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Wagner: The Great Operas from the Bayreuth Festival
from: Decca
:Album Description:A special, limited edition 33-CD box set containing all of Wagner's operas from The Flying Dutchman (1841) to his final masterpiece Parsifal (1882) in performances from the opera house created specifically for the production of Wagner's masterpieces, the Bayreuth Festival Theatre. Landmark performances by some of the greatest Wagnerians can be savored here, among them singers Birgit Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek, Anja Silja, Waltraud Meier, Astrid Varnay, Wolfgang Windgassen, Jess Thomas, James King, Ramon Vinay, Peter Hoffmann, Bernd Weikl, Theo ...
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Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music, Fifth Edition, Volume 2: Classic to Twentieth Century (6 CDs)
from: W. W. Norton
: :The Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music includes professional recordings (many brand new) of all works in the anthology on two six-CD sets, of which this is volume 2.
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Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Symphonies
: :GENERAL FEATURES: Beethoven's Wig Sing Along Symphonies are zany stick-in-your-head lyrics set to the greatest hits of classical music. Filled with fact and fancy about the world's most notable composers and their masterpieces, each Sing Along Symphony opens the door to 'serious music' in a way that's fun. As a bonus, the orchestral performance of each classical piece is included without lyrics. Educational entertainment for all ages. :Inspired and wildly imaginative, Beethoven's Wig is one of the best introductions ...
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Carreras · Domingo · Pavarotti: The Three Tenors in Concert / Mehta
from: Decca
: :Magic was created one starlit night in July 1990, when Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and José Carreras met onstage at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and became the Three Tenors. They eschewed competitive instincts and cooperated in the spirit of mutual admiration to create one of the greatest musical events ever. This concert is an awe-inspiring orgy of the greatest hits for the tenor voice. Domingo and Pavarotti sing perfectly. The audience wins as these vocal supermen compete to ...
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The #1 Opera Album
: :The labels that are now gathered under the Universal Classics umbrella have a pretty impressive scorecard in the area of classical compilations. We've seen The Greatest Opera Show on Earth, The Yellow Guide: Classical Music, Best of the Millennium, and now there's The No. 1 Opera Album. But that's no surprise, since Universal has some of the finest interpreters in its catalogue to draw from. This two-CD set (at the price of one), for example, brings together the likes of ...
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The Most Famous Opera Duets
from: EMI Classics
: :This is a misnomer--not all of these duets are all that famous--but it's a fine compilation nonetheless. You'll hear selections from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers (Nicolai Gedda and Ernest Blanc at their most elegant French), Madama Butterfly (Carlo Bergonzi and Renata Scotto--an impassioned pair), Lucia di Lammermoor (a classy Alfredo Kraus and Edita Gruberova), the lovely Lakme duet, The Presentation of the Silver Rose from Der Rosenkavalier (with the earnest Christa Ludwig and the other-worldly Teresa Stich-Randall), and a fine ...
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Beethoven's Wig, Vol. 2: More Sing-Along Symphonies
from: Rounder / Umgd
: :From a pure-pleasure standpoint, the first Beethoven's Wig was nothing to flip over, and the second disc in the series follows suit. However, that is not to say that this is not a valuable and possibly ingenious record. Those unfamiliar with the premise will quickly get the picture: Producer/writer/lead singer/chief clever guy Richard Perlmutter gathers a bundle of important classical works (Paganini's 'Violin Concerto #2,' Strauss' 'Blue Danube Waltz') and makes up silly, catchy lyrics to lay over them, informing ...
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The Grapes of Wrath/Live from the Minnesota Opera World Premiere
from: P.S. Classics
: :From a pure-pleasure standpoint, the first Beethoven's Wig was nothing to flip over, and the second disc in the series follows suit. However, that is not to say that this is not a valuable and possibly ingenious record. Those unfamiliar with the premise will quickly get the picture: Producer/writer/lead singer/chief clever guy Richard Perlmutter gathers a bundle of important classical works (Paganini's 'Violin Concerto #2,' Strauss' 'Blue Danube Waltz') and makes up silly, catchy lyrics to lay over them, informing ...
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Bizet: Carmen (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Georges Pretre, Paris Opera Orchestra
: essential recording:This recording was made near the end of Maria Callas's career. It is a role she never sang onstage, but it suited her almost perfectly, and she gives a deep, compelling performance on this recording. The mezzo-soprano tessitura was comfortable for her voice, and the role did not call for a pretty sound. Nor did the recording studio require the kind of huge vocal power expected in an opera house. And furthermore, the character of a strong-willed, capricious, ...
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Puccini - La Bohème / Freni, Pavarotti, Harwood, Ghiaurov, Karajan
: essential recording:The score for La Bohème comes to glowing life under Herbert von Karajan's baton, and Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti make beautiful music together as the ill-fated lovers. The smaller parts are wonderfully sung, the comedy sharply profiled, and the pathos contained in such a way that the opera's ending proves remarkably gripping. London's sound is excellent. --Ted Libbey
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