CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Puccini - La Boheme (The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series)

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
starring: Angela Gheorghiu, Ramon Vargas, Ainhoa Arteta, Ludovic Tezier, Quinn Kelsey
directed by: Nicola Luisotti (Conductor)

Release Date September 16, 2008
This is one of the better DVD releases of the Met's recent enormously popular live HD moviecasts. The cast sings well, the production is one of Franco Zefferelli's less tacky creations, and La Boheme remains one of the singer-proof operas. Puccini's music is so affecting that even rather average singers can make the experience moving.
Fortunately this La Boheme has assembled a cast that is far from average. I saw the production in its opening night with the same cast. I found both Vargas and Gheorghiu's voice to be a tad small for the large cavernous Met, but one cannot argue with the beauty of their voices. Gheorghiu's voice in particular has a dusky, husky, fragile sounding timbre that gives us the illusion of a consumptive. Her snow ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin / Fleming, Vargas, Hvorostovsky, Gergiev, Carsen [Metropolitan Opera 2007]

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
starring: Renee Fleming, Ramon Vargas, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Valery Gergiev, Jean-Paul Fouchecourt
directed by: Brian Large, Robert Carsen

Release Date December 18, 2007
This is a stellar performance by a superb cast and conducted expertly by Valery Gergiev. Hvorostovsky and Fleming are ideal as Onegin and Tatiana The stark set, indeed a "non-set", is at first disappointing, but does succeed in focusing attention on the human drama instead of toward lavish production elements. Color is used very effectively to saturate each scene and outline the singers. This production no doubt benefited from the close scrutiny of the camera because the performances were finely tuned and sublty nuanced. As an example, the usual "dance spectacle" accompanying the Polonaise which opens Act III is replaced here by Onegin attended to by his valet staff while changing from dueling attire to formal dress. Although I enjoy a lavish production ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

La Traviata (Ws Sub) [Blu-ray]

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
starring: Verdi, Gheorghiu, Vargas, Frontali, Maazel

Release Date September 30, 2008
This is a stellar performance by a superb cast and conducted expertly by Valery Gergiev. Hvorostovsky and Fleming are ideal as Onegin and Tatiana The stark set, indeed a "non-set", is at first disappointing, but does succeed in focusing attention on the human drama instead of toward lavish production elements. Color is used very effectively to saturate each scene and outline the singers. This production no doubt benefited from the close scrutiny of the camera because the performances were finely tuned and sublty nuanced. As an example, the usual "dance spectacle" accompanying the Polonaise which opens Act III is replaced here by Onegin attended to by his valet staff while changing from dueling attire to formal dress. Although I enjoy a lavish production ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

The Opera Gala: Live from Baden-Baden

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
starring: Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Ramón Vargas, Ludovic Tezier

Release Date January 08, 2008
Do not hesitate to buy this DVD. It is worth every dollar. The four singers really stand out, Netrebko with her angel-like voice, Vargas with a wonderful tenor voice, Garanca as a colorful mezzo and Tezier as a brilliant baritone. Each and every aria are outstandingly sung and when the four of them join to sing both an aria from Rigoletto and from Traviata their voices blend wonderfully. It is one of those treasures that are worth being discovered. Javier from Bariloche

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Henryk Gorecki: Symphony 3 "Sorrowful Songs"

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
from: Nonesuch

Release Date May 05, 1992
I am not a trained musician and cannot speak in such terms. However, I can speak to the emotion I felt as I listened to this music. I find this work particularly moving from the near silence of the beginning of the first movement to the plaintive prayer to Our Lady in the last. To me this is a piece of quiet power; the gradual crescendo of sound to Dawn Upshaw's first soaring soprano and gradual decrescendo to near silence in the first movement, the soulful prayer to the Holy Mother in the second movement. In the third movement where one might expect anger I heard the despairing lament and final quiet resolution. I do not speak Polish but am familiar with the sounds of the language. Dawn Upshaw sings with such clarity that I was able to follow the Polish libretto ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

La Traviata at La Scala

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
starring: Angela Gheorghiu, Ramon Vargas, Roberto Frontali, Lorin Maazel
directed by: Liliana Cavani

Release Date September 30, 2008
This new DVD from Arthaus faces formidible competition from Gheorghiu's first Violetta on Decca; this was her "double" debut, both on DVD and CD. It was her first undertaking of the role and clearly she meant to make it her own. The conductor, Solti, allows for the second verses to arias that are either frequently cut (O mio rimorso and Addio del passato) and includes the cabaletta to Di provenza--not one of Verdi's most inspired moments.

This new DVD uses sets that were new in 1990 although I don't think anyone could lodge a complaint in this area: they are opulent, plush and quite gorgeous. The conservative opera goer will have no complaint here. If memory serves me correctly this is the same production that featured Tiziana Fabriccini, an interpretation ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Vivaldi: Gloria; Bach: Magnificat

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
from: Telarc

Release Date May 19, 1989
Of all the performances of the Vivaldi Gloria I have listened to, I like this the best. Clarity, emphasis, orchestra, soloists - all excellent. A balanced performance. The Bach is a bonus...

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Donizetti: L'Elisir D'Amore

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
by: Gaetano Donizetti, James Levine, Luciano Pavarotti, Kathleen Battle, The Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Opera, Enzo Dara, Dawn Upshaw Leo Nucci

Release Date November 10, 1990
Turn the lights off, relax in your favourite chair and sip a glass of fine wine. Press play close your eyes and enjoy !!. This is without doubt one of the definitive productions of this Opera by Donizetti. The Quality of the cast (The late great Pavarotti and Battle) and the recording itself oozes out of every pore of this cd. Ignore the supporting cast as per other reviews.just let the music and lyrics flow through you as the mins drift by.I would recommend that you buy this recording , no matter the costto your pocket. The haunting quality of Una Fortima Lagrima is worth the money on its own.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Franz Joseph Haydn: The Creation

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
by: Franz Joseph Haydn, Donna Carter, John Cheek, Jon Humphrey, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Robert Shaw

Release Date October 27, 1992
This oratorio is excellent. From a musical viewpoint, the orchestration, vocal work, and overall technics of this work are superbly done. In the spiritual sense, this oratorio manages to get the real feel of the Creation. You can see God's awesome works being performed before your eyes. When the final chorus is sung you leave with a greater sense of God and power.
One piece that is very well sung and is particularly uplifting is the hymn of thanks and praise to God which Adam and Eve sing. One thing I like about this work is that the fall of man into sin is not included. The Creation is the Creation, and we don't have to think of sin being in the world.
The soloists are some of the finest in the world, and robert Shaw is at his best with another superb recording.
I ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Schubert: Masses Nos. 2 & 6

CD-Charts > Music > U to Z
from: Telarc

Release Date May 07, 1990
Schubert: Masses Nos. 2 & 6 Absolute choral purity and diction make this another of Robert Shaw's exquisite recordings. Perfect in every way.