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Franco | |
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List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £4.73
 Intense, thrilling, 2010-06-13
I don't find it easy to review opera CDs. This is partly because it is not that easy for me to see operas - there are so many that I have heard so many times but have never seen - so I am often not as aware as I might be of operas as musical drama. Often I approach an opera as a listening experience, as total music. On that level this is a really great set. Price is in powerfully good voice and Jon Vickers also strikes me as excellent. Solti keeps the whole thing moving so that the intensity never lets up. This is a very rewarding listening experience. It would probably also be a great evening in the opera house - at least I feel that I can almost see it unfolding before my eyes when I listen. And at this price you can't go wrong.
List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £6.99
Artist:
Franco Corelli
Bravo Corelli!!, 2009-08-24
It is well worth exploring the operatic vaults of the EMI Catalogue because there are gems hidden there which are priceless.If you have never heard of Franco Corelli or,like me you have just discovered him after having been brainwashed by more recent and better known tenor singers, then you are in for an absolute feast of singing which will feed all your senses.This budget priced comprehensive 4 CD collection is immaculately recorded by EMI in glorious Hi Fi stereo sound and captures Corelli at the absolute peak of his singing powers. Highlights on the 4 CD collection include wonderful arias from Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, Tosca and Turandot.When you hear these extracts, you will want the complete opera recordings which are readily available on the EMI label...again at an excellent mid budget price.For me the most thrilling recordings on this 4 CD collection are those from Andrea Chenier(Giordano).I would honestly buy ICON for these tracks alone..that is how good they are!! I do not think I have ever heard such a spine tingling and passionate rendition of Chenier songs like this before.Couple all that with the added bonus of a very attractive collection of neapolitan and sacred songs, and some wonderful early bel canto from Bellini and Donizetti, and you will see just how excellent value for money this ICON collection really is.Bravo Corelli and Bravo EMI.
List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £7.76
Great CD, 2009-04-15
This CD is really good - whether relaxing to it in the house or in the car. Great to listen to anytime, in fact at the moment I have it in my kids bedrooms at bedtime and it helps them fall asleep!
List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £5.39
The voice of Maria Callas has found its way into the most unlikely nooks and crannies of the film and television industry. One recording was the inspiration for a rather overheated scene in the film Philadelphia, and she's also been roped in to sell drinks and cars (the Ford Mondeo). This compilation capitalises on this new aspect of her fame, and includes the film and advert recordings. But it also--rather cannily--includes music (not originally sung by her) which has become famous through the same celluloid and cathode routes. Thus "O mio babbino caro", which was sung by Kiri te Kanawa in A Room With a View and, "Ebben? ne andrò lontana" sung by Wilhemina Wiggins in the film Diva are here given the Callas treatment. And what a treatment--the unmistakable voice, the intensity, the impeccable phrasing, the drama, the intelligence, the technique--it's all here, so just listen and marvel. (And there are also some glorious shots of Callas to keep you drooling while you do.) A treat. --Warwick Thompson
Wonderful Artistry, 2009-05-27
Despite the glitzy title, this CD gives a great introduction to one of the greatest singing actresses in the history of opera. Many of Callas' special roles are here. Mostly both the singing and the vocal acting are incredible. If in doubt, try the Rossini and the Gluck. You will be hooked!
List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £3.24
MAYBE THE BEST TENOR OF 2OTH. CENTURY, 2010-05-29
Mario Lanza: The Ultimate Collection
This recording is truly great, showing of the great Lanza's remarkable command of the operatic and more modern genre of singing.
Poor Mario, he was exploited badly by the Holywood star mincing machine and never really believed that he had the luck to have this wonderful voice and a truly marvellous voice it was.
I was about eleven years old, I think (I am now sixty-six) when I first heard him on the radio and remember being totally and wholly fascinated that such a voice could issue from a human throat. He was compared to the great Caruso and his voice was, in fact, mistakenly thought to be Caruso's on more than one occasion.
He chose (or more likely was coerced) to go into films rather than onto the operatic stage and, who knows, if he had taken the other course, he may have lived longer and would have been able to leave us more of his wonderful gift? I do believe that, because Mario was of a naturally robust build, which incidentally made for his better singing, the pressure of Holywood forcing him to diet to look slimmer for his films, caused a lot of his health problems. He actually died from a pulmonary embolism at the very young age of thirty-seven, which could have resulted from his constant dieting having a dilatory effect on his circulation.
I remember when I heard that he had died ( I was fifteen) I felt quite devastated and found it hardly believable. What a tragedy and an unnecessary waste.
The Three Tenors, Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras have all said that he was their idol when they first came into the operatic world; for these three greats to say this, says a great deal about Mario's heart-breaking voice, doesn't it?
Buy this recording and his others as they are all wonderful and in a lot of cases heart-rending with the sweetness of his articulation and delivery. In my opinion they have never been bettered even by Pavarotti and that's saying a lot in my book.
List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £6.74
Twenty years after Maria Callas' death in 1977, EMI honoured one of its most faithful recording stars by re-releasing her entire output. Voice of the Century figureheads the anniversary edition, and if ever there was a highlights album to be bought, this must be it. The first disc concentrates on Italian opera, and already on the opening track Callas' direct, unaffected Norma demonstrates why she was the best-loved soprano of her generation. Her ability to let the character choices transform her voice led misguided critics to object to "thin(ness) in the high register", "vulnerable tone", "unstable vibrato" and so on. But Callas' unparalleled ability to renew and personalise well-known arias such and the depth and truthfulness of her coloratura register, placed her beyond criticism. Admittedly Callas at times forcibly subdued co-singers and conductors, but this was certainly not the case when she communed with the La Scala orchestra and Tullio Serafin, with whom the Greek "maestra" shared a love and affinity for the leisurely paced Italian bel canto tradition. Callas' takes on the French repertoire (disc two) leaves her more open to stylistic scrutiny--the 1961 Gluck ...
A Singer unlike any other, 2004-06-15
I was most impressed by the two CD compilation.
As you may know, Maria Callas was one of the very few 'Bel Canto' Operatic singers. Her unique style comes across most clearly on this CD set. My favourite piece being the Bell Song by Lakmé, (Dové l'Indiana Bruna).The two CD's cover her best works, from her songs in the mid 1950's right through until some of her last performances when her voice was not as techincal and strong. It does, however, display her ability to sing a wide variety of styles and of course, her vocal-range was astounding. I cannot praise this CD set enough. You will have to buy it for yourself to understand how great she really was.
List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £8.28
Artist:
Anonymous,
Domenico Zipoli,
Francisco López Capillas,
Juan de Araujo,
Diego José de Salazar,
Hernando Franco,
Jeffrey Skidmore,
Ex Cathedra
An extraordinary collection of Baroque music from Latin America, 2010-06-02
I think this is a most amazing and exciting disc of music by Spanish and Italian baroque composers in Latin America. The word "fusion" is currently fashionable and is used to describe some of the movements in contemporary music which involve the marriage of different styles, e.g. jazz with classical. However, this recording demonstrates that this idea is nothing new. Many of the pieces are a mixture of European baroque practices combined with elements of the contemporary indigenous music. The results are often stunning and quite unexpected. The situation arose from the missionary activities of the local priests who realised that church music would be more palatable to the local population if it contained elements of music that they understood and texts in their own languages, which they could follow. Although we have little knowledge of the precise performance practices of the time, Ex Cathedra, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore, seem to give excellent renderings of the music.
List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £5.99
Artist:
Franco
Stunning, 2010-06-25
If you like your "rumba / soukous" to go on and on and on; then this superb compilation is the one.
Melodic singing, pulsating drums and a host of guitars,led by Le Grand Maistre. It finishes with the superb Co-operation, which is the track that first turned me on to Franco and Sam Mangwana) but doesn`t include "Attention Na SIDA" which must be heard. Is there a Volume 3 to come?
List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £6.10
Exhilalarating Latin American Baroque!, 2008-09-24
My daughter bought this CD for me a few years ago and it remains one of my favourites. Most of the featured Latin American music is joyous, exciting and uplifting, but the first track is so special - exquisite and hauntingly beautiful!
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