The #1 Choral Album

Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Giacomo Puccini (Composer), Richard [Classical] Wagner (Composer), Gregorio Allegri (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Gabriel Faure (Composer), Hector Berlioz (Composer), Henryk Gorecki (Composer), Johannes Brahms (Composer), John Tavener (Composer), George Frederick Handel (Composer), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Franz Joseph Haydn (Composer), Georges Bizet (Composer), Felix [1] Mendelssohn (Composer), Arrigo Boito (Composer), Thomas Arne (Composer), Hubert Parry (Composer), Carl Orff (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Richard [Classical] Wagner, Gregorio Allegri, Johann Sebastian Bach, et al.
• Audio CD (March 12, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B000060P5G
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,325 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #12 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Passions
  • #16 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Choruses
  • #20 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Anthems

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Nabucco, opera (Nabucodonosor): Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves: Va, Pensiero

2. Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly), opera: Humming Chorus

3. Lohengrin, opera, WWV 75: Bridal Chorus: Treulich geführt ziehet dahin

4. Miserere mei Deus (Psalm 51), motet for chorus: Abridged

5. Cantata No. 147, 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben,' BWV 147 (BC A174): Jesu bleibet meine Freunde (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring)

6. Ave verum Corpus, motet for chorus, strings & organ, K. 618

7. Cantique de Jean Racine, for 4-part chorus & organ (or orchestra), Op. 11

8. L' Enfance du Christ, oratorio for soprano, 2 tenors, baritone, 3 basses, chorus & orchetsra ('trilogie sacrée') H. 130 (Op. 25): She

9. Pavane, for orchestra & chorus ad lib in F sharp minor, Op. 50

10. Totus Tuus, for chorus, Op. 60

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Requiem Mass, for soloists, chorus & orchestra (Manzoni Requiem): Dies irae... Tuba mirum

2. Il Trovatore, opera: Anvil Chorus: Vedi! Le fosche

3. Judas Maccabaeus, oratorio, HWV 63: See the Conquering Hero Comes

4. Mass in B minor, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, BWV 232 (BC E1): Sanctus

5. Zadok the Priest, coronation anthem No. 1 for chorus & orchestra, HWV 258

6. Symphony No. 9 in D minor ('Choral'), Op. 125: Ode to Joy (Excerpt)

7. Requiem for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, K. 626: Dies irae

8. Die Schöpfung (The Creation), oratorio, H. 21/2: Die Himmel erzählen (The Heavens Are Telling)

9. Carmen, opera: Toreador Chorus: Les voici, les voici

10. Elijah (Elias), oratorio, Op. 70: Thanks be to God

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something for everyone!, January 10, 2004

By 

C. Lynne Price "lynnemezzo" (Frederick, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The #1 Choral Album (Audio CD)

This double CD is certainly worth the small price. The choral music runs the gamut from Bach to John Tavener, all represented by well-known choirs and conductors. Although the music is wonderful, the selctions are not in any order, sometimes creating confusion. But give a listen and if you do not get hooked on the greatest choral music ever written, then you need to crawl back in your cave!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Utterly disapointing, December 11, 2006

By 

The Reader (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The #1 Choral Album (Audio CD)

The sound and mixing on these CDs are below anything. It's the type of CD where you constantly have to adjust the volume because some songs are just inaudible and then others come out blaring. Is there anything more annoying? The recording is poor quality. And the interpretations are just bland. A waste of money.

3.0 out of 5 stars Great content poorly produced, September 1, 2011

By 

Nancy A. Napierala "elder and scholar" (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The #1 Choral Album (Audio CD)

The #1 Choral Album delivered what I hoped to gain: an overview of principal choral masterpieces on two discs. I was looking for an introductory sample of choral music and composition that I might use to begin a study for my own amateur education, a retirement enrichment. Many of the selections I was familiar with and had sung in sporadic membership in school, church, and community choruses, a lifetime occasional pleasure. I also plan to purchase Guide to Choral Masterpieces: A Listener's Guide as a basic resource on the subject. I have helped to perform some of them with minimal understanding. This recording was disappointing not in content but in quality. Some of the selections were so quiet that I had to turn up my admitedly standard CD player, others so loud that I had to turn the volume down to avoid annoying others. I think the material deserved a more balanced sound level quality. I don't expect to need to do my own technical balancing to listen to a compilation of the product of the greatest choral composers. The price was more than reasonable for delivering just what I hoped to purchase, but the two discs could have been more responsibly produced.