At Her Very Best [Original recording remastered]

Nana Mouskouri

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 22, 2001)
• Original Release Date: May 22, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B000059H1U
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,589 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and versatile selection, December 2, 2005

By	Classicalfan "Classicalfan" (Reston, VA USA) - See all my reviews

I initially bought this CD primarily to hear Nana Mouskouri's version of the classical "Ave Maria." Although my favorite version remains the one sung by Mario Lanza, I found Mouskouri's version quite pleasant and entirely listenable. Other excellent classical selections include Habanera (Bizet), The Humming Chorus (Puccini), Song For Liberty (Verdi), and En Aranjuez Con Mi Amor (Rodrigo).

All of the selections, classical and pop, are thoroughly pleasant and very clear. Both Mouskouri's voice and the instrumental accompaniment are beautiful. One thing that stands out on this CD is her versatility. Whether it's something as traditional and classical as "Ave Maria" or something as hip as the sixties rock gospel song "Oh Happy Day," Nana Mouskouri knows how to make it hers. She sings "Oh Happy Day" with convincing energy and enthusiasm. As for "Quand on s'aime" her duet with the French jazz composer, Michel Legrand, it's an enthusiastically sung jazzy number that really swings and is wonderfully done. Her versions of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Trouble Water" and "Scarborough Fair Canticle" are also first rate. No weak selections here. Only beautiful songs that are very well done. Warmly recommended.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Her Very Best/Nana Mouskouri, October 2, 2001

By	"[e-mail]" (Au Gres, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This is one of the most beautiful recordings I have ever owned.
Nana and Julie Andrews have the clearest tones in their voices of
any I've ever listened to. Do yourself a favor and add this album to your music library.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nana Mouskouri: A Spectrum, June 6, 2001

By A Customer

Nana Mouskouri has been my favorite female vocalist since I first heard her singing in French during the summer of 1968, while I was in Quebec, re-tooling for a part-time position as a teacher of the French language. The part-time job eventually became a full-time job that ended only with my retirement a year ago. During the intervening years, I have heard Nana in concert on every possible occasion here in Detroit, in Paris, and at venues in between. I think that I have a copy of everything that Nana has ever recorded in French. Until I encountered this new CD, I had thought that I had also heard everything that she had ever recorded in English -- but I was wrong about the English. For example, I had never heard her wonderful version of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," which is listed (probably incorrectly) as dating from 1962. Nor had I heard the "Fields of Love" version of the Offenbach barcarolle or "The Humming Chorus" from "Madama Butterfly." The other 18 cuts are familiar -- and most welcome as a single-CD addition to my vast collection. The title of this album obviously sets an impossibly high standard. If I were naming it, I would call it something like "Nana Mouskouri: A Spectrum." The collection contains such signature songs as "Plaisir d'Amour" (far superior, in my opinion, to a rendition by Beverly Sills); the chorus of the slaves from "Nabucco," which Nana has made into her own sincere ode to liberty in each of her many languages; "The White Rose of Athens: and "Never on Sunday." What I call the "spectrum" ranges not only through the years but through a range of styles: her magnificent rubato in "Try to Remember"; her rare and excellent venture into French opera in the "Habanera" from "Carmen"; her mesmerizing vocalise on "Recuerdos de la Alhambra;" a duet with Michel Legrand on his "Quand on s'aime" that is amusingly reminiscent of the sort of scat that Ella Fitzgerald might have done with Yves Montand; an "Oh, Happy Day!" that would be quite acceptable in the "black" churches of Detroit; and an "Amazing Grace" that would be more than acceptable to any Christian listener. (The only selections that disappoint me are "Fields of Love" and "The Humming Chorus." My disappointment may come more from my musical tastes than from the performances -- recent ones that at least demonstrate the wisdom of supporting an aging voice with a stronger backup than that still fantastic voice needed in its peak years.) To summarize a long critique, let me simply say that this is a recording that I would recommend to Nana fans and that I would gladly give as a gift to any of my friends who might still -- incredibly -- not have heard her great voice.