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Andre | Twin Cities, MN | 06/19/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Well, this is a great introduction to the world of opera for those who are opera novitiates, there's no question there. And they are certainly some of the most popular arias and duets from a large sampling of operas as one may be able to tell. However, there are some not so great renditions of the arias and duets on here. But most of the selections are fairly well done to quite exquisite.The first CD contains just opera arias. I will make note of certain selections, and the rest you can consider to be of pretty good quality. The first track, "Gualtier Maldé... Caro nome" is wonderfully done by Anna Moffo, even though her high E ending is not quite in keeping with the style of the period, yet still quite nice to hear. Edita Gruberova's version of "Ah! Je veux vivre" is just ghastly. This coloratura soprano goes awry here and sounds as though she was drunk when recording this piece. My advice is to try to skip this track altogether unless you like to hear wobbling all over the place and screaming instead of beautiful high notes. This is probably my biggest criticism of this CD set, due to the fact that there are much better versions, especially the one by Joan Sutherland (the prima donna who was the master of coloratura in her time). Edita does go on to spur a bit of hope that she can do coloratura in the famous Bell song from Lakmé. She shows some wonderful skills with beautifully high pianissimos and scale work, but it falls apart once she gets to the real heavy-duty coloratura part near the end, and is off pitch in places, especially on her final shrieked note which is almost painful. And as for her "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" from the Magic Flute, it's so-so in comparison to versions that Sumi Jo, Christina Deutekom, and Lucia Popp have done. Now there's some coloratura sopranos for you. So now you see why I had to at least knock down my rating of this CD a little bit. When looking at the second CD, for the opera duets, this one is generally much better than the first CD. However, there are some pretty old recordings on here, namely the "Un di, felice, eterea" and "Parle-moi de ma mère" that sound kind of hollow and tin-like. The rest of the recordings are pretty much around the same age or older and these performers sound quite good. I especially like the tracks "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen" with Popp and Brendel (note: Lucia Popp has done both the roles of the Queen of the Night and Pamina. I highly recommend these two different versions of the opera the Magic Flute if this track whets your appetite for more), and "È il sol dell'anima" with Reri Grist's wonderful clear soprano voice. Probably the highlight of this CD set though is the beautiful "Presentation of the Rose" duet from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. This just sends chills through the spine every time with its hauntingly beautiful harmonies.Overall, this sampling of the various arias and duets are quite good and merit a rating of 4 stars in my mind. Keep in mind though that there are some bad renditions of the arias as I said before, and sound quality is not top-notch with some of the selections. However, this CD set, when its good sampling of artists gone-by and famous arias is combined with the unbelievably low price it is, it's almost a steal! (This is why I believe this CD set redeems itself from a rating of 3 up to a 4 by the way) I can only hope that those new to opera will fall in love with what it has to offer: beautiful melodies, harmonies, and voices that convey emotions and storylines on a whole different level than music and books can by themselves. Enjoy"