The Ultimate Aria Collection ~ A Passion for Opera at Music Hills.com

Music CD 1

Carmen, opera: 'Quand je vous aimerai?. . . L'amour'
Pagliacci, opera: 'Recitar!. . . Vesti la giubba'
Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly), opera: Un bel di vedremo
L'elisir d'amore, opera: Una furtiva lagrima
Nabucco, opera (Nabucodonosor): Va Pensiero (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves)
Gianni Schicchi, opera: O mio babbino caro
Rigoletto, opera: La donna e mobile
Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), opera: Largo al factotum
Louise, opera: Depuis le jour
LakmÃ?Â©, opera: Flower duet
Turandot, opera: Nessun Dorma
Norma, opera: Casta diva
Gianni Schicchi, opera: Avete Torto!
Tosca, opera: Vissi d'arte
Tosca, opera: E lucevan le stelle
La Rondine (The Swallow), opera: Chi il bel sogno di Doretta
Il Trovatore, opera: Di quella pira

Music CD 2

L'elisir d'amore, opera: Quanto e bella, quanto e cara!
OrphÃ?Â©e et Eurydice (French version), opera in 3 acts, Wq. 41: J'ai perdu mon Eurydice
La bohÃ?Â¨me, opera: Che gelida manina
La bohÃ¨me, opera: Si, Mi chiamano Mimi
La Traviata, opera: Di Provenza il mar
L'amico Fritz, opera (commedia lyrica) in 3 acts: O amore, o bella luce del core
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), opera, K. 492: Voi che sapete
Tosca, opera: Recondita armonia
Adriana Lecouvreur, opera: Ecco respiro, appena...lo son l'umile ancella
Le Roi d'Ys, opera in 3 acts: Puisqu'on ne peut. . . Vainement, ma bien-aimee
Samson et Dalila, opera in 3 acts, Op. 47: Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix
Mefistofele, opera in prologue, 4 acts & epilogue: Dai campi, dai prati
Manon Lescaut, opera: In quelle trine morbide
Serse (Xerxes), opera, HWV 40: Ombra mai fu
Turandot, opera: Signore, ascolta
Manon Lescaut, opera: Donna non vidi mai
La Wally, opera (dramma musicale) in 4 acts: Ebben? ne andro lontana
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

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.