The #1 Opera Album

Audio CD: Release Date 2001-02-27
Publisher: Decca
Artist: Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Léo Delibes, Georges Bizet, Umberto Giordano, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Wagner, Gioachino Rossini, Alfredo Catalani, Jacques Offenbach, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Charles Gounod, Gaetano Donizetti, Pietro Mascagni, Antonin Dvorak, Richard Bonynge, Herbert von Karajan, Alberto Erede, Lamberto Gardelli, Giuseppe Patane, John Mauceri, Zubin Mehta, Charles Dutoit, Gyorgy Fischer, Riccardo Chailly, Istvan Kertesz, Leone Magiera, Evelino Pido, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Luciano Pavarotti, Jussi Bjorling, Renata Tebaldi, Leo Nucci, Angela Gheorghiu, Mirella Freni, Gino Quilico, Gregory Cross
Sales Rank in Music: #3677

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The labels that are now gathered under the Universal Classics umbrella have a pretty impressive scorecard in the area of classical compilations. We've seen The Greatest Opera Show on Earth, The Yellow Guide: Classical Music, Best of the Millennium, and now there's The No. 1 Opera Album. But that's no surprise, since Universal has some of the finest interpreters in its catalogue to draw from. This two-CD set (at the price of one), for example, brings together the likes of Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Luciano Pavarotti, Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Georg Solti, Herbert von Karajan, and many more. Yet the other key to a successful compilation is canny anthologizing, and here again, you have a nice selection to give you a smattering of opera's heavyweights from the Italian, German, and French repertory (there's even a step outside the standard framework with an aria from Dvorák's lovely Rusalka). Ranging from 1959 to 1997, the choices from back catalogue will doubtless be the entry ticket for many into this grandest of the arts. --Sarah Chin

Title Tracks for The #1 Opera Album

1. Carmen: Act 1: Prld - LPO/Sir Georg Solti
2. La Traviata: Brindisi: Libiamo, Ne'lieti Calici - Luciano Pavarotti/Joan Sutherland/London Opr Chor/Terry Edwards
3. La Boheme: Che Gelida Manina - Luciano Pavarotti
4. Lakme: Flower Duet: Dome Epais Le Jasmin - Joan Sutherland/Jane Berbie
5. Fedora: Amor Ti Vieta - Jussi Bjorling
6. Carmen: Habanera: L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle - Tatiana Troyanos/John Alldis Chor/John Alldis
7. Nabucco: Chor Of The Hebrew Slaves: Va Pensiero - Chicago Sym Chor/Margaret Hills
8. Le Nozze Di Figaro: Dove Sono - Kiri Te Kanawa
9. Rigoletto: La Donna E Mobile - Luciano Pavarotti
10. Lohengrin: Bridal Chor: Treulich Gefuhrt Ziehet Dahin - Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor/Walter Hagen-Groll
11. Gianni Schicchi: O Mio Babbino Caro - Renata Tebaldi
12. Il Barbiere Di Siviglia: Largo Al Factotum - Leo Nucci
13. La Wally: Ebben?... Ne Andro Lontana - Angela Gheorghiu
14. Madama Butterfly: Humming Chor - Wiener Staatsopernchor/Norbert Balatsch
15. Carmen: Flower Song: La Fleur Que Tu M'avais Jetee - Placido Domingo
16. Les Contes D'Hoffmann: Barcarolle: Belle Nuit, O Nuit D'Amour - Joan Sutherland/Huguette Tourangeau/Chor De La Radio Suisse Romande, Pro Arte De Lausanne Et Du...
17. Tosca: E Lucevan Le Stelle - Placido Domingo
18. Madama Butterfly: Un Bel Di - Mirella Freni
19. Les Pecheurs De Perles: C'est Toi... Au Fond Du Temple Saint - Gregory Cross/Gino Quilico
20. Die Walkure: The Ride Of The Valkyries - Wiener Phil/Solti
21. Le Nozze Di Figaro: Voi Che Sapete - Cecilia Bartoli
22. Pagliacci: Recitar!... Vesti La Giubba - Luciano Pavarotti
23. La Boheme: O Soave Fanciulla - Mirella Freni/Luciano Pavarotti/Roland Panerai
24. Il Trovatore: Anvil Chor: Vedi! Le Fosche - Chicago Sym Chor/Margaret Hillis
25. Manon Lescaut: Donna Non Vidi Mai - Jose Carreras
26. Don Giovanni: La Ci Darem La Mano - Lucia Popp/Tom Krause
27. Mattinata - Andrea Bocelli
28. Faust: Soldiers' Chor - Ambrosian Opr Chor/John McCarthy
29. L'elisir D'amore: Una Furtiva Lagrima - Roberto Alagna
30. Turandot: Signore, Ascolta! - Montserrat Caballe
31. Don Giovanni: Champagne Aria: Finch'han Dal Vino - Bryn Terfel
32. Cosi Fan Tutte: Trio: Soave Sia Il Vento - Renee Fleming/Anne Sofie Von Otter/Michele Pertusi
33. Il Trovatore: Di Quella Pira - Luciano Pavarotti/Joan Sutherland/London Opr Chor/Terry Edwards
34. Tosca: Vissi D'arte - Kiri Te Kanawa
35. Carmen: Toreador Song - Jose Van Dam/Tatiana Troyanos/Norma Burrowes/Jane Berbie/Thomas Allen/Pierre Thau/John Alldis...
36. Madama Butterfly: Love Duet: Vogliatemi Bene - Mirella Freni/Luciano Pavarotti
37. Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo - Nat PO/Gianandrea Gavazzeni
38. Rusalka: O Silver Moon - Renee Fleming
39. La Boheme: Si. Mi Chiamano Mimi - Angela Gheorghiu
40. Turandot: Nessun Dorma - Luciano Pavarotti/John Alldis Chor/John Alldis

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review

(46 customer reviews)

171 of 175 people found the following review helpful

A superb collection of Opera favourites!, October 31, 2001

Sally Burnell (Kent, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The #1 Opera Album (Audio CD)

I was raised in a large family headed by a single parent, my mother, who was widowed while pregnant with my brother. She had few moments of peace and quiet trying to raise the four of us in a small house. But Saturday afternoons, starting at 1:00, she demanded time for herself to listen, on the radio, to the Metropolitan Opera, live from Lincoln Center in New York, hosted by Milton Cross. This album nostalgically brings back to me those quiet Saturday afternoons, with the Opera on the radio, my mother sitting in her favourite chair reading.
None of us cared for Opera in those days. It wasn't until years later, watching a simulcast of Puccini's "La Boheme" on PBS that was also being broadcast on the radio, that I began to appreciate what my mother loved for all those years. To finally see the action, and to read the subtitles, made me realise how wonderfully romantic Opera really was, and this album is "mother's milk" to my ears. It's literally the best of...Read more

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful

Good sampler for opera newbies or just a CD of favorites, April 6, 2001

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The #1 Opera Album (Audio CD)

I have plenty of opera, but I wanted this CD for my favorites all in one place. There were three particular arias that made this a very good choice; the tenor duet from the Pearl Fishers (Les Pecheurs De Perles: C'est Toi... Au Fond Du Temple Saint), Montserrat Caballé doing Turandot and Lucia Popp in Mozart's Don Giovanni. This is really a very well-thought-out assembly of opera. You can't go far wrong with this cd.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful

Prepare yourself, August 15, 2002

Paul J. Bellantoni (Cheshire County, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The #1 Opera Album (Audio CD)

You must prepare yourself for the journey you are about to embark upon with this album. From the moving deliverance that only Pavarotti can give, to the remarkable Orchestration, right to "The Flower Duet" this album will never let you down. Whether you use it as background music as you prepare your favorite Italian recipe, or as a background to a wonderful evening this album has it all. It is flawless in its execution, has all of your current favorites and what soon will become your new favorites.
Buy it for yourself, buy it as a gift, but just buy it- you will only regret not owning it sooner.

The #1 Opera Album

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Title Tracks for The #1 Opera Album

Customer Reviews