Essential Opera

Sherrill Milnes (Performer), Leo Nucci (Performer), Tom Krause (Performer), Gino Quilico (Performer), Michael Kraus (Performer), Georges Bizet (Composer), Giacomo Puccini (Composer), Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Alfredo Catalani (Composer), Gioachino Rossini (Composer), Jacques Offenbach (Composer), Pietro Mascagni (Composer), Richard [Classical] Wagner (Composer), Ruggero Leoncavallo (Composer), Francesco Cilea (Composer), Leo Delibes (Composer), Charles Gounod (Composer), Georg Solti (Conductor), Sir Georg Soliti (Conductor) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Sherrill Milnes, Leo Nucci, Tom Krause, Gino Quilico, Michael Kraus
• Conductor: Georg Solti, Sir Georg Soliti
• Composer: Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Alfredo Catalani, et al.
• Audio CD (August 9, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B0009A41V0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,993 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection but the title's a misnomer, July 17, 2006

By 

ronaldbrian (Quezon City, Philippines) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Opera (Audio CD)

The producers of Essential Opera 1 and 2 finally decided to give us a wonderful gift and combined the two for the price of one. The effect is an exciting collection for opera lovers and opera beginners alike. Thank you, producers.

However, I can't agree that the collection lives up to its name. How can it be essential when where is Maria Callas in the line-up? Absent Maria, any opera collection that deems itself "essential" deludes itself. Callas is as indispensable to opera as, say, Picasso is to cubism. To paraphrase Franco Zeffirelli, Callas showed us the maximum of what opera is. Callas IS essential opera.

This misnomer is made the more stark and jarring when one sees that a contemporaneous rival, Renata Tebaldi, is given two tracks to sing and Callas, none. Tebaldi was Callas' rival like Clementi was Mozart's--whoever remembers the rivals now? History has judged well who the masters are. So I listen to arias in this CD, arias that Callas have incomparably defined like Tosca's Vissi d'Arte, La Wallys's Ebben Ne'andro Lontana", to disappointment.

I'd give this disc four and a half stars for Callas' omission, but the Amazon rating system does not allow it. In any case, Tatiana Troyano's Habanera, Cecilia Bartoli's "Una Voce Poco fa," Krause, Popp, and Fassbaender's "Saove sia il vento," and Sutherland and Berbie's Lakme duet, and ten other tracks still make this compilation wonderful, exciting, and highly commendable. Do yourselves a favor and get this cd.

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool CD, June 18, 2008

By 

Sam Wells - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Opera (Audio CD)

This is a very enjoyable CD with music you already know.
Can't wait to get the other ones!