Ying Huang / James Conlon, London Symphony Orchestra

Anonymous (Composer), Vincenzo Bellini (Composer), Gaetano Donizetti (Composer), Giacomo Puccini (Composer), Gioachino Rossini (Composer), Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), James Conlon (Conductor), Ying Huang (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Ying Huang
• Conductor: James Conlon
• Composer: Anonymous, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Giacomo Puccini, Gioachino Rossini, et al.
• Audio CD (June 3, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000029T6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,525 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN AMAZING VOICE!, June 30, 2000

By	"marcel195" (Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

This album is strictly for those sensitive to beautiful tone. As far as I'm concerned, there is no singer who can outmatch Ying Huang's voice quality. Her singing is pure, from the heart, and her variations in phrasing and tone make this a CD I could listen to forever. She is certainly complemented by the wonderful musicians on this album too! I suppose the academics would scoff, but in my humble opinion Ying Huang is a wonderful musician whose singing has taught me a lot. My recommendation: buy this C.D. and a good pair of headphones. Listen to it late at night. Wait for the goosebumps.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars O! Mio Babbino Caro made me weep, March 9, 2006

By	B. Bonk "Georgia's Daddy" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm saddened by the nitpicky nature of some of the opera "critics" who've chimed in on this CD. Like many things artistic, it is easy to criticize, especially on technical details. As a professional musician (pop, not classical) I have worked hard to hear the essence and emotion of a performance, and not to get bogged down in trying to make myself feel superior.

Case in point: I first heard "O! Mio Babbino Caro" on my infant daughter's show, Classical Baby on HBO. The visual is an animated cow singing to a bull-shaped constellation. Despite the triviality of the image, I found myself weeping every time the segment came on. I don't care for opera much (I prefer instrumental classical music by far) but there was something about that voice and that performance that touched me. I did some online research and finally found this wonderful track. I listened to Callas, Fleming, Brightman, and many others while searching and found them all lacking (no disrespect intended). Maybe it's Huang's youth that captures the subject matter so profoundly (I read the translation, and wept again at the emotional content). Maybe that's just a really compelling cartoon cow, but if a piece of music in a foreign language in an unfamiliar genre can touch my heart like this does, I'm a believer.

Don't give in to the negativity and snobbishness of some of the other reviews. Listen as a child does, without prejudice and with no axe to grind.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bel canto!, November 9, 2003

By	Z. Yang (Hockessin, DE USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After her impressive rendition of Cio-Cio-San in Frédéric Mitterrand's filmed opera `Madame Butterfly' (1995), Ying Huang released her first solo opera album, with James Conlon conducting the wonderful London Symphony Orchestra. Huang's voice of exquisite sound and sweet timbre, along with her well refined crafting, brought me special joys throughout the listening. For a young voice like Huang's, this album is a selection with quite some range that displays her excellent bel canto and ineffably beautiful lyricism. Besides the superb quality of her voice, her singing is with unique grace, in the dramatic lines as well as in the coloraturas. Introduced by Huang are also two Chinese songs, "A Little Path", which is a folk song, and "I Live at the Source of the Yangtze River", which is an old song with lyric from an ancient Chinese verse.

Listening to such singing is a heavenly feeling. Huang's soprano might be a small instrument, but it is very flexible and exquisite, and she will do very well in recital. I will be very much looking forward to hearing more from her.