CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Romanza

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Andrea Bocelli

Release Date September 23, 1997
The music is almost to level of chanting for meditation and provides enormous psychological comfort.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Luciano Pavarotti: The Best (Farewell Tour)

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
from: Decca

Release Date September 13, 2005
The CD wasn't originally for me but my dad loves it. He plays it all the time and claims its a very complete collection of the artist.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-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 ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Time to Say Goodbye

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Sarah Brightman, London Symphony Orchestra

Release Date September 23, 1997
Arguably the least flawed of her albums, Brightman's "Time To Say Goodbye" is a collection of songs (new and classic standards) which could argue were written exclusively for her. Flawless duets galore and high notes that bring tears to listeners, her powerful voice generates more emotion with its dramatic storytelling than any film actress alive could do with the same material, using voice and facial emotion. A must have for fans, and those interested in La Divina for the 1980s and beyond.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Sarah Brightman Classics

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Sarah Brightman, Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, Francisco Tarrega, George Frideric Handel, Fryderyk Chopin, Sergey Rachmaninov, Giacomo Puccini, Antonin Dvorak, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Marie Canteloube, Francesco Sartori, Paul Bateman

Release Date November 20, 2001
Love Sarah Brightman, however, this CD doesn't have one song on it in English. While I enjoy a mixture of her other CDs that are bilingual, this entire CD consists of songs in other languages I don't understand. Very disappointing. Played it thru only once. Probably won't play it again. No speakers on my computer so I can't "test run" these. My own fault, I guess.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

The Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World...Ever!

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Johann Sebastian Bach, Léo Delibes, Gabriel Fauré, Erik Satie, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Edvard Grieg, Johann Pachelbel, Claude Debussy, Felix Mendelssohn, Camille Saint-Saens, Henryk Gorecki, Antonio Vivaldi, Edward Elgar, Jocelyn Pook, Sergey Rachmaninov, Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, Luigi Boccherini, Jules Massenet, Ludwig van Beethoven, Jacques Offenbach, Pietro Mascagni, Antonin Dvorak, Giacomo Puccini, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Alexander Borodin, Joaquin Rodrigo, Samuel Barber

Release Date March 30, 1999
The music on this cd is excellent. I would listen to it on my commute home from work, and it keeps me from getting annoyed with traffic. I would just focus on the rhythms and soothing sounds.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Eden (US Release - 16 tracks)

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Sarah Brightman

Release Date April 20, 1999
A stunning effort, "Eden" picks up where "Time to Say Goodbye" left off and trailblazes Brightman into a successful territory where few, if any, classical artists could succeed. Emotional, beautiful, exotic, tender, and pleasant all the way through. Obvious influences come to mind with the myriad of diverse songs which suit even the most discriminating of listeners.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
from: Decca

Release Date September 05, 1990
I respectfully agree yet disagree with Ms Barbara Eisner who wrote the review of the 3 Tenors 1990 concert. She is right that Carreras was not on par with the other 2 but that is only because at this late stage in his (Carreras) career he was not in the very fine voice he once was due to overuse of his voice and his battle with leukemia, which he valiantly won!. If you could appreciate, as I do,Carreras' 1970's richly-gorgeous and velvety voice in recordings of operas such as Lucia, La Boheme, Donizetti and liter Verdi operas you would have seen his mid 70's peak voice would have been every been as excellent as Domingo and Pavarotti were in the 3 Tenors 1990 concert. In fact, I dare to say he would have blown both men out of the water..with the possible ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

The Most Famous Opera Duets

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
from: EMI Classics

Release Date April 12, 1994
Maybe these don't represent absolutely the greatest duets in all opera. But they represent some awfully good ones! The CD begins with a duet from "Les Pecheurs des Perles" (Puccini) and ends with the gloomy Miserere (from "Il Trovatore," by Verdi). In between are many more operas, from Donizetti and Mozart to Strauss and Wagner. Some of the finer singers of the past half century appear in various of these duets.

A bit more detail on a handful of these to illustrate.

"Sull'aria" from Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro." Heather Harper and Judith Blegen sing the parts here. This is a sweet duet from the opera. The singer's voices meld well together and this represents a poignantly sung piece.

"Ah! Verrana a tell sull'aure," ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

The Opera Gala: Live from Baden-Baden

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
starring: Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Ramón Vargas, Ludovic Tezier

Release Date January 08, 2008
It was a very enjoyable concert. Anna Netrebko showed her multi-talents with her beautiful voice, great showmanship, spontaneity, charisma, warm personality and had the audience in the palm of her hand. I particularly enjoyed her singing and dancing Franz Lehar's "Meine Lippen sie Kussen so Heiss" for the encore.