CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Puccini - Turandot / Sutherland · Pavarotti · Caballé · Ghiaurov · Krause · Pears · LPO · Mehta

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
from: Decca

Release Date October 25, 1990
I bought the recording in the tape form years ago. I could not listen to it any more because of the wear after I played it too many times. Fortunately, technology came to the resue, CD!!!

The tenderness, emotion, range, and capacity, from a delicate note to a full blown key, Luciano Pavarotti's voice is from Heaven. No tenor recordings came close to the quality of singing of this one.

Joan Sutherland is the sweetest Liu that I have ever heard. Better still, the voices of the two, Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pvarotti, were the best combination ever. Add to this, we get Montserrat Caballe as the princess.

What more can one ask for?

CD-Charts Position 2
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Puccini - La Rondine / Gheorghiu · Alagna · Matteuzzi · Mula · Rinaldi · Ciofi · Bacelli · LSO · Pappano

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
from: EMI Classics

Release Date May 13, 1997
This rarely-performed Puccini gem has been beautifully captured on this recording. Ms. Gheorghiu's voice is amazing. She was born to sing this role. The supporting cast is equally outstanding. Supported by the London Symphony Orchestra, it doesn't get any better than this. The engineering is outstanding. If you're a fan of Puccini, this recording is a must have for your collection. Superb!

CD-Charts Position 3
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Puccini: Tosca (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Victor de Sabata, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
by: Giacomo Puccini, Victor De Sabata, Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala

Release Date August 19, 1997
Originally posted in my music review blog. Check my profile if you are interested.

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Music critics have long been fond of drolly referring to Tosca as a "shabby little shocker" and then misattributing the comment to George Bernard Shaw. No small wonder, then, that this Tosca has long been hailed as the "greatest" opera recording of the last century, even before such milestones as the Solti Ring and the Giulini Don Giovanni.

But are such superlatives justified? There have been many fine recordings of Tosca in the 50 years since this one, most with better recorded sound and many of them boasting excellent casts. Are they so clearly second-rate?

The truth is, it depends on how you think of opera. If perfect vocalism ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
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Andrea Bocelli - The Opera Album ~ Aria

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
from: Philips

Release Date April 07, 1998
Let's not try to analyze every phrase, every note, every sustained pitch. Let's just listen to a tenor who sings from the heart. Pavarotti, he is not--but who is? Domingo he is not--but who is? In fact, who else is Bocelli?
As a tenor fanatic, I try to listen to as many tenors as I can--even some for whom I do not care (see my review on Carlo Bergonzi). There is enjoyment in all of them.
Now, one comment specifically on this recording. I have not been enthusiastic about some of Bocelli's other repertoire. But this entry into operatic arias ranks at the top of his list.

CD-Charts Position 5
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The Irish Tenors / McNamara, McDermott, Kearns, Tynan

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
by: John McDermott, Anthony Kearns, Ronan Tynan, Frank McNamara

Release Date March 09, 1999
Yes, my heart is in Ireland, and this CD makes me want to return -- and stay. What a joy this music is.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

The Very Best of The Irish Tenors

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
by: The Irish Tenors

Release Date January 08, 2007
I like any kind of music, but I especially like to hear tenors sing. I was somewhat disappointed, though, because this seems not to be made in the recording studio but at a concert because some of the songs have clapping at the end. I wish I had read that when I looked it up. I prefer studio recordings. I was very disappointed with the recording of my favorite song of all time "Danny Boy", but all in all the CD is not bad. Most likely when I listen to it several more times it will grow on me like it is already starting to do.

CD-Charts Position 7
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Carmen / Troyanos, Domingo, van Dam, Te Kanawa; Sir Georg Solti

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
by: Georges Bizet, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tatiana Troyanos, Plácido Domingo, Sir Georg Solti, José van Dam, Kiri Te Kanawa, Norma Burrowes, Jane Berbié, John Alldis Choir

Release Date October 25, 1990
First of all, History:

Carmen is not a grand opera. The belief in the opposite is one of the most artistically catastrophic malapropisms in the history of Western music. Georges Bizet, the greatest French composer of his day (in the world of Charles Gounod and Jacques Offenbach), is remembered today as a tiger of a conductor, an unbending an inflexible stalwart of musical realism, anti-establishment, and verismo (that red-blooded dramatic art perfected in part by Puccini and Mascagni). He composed Carmen in the tradition of the opéra-comique, an operatic sphere dating back to Mozartian comedy a la Le Nozze di Figaro, with musical sections accompanied by spoken recitatives or dialogues.

The Homeric tale of opera's creation, premiere, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor / Sutherland · Pavarotti · Milnes · Ghiaurov · ROH Covent Garden · Bonynge

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
by: Richard Bonynge, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Covent Garden Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Sherrill Milnes, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Ryland Davies, Pier Francesco Poli, composer: Gaetano Donizetti, conductor: Richard Bonynge

Release Date August 12, 1985
This is probably one of the top versions of Lucia di Lammermoor, one of Donizetti's greatest works. The cast displays such stalwarts as Sherrill Milnes, Nicolai Ghiarov, Luciano Pavarotti, and--of course--Joan Sutherland. Richard Bonynge did much background research to create a Lucia more consistent with the composer's vision of the opera; he also conducted.

Some representative segments of the opera. . . .

A very nice ensemble scene, "Cruda, funesta smania," features lively singing. Sherrill Milnes' rich voice is well displayed. The ensemble sings with great spirit.

A nice aria, "Regnava nel silenzio" is followed by a wonderful cabaletta, "Quando, rapito in estasi." This is one of Joan Sutherland's signature pieces. Here, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) / Sir Georg Solti

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
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 ultitmate Ring. Boasting an all-star cast and utilizing the best available technology to its fullest potential, the final result was a Ring cycle for the ages... or so was the general consensus. But as time wore on and new Ring 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 ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen

CD-Charts > Music > Voices
by: Deryck Cooke, Georg Solti, Wiener Philharmoniker, Anita Valkki, Berit Lindholm, Birgit Nilsson, Brigitte Fassbaender, Christa Ludwig, Claire Watson, Claudia Hellmann, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Eberhard Wächter, George London, Gerhard Stolze, Gottlob Frick, Grace Hoffmann, Gustav Neidlinger, Hans Hotter, Helen Watts, Helga Dernesch, Hetty Plumacher, Ira Malaniuk, James King, Jean Madeira, Joan Sutherland, Kirsten Flagstad, Kurt Böhme, Lucia Popp, Marga Höffgen, Marilyn Tyler, Maureen Guy, Oda Balsborg, Paul Kuen, Régine Crespin, Set Svanholm, Vera Little, Vera Schlosser, Waldemar Kmentt, Walter Kreppel, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Release Date September 13, 2005
In order to understand Wagner's ring you may simply listen to his work, about 15 hours, but some explanation can be of great help. And that is the purpose of these CD's, where a narrator uses short music examples (motifs) to give an insight of how it all fits together. In books, you often get only written music scores, and the author expects you to understand them. Here, the music itself is used. Again, this is a spoken book on 2 CD's presenting and explaining some of the ring's music themes. It was a great help for me.