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Puccini - Turandot / Sutherland · Pavarotti · Caballé · Ghiaurov · Krause · Pears · LPO · Mehta
from: Decca
: essential recording:Joan Sutherland is not usually considered a Puccini singer, and in fact she sang the role of Turandot only in the recording studio. But for that assignment she had exactly what was needed: a voice that seemed to have no upper limits and a personality that concealed vulnerability under an air of icy detachment. She also had an ideal set of colleagues, notably Luciano Pavarotti, whose 'Nessun dorma' has become practically his signature tune. --Joe McLellan
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Puccini - La Rondine / Gheorghiu · Alagna · Matteuzzi · Mula · Rinaldi · Ciofi · Bacelli · LSO · Pappano
from: EMI Classics
: :This is one of the problem operas of Puccini's maturity, something he began writing while under the spell of Lehar's The Merry Widow that never quite came together as a piece of theater. But the score contains some of Puccini's most congenial music and attractive scoring. An alert, resourceful new presence on the opera scene, conductor Antonio Pappano is just the one to make the best possible attempt at holding it together. Stars Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna show you why the opera world was so ...
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The Irish Tenors / McNamara, McDermott, Kearns, Tynan
: :Forty years after the Clancy Brothers found popularity singing traditional Irish folksongs to an American audience, along comes the Irish Tenors, the trio of John McDermott, Anthony Kearns, and Ronan Tynan. Backed by plenty of coverage on public television, the three tenors perform a soothing and nostalgic mix of Emerald Isle tunes--from 'Danny Boy' to 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,' along with a few surprises. Recorded live at the Royal Dublin Society Main Hall with a light orchestra, the album gives each of the three vocalists ...
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Puccini: Tosca (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Victor de Sabata, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
: essential recording:Little can be added to what's been written about this landmark recording, except that Walter Legge's 1953 mono production yields nothing to modern Tosca recordings for vivacity and theatrical impact--especially Maria Callas's. The miraculous Victor de Sabata conjures up a vibrant, inspiring orchestral canvas that enables Callas and her stellar cohorts to work their magic. Tito Gobbi and Callas spur each other on to heights in which the characters take over from the singers in the listener's mind. Giuseppe Di Stefano is on his ...
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Andrea Bocelli - The Opera Album ~ Aria
from: Philips
: :Andre Bocelli is no opera singer, but he shows far more potential in this album than does another pop-vocalist tenor-wannabe, Michael Bolton. For one thing, he can shake off the crooner mannerisms and really sing when performing music that calls for it. At his best, he has a rich, dark timbre and an easy, unforced top. At other times, however, the tone turns dry and thin and the high notes are constricted, the inconsistency suggesting a lack of technique. Never does one get the impression that ...
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Haydn: The Creation / Herbert von Karajan
: essential recording:This classic performance of Haydn's greatest choral masterpiece was beloved tenor Fritz Wunderlich's last recording. He sings all of the arias, but he died before finishing the recitatives, which are here taken by Werner Krenn. The recording is, in addition, one of Herbert von Karajan's finest, vastly better than his later digital remake. His interpretation is straightforward and impressively large in scale, but never pompous or sanctimonious (which was Karajan's big problem in music of a religious character). The truth is, Haydn's consistently fresh ...
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The Very Best of The Irish Tenors
: :In the short time since they grouped together a few years ago to form their sensationally successful trio, the Irish Tenors have already put out an impressive array of recordings and DVDs, including some bona fide gooseflesh-inducing live concert performances. So, if you still have the enviable pleasure of discovering these amazing vocalists--or want to turn a friend on to their musical charms--this compilation CD will do the trick nicely. It brings together such classics as 'Danny Boy,' 'Toora Loora Looral,' 'Last Rose of Summer,' and ...
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Ellis Island
: :The Irish Tenors' fourth album sees the trio of Anthony Kearns, Ronan Tynan, and Finbar Wright paying a sentimental musical tribute to Ellis Island, the hallowed landmark that met the majority of immigrants entering the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Needless to say, the Tenors' repertoire this time around is full of reflective ballads of love, loss, and homesickness, including the original 'Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears' that opens this disc. Throughout this studio recording, the Irish Tenors are in fine ...
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An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen
: :When Wagner set the Ring to music, he intended the orchestra to act in the fashion of a chorus from a classic Greek tragedy--setting the mood and commenting on the action. In order to allow a nonverbal musical line to reflect on the plot, Wagner developed a psychologically and musically complex symbology to communicate his thoughts to the listener. From the beginning the Ring has spawned numerous written commentaries on the relationships of the motif structure, but by using examples from the Decca Ring recording, Deryck ...
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Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor / Sutherland · Pavarotti · Milnes · Ghiaurov · ROH Covent Garden · Bonynge
: essential recording:This was Joan Sutherland's second recording of Lucia, made with an all-star cast in prime vocal condition, and it is a must for those who believe that bel canto opera should live up to its descriptive title: 'beautiful singing.' In the 10 years since her first Lucia recording, she had settled more comfortably into the character and become even more expert in the music. Her costars are among the greatest singers of our time, a point that is particularly important in the ensemble singing. ...
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