Off The Bookshelf 100 Best Opera Classics Search Music

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1.Mendelssohn: Elijah from: EMI Classics February 15, 2005
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $11.98 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $10.99 You Save: $0.99 ( 8%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $9.17
I was so pleased to come across the CD release of this old recording. I have a CD of a cassette tape of a reel-to-reel tape from the 60s and it's my standard. This recording finds all of these magnificent singers at their best, and Mme. Jones is here sans wobble which accompanies her later in her career. My only regret is M. Fischer-Dieskau. His singing is lovely as ever, if a bit too lovely for the music, but one misses a real bass (or bass/baritone) in this role. The chorus and conducting are fine. What I love about this recording is the straight-forward playing and singing which this chestnut needs. A more recent Elijah with Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming is unfortunately marred by someone's idea of "drama" (I guess the conductor, Paul Daniel). On this terrible version, the chorus ... Read More

2.Carl Orff: Carmina Burana from: Deutsche Grammophon May 14, 1996
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $11.98 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $10.99 You Save: $0.99 ( 8%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $6.48
Why? You can get the majestic Atlanta Symphony/Robert Shaw version for a buck less here on Amazon. It doesn't have a huge name singer, but its over-all majestic, clear and tonally balanced. Orff is over the top, so why look for a recording that tones down "Carmina Burana"? The ONLY drawback to the Atlanta/Shaw recording is that it breaks up the 20-some parts of the work into four longer tracks. If you like individual short tracks (or if you are ripping off some "Carmina" for back up for your WOW vids or your home-made YouTube show, which is what a lot of folks seem to do) you will miss the multiple tracks. Otherwise, listen to the Atlanta/Shaw recording and forget this hyped one. -- The EC's hubby.

3.Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem [A German Requiem] from: EMI Classics January 12, 1999
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $11.98 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $8.97 You Save: $3.01 (25%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $6.97
Sound quality might be lacking, however the soul of the performance is what counts. There is a great feel to the opening track. Each time I hear it, it completely changes any mood I'm in. The orchestra and chorus breathes together, and Klemperer did a fine job on these tracks. If your not nuts about this, try Karajan's earlier recordings. *It seems ridiculous that people will write reviews to argue like children with each other on this website.

4.Christmas Album: Original Masters from: Deutsche Grammophon October 28, 2003
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This set is a truly amazing find! Vintage 1950's and 1960's German performances of Christmas and traditional holiday music. This contains an awesome range of artists, from Maria Stader, Fritz Wunderlich and Herman Prey, Gundula Janowitz, Irmgard Seefried, to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, with music ranging from excerpts from Handel's Messiah to traditional christmas carols. Instrumental and choral performances balance out the collection. Documentation is well-written, and the sound is excellent high-fidelity mono and stereo. Very recommendable!

5.Rapture: Opera's Most Heavenly Moments from: Deutsche Grammophon October 08, 2002
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $17.98 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $13.99 You Save: $3.99 (22%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $10.95
I have more experience with other genres of music, but am interested in basically all kinds. I have been collecting CDs for nearly 2 decades but had no Opera in my collection. I did a little research and arrived at a conclusion. If I wanted the most and best Opera music for my money, I had to get this title, which is a double album, and "The Most Famous Opera Duets". Well, the latter was a steal with a list price under four dollars, and the former was a truly good compilation of many uplifting, diverse, impactful, and pleasant pieces. I am satisfied with my purchases and have filled the gap in my music collection. I can't see Opera getting better than this and the other title I mentioned. Enjoy!

6.Essential Verdi - 40 of His Greatest Masterpieces (2 CD Set) from: Decca February 13, 2001
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I don't know opera. Last summer we had an incredible 20th anniversary trip to Italy. As a side trip from Venice, we planned a night in Verona. Neither my wife or I had been to an opera. Is this how its supposed to be... ...an incredible star filled night with a three quarter moon, the largest stage and outdoor theatrical production on the planet, all taking place in a roman colleseum (arena) built in 180 a.d., an incredible colorful set and production with a full symphony orchestra and voices that don't come easy. Aida. Now I know what all the hpye is as you opera fans sure are lucky to have such a beautiful setting for all your productions. Okay, we got spoiled. But I also found myself getting spoiled on the Italian composer Verdi. ... Read More

7.An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen by: Deryck Cooke, Georg Solti, Wiener Philharmoniker, Anita Valkki, Berit Lindholm, Birgit Nilsson, Brigitte Fassbaender, Christa Ludwig, Claire Watson, Claudia Hellmann, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Eberhard Wächter, George London, Gerhard Stolze, Gottlob Frick, Grace Hoffmann, Gustav Neidlinger, Hans Hotter, Helen Watts, Helga Dernesch, Hetty Plumacher, Ira Malaniuk, James King, Jean Madeira, Joan Sutherland, Kirsten Flagstad, Kurt Böhme, Lucia Popp, Marga Höffgen, Marilyn Tyler, Maureen Guy, Oda Balsborg, Paul Kuen, Régine Crespin, Set Svanholm, Vera Little, Vera Schlosser, Waldemar Kmentt, Walter Kreppel, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra September 13, 2005
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There's no other way to put it. Beside Cooke's landmark musical analysis, all other examinations of Wagner's Ring Cycle shrink to insignificance. This work is absolutely vital to anyone who'd genuinely grasp the unique musical language of this greatest of operatic masterpieces. Before Cooke, musical commentary was limited to pitiful motif lists. Analysts seem to have quite ignored Wagner's own belief the musical language of his vast tetralogy evolves organically. Cooke is the first to grasp and investigate this concept and, to this day, the only one to fathom it in so complete a manner. He presents his brilliant discoveries with succinct easily-grasped verbal explanations illustrated by sonic examples either from the great Solti recording, or created specially for this analysis, an unmistakable gauge ... Read More

8.Britten: War Requiem from: Decca May 16, 2006
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This is a wonderful recording indeed (though I too have reservations about Vishnevskaya's contribution). But: I would avoid downloading it in MP3 form, since (most unusual for Amazon) the tracks do not join smoothly: when one track should smoothly connect with the next, you can almost always hear a little burp (for want of a better word) when the new track is starting. This can be annoying.

9.Wagner: Tristan und Isolde from: EMI Classics September 11, 2001
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $46.98 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $35.97 You Save: $11.01 (23%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $24.00
When the recording under review dates from the early 1950's, a reviewer in late 2008 had better start by saying something about the sound quality. In fact I own it on a vinyl set that I have had for well over 40 years, the sound seems very good indeed to me even by more recent standards, and comment that I have read regarding the cd transfer suggests that no disaster has happened in the process. So I give the sound a good pass mark. What comes to us in this satisfactory sound is, in my own opinion, one of the greatest things in the classical recorded repertory. Whatever one thinks of Furtwaengler's symphonic style, his genius as a conductor of Wagner has no equal that I can think of in the era of recording. The famous or notorious flexibility of his beat is ideal for such a work as this, and his ... Read More

10.100 Best Opera Classics from: Angel Records August 29, 2006
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $19.98 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $14.97 You Save: $5.01 (25%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $15.23
What can one say but "Bravo!" to EMI's 6-CD box set "100 BEST OPERA CLASSICS." The title says it all. This is the perfect collection for both the committed opera follower or the mildly interested or newbie. Or for anyone who wants to know what the fuss over opera is all about. This music is guaranteed to tell you -- to delight and inform at the same time. All the major classics are here --"Voi che sapete" from Mozart's FIGARO, "Un bel di vedremo" from Puccini's MADAMA BUTTERFLY, "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's PAGLIACCI ... and that is listing only three of the 20 tracks on disc one. Plenty more where that comes from, and all of it worthwhile. You get a fine sampling of great moments from Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Gluck, Beethoven, Bizet ... the list goes on. ... Read More

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