CD-Charts Position 191
Average Rating:

Verdi: Rigoletto (Highlights) / Sutherland, Pavarotti

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

Release Date August 08, 2000
If you can't afford the full set of Rigoletto, this is the way to go. I have about 10 versions of this opera which is one of my all time favorites.
This Rigoletto is supreme. Sutherland sings up a storm, tossing of high D's and E's with extreme ease. Her trill is a marvel indeed. She is completely match with a young Pavarotti that matches Dame Joan's gorgeous voice. Pavarotti's high D is stunning.
The only competition with this Rigoletto is the one with Callas.
But Callas can't touch Sutherland in voice or technique.
In conclusion, this is the Rigoletto to get if you only want the highlights.

CD-Charts Position 192
Average Rating:

Italian Songs: The Digital Recordings

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

Release Date June 25, 2002
My comments here are made about the contents of the three CDs so far issued in this series.

Some reviewers have expressed reservations and disappointment (or worse) in the results obtained by encasing in new musical settings the marvellous Caruso voice taken from his acoustic recordings. One point that must be understood by potential buyers (of whom may there be many) is that the outcomes are by no means uniform in quality. Some of them might most kindly be called curiosities, and yet the best of them are excitingly fresh and give new pleasure from hearing.

The original recordings range over almost 18 years, and we are told that the earliest of Caruso's records were made in a quite casual fashion (Fred Gaisberg the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 193
Average Rating:

Bernstein - Wonderful Town / Simon Rattle (1999 Studio Cast)

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Composers- A-Z
by: Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Audra McDonald

Release Date September 14, 1999
"Wonderful Town," was one of Leonard Bernstein's earliest successes, but unfairly it has tended to be eclipsed by the later success of "West Side Story." Here, in a fizzing performance, starrily cast, Rattle rights the balance in a performance at once vigorously idiomatic and also refined in the many lyrical moments. The two characterful sisters finding their feet in the big city are brilliantly played here by Criswell and McDonald, not just charismatic as actreses, but singing superbly. Hampson as Robert just as commandingly bestrides the conflicting problem of Broadway and the classical tradition, and Brent in the cabaret tradition. Such numbers as "Ohio," 'A little bit in love,' 'Conversation piece' and 'Wrong note rag,' rounded off with the big tune ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 194
Average Rating:

Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro / Gallo, McNair, Studer, Skovhus, Bartoli, Abbado

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

Release Date January 23, 1996
Firstly let's talk about the brilliant sides of this recording...
I own twelve other recordings of Le Nozze...This set offers one of the most consistently assured performances available...
Lucio Gallo(Figaro) has the characterization hidden in his voice...an intellegent and jolly-sounding Figaro well suited to his role...but he is not the best ofcourse...He can't be compared with Giuseppe Taddei,Hermann Prey or Sesto Bruscantini the Past time Figaros...But he can be the one after them in the first place...(in my heart)....Sylvia McNair is a Brilliant Susanna...I usually don't like her other recordings but she is the one to be Susanna...She gives you the taste of an intelligent servant and is succesful with her singing style...Bo Skovhus is one of the best Conte ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 195
Average Rating:

Verdi: La Traviata [Hybrid SACD]

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

Release Date November 09, 2004
Clearly SACD is at top of everything we were used to hear. Of course, many collectionists will complain because of how much did they spent on thousands of records. I use to get bored by hearing allways the same tunes, and this super audio cd's (and sony's dsd remastered columbia records as well) bring new air to well known performances.

CD-Charts Position 196
Average Rating:

The Jessye Norman Collection: Brahms and Schumann Lieder

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

Release Date May 10, 2005
I really enjoy these recordings that are at great tempi, they are great for diction and the musicianship is a fine quality.

CD-Charts Position 197
Average Rating:

Schubert: Goethe-Lieder / Fischer-Dieskau, Demus, Moore

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

Release Date June 15, 1999
DG released this recording of Schubert lieder based on texts of Wolfgang von Goethe in the late 1990s. I bought it in 1999 on the strength of a review in AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, where the reviewer said "Fischer-Dieskau could do it all" - an apt description. Keep in mind that many of these tracks are with pianist Jorg Demus, and are not the same as those in Fischer-Dieskau's 2 big DG boxes (9 disc each) of Schubert Lieder, which are with pianist Gerald Moore.

These recordings date from the late 1950s and early 1960s when Fischer-Dieskau (b. 1925), was in his mid 30s, and in great shape vocally, performing lieder and opera all over Europe, + prolifically making recordings for EMI and DG which were released on LP in the US and Europe.

This is a valuable disc for those wanting ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 198
Average Rating:

Pavarotti's Opera Made Easy: My Favorite Love Songs

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

Release Date August 23, 1994
I really never cared much for opera until I purchased this CD.Now I recognize a lot of music from movies and stage that are actually operas.Must Have CD!!!!!!!!!!!!

CD-Charts Position 199
Average Rating:

Schubert: Lieder

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

Release Date December 13, 2005
It's surprising that, as I write this, there is only one other review. This set may be the most valuable recording of lieder in the history of recorded music. Containing all of Schubert's songs for male voice (there are many others that DFD didn't record, because they are for higher ranges), this set is brilliant, and has a rare homogeneity. Some may say that it's not quite as good as his recordings from the 1960s, and they may be right. But this set has a unity of vision that spans all 21 CDs, from the songs of Schubert's youth to the three great song cycles.

DFD is certainly the golden voice that has left the greatest imprint on lieder singing, and this set should be in every lieder fan's library. While completists will want to also pick up the Complete Songs on Hyperion (on 37 CDs, includes ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 200
Average Rating:

Mario Lanza: At His Best!

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

Release Date May 15, 1995
I was 12 years old when I saw the movie The Great Caruso.
Mario died when I was 17. I lost interest in Tenors until I saw Pavaroti on TV. It was after I attended a live preformance of Andrea Bocelli that I was overwhelmed with his voice. Since then, I purchased many CD's of Mario Lanza and have concluded that his powerful voice beats all the tenors of today.

I highly recommend this CD and all Mario Lanza's CD's