CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
by: Andrea Bocelli

Release Date October 30, 2007
Very good LP.
Each song seems to be a character, along with a great storyline.
Bocelli's vocals are perfection, as usual, and wrapped within the walls of the other instruments, this LP is a perfect thing.
It is NOT necessary to understand the lyrics, the delivery does more than speak to you: It creates a mood that reflects the very love that went into the creation of this LP.
Great job and money well spent.
This LP will effect you on a visceral level, it is pure mood.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Four Last Songs

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
from: Decca

Release Date September 16, 2008
This set of glorious performances by Renee Fleming, both the older ones included on the bonus disk and the new ones, especially the new versions of Strauss's Vier Letzte Lieder, seem to me so fine as to be nearly beyond praise. Listening to them, especially after reading some of the more critical comments here, has taken me back some 50 years to when I was a young lad in LA diving into the world of great singing, all on LPs then. There was much discussion in those days about Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas -- in fact, there was a debate, and sometimes a bitter one, about whether Tebaldi was better than Callas, or Callas better than Tebaldi. (A similar debate was going on over the different sorts of violin playing offered by Francescatti and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Four Last Songs

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
from: Decca

Release Date September 16, 2008
It says something sad about the current state of opera recordings that Renee Fleming hasn't been given a complete Strauss role on disc, not the Marschallin or Ariadne. As evidenced here, she is uniquely gifted to assume those roles, as well as to sing Strauss's orchestral songs. Compared to her 1995 version with Eschenbach (BMG), the new one marks a quantum leap in artistry. Fleming won a Guggenheim fellowship to study in Germany as a young singer, I believe, and her ability to find meaning in Hesse's poetry is impresive. I think only Schwarzkopf surpasses her in that regard. And Fleming can spin out a long pianissimo better than anyone since Caballe in her prime.

Thielemann is also a much finer conductor than Eschenbach. He and his soloist ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Glass Box: A Nonesuch Retrospective(10 CD)

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
by: Philip Glass

Release Date September 30, 2008
It says something sad about the current state of opera recordings that Renee Fleming hasn't been given a complete Strauss role on disc, not the Marschallin or Ariadne. As evidenced here, she is uniquely gifted to assume those roles, as well as to sing Strauss's orchestral songs. Compared to her 1995 version with Eschenbach (BMG), the new one marks a quantum leap in artistry. Fleming won a Guggenheim fellowship to study in Germany as a young singer, I believe, and her ability to find meaning in Hesse's poetry is impresive. I think only Schwarzkopf surpasses her in that regard. And Fleming can spin out a long pianissimo better than anyone since Caballe in her prime.

Thielemann is also a much finer conductor than Eschenbach. He and his soloist ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Pavarotti's Greatest Hits

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
from: Decca

Release Date September 18, 2007
I checked this cd many times at my local Library that I decided to buy it, it is great! I like that the lyrics are included. beautiful songs.
Love it.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Carreras · Domingo · Pavarotti: The Three Tenors in Concert / Mehta

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
from: Decca

Release Date September 05, 1990
This is a most enjoyable cd. The music selection is varied, creative and powerful. I think this concert was so special. I'm not particularly classical music oriented, but I did enjoy this music and have listened to the cd many times over. It is the depth of voices, clearness of notes and the fun the 3 tenors were having that really enchanted me. These three tenors have such a gift to give and do give it most generously. Most of the songs are classic Italian so that even people like myself who aren't necessarily opera buffs will enjoy hearing these voices even if they cannot understand a word. Most likely I will order more of this type of music.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
from: RCA

Release Date August 11, 1989
Not long ago, I listened to Olivier Messiaen's *Quartet for the End of Time* for the first time. I did not know what to make of it when it started, but by the time it ended it had made a deep impression. Since then I have listened to it several times more. Without the description provided by Messiaen, I wonder how many listeners would have guessed what the quartet was all about, or called it one of the greatest works of the twentieth century. I can't prove it, but possibly critics would have called it an interesting experiment. Yet the music taken together with its explanation (including the circumstances under which it was composed) communicates a compelling vision. I have attempted to convey some of Messiaen's vision with the aid of quotes from his description (as ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

25 Beethoven Favorites

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
from: Vox (Classical)

Release Date August 20, 1996
This is exactly what I wanted and I rec'd it very fast turnaround. Thanks you!

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Op35; Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Op77

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
from: EMI Classics

Release Date October 17, 1995
i bought this cd when i first started playing violin and it was the first recording of the brahms and tchaikovsky concertos i ever owned. now, over ten years later, i've heard countless renditions of the two romantic masterpieces, and these are still my favorite.

milstein's technique is flawless and his tone is pure and rich. his interpretation might be too subdued for some, but to my ears, it's exactly right; not too flashy, not too fast, just a perfect understanding of the music.

effortless, brilliant, sublime -- if you love these concertos (or even if you don't), you should own this recording.

PS. i just bought another copy. =)

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

The Best of the Three Tenors

CD-Charts > Music > General Modern
by: Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carerras, Zubin Mehta, James Levine

Release Date June 11, 2002
I ordered this last minute for my father for Christmas. It got here when it was promised and I was suprised. Thank you so much for making his Christmas!