The Best Opera Album in the World...Ever!

Ernest Blanc (Performer), Robert Massard (Performer), Thomas Allen (Performer), Thomas Hampson (Performer), Walter Berry (Performer), José van Dam (Performer), Georges Bizet (Composer), Alfredo Catalani (Composer), Francesco Cilea (Composer), Leo Delibes (Composer), Antonin Dvorak (Composer), Friedrich von Flotow (Composer), Umberto Giordano (Composer), Ruggero Leoncavallo (Composer), Pietro Mascagni (Composer), Jules Massenet (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Jacques Offenbach (Composer), Giacomo Puccini (Composer), Gioachino Rossini (Composer)

Product Details

• Performer: Ernest Blanc, Robert Massard, Thomas Allen, Thomas Hampson, Walter Berry, et al.
• Composer: Georges Bizet, Alfredo Catalani, Francesco Cilea, Leo Delibes, Antonin Dvorak, et al.
• Audio CD (July 27, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Angel Records
• ASIN: B0000084JD
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,547 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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

  #4 in	Music > Classical > Featured Performers, A-Z > ( A ) > Allen, Thomas
  #10 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( F ) > Flotow, Friedrich von
  #11 in	Music > Classical > Featured Performers, A-Z > ( P ) > Paris Symphony Orchestra

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it, it lives up to its title!, December 2, 1999

By	Thomas Sheerin "tomsheerin" (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In addition to the great male tenors, Maria Callas, Victoria de los Angeles, Renata Scotto, Helga Dernesch, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Mirella Freni, Madi Mespli, and others sing the great arias. This double CD will make you cry, it is so beautiful, and this from someone who never paid much attention to opera. I listen to it only about once a week, so I won't get tired of it, and after several months it still grabs my by the throat and makes tears run down my face. In 40 years of listening to rock and pop, I have never experienced this before. Buy it!

71 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It lives up to its title!, November 1, 1999

By A Customer

In describing this album, which is a compilation of nearly every famous aria you've ever heard, I could easily run out of superlatives.

This album runs the gamut from Bizet's "Au fond du temple saint" (Nicolai Gedda and Ernest Blanc) to a chillingly beautiful rendition of "Nessun dorma" (Jose' Carreras). Also included on this 2-disc album are such standards as "The Flower Duet" from Lakme and "Brindisi" from La Traviata.

Opera fans who lack either the space or the funds to collect all of the works represented here should seriously consider this album.

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, this is a great opera album, but it could be better!, July 17, 2001

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This may well indeed be "The Best Opera Album in the World...Ever!" I certainly have yet to find one that is better, but I do want to point out that there is room for improvement. This double-CD set offers up 38 tracks and yet nothing by Donzetti or Bellini. How you can leave out the Sextet from "Lucia di Lammamoor" is beyond me. There are ten tracks by Puccini along with six by Moazart five by Verdi, but only one by Wagner. This makes sense when you are covering the works of Rossini, Offenbach and Leoncavallo, for whom "Largo al factotum," the "Barcarolle" and "Vesti la guibba" are far and away their best known pieces, but where is "The Ride of the Valkyrie"? Okay, enough of the albums shortcomings. Let us now talk about why the album total is not exactly hyperbole.

Most of the arias included here are instantly recognizable, such as "La donne e mobile" "The Anvil Chorus" and "Der Holle Rache," but even the lesser known works such as Dvorak's "Song to the Moon" or Mascagni's "Suzei, bon di." When the album includes multiple tracks from the same opera, such as "La Boheme" or "Le Nozze di Figaro," they are grouped together. Featured singers include Montserat Caballe, Maria Callas, Renata Scotto, Kiri Te Kanawa, Roberto Algna, Helga Dernesch, Thomas Allen and all three of the 3 Tenors; Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. This album certainly makes ever effort to connect with those who have only recently come to enjoy opera. The linear notes point out that Maria Callas' "La Mamma Morta" aria from Giordano's "Andrea Chenier" was featured in "Philadelphia," and note the appearance of other noted arias in films such as "The Untouchables," "Fatal Attraction," "A Room With A View," "Moonstruck" and even the Marx Brother's "A Night at the Opera." The final cut offers "Nessun dorma," Pavarotti's famous encore piece, performed by Carreras with the full chorus, which you never really get to hear. A nice touch upon which to end the album. "The Best Opera Album in the World" will not be the only Opera Hits CD you own, but it is a good place to start.