CD-Charts Position 61
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The Complete EMI Recordings 1946-1984, Vol. 1: Orchestral [Box Set]

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

Release Date April 01, 2008
Not only is this conductor first class, the recordings are of good quality. The cost is less than $2 per hour of music.

CD-Charts Position 62
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The Ultimate Puccini Collection

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Giacomo Puccini, Herbert von Karajan, Riccardo Chailly, Stephen Barlow, Tullio Serafin, Lorin Maazel, Sir Edward Downes, Giuseppe Patane, Zubin Mehta, Alberto Erede, John Mauceri, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, John Alldis Choir, Luciano Pavarotti, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bologna Community Theater Orchestra, Ettore Bastianini, Carlo Bergonzi, Renato Cesari, Fernando Corena, Cesare Siepi, Renata Tebaldi, Gianna D'Angelo, Saint Cecilia Academy Orchestra, Franco Corelli, Alfredo Mariotti, Regine Crespin, Royal Opera House Orchestra Covent Garden, London Symphony Orchestra, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra, Rome Opera House Orchestra, Pilar Lorengar, Berlin Philharmonic Brass Ensemble, Mirella Freni, Rolando Panerai, Jussi Bjorling, Leontyne Price, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Release Date June 09, 1998
"Quando m'en vo" is not omitted from this CD; it is just called "Musetta's waltz song." It is the same aria.

CD-Charts Position 63
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Donizetti: L'Elisir D'Amore

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Gaetano Donizetti, James Levine, Luciano Pavarotti, Kathleen Battle, The Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Opera, Enzo Dara, Dawn Upshaw Leo Nucci

Release Date November 10, 1990
Turn the lights off, relax in your favourite chair and sip a glass of fine wine. Press play close your eyes and enjoy !!. This is without doubt one of the definitive productions of this Opera by Donizetti. The Quality of the cast (The late great Pavarotti and Battle) and the recording itself oozes out of every pore of this cd. Ignore the supporting cast as per other reviews.just let the music and lyrics flow through you as the mins drift by.I would recommend that you buy this recording , no matter the costto your pocket. The haunting quality of Una Fortima Lagrima is worth the money on its own.

CD-Charts Position 64
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The Very Best of The Irish Tenors

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
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 65
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Very Best of Sarah Brightman: 1990-2000

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

Release Date June 04, 2001
Like all music of Sara Brightman. it's absolute quality. She has a voice that is so flexible, that she can sing nearly al kind of music from Clasical up to hard rock. Besides this she is also a first class performer.

CD-Charts Position 66
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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 67
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An English Ladymass: Medieval Chant and Polyphony

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Anonymous, Marsha Genensky, Anonymous 4

Release Date March 08, 1993
I never tire of listening to this CD. Lovely and enchanting. Includes a booklet with all the words if you want follow each song closely.

CD-Charts Position 68
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Dvorák - Rusalka / Fleming · Heppner · Zajick · Hawlata · Urbanová · Czech Phil · Sir Charles Mackerras

CD-Charts > Music > Featured Performers- A-Z
by: Antonín Dvorák, Charles Mackerras, Renée Fleming, Ben Heppner, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Kühn Mixed Choir, Franz Hawlata, Eva Urbanová, Zdena Kloubová Dolora Zajick, Ivan Kusnjer

Release Date October 20, 1998
In 1998 Fleming and Heppner were widely accalimed for this, the most vocally resplendent Rusalk ever recorded. As everyone else says, Ms. Fleming's radiant soprano is thrilling in the title role, and Heppner's heroic timbre is gilt-edged casting. Mackerrass is a Czech specialist from way back, and his conducing is strong and sympathetic. One might lament that we can't have native Czech performers on this level, but Decca recorded most of ts Janacek cycle, also under Mackerras, with non-native leads. I imagine that the Czech pronunciation here is much less than idiomatic, and that there's a good deal more earthiness in Dvorak's music, but those are quibbles. This amounts to one of the most ravishing opera recordings in years.

One Spotlight reviewer above makes idiotic ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 69
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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 ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 70
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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.