CD-Charts Position 121
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Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Venture

Release Date May 15, 1995
Having your name extended through qualifications and growing a moustache Dali himself would be proud of does not grant you default access to the soul. High brow nothingness disguised as profound music easily sways sheep. Drop the education, open your heart, and wake up.

CD-Charts Position 122
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Bizet: Carmen

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Universal Classics

Release Date March 07, 2005
Not too impressed with the quality of the recording... I was really hoping for something MUCH better than that. If someone could recommended a brilliant audio recording of Carmen that would be just fantastic. This one lets me down I think. The singing is "top-drawer" though.

CD-Charts Position 123
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Sibelius - Complete Symphonies

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: London Symphony Orchestra

Release Date March 15, 2004
I only really came to appreciate Sibelius in the last couple of years, travelling through time from Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms; I'm glad to have taken the trouble.

Although I find something a little sterile about some aspects of the performances of some parts of this bargain box, I guess that Sir Colin Davis is allowed to relax a little on this umpteenth traversal of Sibelius's orchestral music.

The RCA sound quality is just fine and I agree with the other reviewers that this set would make a great choice for Sibelius beginners; it certainly proved to be so for me!

CD-Charts Position 124
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We'll Keep a Welcome

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Bryn Terfel Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera Gareth Jones

Release Date October 16, 2000
I was given this album as a Christmas present, and I can only say it's one of the best presents I've ever received! Lots of old favourites are here, including 'Sosban fach' and of course 'Land of my Fathers'. But for me the highlights are a truly rousing rendering of 'Men of Harlech' (enough to make even an army of the dead want to rise and fight!)and Bryn's impassioned delivery of one of the greatest of hymns, 'Cwm Rhondda (Bread of Heaven)'. Even if one is not religious (and I am not), this must surely move all who hear it - it had me in tears. It comes from the guts, and it goes straight to the guts. Terrific stuff!

CD-Charts Position 125
Average Rating:

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Murray Perahia: Beethoven Piano Sonatas Op.14 Nos 1 & 2; Op.26; Op.28

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Sony Classical

Release Date November 03, 2008
I was given this album as a Christmas present, and I can only say it's one of the best presents I've ever received! Lots of old favourites are here, including 'Sosban fach' and of course 'Land of my Fathers'. But for me the highlights are a truly rousing rendering of 'Men of Harlech' (enough to make even an army of the dead want to rise and fight!)and Bryn's impassioned delivery of one of the greatest of hymns, 'Cwm Rhondda (Bread of Heaven)'. Even if one is not religious (and I am not), this must surely move all who hear it - it had me in tears. It comes from the guts, and it goes straight to the guts. Terrific stuff!

CD-Charts Position 126
Average Rating:

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Vaughan Williams: The Collectors Edition

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Various Artists

Release Date April 28, 2008
EMI's new 30-disc box-set is one of the truly outstanding contributions to Vaughan Williams' 50th anniversary celebrations. In one collection listeners now have virtually his entire output in recordings ranging from the very good to the exceptional: this set is a tribute of EMI's long-standing commitment to British music (now sadly curtailed).

Vernon Handley's magisterial cycle of the symphonies is beautifully played and recorded, and the major choral works and operas are all presented in excellent performances and recordings. There are some omissions (of course, since EMI did not record absolutely everything Vaughan Williams wrote) but these can be easily rectified through the additional purchase of the opera 'The Poisoned Kiss' and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 127
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Howells : Requiem

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Naxos

Release Date October 04, 1999
This is surely the finest recording of Howells' beautiful Requiem, which was originally written for Kings' College Cambridge, and not in memory of his son, Michael, as previously thought (Michael's memorial is that other great Howells work, "Hymnus Paridisi"). Like Brahms, Howells exchanged the text of the traditional Latin "Missa Defunctis" for a sequence of Psalms and other sacred texts, including the "Salvator Mundi" in English, the 23rd psalm, and the Introit from the Requiem Mass, amongst others.

Alongside the Requiem features the beautiful St Paul's Service, two glorious organ pieces (the pedal reeds make the speakers shake!), and the motet "Take him, earth, for cherishing" - one of the most moving and perfect of choral motets to have ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 128
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Bach - Cello Suites / Steven Isserlis

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Hyperion

Release Date April 30, 2007
This is the finest recording of Bach's Cello Suites I have ever heard. Visceral, articulate, masterful phrasing, ornamentation and dynamics. Vivacious and delicious, the Cello Suites have been re-invented within the same architecture. Part of what makes it so visceral is that you can hear Mr. Isserlis's left hand fingers as they do their business up and down the cello neck. I also suspect that the use of gut strings makes a difference. Track 7 of Disc 2, the Prelude of Cello Suite 6 in D is particularly exquisite. The whole recording is terrific, though.

CD-Charts Position 129
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Schubert Lieder

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Elizabeth Watts, Roger Vignoles

Release Date November 03, 2008
This is a quite stupendous disc. It features some wonderful songs by Schubert ravishingly sung by Elizabeth Watts with some unbelievably sensitive piano playing by Roger Vignobles. Miss Watts is one of the brightest young international stars on the circuit as those who watched her win the Lieder prize at the BBC Singer of the World competition in Cardiff will testify. One of her most amazing strengths is the ability to create the most stunning and beautiful pianissimo high notes which she uses to great effect to characterise many of these settings. A "must-have CD" to add to the collection.

CD-Charts Position 130
Average Rating:

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My Fair Lady - Original Soundtrack

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Sony Classical

Release Date November 01, 1999
Most musical recordings seem choppy mostly because they are, and are rendered from the stage play, so of course they wouldn't make that much sense. MY FAIR LADY holds up well and you don't get this sense. The entire ablum is a gem and there's not a sour note in it.