The #1 Soprano Album

Giacomo Puccini (Composer), Leo Delibes (Composer), Alfredo Catalani (Composer), Johann II [Junior] Strauss (Composer), Joseph Canteloube (Composer), Vincenzo Bellini (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Franz [Vienna] Schubert (Composer), Georges Bizet (Composer), Jacques Offenbach (Composer), Gioachino Rossini (Composer), Heitor Villa-Lobos (Composer), Charles Gounod (Composer), George Frederick Handel (Composer), Umberto Giordano (Composer), Friedrich von Flotow (Composer), Richard [Classical] Wagner (Composer), Carl Orff (Composer), American Traditional (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Giacomo Puccini, Leo Delibes, Alfredo Catalani, Johann II [Junior] Strauss, Joseph Canteloube, et al.
• Audio CD (April 9, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B000060OHV
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,907 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #4 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Baroque (c.1600-1750) > Vocal & Song
  • #6 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Classical (c.1770-1830) > Vocal & Song > General AAS
  • #13 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Songs & Lieder > Folk Songs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Choices????, January 23, 2003

By 

moonchic (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

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

I wonder if the people who put these compilation cds together ever actually listen to their choices before making their decision. Yes, you are going to find some of the most famous names in opera on this cd. But, are they the best or even a good showcase of each voice? Why would you choose Leontyne Price singing Mozart when it is most certainly NOT her venue (and for so many others it is)? Besides, she is already included in other places on the cd. Joan Sutherland is truly amazing on E Strano and Let the Bright Seraphim, but why include her Casta Diva, recorded in the 80's? It's interesting to hear how her voice has held up over the years and that she's lost none of her deadly accurate (and famous) pitch, but it would have been nice to hear another do this one, maybe Maria Callas (who isn't included at all on the cd). For a double cd album advertising itself as the #1 Soprano album, there is a great deal of repetition of names and so many more missing. Only a duet for Beverly Sills? Countless Kire Te Kanawa (some questionable choices, too. What's with the Villa Lobos?) And for those sopranos that only get one shot on the album, such as Frederica Von Stade, it certainly is NOt the best I've heard them sing!
To be fair, if you want a good overview of the soprano world, this may be a good place to start, and I can't think of another album that includes so many in one place and some songs truly blow the listener away. It's also a good introduction to some names that the average opera listener might not ordinarily know. So, I'll give it 3 stars for that. But I'm getting tired of the same Sumi Jo Queen of the Night (found on countless compilation cds) and overdone Kiri Te Kanawa standards.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gruberova's Extraordinary "Mein Herr Marquis", Sumi Jo's winning "Der hölle Rache", June 30, 2007

By 

Michel Merlin (Versailles, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

I bought that 2-CD set only for the extraordinary performance of Adele's "Laughing Song" ("Mein Herr Marquis") by Edita Gruberova. It is highly surprising (and inexcusable IMO) that a great label as Universal/Decca wrongly gives it to Kiri Te Kanawa, and that another great company (amazon) relays that big error on this site; the recording is quite recognizable (Gruberova can't be confused with anyone; and at her final, you can't confuse the particular audience of that live performance unable to refrain from blowing their stunning and applause before end), and you can check J. Strauss - Die Fledermaus / Te Kanawa, Gruberova, Fassbaender, Bär, Wiener Philharmoniker, Previn and search it, 1st for "Gruberova", 2nd for "Kanawa".

Another track is, alone, worth buying the CD: Königin der Nacht's "Der hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" by Sumi Jo. Lucia Popp despite her quite deserved immense reputation for this, is beaten (IMO) by Cheryl Studer (purer and more subtle - at least when with Neville Marriner), who is in turn by Sumi Jo: Jo brings the incredible energy and speed and emotion yet chirurgical precision required by that piece full of terrible wrath and grudge (I once attended the Flute where Königin was on her balcony, pointing her finger at her daughter, far away in the court, giving full life to the ultra-powerful music and lyrics "The hellish revenge burns in my heart! Death and destitution to the traitor I hate! Strike him with this deadly weapon! Or you are not my daughter! never more and forever! Go away, ungrateful! Ungrateful! Everything is broken between us until he gives back his villain soul!"), she sings with perfect pitch, tempo and power even up to the 4-repeated highest note (F), with score in hand you find exceptionally little and small flaws, and only in secondary passages. And she sings with "no emotion added" (or removed!), I mean, she is quite accurate emotionally - not everyone is, particularly when singing perfectly such a masterpiece.

There are several more very good tracks (Casta Diva/Sutherland, Welche Wonne welche Lust/Kathleen Battle, O mio babbino caro/Fleming, Dôme épais le jasmin/Sutherland, Schubert's Ave Maria/Leontyne Price), each worth buying the disc, but I agree with previous reviewers that globally the selection is uneven.

Versailles, Sun 1 Jul 2007 01:55:40 +0200

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The grandeur of the Opera, November 26, 2003

By 

Fernando Navarrete (Mexico, D.F. Mexico) - See all my reviews

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

The #1 soprano album, is a compilation of the most popular opera arias.
This album includes some of the best female voices in history, such as:
Joan Sutherland
Monserrat Caballé
Birgit Nilsson
Renée Fleming
Leontyne Price
Sumi Jo
Kiri Te Kanawa
singing excerpts from Gianni Schicchi, Madama Butterfly, La Bohéme, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Les contes du Hoffman, among many others.

Higlights:
O mio babbino caro/ Fleming
Dome epais le jasmin/ Sutherland & Berbié
Der hölle rache kocht in meinem herzen/ Jo
Un bel di vedremi/ Crespin
Let the bright seraphim/ Sutherland
La mamma morta/ Caballé
Mild und leise/Nilsson
among others.

This album is, in fact, a very good choice for the people who enjoys classical music. For the people that is not familiarized
with opera, this is a great oportunity to approach bel canto with some of the most beautiful voices in opera history.

Note: This compilation it's probably not complete (we miss many arias and some names as Flagstad and Callas) but it's a very good opera selection. Enjoy.