CD-Charts Position 51
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Vaughan Williams: Fantasia On Christmas Carols, Hodie

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: British Composers

Release Date October 02, 2000
I bought this a couple of years ago and return to it regularly - a sure sign of a good recording. I like the music of Vaughan Williams and this is a good example of his music. The Fantasia was a big surprise - its a lovely setting of some well known carols. John Barrow has a superb baritone voice. The Hodie takes a little more getting into but it is worth the effort. Both choirs and orchestra have good sounds. At this price you can't go wrong!

CD-Charts Position 52
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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 53
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The Only Opera Album You'll Ever Need

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: RCA Victor

Release Date 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.

CD-Charts Position 54
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Bach - Goldberg Variations (1955)

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

Release Date July 26, 2004
This is a truly iconic disc, the legendary performance that introduced an eccentric Canadian pianist to the world at large. Gould had made a sensational debut in New York with a programme that included Beethoven's Op 109 sonate, a Sweelinck fantasia and the Webern variations. Snapped up by a CBS talent scout, he requested his first release should be Bach's Goldberg Variations, a seldom performed work the Leipzig cantor wrote for an aristocratic insomniac. As the recording took place, Gould sat on his pigmy stool, swaying, groaning, humming and playing like a god. Inbetween takes he popped pills, donned his overcoat and ate arrowroot biscuits washed down with spring water as the press gathered curiously to see the spectacle. The resulting LP sold ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 55
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Classic FM Music for Babies

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Classic FM.(Export

Release Date July 18, 2005
A few of the tracks on this CD are perfect, beautiful, soft, mesmerising and something Mummy could enjoy too... but I found the majority of tracks incredibly depressing - and thats not what you need after having a baby!!! I wish I'd paid more attention to the track listing and bought something else...

CD-Charts Position 56
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Orff: Carmina Burana

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
from: Great Recordings of the Century

Release Date October 05, 1998
Okay, first, for the uninitiated, what is Carmina Burana? It is that piece of music which they play if someone (prizefighters love it) needs a particualrly ostentatious entrance. Those in the UK who remember the Old Spice ads of the 70's and 80's featuring a surfer - that's Carmina Burana; specifically the first and last track "O Fortuna", "Fortune, you are like the moon; waxing and waning, bringing one man good forune and the next man ill luck" being an approximate translation. It is one of those pieces everybody has heard if they watch television or films at all (Oh yes, John Boorman's Excalibur uses a version). So, subtle it ain't? Wrong! - it has some of the most beaufiful, subtle, sophisticated, and charming pieces of music in it. Dulchissimo ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 57
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Serenade

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Katherine Jenkins

Release Date November 06, 2006
I will admit that when I first saw the track listing for this CD, I felt disappointed. "Come on!" I thought, "Katherine should be more original than this! Practically every soprano records 'O Mio Babbino Caro' at one point or another, and here are two common songs from the classical crossover genre, 'Nella Fantasia' and 'The Prayer'. Should I even invest in something that will only be a re-hash of things I have already heard many times?" In the end however, I decided that even with the unimaginative song selections, I would buy this CD.

I am very glad I did! There are so many gems here that I now consider this Katherine's best album. Surprisingly, "Nella Fantasia" instantly became a favorite of mine. Her rich, warm tones really brought this song ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 58
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Carnival Of The Animals - Narrated by Johnny Morris

CD-Charts > Music > Opera and Vocal
by: Johnny Morris

Release Date October 05, 1998
I wish that I had read BNW's review before I bought this (not through Amazon). I though I would be able to skip the narration, but this is impossible because it goes on over the music. It is so bad, I didn't bother to listen to the whole CD. I am not going to give it to my 6 year old neice. I do not want to hinder her growing appreciation of music. I will not give it to a charity shop. It would be unfair to unload my dissapointment onto someone else. The disk is in the bin.

CD-Charts Position 59
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Favourite Welsh Choirs

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

Release Date July 03, 2000
The quality of the accompanyments and the production quality are outstanding. This is undoubtedly the best Welsh Male Voice choir recording in my collection.

CD-Charts Position 60
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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 the original version ... Read More: