CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Luciano Pavarotti: The Best (Farewell Tour)

from: Decca

Release Date September 13, 2005
He is indeed missed!!! What a blessing to have this CD to hear and remember one of the world's greatest tenors. Highly recommend!

CD-Charts Position 2
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 3
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 4
Average Rating:

Pavarotti's Opera Made Easy-My Favourite Opera For Children

from: Decca

Release Date August 23, 1994
This is an excellent CD to introduce children to some of the more familiar operas. I would highly recommend this CD for children and also for adults who want to become familiar with opera.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"

by: Antonin Dvorak, Sir Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Release Date October 25, 1990
Of all the recordings of Dvorak's 9th, (From the New World) this has to be the definitive version, which I reach for before any other. He shows a deep respect for the tempos which few do with this symphony. I have heard renditions which play the allegros too slow and the largo of the second movement too fast, ending up with a dull, muddy andante moderato through the entire symphony.

Solti would have none of it, and this simply has me in awe, and I would heartily recommend it for all who want to listen to this symphony. The only rendition I have found comparable is in an old LP, (and I wish somebody would release it in CD) of one of the first recordings of Leonard Bernstein, where he does a brilliant analysis of the symphony on one record, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Mahler - Symphony No. 8 / Popp · Auger · Minton · Harper · Kollo · Shirley-Quirk · Talvela · Chicago SO · Solti

by: Gustav Mahler, Sir Georg Solti, Arleen Auger, Lucia Popp, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Yvonne Minton, Heather Harper, René Kollo, John Shirley-Quirk, Martti Talvela

Release Date August 10, 1999
I originally go the LP version back when it first came out, which I believe was in '72. That's right, kiddies, I'm no spring chicken, just think like one! Anyway, to all you yung'uns it's the least expensive of all the M8's I review under [ Mahler 8 Shaw Telarc ]. Overall, sound is still great, just a few times when it might be starting to slightly show it's age. However, imaging and soundstaging, which for me are a part of sound still rate a "5". Performance is still as wonderful as the day it was issued. If you're on a budget I would suggest either this or the Shaw on Telarc. Both are on a single disc and both are below $10 for over 70 minutes of great music making. If you're a completist then you can't afford to be without the Solti.

Best, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Essential Beethoven

from: Decca

Release Date June 12, 2001
This two disc set is a good sampler of Beethoven; I had forgotten how inspiring his work could be. This set has motivated me to order all three of the Deutch Grammaphone two disc which together include all 9 of Beethoven's symphonies.

CD-Charts Position 8
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 spoiled on the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) / Sir Georg Solti

by: Sir Georg Solti, Wiener Philharmoniker, Vienna State Opera Choir, Kirsten Flagstad, Paul Kuen, George London, Jean Madeira, Ira Malaniuk, Gustav Neidlinger, Hetty Plumacher

Release Date October 14, 1997
Solti's Ring cycle is certainly one of the great achievements in the history of recorded music. The story behind the first studio Ring is now legendary... how a young producer named John Culshaw undertook the most ambitious recording project in history to create his vision for the ultimate Ring cycle. Boasting an all-star cast and utilizing the best available technology to its fullest potential, the final result was a Ring for the ages... or so was the general consensus. But as time wore on and new cycles by Bohm, Karajan, and (most recently) Keilberth have become available, this set's flaws become all too obvious.

Listening to any of these Solti/Culshaw operas, one immediately has to adjust for a musical barrage of exaggerated climaxes, hyped up dynamics, and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Renee Fleming: By Request

by: Vincenzo Bellini, Alfredo Catalani, Antonin Dvorak, George Gershwin, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Jules Massenet, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giacomo Puccini, Sergey Rachmaninov, Richard Rodgers, Richard Strauss, Giuseppe Verdi, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Georg Solti, James Levine, Jeffrey Tate, Patrick Summers, Sir Charles Mackerras, Lee Ritenour, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Renee Fleming

Release Date September 16, 2003
This is my favorite album!!! I use it to mellow out, or just listen to her magnificent voice. I've passed on a few of her other albums, but if I lost this one, I'd buy it over and over again.