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The Only Opera Album You'll Ever Need

from: RCA Victor

March 31, 2001
The tracks on this cd are excellent and well worth the money. I get worried about the packaging of this sort of disc though because it reminds me of Tesco's attempt to sell wine to the masses by renaming a mediocre chablis as 'Good with meat' or whatever. If this was called 'Fine Opera' or 'An Opera Sampler' then I'd be a lot happier but the dumb approach of 'The Only Opera Album You'll Ever Need' makes me cringe. Once again though: the music is very good and the performances are excellent on the whole.

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The Only Choral Album You'll Ever Need

from: Victor

October 06, 2003
whoever wrote the 'whats on this cd' blurb mislead me to buy this item - I needed the WHOLE of the Messiah AND THE WHOLE of Faure's Requiem and reading this blurb you think you have it - but guess what - there are only extracts - the titles given are just for the whole work - not the individual piece of music - so I cannot learn the pieces for two concerts I am performing in before Christmas off this - very misleading. Sorry - but it is not the only album Ill ever need.

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Andrea Bocelli - Sacred Arias

from: Philips

May 13, 2002
A CD that has so much beauty it moves you from beginning to end. His voice portrays so much emotion that you don't just appreciate the sound, you feel every note that he sings.

There are some CDs that are simply labelled "mood music", and this for me is one that I file under such a category. Every time I listen it lifts me and transports me to places only I can go to. Somewhere that escapes the modern world.

The choice of arias is perfect. Many of which I was unfamiliar with. However, I have since introduced this CD to a number of people, many who listen to an entirely different genre of music; nearly all have been captivated by it.

All I can say is buy it and soak up the rich fare on offer.

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100 Classical Hits

from: Belart

October 13, 2003

This is a great low cost box set which does exactly what it says on the box - it gives you 100 classical music hits, covering all the styles such as baroque, classical, romantic and modern, and includes music from all the popular composers.

Some of the tracks are simply excerpts from the full piece, for example Beethoven's Ninth symphony, originally over 60 minutes long, is reduced to a two and a half minute rousing chorus of the popular `Ode to Joy'. Likewise, Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture is cut from 15 minutes down to the last few minutes of the exciting thunder and fireworks finale.

This editing enables a great range of `hits' to be squeezed onto five discs, and gives the classical music novice a chance to dip their ... Read More:

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The Best Classical Album in the World...Ever!

from: Virgin TV

November 08, 2004
A fantastic selection of all the tunes you've ever said "Oh.. that's the tune from the ....advert, isn't it? What's it called?" about.

OK that's a very trite comment, but you get my point. Pure enjoyment, without the intervention of the tracks in a single classical album which you have to pretend to appreciate if you're not to look like a Philistine.

An absolute belter..an education, and a gateway to composers you'd never heard of, (neither had I).

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Twilight of the Gods: The Essential Wagner Collection

by: Various Artists, Richard Wagner

May 25, 1998
This is a two-CD collection of some of the finest orchestral moments in Wagner's operatic repertoire. It is in many respects the perfect introduction to the power of his music.

The first CD focuses on "music of power, conflict and death" (as the blurb states), whilst the second concentrates on "music of love, ecstasy and redemption". We can all take this with a pinch of salt, of course, but that is not to deny the power of the music.

The extracts are from the Deutsche Grammophon and Decca catalogues, featuring top orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and the Philharmonia, conducted by the likes of Karajan, Bohm and Sinopoli.

It's not a perfect collection. For example, many of the tracks are ... Read More:

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Wagner - Mastersingers

by: Richard Wagner

June 30, 2008
Usually I find the orchestration of this opera a bit over-rich, thick and stodgy, but not so with Goodall. He thins out the texture wonderfully while revealing the counterpoint and the inner parts far clearer than ever before. Here it has such air and space to breath, that instead of being heavy and complacently bourgeois it is light and lyrical.
He achieved much the same thing with 'Parsifal', in the Sadler's Wells version, and transcendance too, and I look forward eagerly to the release of this in the near future.

I would have given this 5 stars if the sound had been up to current standards (or perhaps if the opera itself was less flawed).

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The Essential Classics Collection

from: DG

July 03, 2000
I bought this as a gift for my niece, since I wanted her to be educated about classical music as she was on her way to college. Ended up buying two copies as I found I loved it so much. Normally I like to pick and choose my orchestras, composers, and conductors, but this collection has jujst about everything. Also, I'd never bought some of the more "popular" items (Strauss and Grieg) as I'd heard them a million times, but now I have them and the performances are all great. This truly has a smattering of it all, and if you're not a classical music lover, it's bound to turn you on to the stuff.

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Wagner - Tristan and Isolde

by: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Edgar Evans, Blanche Thebom, Josef Greindl, Ludwig Suthaus

March 01, 2004
"Tristan Und Isolde" is a huge and powerful score, one that for many is simply "too much" to handle. It has a kind of "black magic" that no other opera has, and it's not an easy score to get a handle on. The music as a whole is, to say the very least, overwhelming. It took me years and years to really "get into it", and I've heard many recordings of it. That said, I find it very much like a narcotic that I must have. Small wonder that Wagner, when writing it, himself said that "this Tristan is driving me mad". Whatever the case, this EMI monophonic recording stands as one of the great recordings of the century, and for good reason. Furtwangler's way with the score is extraordinary. It's as though he sees a supernatural mysticism in the music, and is determined to make it seem ... Read More:

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Wagner - Tannhauser (Davis) [1978]

starring: Heinz Feldhoff, Gwyneth Jones, Franz Mazura, John Pickering, Robert Schunk

August 18, 2008
"Tristan Und Isolde" is a huge and powerful score, one that for many is simply "too much" to handle. It has a kind of "black magic" that no other opera has, and it's not an easy score to get a handle on. The music as a whole is, to say the very least, overwhelming. It took me years and years to really "get into it", and I've heard many recordings of it. That said, I find it very much like a narcotic that I must have. Small wonder that Wagner, when writing it, himself said that "this Tristan is driving me mad". Whatever the case, this EMI monophonic recording stands as one of the great recordings of the century, and for good reason. Furtwangler's way with the score is extraordinary. It's as though he sees a supernatural mysticism in the music, and is determined to make it seem ... Read More: