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Noel
(more) »rank: 7266by: Anne Sofie Von Otter
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Frederica von Stade - French Opera Arias
(more) »rank: 78327by: Hector Berlioz, Jules Massenet, Ambroise Thomas, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Charles Gounod, Jacques Offenbach, Frederica von Stade, London Philharmonic Orchestra
: :Recorded at the beginning of her career in 1976, this shows Frederica Von Stade as a bright, accomplished singer with a distinctive sound, a bit softer, smaller, and fresher than her voice is now. With a selection of arias including all the best mezzo-soprano moments from Berlioz's Beatrice et Benedict, Massenet's Werther and Cendrillon, Berlioz's Damnation of Faust, and what became her great party piece, the drunk aria from Offenbach's La Perichole, everything is utterly lovely. However, this is her first try at most of this music and it shows: performances are all about voice and not about words or characterization. ...
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Verdi - La Traviata / Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci, Covent Garden, Solti
(more) »rank: 24543by: Giuseppe Verdi, Angela Gheorghiu, Frank Lopardo, Leo Nucci, Rodney Gibson, Mark Beesley, Roderick Earle, Georg Solti
: :Recorded at the beginning of her career in 1976, this shows Frederica Von Stade as a bright, accomplished singer with a distinctive sound, a bit softer, smaller, and fresher than her voice is now. With a selection of arias including all the best mezzo-soprano moments from Berlioz's Beatrice et Benedict, Massenet's Werther and Cendrillon, Berlioz's Damnation of Faust, and what became her great party piece, the drunk aria from Offenbach's La Perichole, everything is utterly lovely. However, this is her first try at most of this music and it shows: performances are all about voice and not about words or characterization. ...
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Cecilia Bartoli - Rossini Heroines
(more) »rank: 93821by: Gioachino Rossini, Cecilia Bartoli, Ion Marin, La Fenice Theater Orchestra & Chorus
: :Recorded at the beginning of her career in 1976, this shows Frederica Von Stade as a bright, accomplished singer with a distinctive sound, a bit softer, smaller, and fresher than her voice is now. With a selection of arias including all the best mezzo-soprano moments from Berlioz's Beatrice et Benedict, Massenet's Werther and Cendrillon, Berlioz's Damnation of Faust, and what became her great party piece, the drunk aria from Offenbach's La Perichole, everything is utterly lovely. However, this is her first try at most of this music and it shows: performances are all about voice and not about words or characterization. ...
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Bellezza vocale ~ Beautiful Opera Duets
(more) »rank: 31687from: Teldec
: :This generous disc of duets for soprano and mezzo-soprano offers a wonderful selection: from the very familiar 'Barcarolle' of Tales of Hoffmann, the 'Flower Duet' of Madama Butterfly, and the Presentation of the Rose in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier to the more exotic Anna Bolena-Giovanna Seymour duet from Donizetti's opera and Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, there's not a bad piece of music or performance here. To be sure, these two singers do certain things better than others--Hei-Kyung Hong's silvery soprano is not ideal for the emotional outpourings (and low notes) of either Anna Bolena or Butterfly, but it's a perfect fit ...
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Brahms: Alto Rhapsody; Nänie; Gesang der Parzen; Schicksalslied
(more) »rank: 46019from: Telarc
: :Brahms's shorter choral music with orchestra remains more or less on the periphery of the basic repertoire for a few reasons. The music is difficult to program in isolation, and it's also a lot of work for relatively small return. Not that it's bad or dull--most of it is lovely, but never quite offers enough bang for your buck. This collection logically and satisfyingly offers first-rate performances of all of these warmly Romantic pieces, with Marilyn Horne, an especially distinctive soloist, in the Alto Rhapsody. A lovely disc, then, to explore at leisure. --David Hurwitz
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Leontyne Price: The Ultimate Collection
(more) »rank: 121651from: RCA
: :Brahms's shorter choral music with orchestra remains more or less on the periphery of the basic repertoire for a few reasons. The music is difficult to program in isolation, and it's also a lot of work for relatively small return. Not that it's bad or dull--most of it is lovely, but never quite offers enough bang for your buck. This collection logically and satisfyingly offers first-rate performances of all of these warmly Romantic pieces, with Marilyn Horne, an especially distinctive soloist, in the Alto Rhapsody. A lovely disc, then, to explore at leisure. --David Hurwitz
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Schubert: Quintet, Op. 114 'The Trout' / Sonata, D. 821 'Arpeggione'
(more) »rank: 96340by: Franz Schubert, Yo-Yo Ma, Barbara Bonney, Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Rebecca Young, Edgar Meyer
: essential recording:Schubert wrote the Trout Quintet as a carefree young man still untouched by ill health and poverty; it radiates golden sunshine, confident hope, and high spirits. His earliest large-scale composition, it is among his most popular works. Its variation movement is the first of several in which he used one of his own songs as the theme, and this record includes the song itself--an inspired idea. It also includes the Arpeggione Sonata, the only surviving piece written for that now extinct six-stringed instrument, whose range most closely resembles that of the cello. The performances are all superb, lovely in ...
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Renée Fleming - Signatures ~ Great Opera Scenes / Sir Georg Solti
(more) »rank: 55827by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Antonin Dvorak, Giuseppe Verdi, Benjamin Britten, Richard Strauss, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, Renée Fleming, Larissa Diadkova, Jonathan Summers
: essential recording:As the possessor of one of the great lyric soprano voices of our time, soprano Renée Fleming is in demand in the world's great opera houses. (It doesn't hurt that she's also lovely and a fine actress.) This album is an outstanding collection of great arias, ravishingly sung. It shows something of Fleming's range, including as it does music by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Dvorák (the sumptuous 'Song to the Moon' from Rusalka, the best part of the entire opera, and sung here in definitive fashion), Verdi, Britten (an effective 'Embroidery Scene' from Peter Grimes), and Richard Strauss. This disc is ...
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Bach- St. Matthäus-Passion/Te Kanawa, von Otter, Rolfe-Johnson, Blochitz, Krause, Solti (Highlights)
(more) »rank: 83816by: Kiri Te Kanawa, Anne Sofie von Otter, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Tom Krause, Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus
: essential recording:As the possessor of one of the great lyric soprano voices of our time, soprano Renée Fleming is in demand in the world's great opera houses. (It doesn't hurt that she's also lovely and a fine actress.) This album is an outstanding collection of great arias, ravishingly sung. It shows something of Fleming's range, including as it does music by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Dvorák (the sumptuous 'Song to the Moon' from Rusalka, the best part of the entire opera, and sung here in definitive fashion), Verdi, Britten (an effective 'Embroidery Scene' from Peter Grimes), and Richard Strauss. This disc is ...
