Very Best of Thomas Hampson

Marc Barrard (Artist), Thomas Hampson (Artist), Csaba Airizer (Artist), Georges Bizet (Artist), Charles Wakefield Cadman (Artist), Stephen Foster (Artist), Charles Gounod (Artist), Edvard Grieg (Artist), Charles Tomlinson Griffes (Artist), Imre (Emmerich) Kalman (Artist), Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Artist), Franz Lehar (Artist), Gustav Mahler (Artist), Jules Massenet (Artist), Giacomo Meyerbeer (Artist), Gioachino Rossini (Artist), Franz Schubert (Artist), Robert Schumann (Artist), Johann II Strauss (Artist), Ambroise Thomas (Artist), Giuseppe Verdi (Artist), Richard Wagner (Artist), Carl Maria von Weber (Artist), Antonio de Almeida (Artist), Antonio Pappano (Artist), Eugene Kohn (Artist), Fabio Luisi (Artist), Franz Welser-Möst (Artist), Michel Plasson (Artist), Richard Armstrong (Artist), Roger Norrington (Artist), Simon Rattle (Artist), Sir Andrew Davis (Artist), Michael Parloff (Artist), Molly Mason (Artist), Martine Mahe (Artist), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Artist), London Philharmonic Orchestra (Artist), Münchner Rundfunkorchester (Artist), Orchestra of St. Luke's (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 26, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B0006VYEI2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,062 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #82 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Homage to a Great Artist, October 29, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Very Best of Thomas Hampson (Audio CD)

EMI is wisely creating a series of recordings to gather the moments of artists that showcase the very reasons they become so highly regarded. Usually these collections are produced late in careers or even posthumously, but in the case of THE VERY BEST OF THOMAS HAMPSON the artist is still one of the more active and premiere singers of our day. Yet while he doesn't still perform all of these inclusions, it is wonderful to have excerpts from various successful recordings to remind us of the artistry that Hampson represents.

The two disc set includes arias from operas: Rossini's 'Il barbière di Siviglia', von Weber's 'Euryanthe', Gounod's 'Faust', Massenet's 'Hérodiade', Bizet's 'Les Pêcheurs de perles' (in duet with Placido Domingo), Thomas' 'Hamlet', Verdi's 'Don Carlo', 'Il Travatore', 'Macbeth', 'La Traviata', and 'Falstaff', Korngold's 'Die Tote Stadt', and Wagner's 'Tannhäuser'.

But the rewards of a Hampson recording must include his impeccable career as a lieder stylist and on this recording are excerpts from Schumann's 'Dichterliebe', Schubert's 'Winterreise', Mahler's 'Rückert Lieder' and 'Das Lied von der Erde', as well as songs by Meyerbeer, Rossini, Grieg, Kalman, and Lehar. And very importantly there are examples of American songs that Hampson has always emphasized in his recitals. Works by Stephen Foster, and two extraordinary works with the brilliant accompanist Armen Guzelimian - 'An Old Song Re-sung' by Griffes and 'At Dawning' by Charles Wakefield Cadman - round out this fine survey.

Not usually a collector of such 'recombinations', for this listener this album is so very fine that it deserves the attention of all those who appreciate the artistry of Thomas Hampson - then and now. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 05

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SImply Untrue, August 16, 2006

By 

Spinto "thehighc" (ct) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Best of Thomas Hampson (Audio CD)

The previous review is simply a gross falsification. I have been an obsessed opera fan for a long time, and Thomas Hampson is a truly special singer. He is not the possesor of the largest or most interesting voice, which he will tell you and indeed says so all the time. His commitment to text, his willingness to search out parts to fit his voice, and his dedication to art song make im invaluable to Americans as a ture Troubador. His light Baritone was ideally suited to Figaro and to Valentin and the art song he loves. He must stretch to sing Verdi, where his voice sounds dry and small but many singers have chanced Verdi at their peril, and his innate ablity to inhabit a song, here evidenced in Di Provenza overcomes fact that it is out of his fach. You misinformed opinion of Hampson is mean and strangly bitter. I love Opera, but I do not love every singer, which doesn't mean I debase their very artistic existance. I have seen Hampson live, and have loved him (in Thias) and somewhat disliked him (in Simon Boccanegra) As for him being pretentious, somwetimes I find him mannered, but always charming. SOmetimes Intellectualism can appear pretentious, but surely you wont hold an opera singer to the charge that he must be unintellectual. what a vitriolic review, please buy this Cd, it merits repeated listening to a true American SINGER,

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superb vocals, August 6, 2005

By 

M. P. Vellela "mystery lover" (Dunmore, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Very Best of Thomas Hampson (Audio CD)

Mr.Hampson really gets the chance to showcase his wonderful baritone voice in this "Best of" collection which includes excellent selections from his various other CDs. I like the diversity of the selections featuring operatic arias,works from classical composers, and folk songs. For Thomas hampson fans, as well as fans of the baritone voice, this CD is for them.