CD-Charts Position 151
Average Rating:

Dvorak in Prague-A Celebration

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Sony

Release Date March 22, 1994
excellent recording......i have been to prague twice and it is my favorite place on earth......the recording made me feel like i was there again.....

CD-Charts Position 152
Average Rating:

Pavarotti in Concert

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Polygram Records

Release Date October 25, 1990
Detractions from sniffling, miserable critics cannot diminish him. He was the greatest. Take a listen to this CD. He has the last word.

CD-Charts Position 153
Average Rating:

Mozart: Coronation Mass K317; Vespers K339 /Kirkby * Robbin * Ainsley * George * Winchester Cathedral Choir * AAM * Hogwood

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
by: Winchester Cathedral Choir

Release Date March 16, 1993
The Coronation is an incredible work of art that is so beautiful that it often brings tears to my eyes. Mozart has captured the Divine in this piece. I bought this particular recording because it also includes the Vesperae Solennes which is another beatiful piece. The Vesperae is not as strong as the Coronation but the Laudate Dominum (track 12) is INCREDIBLY beautiful and easily makes up for what the other parts lack. I also really enjoy the Epistle Sonata (track 3) which is not a part of the original Coronation, but works really well as a transitional piece. I rated this CD only 4 stars because I am not happy with the recording, there is a lot of background static and hiss which surprised me to hear on a CD. It also has a somewhat ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 154
Average Rating:

Music For Queen Mary-A Celebration Of The Life And Death Of Queen Mary

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Sony

Release Date April 04, 1995
'NOW DOES THE GLORIOUS DAY APPEAR' ON THIS DISC WITH GLORIOUS SINGING!


Purcell compositions for Queen Mary span the whole of her brief reign. He provided music for her coronation, on April 11,1689; for the formal celebraton of her birthday on April 30 each year; and for her funeral, on March 5, 1695. At the coronation of William and Mary his 'I was glad' was one of 9 anthems performed during this ceremony.

Purcell, in his position as Abbey Organists has tailored the music with precision. The opening passage is in stately block chords-straightforward for the choir to co-ordinate while proceeding along the nave, and arriving in their places just in time to watch the conductor for the closing bars. Later in the service ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 155
Average Rating:

Rossini - Stabat Mater / Orgonasova, Bartoli, Giménez, Scandiuzzi, Wiener Phil., Chung

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date January 28, 1997
Usually I might write a review on this in more depth. However, on delivering this peice Rossini wrote: "Here it is then, this poor little Mass. Have I written truly sacred music, or just damn bad music? I was born for opera buffa, as you well know. Not much skill, but quite a bit of feeling - that's how I'd sum it up. Blessed be thy name, and grant me a place in Paradise". - and it shows. If you are in a slightly emotional mood as I was when I last listened to it, and are playing close attention to the music I swore a tear actually came to my eye. Rossini should get his place in Paradise for this piece that is truly sublime at its peak. It is certainly heavily operatic, and at times does verge away from the beautifully tragic to the buffa but only slightly as ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 156
Average Rating:

Mario! Lanza at His Best

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Be My Love

Release Date February 07, 2006
I may argue that he was at his very best in his earlier years, but this collection of Italian songs, recorded less than two years before his death at 38, is superlative singing. Has there ever been a tenor who sings so naturally, powerfully, yet with such ease? Has there ever been a voice this beautiful?
I purchased this recording 50 years ago, when I was 14 years old, and I have played it regularly ever since. It never fails to touch me; to amaze me with how it can still hold its spell after so many repetitions.
The last note of the last song, "Passione" is powerful, majestic, and heartbreaking, all at once. Pavarotti? Corelli? Compare them all to Lanza in "Passione" and you will see why Lanza, at his best, is the greatest of them all.

CD-Charts Position 157
Average Rating:

Domingo Opera Duets with Milnes and Ricciarelli

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: RCA

Release Date August 15, 1995
Placido Domingo was a big star in the RCA label and on this Golden Seal recording (the best) he is prominently featured in various operatic duets with baritone Sherill Milnes and in two duets with the beautiful soprano Katia Ricciarelli. Especially impressive are the duets between Milnes and Domingo, who were paired quite frequently for the magnitude of their combined voices. Sherill Milnes may be criticized for lacking enough character in his renditions of baritone roles but he could never be accused of singing with technical vocal brilliance. His loud, unsubtle voice was perfectly matched with the dramatic top of Domingo's tenor voice. In their duets, we get fiery, intense and furious duels for voice, each trying to beat the other, two alpha males in fearsome vocal combat. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 158
Average Rating:

Wagner: Tannhäuser/Siegfried-Idyll/Tristan und Isolde

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date October 25, 1990
This wasn't Karajan's last concert, but on records it could stand in for that, along with his New Year's Strauss concert and the Bruckner Seventh, all with the Vienna Phil. A rancorous rupture and sudden resignatio kept him from making similar late recordings in Berlin. In any event, this short (54 min.) CD is a touching farewell. As with Bernstein's last concert with the Boston Sym., also on DG but a few years later, the maestro can't be said to be in top form--there is a papable sense of declining powers--but this is compensated for by glowing orchestral textures and the shadow of mortality which makes every moment important.

All the pieces are played in a freer, more elaxed way than one is used to from this supreme technician. Each is very lovely, and een though ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 159
Average Rating:

Mozart Portraits

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

Release Date April 11, 2006
This wasn't Karajan's last concert, but on records it could stand in for that, along with his New Year's Strauss concert and the Bruckner Seventh, all with the Vienna Phil. A rancorous rupture and sudden resignatio kept him from making similar late recordings in Berlin. In any event, this short (54 min.) CD is a touching farewell. As with Bernstein's last concert with the Boston Sym., also on DG but a few years later, the maestro can't be said to be in top form--there is a papable sense of declining powers--but this is compensated for by glowing orchestral textures and the shadow of mortality which makes every moment important.

All the pieces are played in a freer, more elaxed way than one is used to from this supreme technician. Each is very lovely, and een though ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 160
Average Rating:

Mozart: Magic Flute (Highlights)

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
from: Naxos

Release Date September 30, 1997
The very best of the Magic Flute. Good highlights selection. Good Quality and Good Price. I recommend it.