The Ultimate Aria Collection ~ A Passion for Opera

The Ultimate Aria Collection ~ A Passion for Opera

The Ultimate Aria Collection ~ A Passion for Opera
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CD Details

Edition: Music CD
Format: Box set
CD Release Date: 1998-08-11
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Carmen, opera: 'Quand je vous aimerai?. . . L'amour'
  2. Pagliacci, opera: 'Recitar!. . . Vesti la giubba'
  3. Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly), opera: Un bel di vedremo
  4. L'elisir d'amore, opera: Una furtiva lagrima
  5. Nabucco, opera (Nabucodonosor): Va Pensiero (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves)
  6. Gianni Schicchi, opera: O mio babbino caro
  7. Rigoletto, opera: La donna e mobile
  8. Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), opera: Largo al factotum
  9. Louise, opera: Depuis le jour
  10. Lakm�©, opera: Flower duet
  11. Turandot, opera: Nessun Dorma
  12. Norma, opera: Casta diva
  13. Gianni Schicchi, opera: Avete Torto!
  14. Tosca, opera: Vissi d'arte
  15. Tosca, opera: E lucevan le stelle
  16. La Rondine (The Swallow), opera: Chi il bel sogno di Doretta
  17. Il Trovatore, opera: Di quella pira
Music CD 2
  1. L'elisir d'amore, opera: Quanto e bella, quanto e cara!
  2. Orph�©e et Eurydice (French version), opera in 3 acts, Wq. 41: J'ai perdu mon Eurydice
  3. La boh�¨me, opera: Che gelida manina
  4. La bohème, opera: Si, Mi chiamano Mimi
  5. La Traviata, opera: Di Provenza il mar
  6. L'amico Fritz, opera (commedia lyrica) in 3 acts: O amore, o bella luce del core
  7. Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), opera, K. 492: Voi che sapete
  8. Tosca, opera: Recondita armonia
  9. Adriana Lecouvreur, opera: Ecco respiro, appena...lo son l'umile ancella
  10. Le Roi d'Ys, opera in 3 acts: Puisqu'on ne peut. . . Vainement, ma bien-aimee
  11. Samson et Dalila, opera in 3 acts, Op. 47: Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix
  12. Mefistofele, opera in prologue, 4 acts & epilogue: Dai campi, dai prati
  13. Manon Lescaut, opera: In quelle trine morbide
  14. Serse (Xerxes), opera, HWV 40: Ombra mai fu
  15. Turandot, opera: Signore, ascolta
  16. Manon Lescaut, opera: Donna non vidi mai
  17. La Wally, opera (dramma musicale) in 4 acts: Ebben? ne andro lontana
  18. La Gioconda, opera in 4 acts: Cielo e mar

Music reviews of The Ultimate Aria Collection ~ A Passion for Opera

Music Review: Ultimate indeed
Rating: 5 Stars

If you don't like the idea of buying whole operas, or if you're a newcomer to opera - this is an extremely good collection / introduction, worth every single cent. The collection features many of the worlds greatest singers, giving their interpretations of some of the world's greatest arias. The compilation itself is very tasteful and covers a wide range from Handel to early 20th century composers. You won't miss any important stuff from the history of opera, except maybe Wagner and the most modern operas - I'll come back to that fact later. The compilers have actually put some lesser known, although no less beautiful, arias here, that oftenly are neglected on ordinary opera-collections, why the name `ultimate collection' is more than correct in that aspect.

EMI have a enormous archive to pick their recordings from, and that of course makes it easy to find first rate interpretations of all the arias included in this collection, and I do think that almost all of the arias are wonderfully sung here. It may be possible to find better performances of single numbers here and there, but I've not yet heard a more complete, wellmatched, and so thrillingly sung collection.

Well then, is there nothing wrong with this compilation? You might find it a little odd that there are so many soloarias and so few duets, terzettos a.s.o, especially since the drama in operas oftenly is greater in numbers with more than one singer. You might also wish that some of the recordings had been a little more modern (most of these recordings were made during the 50's, 60's & 70's) giving place to younger performers that still are singing on the stages, but those are minor objections when the over all quality is so high.

The maybe strongest objection to this collection is that there is not one single part from any of Wagner's operas, and not any number sung in german, nor is there any parts from modern or russian operas. That may be a miss if you're interested in Wagner, russian and modern opera - on the other hand I think you should watch Wagners, russian and modern operas before listening to recordings of them - and if you've seen them and liked them you will probably buy the whole opera anyway. Therefor I still think that this is a extremely strong and complete compilation - the best I've run into so far. Easy to listen to, yet never banal.

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