Off The Bookshelf 100 Best Opera Classics Search Music

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1.Smetana: Moldau/From Bohemia's Meadows and Forests/Dvorák: Slavonic Dances Op.46 & Op.72 from: Deutsche Grammophon October 25, 1990
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I bought the CD for the Moldau piece which I love. However, the rest of the CD is just as wonderful and I have enjoyed listening to the entire CD many times.

2.Twilight of the Gods: The Essential Wagner Collection from: Deutsche Grammophon August 11, 1998
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: $2.70
I am so tired of hearing people complain about how this isn't true opera and how it is so out of context. This is a greatest hits and hardly what I would consider in the same context as taking pages from great novels and putting them together. Music does not fall to the same boundries of context as do novels. I think of this like i think of a pink floyd greatest hits. in modern terms i would have to say that they do offer complete thoughts in their albums, and any song from the wall would lose something in context to the rest of the piece, but how often does one have time to listen to music for hours on end. i own many of the operas that this album takes from, and the best use that i can get of them is background and mood music, which i of course enjoy and in no way question it's genious, ... Read More

3.Smetana: Má Vlast from: Supraphon November 01, 1998
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Reunited with the Czech Philharmonic- for the first time in 42 years. Kubelik gives a tour-de-force performance that only cannot be matched. Both the Orchestra and Kubelik give a sense of nationalistic pride in the new free Czech republic. If you can only have one recording of Ma Vlast this is the one to have. Simply untouchable!

4.Opera's Greatest Duets from: RCA September 27, 1994
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Excellent opera selections. Good range of different operas. The singers themselves are well known. Highly recommended to anyone getting into classical music.

5.Ave Maria from: Deutsche Grammophon October 25, 1990
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If you have a any appreciation at all for the human voice raised in song, you will absolutely LOVE this album!! I have had this album on cassette since 1990, but until three weeks ago, I'd never listened to the entire cassette. I had only listened to the first song on side A because I was that was the version of "Ave Maria" I was familiar with. THIS ALBUM is the best compilation of choral music ever!!! It's not just different versions of "Ave Maria"; it is a compilation of songs whose theme is Maria. I particularly like the Giovanni Battista Pergolesi duet, "Stabat mater: Sancta mater istud agas". You would have to be DEAD not to fall madly, deeply and completely in love with this song. All the songs on this album are GEMS!!! I highly recommend this album. I'm buying the CD version myself, ... Read More

6.The Art of Fritz Wunderlich from: Deutsche Grammophon September 13, 2005
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Now folks, both of what the two other reviewers wrote about the tragical death of Fritz Wunderlich is wrong. Wunderlich died in hospital at September 17 1966. He had broken his skull, when he fell down the stairs in the hunting-house of a friend. Late in the evening of September 16, Wunderlich, as usual when not at home, had phoned his wife in Munich. He was very tired from strolling through the forest the whole day, making out the ideal locations for the hunt, which should start early in the next morning (Wunderlich was a passionate hunter). After he had wished his wife a good night, he went to the staircase in order to go down to his bedroom at the first floor. He still wore his heavy hunting boots - with open shoestrings! As walking downstairs, Wunderlich struggled over the open shoestrings and grabbed ... Read More

7.Dvorák: Symphonies 8 & 9 / Kubelik, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from: Deutsche Grammophon February 13, 1996
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This review is for the 9th only, I have a cheap eloquence edition, paired with Smetana's Die Moldau. I wouldn't have liked Kubelik conducted Mahler symphonies like this, the guy is completely brutal in this symphony. An extremely energetic, powerful force at work, the playing is unbelievably loud at times. But it works for Dvorak (not for Mahler - Solti makes pretty clear) This performance is so powerful that I don't need another one like this one, so I bought Harnoncourt's more introvert version recently. The recording is good, but something puzzles me. The sound is very similar to Karajan's 1977's Beethoven cycle and is it because of the recording or the orchestra? True, in Kubelik's recording the brass isn't veiled or mixed to the background and the ... Read More

8.Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 / Songs of a Wayfarer - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Rafael Kubelik from: Deutsche Grammophon May 13, 1997
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I purchased this Deutsche Grammophon product and to my surprise felt the pitch to be a little off. Checking the sound samples online more closely revealed the same characteristic found in my copy. I then looked into other productions and found sound samples that suited me in the Penguin Classics version. It's what I now own.

9.Berg: Violin Concerto; Schoenberg: Piano Concerto; Violin Concerto from: Umvd Labels January 13, 2004
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I've always thought Berg's violin concerto was the dreariest music ever written and it's taken over ten years for me to find it less so primarly due to the orchestral accompaniment and orchestration but the violin does SING in this piece it's mournful song and Szeryng's playing supported me through this piece beautifully. I will return to it as it challenges me. Moving on to the much livelier Schoenberg concertos which embrace the classic concept of a concerto while Berg's is definitely a radical move away from convention. I've always liked the piano concerto which is helped by a rather piquant orchestration, lovely string playing and poignant winds. Brendel plays this work magnificently although some feel he has been surpassed by Uchida whose recording I like a great deal, conducted by Boulez. Not grim as one would expect ... Read More

10.100 Best Opera Classics from: Emd Int'l May 14, 2007
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this really is an amazing set. rarely are compilation sets filled with such consistently good music as well as offering the breadth and diversity found here. also, this is THE introduction to opera, as far as i'm concerned. if you don't enjoy opera after listening to this set, then opera is probably just not for you.

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