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Luciano Pavarotti: The Best (Farewell Tour)
from: Decca
: :Anyone discovering this album who had never heard or heard of Luciano Pavarotti would immediately recognize greatness, a one-of-a-kind, one-per-generation (maybe) talent and personality that commands attention, respect, and yes, even love. These 35 selections are an astonishing achievement: Taken, for the most part from the tenor's prime--the 1970s and '80s (although there are four earlier and three from 2003)--what we hear is golden tone, impeccable diction, an innate sense of style and line and where the music should be going, absolutely natural phrasing, an ...
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No Reservations
from: Decca
:Album Description:ORIGINAL MUSIC WRITTEN BY ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE PHILIP GLASS ALSO INCLUDES SONGS PERFORMED BY LUCIANO PAVAROTTI, MICHAEL BUBLÉ, LIZ PHAIR AND MANY MORE! From Academy Award® nominated director Scott Hicks (Shine), comes the new film NO RESERVATIONS, the remake of foreign film Mostly Martha. Master chef Kate Armstrong (Academy Award® winner Catherine Zeta-Jones--Chicago) lives her life like she runs her kitchen at a trendy Manhattan eatery--with a no-nonsense intensity that both captivates and intimidates everyone around her. Kate's perfectionist nature is put to the ...
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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 Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Luciano ...
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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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Pavarotti's Opera Made Easy-My Favourite Opera For Children
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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Donizetti - La Fille du Régiment / Sutherland, Pavarotti, Malas, Sinclair, ROH Covent Garden, Bonynge
: essential recording:This opera, about an orphan girl who is adopted by a whole regiment of Napoleon's army (meaning that anyone who wants to marry her must get the regiment's consent) combines sparkling comedy with spectacular vocal writing--not only for the soprano but for the tenor who, in one legendary passage, must produce nine high Cs in quick succession. Pavarotti's performance in this production, fairly early in his career, ranks with his Nemorino in L'Elisir d'amore, among the best of his recording career. Sutherland finds ...
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Rapture: Opera's Most Heavenly Moments
from: Deutsche Grammophon
: essential recording:This opera, about an orphan girl who is adopted by a whole regiment of Napoleon's army (meaning that anyone who wants to marry her must get the regiment's consent) combines sparkling comedy with spectacular vocal writing--not only for the soprano but for the tenor who, in one legendary passage, must produce nine high Cs in quick succession. Pavarotti's performance in this production, fairly early in his career, ranks with his Nemorino in L'Elisir d'amore, among the best of his recording career. Sutherland finds ...
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Verdi - Rigoletto / Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, LSO, Bonynge
: essential recording:This Rigoletto has been around for so long it might be easy to take it for granted or skip it for a newer set. Don't! It features all three principals in superb voice, as well as pacing from Maestro Bonynge that is much heavier on drama than most of us expect from him. Sutherland may sound a bit mature (and mush-mouthed) for Gilda, but not only is she sympathetic, she sings gorgeously. And speaking of gorgeous, those familiar only with the Pavarotti of ...
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Essential Beethoven
from: Decca
: essential recording:This Rigoletto has been around for so long it might be easy to take it for granted or skip it for a newer set. Don't! It features all three principals in superb voice, as well as pacing from Maestro Bonynge that is much heavier on drama than most of us expect from him. Sutherland may sound a bit mature (and mush-mouthed) for Gilda, but not only is she sympathetic, she sings gorgeously. And speaking of gorgeous, those familiar only with the Pavarotti of ...
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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, ...
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