The Most Famous Opera Arias

Georges Bizet (Composer), Alfredo Catalani (Composer), Leo Delibes (Composer), Christoph Willibald Gluck (Composer), Charles Gounod (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Giacomo Puccini (Composer), Gioachino Rossini (Composer), Camille Saint-Saens (Composer), Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Anton Guadagno (Conductor), Bernard Haitink (Conductor), Colin Davis (Conductor), Giuseppe Patane (Conductor), Gustav Kuhn (Conductor), Julius Rudel (Conductor), Lamberto Gardelli (Conductor), Leonard Slatkin (Conductor), Philharmonia Orchestra of London (Conductor), Riccardo Muti (Conductor)

Product Details

• Conductor: Anton Guadagno, Bernard Haitink, Colin Davis, Giuseppe Patane, Gustav Kuhn, et al.
• Composer: Georges Bizet, Alfredo Catalani, Leo Delibes, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Charles Gounod, et al.
• Audio CD (July 19, 1994)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B000002SCE
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,868 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #7 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( D ) > Delibes, Léo
  #8 in	Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Classical (c.1770-1830) > Composers > Gluck, Christoph W. - Works by Gluck
  #8 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( G ) > Gluck, Christoph W.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introduction, November 23, 2003

By	Judge Knott "judge_knott" (Upper West Side, NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This CD is offered at a very attractive price, and features an excellent selection of opera arias. Most of the great composers are represented (such as Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, and Bizet) as well as some lesser-known but worthwhile names (such as Gluck, Gounod, and Saint-Saens).

There is only one superstar singer on this album (Placido Domingo singing "Celeste Aida"), but don't let that deter you: the singing is uniformly rich, skillful, and warm. As another reviewer has pointed out, of the total of 16 tracks, 3 are performed by tenors and 13 by sopranos, but I feel nonetheless that the selection of arias found here is both broad and representative.

The orchestras that are featured are lesser-known ensembles from Western and Central Europe, but they play with conviction and precision, and the CD's sound-recording quality (all the tracks are either "ADD" or "DDD") is first-rate.

All in all, this is a great product brought to you from the vaults of the prestigious EMI Classical label. This is the perfect CD to add to your Amazon.com order if you need to get your grand total above $25 to qualify for free shipping

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent sampler CD, February 14, 2003

By	Rosomax (Boulder, CO United States) - See all my reviews

For the money, this is surely of the greatest bargains you'll ever see. Of course, some performers are featured 3-4 times, mezzos in particular, and there are NO baritones or bassos represented here (not even Toreador's song, which has got to be one of the "most famous"). Dimitrova really stands out as a larger-than-life dramatic soprano, but casting her as Butterfly was a glaring mistake. Her Tosca is magnificent, however. Overall the disc has 72 minutes of great singing and the sound is ADD with a couple of early DDD's thrown in. A serious fan will have all of the selections here, but it may be a good start for the beginning opera listeners. I hope that after hearing Placido Domingo's "Celeste Aida" they'll be tempted to purchase a complete recording.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great intro into opera, December 31, 2000

By	"sstadler" (Rome, Italy) - See all my reviews

The main reason in my mind to buy this cd are the 2 tracks from Les Contes d'Hoffmann and Lakme sung by the wonderful Edita Gruberova. The 1st track is playful, funny, the 2nd breathtaking for her high notes and heartbreaking. A lesser reason is for Anna Moffo's Caro Nome from Rigoletto, the cadenza at the end is like nothing you've ever heard! Even if you don't know much about opera, this is an enjoyable cd. Cheap, too!