Artist: Myung-Whun Chung, Géza Anda, Rudolf Baumgartner, Trevor Pinnock, Karl Böhm, Eugen Jochum, Ferdinand Leitner, Ferenc Fricsay, Neeme Järvi, Claudio Abbado

The Essential Classics Collection, 2010-07-05
This set is an excellent introduction to the various facets of Classical Music, or as a collection of old favourites easily accessable. Each of the 6 CDs are arranged according to mood.(1) Meditation; featuring Albinoni, Bach, Faure, Rodrigo, Mahler, and Elgar. (2)Orchestral Fireworks; featuring a rousing excerpt from Tchaikovsky's 1812, Gershwins's Rhapsody In Blue, and the complete Ravel's Bolero.(3)Invitation to the Dance; with Weber, Handel, and Borodin.(4)Nocturne; featuring Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy-Clair de Lune.(5)Pomp and Circumstance; with Elgar, Holst, and Sibelius. (6)Grand Opera; with Puccini-One Fine Day, Bizet-Carmen, Verdi-Il Travatore, and Wagner-Liebestod. Each disc has between 10 and 15 tracks playing for approx 70 minutes. They are compiled by Deutsche Grammophon 1990, usually an indication of excellent artistic and recording quality. The number of well known orchestras and musicians are too many to list in this space, and for quality it is unfair to ignore any, but as a guide- Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Pierre Fournier(cello), Goran Sallischer(guitar), Berlin Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra of La Scala, Boston Symphony orchestra, Orchestra of the Bastille, Daniel Barenboim(piano), Simon Preston(organ), and The English Concert Orchestra with Simon Standage(violin)-are included.
This collection is also very good value for money, and very pleasently presented in magnolia and black with various images from a painting by Martin Mooney inspired by classical Corinthian Architecture.

Rated: Exempt
Staring: Kathleen Battle, Francisco Araiza, Manfred Hemm, Kurt Moll, Luciana Serra
Director: Brian Large

The best production I have seen of The Magic Flute, 2010-07-31
I bought this DVD as a present. I have owned this production on DVD for some time and I still think that it is the best all round production ever of The Magic Flute.

From the artistic imagination of Hockney, the music flair of Levine, to the absolute best Queen of the Night I can wholeheartledly recommend this DVD.

Jan Jones

Artist: Leonard Bernstein, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Levine

Inspiring and Evocative, 2009-04-06
Is there anything new under the sun? Considering how predictable and hackneyed much of today's music must seem to the jaded ear it's a question I have asked myself many times. Those of us who were around during the days of Beatlemania will know how exciting it is to hear new and original music. Concertgoers also felt the same sense of excitement in the 1920's when they heard Rhapsody in Blue for the very first time; its performance received a standing ovation from an audience jaded by many of the mediocre musical offerings of the day. The piece is an inspired example of how European orchestral harmonies were successfully combined with the blues scale to create something fresh and unique at the time. I first heard Rhapsody in Blue when a teenager. A friend loaned me a 12-inch vinyl recording and when I played it the hairs on my neck stood up. From the clarinet glissando at the beginning to the ascending trombone passages near the end Rhapsody in Blue is sheer bliss and evokes the Art Deco period perfectly. This particular CD also features other pieces by Gershwin, such as `An American in Paris' etc. and therefore is great value for money. But if the only piece you ever listen to on this CD is Rhapsody in Blue then your money will have been well spent.

Rated: Exempt
Staring: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo, Dolora Zajick, Sherrill Milnes, Paata Burchuladze
Director: Brian Large

First rate production of Verdi's opera, 2000-12-05
Verdi's Aida comes thrillingly to life in this splendid production from the Metropolitan Opera. Aprile Millo is in excellent voice in the title role and sings with great musicality throughout. Indeed this sense of musical values being the most important is reflected in the fine performances of the rest of this all star cast most notably Placido Domingo and Dolora Zajick as Radames and Amneris respectively. The production is old fashioned but attractive and the physical acting is rudimentary but the vocal acting gets prizes all round.

This was a favourite performance for me on video and is now excellently transferred onto DVD (sub titles optional). First rate.

Artist: Commotio, Matthew Berry, Levine Andrade, Christopher Gillett, Henry Parkes, Andrew Ker, Steffan Jones

Contemporary choral music at its best..., 2010-03-15
I was introduced to Luminosity when listening to Aled Jones's programme on Radio 3, The Choir. I was immediately enthralled by the ethereal choir over the drone of the tampura...since then and after purchasing the cd I've found myself coming back to it again and again...it's a wonderful combination of east, in the sometimes modal viola parts and of course the tampura and west, in the rich choral harmonies. Indeed this cd demonstrates that James Whitbourn is a masterful choral composer and this wonderful choir does his work more than justice.
Commotio have done several cds featuring contemporary choral works, some lesser known. Their conductor and co founder, Matthew Berry, has done a great job with this choir and they are so well regarded that works have been written especially for them.
I wholeheartedly recommend this cd..you'll keep coming back to it, of that I'm sure...

Rated: Exempt
Staring: Kiri Te Kanawa, Plácido Domingo, Vladimir Chernov, Robert Lloyd, Bruno Pola
Director: Brian Large

Boccanegra given old fashioned treatment, 2008-02-17
Simon Boccanegra is near to being my favourite Verdi opera; it is a deeply contemplative opera full of dark forboding. But, that being said, there are times when one feels like saying: "come on lighten up!" But, I am afraid the opera reflects the times - Mozart, Haydn and others are well gone and we are well into what can only be described as a moody century. The opera is sung beautifully here and the sets are simply marvelous - particularly the tintorettoesque Council chamber setting. Has anyone noticed that Verdi seems to transcribe line for line from one of Beethoven's late quartets as the musical backing for the chorus in the Council chamber - the fighting scene?

Artist: London Symphony Orchestra

Very enjoyable!, 2010-05-10
This Opera has to be the most enjoyable to listen to. Since getting this cd with some trepidation in case it wasn't as nice as I had heard, I have thought it so wonderful that I've now ordered a DVD aswell. I now think this is simply the best music I have ever heard, one can imagine that it would be regularly played in Heaven.

Artist: Renée Fleming

C D, 2010-04-11
C D

Renee Fleming
Very enjoyable selection of music. I am not disappointed in any way and am pleased to own it.
I purchased this CD and Jessye Norman The Best of at the same time.
Fleming's choice of music is more popular and known to me but much of Norman's selection is not.
Both mezzo soprano singers are wonderful and one should and cannot compare them as it comes down
to personal choice but for me Norman's voice is sublime
I hope to purchase more CD's of both singers

Rated: Exempt
Staring: Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, James Morris, Jane Bunnell, Richard Croft
Director: Brian Large

Very strongly recommended!, 2008-11-16
This superb production is a stunning success. The entire cast sings and acts with total authority and conviction. Fleming sings beautifully (even if she does look a bit like she's walked straight out of an American soap opera), my only reservation is over James Morris, whose acting is a bit hammy (he should have made less use of his (very strange) eyebrows). Domingo overwhelms. Levine gives the music all the ferocious power it needs, with a fantastically disciplined Met orchestra. Sets and costumes strike an ideal balance between traditional and modern, sumptuous and understated. One tiny gripe - not every line in the opera is subtitled. There are some serious gaps in the subtitling. Overall verdict though: excellent - the five stars richly deserved. I cannot imagine this opera better presented.

Rated: Exempt
Staring: Hildegard Behrens, Siegfried Jerusalem, Matti Salminen, Christa Ludwig, Anthony Raffell
Director: Brian Large

The James Levine cycle of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen is humane and emotionally powerful rather than monumental or spiritual; Levine is more interested in finding our sympathy for the characters than inspiring pity or terror. These are very traditional productions in which you see a rock where you need to see a rock, a dragon where the libretto says a dragon (the Metropolitan Opera has never been a place for experiment). What Levine and the Met can and do offer is excellent orchestral playing and some of the best singers in these roles in the world. Siegfried Jerusalem is boyish and naive and touching as Siegfried, and he is also surprisingly good as the detached mischievous Loge of Das Rheingold. James Morris is uniformly impressive as Wotan and makes the character evolve from the young ruthless god of the first opera to the tired old god of Siegfried, who seeks nothing more than his own necessary defeat and death. As Brunnhilde, Hildegard Behrens makes a convincing shift from goddess to woman, from callousness to tenderness and on to vindictiveness and self-sacrificing wisdom. Overall, this is an attractive Ring cycle, well-cast and beautifully pl...
Safe, sound - but inspired, 2009-07-11
This is the recording for anyone appalled by the current fashion for productions of opera that assume the librettist is incompetent. It's Wagner both for Wagnerians and for conservatives (and conservationists) who want the Ring performed as Wagner himself might have appreciated it. Not only, are the settings impressive, but the performances are very high grade, especially those of Jessie Norman as Sieglinde and James Morris as Wotan. Hildegarde Behrens, after a problematic beginning, becomes a commanding Brunnhilde, while Siegfried Jerusalem's double act as Loge and Siegfried is very satisfying and Ekkehard Wlaschiha is as good an Alberich as you'll ever see. Levine's tempo occasionally becomes alarmingly slow, but his overall performance is rivettingly good, with the backing of a virtuoso orchestra.

If you've never seen a complete Ring - or if you know only modern conceptualist productions - this is the one to buy.