CD-Charts Position 1

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La Forza Del Destino

Search: Marks
by: Philharmonia Orchestra Agnes Baltsa Renato Bruson José Carreras Mark Curtis Giuseppe Sinopoli Jean Rigby John Tomlinson Rosalind Plowright Ambrosian Opera Chorus

Release Date February 09, 2004

CD-Charts Position 2

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Verdi: La Forza Del Destino

Search: Marks
by: Philharmonia Orchestra Giuseppe Sinopoli

Release Date November 14, 2005

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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Mozarte: La clemenza di Tito

Search: Marks
by: Magdalena Kozená, Charles Mackerras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Release Date February 09, 2006
A disappointment for me, for expectations run very high indeed.

First, the tempi; they are all on the safe side. Mackerras did not offer any new insight. The playing of the SCO is exemplary.

And here are the disappointments:
Martinpelto's Vitellia is too soft-edge and lacks bite. 'Non Piu di Fiori' is not particularly exciting. It is very directly interpreted. The singing is adequate and that's about it. I can't imagine her to be the manipulative character on the stage. You'll go away disappointed too if you're expecting an equal or near-equal of Janet Baker and Julia Varady.

Kozena's singing of late, can only be described as bland. She seems to be on auto-pilot mode here. The singing is serviceable ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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Monteverdi: L'Orfeo

Search: Marks
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date October 14, 1987
A disappointment for me, for expectations run very high indeed.

First, the tempi; they are all on the safe side. Mackerras did not offer any new insight. The playing of the SCO is exemplary.

And here are the disappointments:
Martinpelto's Vitellia is too soft-edge and lacks bite. 'Non Piu di Fiori' is not particularly exciting. It is very directly interpreted. The singing is adequate and that's about it. I can't imagine her to be the manipulative character on the stage. You'll go away disappointed too if you're expecting an equal or near-equal of Janet Baker and Julia Varady.

Kozena's singing of late, can only be described as bland. She seems to be on auto-pilot mode here. The singing is serviceable ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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Verdi: La Traviata

Search: Marks
from: Decca

Release Date June 20, 1995
I hate to burst the bubbles of the "automatic five star" brigade, but you really cannot call this set the best "Traviata" available if you have some knowledge of what is actually out there. I do agree that Gheorghiu's Violetta is enchantingly vocalised and acted, and if she were worthily partnered I would place this recording near the top of the tree, but "La traviata" has proved a notoriously challenging opera to pull off in the recording studio and a perfect realisation yet remains to be done...so don't hold your breath, given the current state of the recording industry. According to your taste - and I like her very much - perhaps only Fleming could give us another great Violetta on record; meanwhile the likes of Caballe, Callas and, in particular, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

Search: Marks
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date May 06, 1996
This is, all in all, an excellent recording. John Elliott Gardiner uses minimal instrumental forces to give a version that is not only authentic, but true to the spirit of Monteverdi's masterpiece. Voices are accompanied by continuo only, with the rest of the orchestra playing during ritornelli over scene changes. (Hickox's recording for Virgin is similar in this respect.) Gardiner has used the Naples score of Poppea, which differs slightly to the Venice score heard in many other versions, and has replaced the opening Sinfonia (which was not composed by Monteverdi) with that of 'Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria', and had new ritornelli composed to correct some strange harmonies in the written out versions (Monteverdi probably only supplied the base lines). ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

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Mendelssohn - Elijah

Search: Marks
by: Libby Crabtree, John Mark Ainsley

Release Date August 11, 1997
This is an outstanding recording of Elijah - by far the best I have ever heard! It is so good there is nothing else for me to say!