendelssohn's dramatic "Hear My Prayer" and Bernstein's powerful "Kaddish." "Hear My Prayer" is based upon Psalm 55, the very same psalm that Merton Densher quotes in Henry James' The Wings of the Dove (and thus gives the book its title).

Barbara Hendricks is not only a great singer, but quite the actress. "Hear My Prayer" reminds me a mini-vocal drama not unlike Mahler's song cycles and choral symphonies. You feel the soprano's urgency as she sings about her confusion ("perplexed and bewildered...") her despair, "my heart is sorely pained, my soul with deathly terror is oppressed, trembling and fearfulness ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

The Complete Caruso

from: RCA

Release Date November 09, 2004
This is a re-release of the RCA complete Caruso set from the late 1980's. The transfers were made in the late 1970's at the dawn of the digital era and were state of the art for that time. But in cleaning up the surface noise these old digital transfers seriously flatten out the sound of Caruso's voice.

I would suggest that people interested in Caruso check out the complete Caruso series on Naxos with new digital restorations by the great sound engineer/artist Ward Marston. (The Complete Recordings of Caruso and also on single discs). On the Naxos CD's the voice is preserved in a much more natural and subtle sound while all of the other noises are eliminated as much as possible. It's much more satisfying and true to the original recordings than these old RCA transfers. ... Read More: