Customer Reviews

The Most Famous Opera Duets

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When it comes to opera artists, my motto is "The more Gedda, the bettah." You get a substantial amount of him at his best on this CD, which has a lot of great duets from a variety of operas. You have one of the most beautiful duets ever in my opinion as the first track on the CD(Bizet's aria about two friends in love with the same woman, "Au Fond du Temple Saint" from Les Pecheurs des Perles); this recording with Nicolai Gedda singing the tenor part of Nadir is the best one could ask for.

The rest of the best include "Bei Mannern, welche Liebe" from Mozart's Die Zauberflote(a beautiful ode to the connection between men and women), and (not surprisingly), "O mimi, tu piu non torni" with Gedda and Sereni from La Boheme.

Other notable arias include a nice recording of the famous "Sull'aria," from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, and an above par recording with Victoria de los Angeles and Carlo de Monte of "Un di, felici, eterea" from Verdi's La Traviata.

This would be a great CD to start an opera collection. Enjoy.

I got this very reasonably priced cd just to have my favorite duets such as "Au Fond du Temple Saint" and "The Flower Duet. If you have friends who are just starting to like classical opera, this is a terrific little gift. Almost everyone melts at the sound of these duets. And it's convenient to have so many on one CD. A real winner.

I bought this CD because wanted the "Lakme" duet that I heard in a movie. Little did I know the rest of the music would blow me away. This is an excellent intro to opera for people like myself that have never really been "into" opera. The selections are short, just a taste, and the price is unbelievable. I highly recommend this selection to anyone who wants to get their feet wet.

This is one of the best Opera Duet CDs you'll ever find. If you find it, get it quickly. The price is amazing. Whoever compiled it should have had tons of bonuses.

This CD contains some well known, and some not so well known duets from varios operas. Ernest Blanc and Nicolai Gedda perform the Temple Duet from The Pearl Fishers beautifully, since they have perfect voices for the French opera repertoire. Carlo Bergonzi and Renata Scotto sound like impassioned lovers in Vogliatemi Bene, Un Bene Piccolino, from Madama Butterfly. Sull'aria is sung beautifully by Judith Blegen and Heather Harper, since they both have the light voices required for Le Nozze di Figaro. Other great couples include Carlo del Monte and Victoria de los Angeles, Leontyne Price and Franco Bonisolli, Nicolai Gedda and Mario Sereni, Graziella Sciutti and Eberhard Wachter, Christa Ludwig and Teresa Stich-Randall, Nicolai Gedda (yet again) and Reri Girst, Mady Mesple and Danielle Millet, Wolfgang Brendel and Lucia Popp, Nicolai Gedda and Janine Micheau, Helga Dernesch and Jon Vickers, and Alfredo Kraus and Edita Gruberova. All the singers on this CD are first-class performers.

I loved this recording! All the arias - very well known even to the most unsophisticated opera lover (like me) - are beautifully performed, and you certainly cannot beat the price. Please, if you want my advice, do not hesitate to purchase this CD and its companion of Duets to add to your collection. The very first selection is the duet from "The Pearl Fishers" - breathtakingly wonderful!

At this bargain price, I found this CD surpringly good. The selections are from many first-rated albums from EMI. Most of them such as duets from "Le Nozze di Figaro", "Der Rosenkavalier" and "Madama Butterfly" are very good indeed. However, Gedda is the real star of this album. His duets from "The Pearl Fisher" and "Carmen" are among the best on recordings. The only complaint here is a duet from "Lucia di Lammemoor". The tempo is so funereal. Alfredo Krause sounds very aged and tired. Gruberova is not at her best. It could have been better with Callas and di Stefano.

very beautiful opera duets at a price that cannot be beat. first three tracks set the tone, very stirring music. silly looking cover.

As an avid opera fan, I was thrilled to find this CD. The duets are beautifully arranged and the sound is superb. I love to listen to this CD on a lazy afternoon, while laying in my bed. This music simply takes me away into my own little dreamworld. I also love the idea that there are 14 songs on this CD, which is great for the price. So sit back. Have a nice cup of tea and enjoy the opera.

I bought this for a friend who didn't have an opera collection, and it fulfilled that purpose, and was an unusual set of duets, very different in style from one another. The price was certainly right. That said, potential buyers should be aware that most of these recordings are of the "historic" variety, and therefore perhaps not as refined in terms of sound quality as one might want. Since listeners who enjoy historic recordings would likely already have the original, complete operas in question, I'm not sure what benefit would be gained in owning mere excerpts. Several of the selections, especially the "Tristan" duet, were so soft the volume had to be really cranked up to hear. But many others are sure to please, especially the "Pearl Fishers" and "Don Giovanni", which are fine. So, bottom line is: if you really care about your opera, get the full recordings, but if your goal is "highlights", this is probably as good as many others.