CD-Charts Position 1
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Natasha Marsh

by: Natasha Marsh

Release Date June 23, 2008
This thrills in the same way AMOUR did but the choice of numbers is better and the guest singers superb. Natasha Marsh has such a natural voice and her musical interpretations and vocal colours always excite. I can't wait to hear album 3 and hope EMI don't regurgitate tracks again but throw some real money at this exciting soprano.

CD-Charts Position 2
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Amour - The Voice of Romance

by: Natasha Marsh

Release Date February 19, 2007

Soprano Natasha Marsh's debut album Amour (meaning `Love') hit the No. 1 spot in the classical album charts in its first week of release in February 2007.

The album is a mix of classical, contemporary classical, opera, popular and film music, so has inevitably attracted the interest of those wishing to debate the merits of the so-called `crossover' music genre and whether it is a case of a good opera singer selling out to the pop market, or a pop singer trying to masquerade as an opera singer.

For me this type of debate always detracts from the music and its real purpose, which of course should be to entertain. A singer, after all, should be free to perform anything he or she likes. A `real' opera singer surely is ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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Queen of the Night

by: Natasha Marsh

Release Date June 16, 2008
`Queen of the Night' is an adaptation (by John Haywood and Rick Blaskey) of `Der Holle Rache' from Mozart's Magic Flute opera. Written specially for ITV Sport's Euro 2008 Football TV theme, it's a clever adaptation, which starts with strains of Handel's `Zadok the Priest' (yes, another ITV tune, the Champions League football theme music!) and develops into a dramatic full orchestra performance culminating in a thrilling vocal finale to rival many a recent `Nessun Dorma' rendition.

The glossed up orchestral arrangement for this version admittedly does veer some way from Mozart's original scoring, which may not please opera purists, but it certainly achieves an immediately accessible route to enjoy a bit of classic Mozart to those daunted by ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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Handel: Silla

from: Somm Recordings

Release Date October 02, 2000
One of Handel's "political" operas, and one of his shortest and almost perfunctory of theatrical creations, Silla is somewhat of an enigma. Whilst recent scholarship has all but restored the original music, and a wordbook was found some considerable time ago, it is by no means certain that Handel ever performed Silla. Anthony Hicks, in his scholarly booklet to accompany the issue, opines that it may have been performed privately for the newly arrived French ambassador in June 1713. The libretto, possibly cut down from a lengthier Italian original by Giacomo Rossi, is curiously inconsistent in its characterisation of the main protagonists, particularly the name part. Silla is presented almost throughout as a most detestable dictator, inept, brutal, a sexual ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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Berkeley, M - Jane Eyre

from: Chandos

Release Date September 16, 2002
One of Handel's "political" operas, and one of his shortest and almost perfunctory of theatrical creations, Silla is somewhat of an enigma. Whilst recent scholarship has all but restored the original music, and a wordbook was found some considerable time ago, it is by no means certain that Handel ever performed Silla. Anthony Hicks, in his scholarly booklet to accompany the issue, opines that it may have been performed privately for the newly arrived French ambassador in June 1713. The libretto, possibly cut down from a lengthier Italian original by Giacomo Rossi, is curiously inconsistent in its characterisation of the main protagonists, particularly the name part. Silla is presented almost throughout as a most detestable dictator, inept, brutal, a sexual ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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Amour

by: Natasha Marsh

Release Date December 15, 2007
This is the Japanese import version, with 3 additional tracks and different photos, of Soprano Natasha Marsh's debut album Amour (meaning `Love'). The original UK version hit the No. 1 spot in the classical album charts in its first week of release in February 2007.

The album is a mix of classical, contemporary classical, opera, popular and film music, so has inevitably attracted the interest of those wishing to debate the merits of the so-called `crossover' music genre and whether it is a case of a good opera singer selling out to the pop market, or a pop singer trying to masquerade as an opera singer.

For me this type of debate always detracts from the music and its real purpose, which of course should be to entertain. A singer, ... Read More: