31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful Performance but Average Recording Quality,
February 17, 2002 By A Customer
This review is from: The Ultimate Puccini Collection (Audio CD)
I love opera! I love Puccini! Not only is the vocalism important to me, but the quality of the recording as well. I enjoy my hi-tech sound system. I like to feel as if I am sitting in the front row of the first balcony when I listen to opera. This CD is excellent! The vocalists were well chosen. The technical performances are eloquent and emotional, as Puccini should be. However, the quality of the recording is not very good. No matter how you adjust your sound system, the recording is a bit tinny and as a result, the emotional high points of the arias are not as vibrant as they could be if the recording were of better quality. I would recommend this CD to anyone who loves Puccini and who is not as finicky as I!
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
This is gold!,
December 1, 2001 D Dog (Baltimore, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Ultimate Puccini Collection (Audio CD)
I like how whoever chose the artists to sing these lovely songs didn't pick your huge opera popular star that everyone expects to hear (the ones who made these roles famous). Here we have Pavarotti, Te Kanawa, Carreras, Tebaldi, Domingo, Price, Nilsson, Caballe, Sutherland, and some others who are very good and I'm glad to hear them again and add them to my collection. And I'm pleased to see listed on here some old faces like the great Bjorling, Lorengar, and di Stefano: some of which I wasn't planning to see on here but here they are they are fabulous! And what surprised me was that mixed in here are some of the lesser known singers like our favorites Corelli, Mariotti, Crespin, and Panerai. What a versatile selection!Lorengar sings "Il Sogno di Doretta" like it's no one's business. This is the best recording of this song that I personally think is available. She hits these high notes like they're just "another note." Bjorling's voice and versatility we...Read more
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
"Ultimate" only if you like your opera "al fresco"!,
June 13, 2002 J. J. Conti "jackson" (Alexandria VA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Ultimate Puccini Collection (Audio CD)
The music is without question, among the most beautiful ever written. But the quality of the fidelity tells me that many of the selections were recorded live in concert in outdoor venues. I wish that was clear to me before I bought the disc. So, is the music the ultimate? YES! Is the recording the ultimate? NO!
(22 customer reviews)