Customer Reviews

Yellow Guide to Opera

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This product fails because there are several others on the market at half the price that are nearly as good or just as good.

"The Yellow Guide to Opera" is an excellent collection of 42 opera tracks that would please the ear of any novice or early-intermediate opera fan. In fact, the collection of tracks is to be commended for its richness and variety, including for example Russian composers. The sound quality is excellent, too.

The included booklet, however, is a real turkey, and seems to have been including for the purpose of getting you to buy more Deutsche Grammophon CDs. (Shame on them!)

Now let's talk competition. On Amazon.com, you can find two outstanding collections for under $20 each (these collections, each comprised of 2 CDs, are called "The Best Opera Album in the World Ever" by Virgin and "The #1 Opera Album" by Decca). These two do not come with an accompanying booklet, but their selection of tracks is outstanding and of very high sound quality. But the best one available, in my humble opinion, is put out by Naxos and is called "The A to Z of Opera." This one comes with a smart, thick, useful booklet, and two lovely CDs. Like the Deutsche Grammophon product, the Naxos collection scoots off the beaten path a little bit and scoops up some gems usually not found on this type of collection.

So, in brief, "The Yellow Guide to Opera" is a very pleasing collection of opera music, but its booklet is a dud and there are very fine, very similar collections to be had for half the price. I recommend the Naxos product.

I have to disagree with the previous reviewer on the product. I do own those other compilations listed in his review. There are many opera samplers and compilations that contain excerpts from their respective label's full length operas. The purpose is to acquaint you with opera, and to sell products. That's fine, because you can audition fine recordings to determine what appeals to you. Many recordings are great performances, but have dated acoustics (tape hiss, not in stereo, etc.) because of when they were recorded. Then, there are recordings that are engineered to perfection, but the performers aren't as good as some of the great singers from the pre-digital age. Finally, there are times when you get both performance and engineering. Most opera compilations are a mix of the former and the latter. Consider it a date. They are courting you and putting their best foot forward.

This is a great set. For your money, Deutsche Gramophone gives you three CDs. One is a set of arias, one is a set of opera choruses, and the other is a set of orchestral excerpts from the operas. Well recorded and well engineered. The booklet is NOT a turkey. It gives you a quick run down of the opera the pieces were taken from, and even tells you what the highlights of that opera are, so if you buy them (on any label) you know where to listen for the "hit" songs. Even thought not new to classical, I started collecting opera as an alternative to Lady GaGa and Adam Lambert. I use these kinds of discs so when I see recordings with conductors, who are quite familiar to the opera world, but not so much to classical music lovers that concentrate more on instrumental symphonic works and showpieces, this gives me samples to listen to their recordings and decide which recording of a specific opera to buy.

For those who are new to classical music and opera, it gives you a glossary of 100 musical terms with good definitions.

I highly recommend this set. You can get it for under five bucks used, the performances are great, and it includes some pieces you won't find on other compilations.

Some other sets I really enjoyed.

The #1 Opera Album
The #1 Soprano Album
The #1 Tenor Album
The Voice of Opera
The Voice of Verdi
Voice of Puccini
Homage: The Age of the Diva ~ Renee Fleming
Luciano Pavarotti - Donizetti Arias ~ Una furtiva lagrima
Renée Fleming: Bel Canto
Bryn Terfel - Handel Arias / Scottish CO, Mackerras