CD-Charts Position 1

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Classical Treasures: 25 Classic Masterpieces

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by: Various Artists

Release Date June 10, 2003

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

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Live From Lincoln Centre

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by: Joan Sutherland Marilyn Horne Luciano Pavarotti New York City Opera Orchestra Richard Bonynge

Release Date June 16, 2008
This is much better than the highlights that were released some years ago. To have the complete set on CD is excellent after playing the vinyl version for years. It's one concert I wish I had been there for. You can feel the atmosphere and everyone sings wonderfully and are obviously spurred on to be at their best because of the company they are in. My favourites on here are the Norma, Otello & Trovatore selections, but as a whole it's unmissable. Get it, we won't hear the like again. Please please release the DVD, this is now an historical document!!

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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A Total Embrace: The Composer

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by: Leonard Bernstein

Release Date September 09, 2003
This is much better than the highlights that were released some years ago. To have the complete set on CD is excellent after playing the vinyl version for years. It's one concert I wish I had been there for. You can feel the atmosphere and everyone sings wonderfully and are obviously spurred on to be at their best because of the company they are in. My favourites on here are the Norma, Otello & Trovatore selections, but as a whole it's unmissable. Get it, we won't hear the like again. Please please release the DVD, this is now an historical document!!

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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Verdi: Il Corsaro

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by: Montserrat Caballé Jessye Norman José Carreras New Philharmonia Orchestra Lamberto Gardelli

Release Date August 15, 2005
Verdi's interactions with his librettists, publishers, impresarios and censors would have made a good opera in their own right, I often think. The difficult early history of Il Corsaro is related in fascinating detail and with the right sense of humour for us in a really excellent essay by Julian Budden that accompanies this well-produced set. Whatever interruptions and rethinking its genesis underwent, I would call it a superb piece of early Verdi, full of the raw power, drama and melody that had Shaw, in defiance of orthodoxy at the time, calling him a far greater composer than Mendelssohn. I can also only compliment Philips for reissuing it now (it was originally made 30 years ago) and treating with a proper disdain any misplaced sensitivity ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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Verdi Tenor Arias

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by: PLACIDO DOMINGO

Release Date April 15, 2004
Verdi's interactions with his librettists, publishers, impresarios and censors would have made a good opera in their own right, I often think. The difficult early history of Il Corsaro is related in fascinating detail and with the right sense of humour for us in a really excellent essay by Julian Budden that accompanies this well-produced set. Whatever interruptions and rethinking its genesis underwent, I would call it a superb piece of early Verdi, full of the raw power, drama and melody that had Shaw, in defiance of orthodoxy at the time, calling him a far greater composer than Mendelssohn. I can also only compliment Philips for reissuing it now (it was originally made 30 years ago) and treating with a proper disdain any misplaced sensitivity ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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Bernstein: The 1953 American Decca Recordings

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by: New York Stadium Symphony Orchestra Leonard Bernstein

Release Date January 17, 2005
This box is worth its price just for the five talks. Bernstein at this stage had a style rather more stilted than the chatty sage of later years, but the combination of authority, insight and infectious enthusiasm is unique. Practically anyone could enjoy and learn from these analyses - they're entertaining and engrossing, without a whiff of down-dumbing. When the classical and the popular cross over nowadays, the results are usually compromised and crass, but I don't think Bernstein even recognised a gap to be crossed over. We need his all-embracing talent and vision today more than ever.

Then there are the performances. I'm not the biggest fan of mono symphonic recordings, but these positively leap down your ears, unmannered, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

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Mario del Monaco - L'Africaine / Tosca / Il Trovatore

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by: MARIO DEL, MONACO

Release Date March 21, 1997
This box is worth its price just for the five talks. Bernstein at this stage had a style rather more stilted than the chatty sage of later years, but the combination of authority, insight and infectious enthusiasm is unique. Practically anyone could enjoy and learn from these analyses - they're entertaining and engrossing, without a whiff of down-dumbing. When the classical and the popular cross over nowadays, the results are usually compromised and crass, but I don't think Bernstein even recognised a gap to be crossed over. We need his all-embracing talent and vision today more than ever.

Then there are the performances. I'm not the biggest fan of mono symphonic recordings, but these positively leap down your ears, unmannered, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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Mario del Monaco: Decca Recitals 1952-1969

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by: Mario Monaco

Release Date March 13, 2006
This box is worth its price just for the five talks. Bernstein at this stage had a style rather more stilted than the chatty sage of later years, but the combination of authority, insight and infectious enthusiasm is unique. Practically anyone could enjoy and learn from these analyses - they're entertaining and engrossing, without a whiff of down-dumbing. When the classical and the popular cross over nowadays, the results are usually compromised and crass, but I don't think Bernstein even recognised a gap to be crossed over. We need his all-embracing talent and vision today more than ever.

Then there are the performances. I'm not the biggest fan of mono symphonic recordings, but these positively leap down your ears, unmannered, ... Read More: