Romance [Import]

Felix [1] Mendelssohn (Composer), George Frederick Handel (Composer), Richard [1] Strauss (Composer), Charles Gounod (Composer), Erik Satie (Composer), Antonin Dvorak (Composer), Edvard Grieg (Composer), Sergey Rachmaninov (Composer), English Traditional (Composer), Shigeo Genda (Conductor), Yoshikazu Mera (Performer), Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Yoshikazu Mera
• Orchestra: Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Shigeo Genda
• Composer: Felix [1] Mendelssohn, George Frederick Handel, Richard [1] Strauss, Charles Gounod, Erik Satie, et al.
• Audio CD (November 1, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bis
• ASIN: B00000DDLN
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,817 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song), song for voice & piano, Op. 34/2

2. Rinaldo, opera, HWV 7: Lascia ch'io pianga (Let me Lament)

3. Serse (Xerxes), opera, HWV 40: Ombra mai fu (Never was Shade)

4. Morgen ('Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen'), song for voice & piano (or orchestra), Op. 27/4 (TrV 170/4)

5. Allerseelen ('Stell' auf den Tisch die duftenden Reseden'), song for voice & piano, Op. 10/8 (TrV 141/8)

6. Faust, opera: Romance

7. Faust, opera: La danse des Troyennes Virginales (Dance of the Trojan Virgins)

8. Ave Maria, for voice & piano (after Bach's Prelude No. 1 from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1)

9. Je te veux (I Want You), café-concert song for voice & piano

10. Songs my mother taught me (Als die alte Mutter), song for voice & piano (Gypsy Melodies), B. 104/4 (Op. 55/4)

11. Peer Gynt Suite for orchestra (or piano or piano, 4 hands) No. 2, Op. 55: Solveigs sang, Op. 23 (Solveig's Song)

12. Vocalise, song for voice & piano, Op. 34/14: No.14, Vocalise

13. Greensleeves, folk song

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Handel would have cried, February 21, 2004

By 

Saul Boulschett "Anyway" (Dry land) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Romance (Audio CD)

to hear his own _Ombra mai fu_ and _Lascia ch'io piangia_ rendered the way Mr. Mera has done here.

I single these two songs out since they are so well known and loved -- and lord knows, I do too, but never have I heard them sound this beautiful. Go ahead, compare these with other renditions yourself.

Paradoxically, here you hear the songs, not the singer. In other words, you don't get distracted listening to the brilliant technical prowess of the singer: Mr. Mera's singing fills the universe between your ears with grace and leaves you no room for you to pedantically admire his mastery while you are listening -- not any more than you can see light as it lights up the face of your beloved.

Angelic, ethereal, haunting...these adjectives are trite but what other words do we have?

I can only think of Andreas Scholl for a fair comparison. And as much as I love Gerard Lesne's voice also, Mera's is of another order: he casts sorcery over Handel's pieces and lets you hear and become aware of the thalassic mystery of sadness inherent in the ephemerality of all manner of beauty......destined to fade away into the silent void of space.

Every track mesmerizes. (I never knew so many famous composers were actually so...good!)

Here is music -- minus the physiology of singing. Thus you end up listening with your soul. Listen to this presentation of music, and let it touch you: you will rediscover and be humbled by your own humanity.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinarily moving both in complexity & execution., November 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Romance (Audio CD)

I first came across this artist, a counter-tenor, while listening to the CD playing at an artist friend's house in Seattle. The artist is of Japanese descent now living in the USA and I heard this incredible voice coming over the stereo speakers and thought, at first-blush, that the singer was a woman but to my amazement the singer is a man. The music is so beautifully done that it is hard to describe it other than to say this CD(and I bought other Mera works as a result of hearing the "Romance" CD)lifts the spirit and soothes the tired brow like no other I have ever heard. And, I do mean ever heard. This is my first review for a piece of music and I can only hope others will experience the voice of Mera of Japan because he is something else in the world of classical music. I recommend this CD with 5 stars. I also thank Amazon for having Mera's works(the Bach cantatas & Baroque arias are also exceptional)because his work is very hard to find in the U.S.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The world's greatest voice?, October 9, 2000

By 

Maria Söderberg (Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Romance (Audio CD)

This is clearly the best record I've heard in a long while. Mera has an outstanding voice, clear and "crisp" yet forceful. My favourite track is "Solveis sang" by Grieg, which Mera sings in perfect Norwegian. Tracks #2 and 3 by Händel are also masterpieces, the best recordings I've heard...ever. (His German accent is very good.) Buy it...it is probably the best record you'll buy all year.