CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Mozart: Requiem / McNair, Watkinson, Araiza, Lloyd; Marriner

by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Sir Neville Marriner, Sylvia McNair, Carolyn Watkinson, Francisco Araiza, Robert Lloyd

Release Date April 05, 1991
So much emotion! Mozart's Requiem deals with death, the most human of all experience. The most heavy, the most painfull, and in this case, the most beautiful. It's about dying, it's about hell, and it is about redemption. You can feel the sorrow and the finallity of it all when you listen to this. A masterpiece among masterpieces.

CD-Charts Position 2
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The Power & The Majesty: Essential Choral Classics

by: Robert Shaw Festival Singers, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Choruses

Release Date January 24, 1995
A wonderful album. I have several copies of Handel's Messiah, but the performance of the Hallelujah Chorus by Robert Shaw's singers is exceptional, outstanding. I was inspired to have my young son listen to this album: Verdi's "Dies Irae", Orff's "O Fortuna", and Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus".

Notice that there are 3 versions of "Dies Irae" on this album. It's nice to hear others. I am not normally a fan of Requiems. I will say that I do like Bach's Mass in B Minor and the Kyrie Eleison excerpted here is beautiful.

CD-Charts Position 3
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Puccini and Pasta: A Romantic Italian Feast for Your Ears

from: Philips

Release Date August 13, 1996
Your listing for this CD leaves Jose Carerras off the performer list. These recordings were made when all these people were young, unsullied lyric artists, and are sensitive, powerful and masterful-as good as it gets. This CD is for anyone who loves Pucinni sung by the few people who can sing it. I'm a Pavarotti afficianado, and a Carerras afficianado. These recordings, done before his illness, show a lyric tenor voice that has a beauty and expression rarely encountered. The sopranos are the best in time as well. Spectacular. Enjoy.

CD-Charts Position 4
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Poulenc: Gloria; Concerto for Organ; Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms

from: Telarc

Release Date August 24, 2004
A brief, warm, often oddly dissonant choral work, Poulenc's Gloria, shines gloriously on this recording.

CD-Charts Position 5
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Mozart: Great Mass in C minor /McNair * Montague * Rolfe Johnson * Hauptmann * English Baroque Soloists * Gardiner

by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Eliot Gardiner, Sylvia McNair, Diana Montague, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Cornelius Hauptmann, The English Baroque Soloists, The Monteverdi Choir

Release Date October 25, 1990
Mozart's Great Mass in C minor is top of his all masses composition, and hearing this CD, you'll understand why. A part of the piece itself is beautiful, the singers, choirs, and orchestra in this interpretation showed a deep understanding of the music. Drastic crescendo from pp to ff in the finale of the Sanctus is one of the best part that I like the most, and though sounds very romantic, it showed the maturity of this work.
Jesu Christe (from the Gloria) is also a small, short piece but with deep and grandeur emotions...
Must have!

CD-Charts Position 6
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Bach: Mass in B minor / McNair, Ziegler, Simpson, Aler, Stone, Paul; Shaw

by: Johann Sebastian Bach, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Robert Shaw, Sylvia McNair, Delores Ziegler, Marietta Simpson, John Aler, William Simpson, Thomas Paul

Release Date October 10, 1990
Shaw's final recording of the Mass in B minor is a devotional, almost religious experience, despite being placed in a concert hall.

The performance here is very much cut from the same cloth as his earlier recording made in 1960 after touring all over the U.S. giving this huge piece in one-night stands. Tempi are broad and spacious, the sound rich and full. The soloists are all top rate. The music breathes in several passages wonderfully, especially the closing "Dona nobis pacem." The pathos of the "Et incarnatus" and "Crucifixus" is especially striking.

Shaw's interpretation falls into the traditional side of that tedious "HIP vs. Everything Else" debate, meaning his orchestra and chorus are quite large compared to more recent ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
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Come Rain Or Come Shine - The Harold Arlen Songbook / McNair, Previn

by: Sylvia McNair, Andre Previn, Harold Arlen

Release Date May 14, 1996
I have been an Andre Previn fan as long as I have been playing the piano--he is an amazing talent. I have also been a Sylvia McNair fan for years. And after hearing this CD and the "Sure Thing-The Jerome Kern Songbook" CD, I am a David Finck fan, too.

Sylvia has a beautiful voice, but singing for her is not about showing off her range, it's about the words and the mood, and so she sings with amazing feeling. Andre Previn's piano is brilliant, as always, and this album is an inspiration for all of us who accompany other musicians. His style and talent come through while never overshadowing the words from Sylvia.

Some songs I enjoy more than others. For some reason, "Two Ladies In The Shade Of The Banana Tree" just doesn't work for me. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Berlioz - Béatrice et Bénédict / S. Graham · Viala · McNair · Cachemaille · C. Robbin · Bacquier · Le Texier · Opéra de Lyon · Nelson

by: Hector Berlioz, John Nelson, Susan Graham, Jean-Luc Viala, Choeur & Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, Catherine Robbin, Gilles Cachemaille, Gabriel Bacquier, Vincent Le Texier, Sylvia McNair

Release Date May 05, 1992
this is a review of the work itself and not the recording, which is generally very well played, sung, etc. i was very curious to listen to b&b since 'much ado...' is my fave shakespeare comedy. after hearing it, i have to admit i'm a little disappointed. berlioz had to cut out the subplots of don jon and his schemes, and hero and her travails to fit this opera into a two hour format. trouble is what he has left, while it can stand on its own, somehow feels naked compared to the bard's story. the subplots not only add contrast and texture but they also extend the story, so that the denouement doesn't come so close on the heels of the deception scene in the garden. berlioz's opera just seems rushed compared to shakespeare's play. this isn't really berlioz's fault, though. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Sure Thing - The Jerome Kern Songbook / McNair, Previn

by: Sylvia McNair, David Finck, Jerome Kern

Release Date August 23, 1994
I heard Sylvia live at our local symphony concert and she does a beautiful job. We really enjoyed her singing and the way she engages the audience. I bought this cd to send to my aunt who is soon to be 80. I think she will love it.

CD-Charts Position 10
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Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice

by: Gluck, Mcnair, Ragin, Mvc, Ebs, Gardiner

Release Date August 20, 2002
Gardiner's newest set for Philips could not be more sharply contrasted with the earlier recording he made for EMI in 1989. Then he was persuaded at the Lyon Opera to record the Berlioz edition, in French. But all along Gardiner has much preferred the tautness of the original, Vienna version in Italian, which here on Philips he presents with a bite and sense of drama both totally in period and deeply expressive; the element of sensuousness, not least in the beautiful singing of the counter-tenor, Derek Lee Ragin, in the title role, complements the Elysian beauty Gardiner finds in such passages as the introduction to `Che puro ciel.' Sylvia McNair as Euridice and Cyndia Sieden as Amor complete Gardiner's outstanding solo team. One's only regret is that the set does not provide ... Read More: