CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

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Handel: Solomon

Search: Prince
by: Nancy Argenta Barbara Hendricks Carolyn Watkinson Anthony Rolfe Johnson The Monteverdi Choir English Baroque Soloists John Eliot Gardiner

Release Date May 15, 2006
Reviewing a PG Rosette recording in detail after more than two decades would be superfluous. This being my first SOLOMON, I confess that I didn't find much of the score entirely memorable at the beginning, but those gems revealed themselves on repeated hearings; however, my all-time favourite Handel oratorio is still THEODORA. Though I can't find fault with its performative and sonic qualities, this classic recording has to lose a star on account of Gardiner's fatal decision to eliminate five arias: in the accompanying booklet, JEG defends sanctioning the cuts, arguing (unconvincingly for me) that they were composed for specific singers (aren't many of those singer requests masterpieces?), and that they hold up the action (if this were the case, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

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Handel: Solomon

Search: Prince
from: Philips

Release Date October 11, 2004
Reviewing a PG Rosette recording in detail after more than two decades would be superfluous. This being my first SOLOMON, I confess that I didn't find much of the score entirely memorable at the beginning, but those gems revealed themselves on repeated hearings; however, my all-time favourite Handel oratorio is still THEODORA. Though I can't find fault with its performative and sonic qualities, this classic recording has to lose a star on account of Gardiner's fatal decision to eliminate five arias: in the accompanying booklet, JEG defends sanctioning the cuts, arguing (unconvincingly for me) that they were composed for specific singers (aren't many of those singer requests masterpieces?), and that they hold up the action (if this were the case, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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Handel: Oratorios

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by: John Eliot Gardiner

Release Date September 19, 2005
Reviewing a PG Rosette recording in detail after more than two decades would be superfluous. This being my first SOLOMON, I confess that I didn't find much of the score entirely memorable at the beginning, but those gems revealed themselves on repeated hearings; however, my all-time favourite Handel oratorio is still THEODORA. Though I can't find fault with its performative and sonic qualities, this classic recording has to lose a star on account of Gardiner's fatal decision to eliminate five arias: in the accompanying booklet, JEG defends sanctioning the cuts, arguing (unconvincingly for me) that they were composed for specific singers (aren't many of those singer requests masterpieces?), and that they hold up the action (if this were the case, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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The Curse of the Mummys Tomb

Search: Prince
by: Original Soundtrack

Release Date March 13, 2006
Reviewing a PG Rosette recording in detail after more than two decades would be superfluous. This being my first SOLOMON, I confess that I didn't find much of the score entirely memorable at the beginning, but those gems revealed themselves on repeated hearings; however, my all-time favourite Handel oratorio is still THEODORA. Though I can't find fault with its performative and sonic qualities, this classic recording has to lose a star on account of Gardiner's fatal decision to eliminate five arias: in the accompanying booklet, JEG defends sanctioning the cuts, arguing (unconvincingly for me) that they were composed for specific singers (aren't many of those singer requests masterpieces?), and that they hold up the action (if this were the case, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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Handel: Belshazzar

Search: Prince
by: Trevor Pinnock, The English Concert, James Bowman

Release Date June 07, 2004
The singing is good, but perhaps a little underpowered & Pinnock's
conducting is stylish & lively. There is an excellent note by Anthony
Hicks,& a synopsis but no text. The great scene in the work is the one
where the writing appears on the wall. Alas, there is an unnecessary
disc change in the middle of it, completely destroying the flow.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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1946-1950

Search: Prince
by: Crown Prince Waterford

Release Date
The singing is good, but perhaps a little underpowered & Pinnock's
conducting is stylish & lively. There is an excellent note by Anthony
Hicks,& a synopsis but no text. The great scene in the work is the one
where the writing appears on the wall. Alas, there is an unnecessary
disc change in the middle of it, completely destroying the flow.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

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Purcell: Dido and Aeneas

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from: Legends

Release Date February 28, 2000
Henry Purcell's (1659-1695) opera "Dido and Aeneas" tells, in approximately one hour, of the frustrated passion of Dido, queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose destiny it is to found Rome. The opera is based upon Virgil's Aeneid with a highly compressed libretto by Nahum Tate. Purcell's opera includes three parts for women and only one, Aeneas, for a male. The brief opera is in three Acts. According to "The New Grove Book of Operas", Purcell based his work on an earlier English opera, "Venus and Adonis" by John Blow. With its heavy emphasis on dance and chorus, "Dido and Aeneas" also draws heavily on French baroque opera.

This reissue of a 1961 recording of a young Janet Baker in the role of Dido is an outstanding way to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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Purcell: Dido and Aeneas; Ode for St. Cecilia's Day

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by: Hamburg English Chamber Orchestra Charles Mackerras, Kammerorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks

Release Date March 07, 2005
Henry Purcell's (1659-1695) opera "Dido and Aeneas" tells, in approximately one hour, of the frustrated passion of Dido, queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose destiny it is to found Rome. The opera is based upon Virgil's Aeneid with a highly compressed libretto by Nahum Tate. Purcell's opera includes three parts for women and only one, Aeneas, for a male. The brief opera is in three Acts. According to "The New Grove Book of Operas", Purcell based his work on an earlier English opera, "Venus and Adonis" by John Blow. With its heavy emphasis on dance and chorus, "Dido and Aeneas" also draws heavily on French baroque opera.

This reissue of a 1961 recording of a young Janet Baker in the role of Dido is an outstanding way to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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Purcell: Dido & Aeneas / King Arthur / Dioclesian / Timon of Athens / 3 Odes

Search: Prince
by: Henry Purcell, The English Concert dir. Trevor Pinnock

Release Date November 10, 2003
Henry Purcell's (1659-1695) opera "Dido and Aeneas" tells, in approximately one hour, of the frustrated passion of Dido, queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose destiny it is to found Rome. The opera is based upon Virgil's Aeneid with a highly compressed libretto by Nahum Tate. Purcell's opera includes three parts for women and only one, Aeneas, for a male. The brief opera is in three Acts. According to "The New Grove Book of Operas", Purcell based his work on an earlier English opera, "Venus and Adonis" by John Blow. With its heavy emphasis on dance and chorus, "Dido and Aeneas" also draws heavily on French baroque opera.

This reissue of a 1961 recording of a young Janet Baker in the role of Dido is an outstanding way to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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Purcell: Fairy Queen / Dido and Aeneas

Search: Prince
by: Jennifer Vyvyan Janet Baker Peter Pears Ambrosian Opera Chorus English Chamber Orchestra Benjamin Britten Aldeburgh Festival Strings Steuart Bedford

Release Date September 10, 2001
Henry Purcell's (1659-1695) opera "Dido and Aeneas" tells, in approximately one hour, of the frustrated passion of Dido, queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose destiny it is to found Rome. The opera is based upon Virgil's Aeneid with a highly compressed libretto by Nahum Tate. Purcell's opera includes three parts for women and only one, Aeneas, for a male. The brief opera is in three Acts. According to "The New Grove Book of Operas", Purcell based his work on an earlier English opera, "Venus and Adonis" by John Blow. With its heavy emphasis on dance and chorus, "Dido and Aeneas" also draws heavily on French baroque opera.

This reissue of a 1961 recording of a young Janet Baker in the role of Dido is an outstanding way to ... Read More: