CD-Charts Position 271
Average Rating:

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Bach, J.S.: Great Organ Works

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Peter Hurford

Release Date October 12, 1994
Well-judged tempi, good recording, the scholarship you'd expect from Mr Hurford, allied to imaginatively chosen registration. The C Minor Passacaglia & Fugue are particularly good - I've been looking for a sensitive recording of this for ages after dismissing a lot of ponderous versions which start off with the big guns already blazing!

CD-Charts Position 272
Average Rating:

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The Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World...Ever!

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

Release Date October 27, 1997
While there are some lovely pieces of music on these CDs they don't match the titles. When I bought this 2-set CD I thought that maybe I had received Vol2. or something by mistake as none of the tracks match the information on the CD insert. I decided to check by listening to the samples here on Amazon & discovered that they too are incorrect. Just to ensure I wasn't going mad I found the CD set on a US website and listened to their samples & they were correct!!! I wish someone could explain.

CD-Charts Position 273
Average Rating:

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Carols for Christmas

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Aled Jones

Release Date November 10, 2008
While there are some lovely pieces of music on these CDs they don't match the titles. When I bought this 2-set CD I thought that maybe I had received Vol2. or something by mistake as none of the tracks match the information on the CD insert. I decided to check by listening to the samples here on Amazon & discovered that they too are incorrect. Just to ensure I wasn't going mad I found the CD set on a US website and listened to their samples & they were correct!!! I wish someone could explain.

CD-Charts Position 274
Average Rating:

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A Classic Christmas

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

Release Date November 28, 2005
This is a wonderful CD with traditional Christmas music. Surprised by review complaining about sound quality - no problems at all with my copy - completely hiss free in fact!

CD-Charts Position 275
Average Rating:

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Cavalleria Rusticana - Mascagni / Pagliacci - Leoncavallo [1983]

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
starring: Yelena Obraztsova, Plácido Domingo, Renato Bruson, Fedora Barbieri, Axelle Gall
directed by: Franco Zeffirelli

Release Date May 09, 2005
I was very disappointed. Admittedly the filming was very good, but I was expecting much more. In future I will stick with grand opera. Am I wrong but did not Domingo have a famous aria to sing in Pagliacci? Where was it?

CD-Charts Position 276
Average Rating:

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Verdi - La Traviata / Sutherland, Pavarotti, Manuguerra, NPO, Bonynge

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Matteo Manuguerra, Richard Bonynge, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Della Jones, John Tomlinson, Jonathan Summers, David Wilson-Johnson

Release Date March 05, 1991
In many ways, this was Sutherland's return to form, for the much criticised mooning is largely absent. The voice is firm, rich, and she's fully in control of it. And for me that's the first problem: There's just no getting away from the fact that here is a very mature, matronly heroine, who sounds in the pink of health. Violetta is supposed to be young and desperately ill...

Some singers allow little vocal frailties into their singing to bring the character alive (Cotrubas, Gheorghiu, Callas). Sutherland never does, and her attempts at being expressive strike me as...manufactured. She sounds like a not-so-young diva enjoying a big sing. But in a role she's grown out of. The artful drawing on the cover, which attempts to take back ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 277
Average Rating:

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Mistletoe and Wine

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Mediaeval Baebes

Release Date November 03, 2003
I first heard the Mediaeval Baebes on a UK double CD (Best carols in the world ever) featuring three of their trackss (Guadete, Coventry carol, Adam lay ibounden), all of which can also be found on teir debut album, but my curiosity only became aroused when that UK double CD was updated and repackaged with a different title (Best Christmas carols ever) and all the Mediaeval Baebes tracks were omitted with other choirs replacing them. My research showed that they have become an established group (albeit with line-up changes) and are now very successful in their chosen style, which some may regard as classical but (since they sing with their natural voices rather than operatic voices) seems more like traditional folk music to me.

This is ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 278
Average Rating:

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Gladiator: Music from the Motion Picture

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Lee Ritenour

Release Date March 11, 2002
Despite the plagiarism of Wagner (Siegfried's Funeral March) and Holst (Mars) this is an astonishing soundtrack.

Dr BeeClarke.

CD-Charts Position 279
Average Rating:

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Beethoven - Complete Masterpieces

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Ludwig Van Beethoven, David Zinman, Alexander String Quartet, Yefim Bronfman, Christian Tetzlaff, Tonhalle Zurich, Anner Bylsma, Jos van Immerseel

Release Date May 21, 2007
This year has seen the release of three highly desirable Beethoven big boxed sets. First came EMI's 50 CD collection, (a bit of a mixed bag, with highlights including the Symphonies under Cluytens and the Giulini Missa Solemnis. However, it does also have Karajan's Fidelio from the early '70s, which must surely be the low point of the set).

Next came this Sony/BMG set which offers a delightful mix of modern, historically informed modern, and period instrument performances. Again there are highs and lows, but this time I find a more consistently rewarding selection of recordings than in the EMI set.

Finally we now also have the Brilliant Classics set, which claims to included all of Beethoven's works, mainly in fine recordings licensed from the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 280
Average Rating:

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Anna Netrebko - Souvenirs

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

Release Date November 17, 2008
This year has seen the release of three highly desirable Beethoven big boxed sets. First came EMI's 50 CD collection, (a bit of a mixed bag, with highlights including the Symphonies under Cluytens and the Giulini Missa Solemnis. However, it does also have Karajan's Fidelio from the early '70s, which must surely be the low point of the set).

Next came this Sony/BMG set which offers a delightful mix of modern, historically informed modern, and period instrument performances. Again there are highs and lows, but this time I find a more consistently rewarding selection of recordings than in the EMI set.

Finally we now also have the Brilliant Classics set, which claims to included all of Beethoven's works, mainly in fine recordings licensed from the ... Read More: