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The #1 Opera Album

by: Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Léo Delibes, Georges Bizet, Umberto Giordano, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Wagner, Gioachino Rossini, Alfredo Catalani, Jacques Offenbach, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Charles Gounod, Gaetano Donizetti, Pietro Mascagni, Antonin Dvorak, Richard Bonynge, Herbert von Karajan, Alberto Erede, Lamberto Gardelli, Giuseppe Patane, John Mauceri, Zubin Mehta, Charles Dutoit, Gyorgy Fischer, Riccardo Chailly, Istvan Kertesz, Leone Magiera, Evelino Pido, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Luciano Pavarotti, Jussi Bjorling, Renata Tebaldi

February 27, 2001
I heard this CD on a PBS pledge drive (it was a premium) and found myself loving every cut on it! I was in my car and just wanted to keep on driving and listening. This is by far my most-played CD - I've had to make it a weekend only listen to prevent getting burned out on it. HIGHLY recommend it. Even if you are unfamiliar with some of the pieces, you will quickly learn to love them. . . . I must end this review - I'm off to listen to the "flower duet" for the 100th time. . .

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Ravel: Boléro

from: Decca

November 09, 1999
I find Maurice Ravel's music among the most unique and wonderful of the twentieth century. It marks the sublime marriage of pensive impressionism with--and many music scholars might disagree with me on this matter--a vibrant late-romanticism. There are few collections that highlight this grandness with as much clarity as this album.

The vividness of Ravel's orchestral coloring and the complexity of his polyphony can make the performance of any of his works a sizeable challenge for the finest of orchestras--the slightest miscalculation in dynamic, timing, or articulation can result in entire voices being lost in a mass of sound, but the Montreal Symphony do a flawless job. Also, Maestro Dutoit's interpretations are well-measured, ... Read More:

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Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals

from: Decca

October 25, 1990
As an instructor of a college level Music Appreciation course, I consider this CD to be a very handy item in my teaching arsenal. Believe it or not, these young adults appreciate being engaged in hands-on listening lessons, and the format of the composition allows for that. The quality and clarity of the sound is outstanding, and the orchestra of French musicians pays homage to their native son Camille Saint Saens. Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals
Thank you, J. Esquilin

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Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos 1-5

from: Decca

May 16, 1995
I am so happy to have discovered these piano concertos from Saint-Saens. I listen to this CD very often. It truly is a beautiful collection of music. I am thrilled to have discovered Camille Saint-Saens.

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Holst: The Planets

from: Decca

July 10, 2007
I actually played my five different-orchestra copies of this CD and this one out-shone all the rest. Two of the others include these renderings:

Holst: The Planets

Gustav Holst: The Planets

They are very good, but not up to Dutoit's art.

This was Holst's Magnum opus and what a wonderful slate of music it is! I think I like it especially BECAUSE it's easy to compare one orchestra against another with this music.

I won't be so foolish as to try to describe, in a blow-by-blow detail, this spectacular, mostly beautiful music via mere words, other than to say that this is "modern" (not "contemporary") classical music. But it may be helpful if you know this: If you like the following pieces/CDs, ... Read More:

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Saint-Saens: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso in Am; Danse macabre Op40

from: Decca

May 12, 1992
I hate to admit it, but the first time I head Saint-Saen's "Danse Macabre" was when I saw an episode of Disney's "Mickey Mouse Works" back in 2000, and I tried hard to see who composed it (I was thinking Berlioz or Dukas or even R. Strauss at the time). But now I own this disc and it gives me great pleasure to listen to some of Saint-Saen's most dazzling works.

The composer created "Danse Macabre" based on a poem by Henri Cazalis. It tells of Death waking up during every Halloween midnight. He, with his fiddle, summons up the dead and orders them to dance until sunrise. But this is more than just Halloween music. When I listen to it, I think of a young person who has just shrunk to 3 inches tall, and who has escape from the hungers of many creatures ... Read More:

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Essential Tchaikovsky

from: Decca

March 12, 2002
There's something for every Tchaikovsky lover on this disc. From Swan Lake to Onegin, many of Tchaikovsky's most-known melodies are on this disc. I'd have preferred more than an excerpt of the first movement of Piano Concerto No. 1, but this disc is a great introduction to Tchaikovsky's works.

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Violin Adagios

from: Decca

March 20, 2001
An excellent compilation of folk tunes and violin concerto adagios, played masterfully by some of the world's most revered musicians. Features modern pieces (Korngold, Barber), which are a personal favorite of mine.

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Accardo Plays Paganini: Complete Recordings

from: Deutsche Grammophon

October 10, 2000
Paganini the first million dollar musician. Anyone who loves the violin as much as I do, should purchase this set without hesitation. Accardo blows everyone away with these performances. They are almost as the master, Paganini, would have played them. These works are some of the most dynamic displays of violin playing the world has ever experienced. They are definitely in a class of their own. I know why Beethoven did not write more than one violin concerto. How can you compete against Niccolo`.

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Movie Adagios

from: Decca

October 09, 2001
This CD was all that I hoped for. Beautiful, evocative music just made for a relaxing evening at home.