Customer Reviews

O Sole Mio: Favorite Neapolitan Songs

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Even people who care nothing for opera will be won over by the graceful performances of popular Neapolitan songs on this disk. Many of the tunes, from the title O Sole Mio to Funiculi Funicula, are part of even non-Italian-descent American culture, and they are all sung with an easy grace and charm and gusto. It is easy to forget (!!) that Pavarotti is an international opera star when listening to this disk; he sounds so natural it's almost as if a good friend (who happens to have a magnificent voice) were entertaining you after a few glasses of chianti. By comparison, Mario Lanza's renditions of these songs sound artificial and mannered. The orchestrations are excellent, too. Pointed, lively, and well balanced with the soloist. This is an album recorded in Pavarotti's prime, in the 1970's, before he became one of "The Three Tenors."

The world will miss Luciano Pavarotti, truly one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. This is a nice collection of songs that will easily remind you why he was so popular.

But, Luciano was from Modena, not from Naples, and anyone who knows Italian dialects and accents will find something somewhat "fake-sounding" in these songs. This is not Pavarotti's fault, of course. Accents are extremely hard to mimic. If you are not Italian and you like Neapolitan songs, chances are you will love this compilation. But if you are looking for a true marvelous Neapolitan singer performing traditional Neapolitan songs, my advice to you is to go for Sergio Bruni. Bruni's voice is not as outstanding, but his songs are equally marvelous and ring so much more true.

If you want to hear the "true" Pavarotti, listen, for instance, to his 70s and 80s recordings of Puccini's arias, when he really was at his peak. Then you will see, in case you need reminding, why Luciano Pavarotti made this a better world, and we should all be thankful for what he has left us.

Absolutely incredible. Pavarotti is breathtaking!! As he performs these Italian classic favorites he draws the listener in.. allowing them to feel the emotion that he feels with each note.

The rendition of "A Vucchella" (trach 2) on this CD is as good as it gets. Yes, every aria on this CD will blow you away, but track 2 will melt your heart.

If you like Pavarotti these songs, in my opinion, are among his very best. The service was excellent and I strongly recommend ordering O Sole Mio: Favorite Neapolitan Songs.

a good collection of music that shows the quality of Pavarotti's voice and knowledge of the genre.

When I was a kid, my mother bought this album on vinyl. Of course I would have never listened to this on my own. AC/DC and Led Zeppelin were more my speed. But the more I was exposed to it, the more it grew on me. Now, many years later, I came across this CD and bought it. Many of these songs should be familiar to even the most casual listener. These songs are old standards from Naples. What can I say about Pavarotti's voice that hasn't already been said? He can belt out a note one second, and tone way down to a tender verse the next like no other. The songs are all in Italian, but that doesn't matter. Their messages will be apparent through the feelings expressed by Pavarotti.

As far as technical merits are concerned, this isn't the greatest sounding recording of all time. Not to say that it's bad, but the recording was made in 1977 and shows the technical limitations of the time. Pavarotti's voice sounds great though.

I highly recommend this CD to anyone interested in either Pavarotti or Neopolitan songs. It's a delightful CD. Play it loud and enjoy.

Oh the joy of this wonderful music. It is very enjoyable.
I always fall in love with life again when listening to these songs.

The young Pavarotti here sings like an angel songs that are at the heart of Italian romance in the broadest way. intensity and passion imbue every word and phrase and the music is old italian.
Wonderful.
Somewhere the words are available, as they were with my lost vinyl recording.