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1.Mozart: Die Zauberflöte from: Great Recordings of the Century September 04, 2000
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £19.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £13.48 You Save: £6.51 (33%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £13.99
There really isn't much to say. Yes, this is an "old recording" and it shows the technology of its age with a slight lack of bright crispness, but DON'T LET THIS PUT YOU OFF. There are some performances that are genuinely special and even if they were recorded in 1964, before the advent of digital recording techniques, they remain special nevertheless. This performance has gravitas, power, majesty and sublime magnificence. Yes, I'd accept that Lucia Popp could have done with being a bit more fearsome - she is, after all, the epitome of monstrous evil - but that is the tiniest of criticisms when you're wallowing in her GLORIOUS voice and utterly brilliant coloratura. This is the best recording ... Read More:

2.Mozart - Don Giovanni by: Eberhard Wächter, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Piero Cappuccilli, Gottlob Frick, Luigi Alva, Carlo Maria Giulini September 02, 2002
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £29.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £20.98 You Save: £9.01 (30%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £22.65
Don Giovanni is perhaps the greatest opera of all and has been very lucky on disc with many fine recordings. This one, however, just about tops the lot. It has Guilini and the Philamonia at the top of their game, a simply wonderful cast with Wachter as the most demonic Don on record, and Legge's superb production. The recording still sounds well though not quite up to the latest digital standards, of course. But it is one of Legge's best. Just listen to the climax with chords thundering and Frick's sepulchral bass summoning Giovanni to hell. If the hairs don't rise on your neck then you can demand your money back! For a refreshing alternative try Jacobs (HM) but all round this one is the tops.

3.Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen from: Decca October 06, 1997
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £134.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £92.98 You Save: £42.01 (31%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £50.00
Three stars only? For the Solti ring? Surely not? Well yes actually. How to explain this? Solti's was the second set I brought - largely because it was so famous that I thought that I simply had to have it. The first set I acquired was a ludicrously cheap version of Furtwangler's set from Turin (with Martha Modl, Ludwig Suthaus, Ferdinand Franz et al). I really didn't know anything about the Ring at the time except a few bits that I'd heard over the years. Having it all meant that I could dip in and out and out and gradually, with the help of the ENO guides, I found my way round these astonishing works. It's very difficult to be objective about Furtwangler. If I had to summarise what is great about him in the Ring it would be that he ... Read More:

4.Wagner - Lohengrin by: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra September 04, 2000
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £29.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £20.98 You Save: £9.01 (30%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £14.00
This is a disc that displays its credentials as a 'Great Recording of the Century' in every bar. Getting on for nearly half a century old now, it still stands firm as by far the most recommendable version of the opera. Certainly the singing cast is uniformly outstanding. The villains of the piece, Ortrud and Telramund, almost take over the show in the hands of Christa Ludwig and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The opening scene of Act 2, with its dark foreshadowings of Wagner's later style, is compulsive here as the witch-like disciple of the 'old religion' probes and explores every chink and weakness in her husband's psyche while he struggles and frets to cling onto the last vestiges of his 'honour' like a fly caught in her spider's web. Ortrud's invocation of her ... Read More:

5.Wagner: Parsifal by: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau René Kollo Gottlob Frick Hans Hotter Christa Ludwig Zoltan Kelemen Wiener Sängerknaben Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor Wiener Philharmoniker Georg Solti July 08, 2002
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £45.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £40.99 You Save: £5.00 (11%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £30.50
The standard comment on this recording, as on most of Sir Georg Solti's work, is that it's too intense and visceral and 'lacks spirituality'. Well, maybe so....but this criticism overlooks the fact that Parsifal, is a music drama - and 'drama' is something Solti was always able to provide in spades. It's what made him the supreme conductor of recorded opera; and, to my mind, this is his greatest opera recording. All of the principal singers are well inside their roles and give exciting, sometimes hair-raising performances: we agonise with Fischer-Dieskau during Amfortas' 'klag'; we feel Kundry's agony through Christa Ludwig's powerful and varied performance; and we travel with Kollo's Parsifal on his journey to self-awareness. Throw in vintage Decca analogue sound and the presence ... Read More:

6.Mozart: Die Zauberflote from: EMI September 01, 1994
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £10.00
The three best singers in this recording are Walter Berry, Lucia Popp and Gundula Janowitz. Walter Berry has an interesting way of showing Papageno's character. Lucia Popp sings in threatening tones, just like Roberta Peters does. Lucia Popp has a more silver voice than Roberta Peters. Gundula Janowitz, my favourite Pamina has such a beautiful voice. She sings so beautifully with her elegant voice. Nicolai Gedda sings Tamino's roles too heavily and he does not sing slowly and smoothly, like Fritz Wunderlich does. I prefer it when Tamino's roles are sung gently. I do not like Gottlob Frick singing Sarastro's roles because he does not sound serious, therefore he does not sing smoothly. Klemperer would have made the opera sound more beautiful if he conducted it more smoothly. I don't like the ... Read More:

7.Beethoven: Fidelio from: Great Recordings of the Century September 04, 2000
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £19.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £11.98 You Save: £8.01 (40%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £8.49
Karajan (also with Vickers as Florestan) is more exciting, and Halasz (Naxos) more eloquent, but dear old Klemperer beats his way through the mature version of Beethoven's only opera with a reassuring touch. Christa Ludwig is an inspirational Leonore, and a lower-register masterclass is offered by Walter Berry (Pizzaro), Franz Crass (Don Fernando) and the subterranean Gottlob Frick (Rocco). The recording to get, if you can find it, is Fricsay's DG account from the late 1950s: more Frick (as Rocco) plus a big, warm-hearted Leonore (Rysanek), a dry but heroic Florestan (Haefliger) and the best-available Pizzaro in the snarling Fischer-Dieskau. Without that, the Klemperer has to be No.1.

8.Wagner: Die Walküre from: Decca October 06, 1997
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £45.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £39.98 You Save: £6.01 (13%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £24.99
The only real reason to buy this set over the live Bohm recording from Bayreuth is the outstanding, brilliant Fricka of Christa Ludwig. Unbelievably great singing! But Bohm's set scores higher on average, especially in Act One. Get both, and then start adding others :)

9.Beethoven - Fidelio by: Covent Garden Royal Opera House Orchestra November 03, 2003
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £25.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £21.99 You Save: £4.00 (15%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £15.51
The only real reason to buy this set over the live Bohm recording from Bayreuth is the outstanding, brilliant Fricka of Christa Ludwig. Unbelievably great singing! But Bohm's set scores higher on average, especially in Act One. Get both, and then start adding others :)

10.Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen - Great Scenes from: Opera Gala February 16, 1998
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £0.99
The only real reason to buy this set over the live Bohm recording from Bayreuth is the outstanding, brilliant Fricka of Christa Ludwig. Unbelievably great singing! But Bohm's set scores higher on average, especially in Act One. Get both, and then start adding others :)

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