CD-Charts Position 111
Average Rating:

Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (Highlights)

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Gundula Janowitz, Barbara Vogel, Klaus Hirte, Patricia Johnson, Martin Vantin, Erwin Wohlfahrt, Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Release Date May 16, 1990
The duettino Sul Aria... on this recording is absolutely the best. I've heard dozens of recordings while trying to find this version. None comes even close to this. Buy it. You won;t regret it!

CD-Charts Position 112
Average Rating:

Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana & Leoncavallo - Pagliacci / Pavarotti, Freni, Varady, Cappuccilli, Gavazzeni, Patanè

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Giuseppe Patanè, Luciano Pavarotti, Julia Varady, Mirella Freni, London Opera Chorus, Piero Cappuccilli, Carmen Gonzales, Vincenzo Bello, Finchley Children's Music Group, Ingvar Wixell, Lorenzo Saccomani, Ida Bormida

Release Date October 25, 1990
This CD-Box is outstanding. Here you will find Pavarotti at his best, surrounded by other great artists. The few minutes of "Ridi pagliaccio", by itself, is worth more than the full price. When I listen to this CD, or to "La Boheme", or "Turandot", by the same label (Decca), all sung by Pavarotti during his peak years, I cannot avoid finding myself, at some point, with tears in my eyes. If you love opera, you should own all Puccini sung by Pavarotti in his best years. I think that whatever Pavarotti did or sung in his latest years cannot stain a life of wonderful achievements. And it's beautiful that his achievements will be available for everybody to listen for ages to come.
But beware... After listening to these wonderful Decca-Pavarotti recordings, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 113
Average Rating:

Mozart - Mass in C minor / Te Kanawa · von Otter · Rolfe Johnson · R. Lloyd · Marriner

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Neville Marriner, Kiri Te Kanawa, Anne Sofie von Otter, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Robert Lloyd

Release Date September 20, 1994
A magnificent cd. For those who find Te Kanawa a bit lifeless, this will change your view. It is a gracious performance.
There is a small, but annoying technical flaw in the track of Sanctus - which ends as if it was clipped off prematurely to avoid a cough or someone dropping a music stand. First Philips Classical CD I have bought that has exhibited a technical flaw.

CD-Charts Position 114
Average Rating:

Kiri

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Kiri Te Kanawa, Giacomo Puccini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Frideric Handel, George Gershwin, Giuseppe Verdi, Paul McCartney, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Marie-Joseph Canteloube, Gustave Charpentier

Release Date November 20, 2001
A terrific album by a great singer. This album represents the considerable territory that Kiri Te Kanawa covers in here repertoire. She moves easily from Handel to Puccini to Jerome Kern. The insertion of classic show tunes as a part of this CD is a nice little plus. Some opera stars absolutely kill popular music by overwhelming it with operatic technique (listen to Richard Tucker singing "What now my love"; this is a pleasant little tune, but it can't stand up to Tucker's voice of steel, using all the power at his command). Te Kanawa sings these songs, for the most part, nicely and does not overpower them with operatic conventions.

She does a wonderful job on Handel's "Let the bright seraphim," displaying good coloratura technique, as a matter ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 115
Average Rating:

Mario Lanza: At His Best!

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- 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

CD-Charts Position 116
Average Rating:

Luciano Pavarotti - Nessun dorma (Arias & Duets)

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni, Katia Ricciarelli

Release Date March 27, 2001
Who doesn't love Pavarotti? The short pieces on this disc are perfect for listening to in the car, and the sound quality is astonishingly good for the price. I would have edited out the lengthy applause that follows the live segments, but for $6.99, I'm not complaining.

ADDENDUM:
I see that since I bought this CD and wrote this review, the Amazon price has gone up by $1 (which while it seems insignificant is nonetheless some 14 percent) to $7.99. However, it is still a bargain for this wonderful collection of music by one of the greatest voices of all time.

CD-Charts Position 117
Average Rating:

Arias

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

Release Date October 25, 1990
There is nothing that breaks down the walls of adversity like music. It has indeed been said that in music there are no limits, and certainly Pavarotti is a patron of this ideal. In his voice there are no walls, there are no barriers and there's no telling where the vibrations of his vocal chords end and the music begins.
This CD collects the best of his arias, the greatest moments of his passions, in one comprehensive (albeit concise) disk. It would be an understatement (and an obvious statement!) to say that his interpretations are ideal, so I'd prefer to say that his interpretations open a new world: through his music, he has defeated his mortality, he has united people in heart and mind, and most importantly, he's given us a key to our own imaginations that inspires creativity. While ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 118
Average Rating:

Bach - Christmas Oratorio / Gardiner

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: John Eliot Gardiner, Nancy Argenta, Olaf Bär, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Alison Bury, Lisa Beznosiuk, Valerie Darke, Valerie Botwright

Release Date October 25, 1990
MONTEVERDI CHOIR AND THE ENGLISH BAROQUE SOLOISTS THE 'STARS' OF THIS RECORDING!!!!!
Johann Sebastion Bach (1685-1750) wrote very little church music after 1730, so it is not surprising that when he produced for Christmas, 1734, an 'oratorio' in six parts he adapted much of it from earlier compositions, mostly from secular odes. Recitatives and chorale settings were, of course, new, but otherwise all but one of the arias and nearly all of the choruses were 'parodies'. The six cantatas of the 'Christmas Oratorio' are designed to be performed on separate days from Christmas to Epiphany, but it does not necessarily follow that they are unconnected. Bach must have composed the work continuously, and there are many, sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle connections between the separate parts. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 119
Average Rating:

Sentimento: Andrea Bocelli with Lorin Maazel and the London Symphony Orchestra [Limited Edition w/ Bonus Track]

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Andrea Bocelli, Joaquin Rodrigo, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Jacques Offenbach, Francesco Paolo Tosti, Gioachino Rossini, Johann Paul Aegidius Martini, Stanislao Gastaldon, Luigi Denza, Stefano Donaudy, Lorin Maazel

Release Date November 05, 2002
"What I crave most, what I hope to achieve is to communicate with the listeners, to touch them in the same way that I was touched as a child by my favorite singers who made me cry and made me dream." ~ Andrea Bocelli ~

"May the pleasure we all have had in embarking on this new venture be shared by those who listen." ~ Lorin Maazel, Conductor ~

I classify the CDs from my collection into three major categories:
1. Closest to my heart
2. Closer to my heart
3. Close to my heart

This CD, "Sentimento," definitely falls into the number one category for its many musical qualities. I'm particularly drawn to it because of three of my all-time classical favorites: Franz Liszt's "Liebestraum" (Sogno D'Amore), Jacques Offenbach's "Barcarolle" and Ruggero Leoncavallo's ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 120
Average Rating:

Aria: A Passion for Opera

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

Release Date February 15, 1994
This is a limited number of arias of the possible repetoir of opera. It is, however, a magnificent collection. It is worth all the time to listen.