CD-Charts Position 51
Average Rating:

Gilbert & Sullivan: The Pirates of Penzance

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

Release Date May 13, 2003
I agree with the other 5 star reviewers. This is a fine production of this wonderful comic/parody operetta. Staid? Well, that's part of the fun. It's ridiculousness combined with its cleverness is what makes it great! It is simply wonderful that this performance is available on CD.

A small flaw - in days of LPs, a much higher level of distortion was acceptable. This CD preserves that distortion, so don't be surprised. But the quality of the performance overcomes any defects. The Mona Lisa was not thrown away because the paint became cracked.

CD-Charts Position 52
Average Rating:

Classic Wynton

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

Release Date November 10, 1998
It's easy to think that the culture is in decline (mostly because it is), but Wynton is proof that we are not done for yet. He is the real thing, whether you like classical or jazz or whatever. He is a master. I love this recording of some very familiar pieces, recorded here by a real virtuoso. Just as we were getting used to mediocrity, Wynton comes along and reminds us all that perfection is worth pursuing despite our teachers' insistence that we can feel good about ourselves no matter what we do. Here is the personification of artistry and the claim that greatness is worth pursuing and is achievable.

CD-Charts Position 53
Average Rating:

Strauss: Four Last Songs/12 Orchestral Songs

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

Release Date January 12, 1999
This record gives some of the best examples of Dame Schwarzkopf's art.
Everything on this disc is of the greatest beauty and intelligence. Buy it if you don't know why Mme Schwarzkopf was so famous!
I must however state, after listening through a great many versions of "Vier Letzte Lieder" (yes, Jessey Norman's too) that the best recording of this masterpiece comes from Elisabeth Söderström, CBE, on an EMI record from 1982, nla, and never reissued on CD. EMI, please.
Perhaps a bit surprising Birgit Nilsson's version also ranks high on the list. It is for sale know, buy it and compare! Listening to Mme Nilsson's version is to enter another sphere where calmness and serenity reigns.

CD-Charts Position 54
Average Rating:

Andrea Bocelli - The Opera Album ~ Aria

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
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 55
Average Rating:

The Very Best of Franco Corelli

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

Release Date April 22, 2003
I bought this CD as a birthday present for my father and haven't actually heard the content myself. But because I ordered it, Amazon have prompted me to write a review. Certainly the feedback I'm getting is excellent and my Dad has derived hours of listening pleasure from it.

CD-Charts Position 56
Average Rating:

Richard Einhorn: Voices Of Light

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

Release Date October 24, 1995
I heard this CD playing at a friend's home and ordered it the next day. I have enjoyed listening to it repeatedly and find it powerfully moving and beautiful.

CD-Charts Position 57
Average Rating:

Dive

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

Release Date April 20, 1993
In this album, I think Sarah Brightman is finding her voice. It's not flawless, and some parts are not even pleasant. But it's a very good attempt of bringing a new sound to people. I honestly think that she's gained her best sound in her more recent albums (Harem, La Luna, Classics). But this is her rock/crossover album.

CD-Charts Position 58
Average Rating:

Donizetti - La Fille du Régiment / Sutherland, Pavarotti, Malas, Sinclair, ROH Covent Garden, Bonynge

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Gaetano Donizetti, Richard Bonynge, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Orchestra and Chorus of The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Monica Sinclair, Spiro Malas, Eric Garrett, Edith Coates

Release Date October 25, 1990
Ni que decir; Joanine hace toda una verdadera creación inigualable de la Marie!!; como si fuera escrita para ella; que manera de cantar por Dios; en 1968 en la cúspide de los años "vocalmente angeliacal"; rol trágico-cómico de "happy end" que marca el antes y depués de Joan Sutherland; que decir del magistral binomio Sutherland-Pavarotti, el más perfecto y eficaz en la historia de la ópera!; Joanine muestra una caraterización simplemente "perfecta" vocal e histriónicamente; su voz en la mejor forma, bien temperada, sin excesos, de forma, cuerpo y color perfectos; el maravilloso Tonio de Pavarotti, con una magna interpretación sin mancha y elocuente, con una voz técnicamente corregida 2 años atrás por la propia Joan, bien impostada, bien engolada, con dominio del ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 59
Average Rating:

Bellini - Norma / Maria Callas, Ludwig, Corelli, Zaccaria, Teatro alla Scala, Serafin

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Vincenzo Bellini, Tullio Serafin, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, Franco Corelli, Nicola Zaccaria, Piero de Palma

Release Date March 17, 1998
do you people hear callas' voice? it is not even "average" on this recording. her voice had been in decline before this and her worst days ahead can be heard from time to time on this album. i cringe when i hear her mangle so many high notes. however, as is often the case with a callas recording, the rest of the cast is excellent, allowing one to overlook her less glaring faults.
her interpretation is, as always, impeccable and she was probably a sight to see on stage... but the voice is going here and nearly gone. if you must have callas, at least get the earlier mono recording.

CD-Charts Position 60
Average Rating:

Viaggio Italiano / Andrea Bocelli

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

Release Date November 18, 1997
As always, Andrea Bocelli's singing has moved me deeply emotionally. You can tell that his range of emotions, inflections and performance come from deep within his very heart and being. He is, indeed, a fantastic tenor - albeit perhaps not a perfectionist which to me is not as important as his deep feeling for the words and music he is singing. His voice does, indeed, appear to come directly from heaven. As for the more famous tenors, I prefer Andrea Bocelli over ALL of them. His deep feeling for and of music puts the perfectionist "all star" tenors to shame.