zauberflote zauberflöte masterpieces verschollenen

classical music:

Gounod: Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile; Petite Symphonie for wind instruments

8 reviews
Franz Crass, Charles Gounod, ...

EMI Classics, 2003

THE best recording of Gounod's Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cecile
Gounod's "Messe Solennelle de Saint Cecile" was one of the last masses of the Romantic era that was actually used in a liturgical setting for a time, and probably the best. Most romantic-era masses were simply written for the concert hall- Beethoven's Missa Solemnis comes to mind. Gounod's great work is an exception, and this is the best recording of it. Though it was recorded in the 1950s, it ...

Bach: Mass in B minor

5 reviews
Hermann Prey, Franz Crass, ...

EMI Classics, 2005

The best I know
I knew and owned this recording when it was published in the sixties; I played it so much that the vinyl disc became unplayable... Ever since that time I was looking for a recording of the Mass in B Minor, but none of what I found could come close. This record is so full of life, of feelings... I used to say that for just about any human feelings one can find parts of this recording to match it. ...

Weber: Der Freischütz

24 reviews
Carl Maria von Weber, Carlos Kleiber, ...

Deutsche Grammophon, 1998

Kleiber's genius is the key here
For most listeners, taking on faith that this legendary recording really is great, there's nothing to be disappointed by. Before Carlos Kleiber came to the score, Der Freischutz was a comfortable staple in German opera houses, to be absorbed along with strudel and beer as an accepted thing. Kleiber set the music on fire, and it's due to him that every moment is riveting. DG's 1973 sonics, to tell ...

Lohengrin (Dig)

6 reviews
Wagner, Corelli, ...

Decca, 2003

Elsa is a Valley Girl -- who knew?
This is not my primary LOHENGRIN, but this certainly is a gorgeous performance/recording of this masterpiece. Yes, you hear input from the audience, and some bumping and thumping on stage, but you get the advantages a live performance has to offer -- the energy, the edge-of-the-seat excitement that floods the house. And I really enjoy the wide-eyed girlishness of Anja Silja's Elsa; she still a ...

Bach: St Matthew Passion

4 reviews
Franz Crass, Hermann Prey, ...

EMI Classics, 2007

Wonderful version
I have several versions of the St. Matthew Passion and was delighted to find this budget version recorded so well with such dedicated performances. The soundstage is excellent, the pacing just right, and the feeling of the entire performance is right on target. Enjoy!

Mozart: The Magic Flute (Highlights)

10 reviews
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Karl Böhm, ...

Deutsche Grammophon, 1990

Excelente version!
No entiendo: Porque está tan barato este CD?? Es una de las mejores versiones de "La flauta" que he escuchado, el dúo final de Papageno y Papagena es de lo más rico que he escuchado en Opera y la reyna de la noche no desmerece en absoluta junto a otras afamadas coloraturas, aunque yo personalmente prefiero como interpretá el célebre papel la Deutekom. La orquestación es correcta y el resto del ...

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte / Janowitz, Gedda, Popp, Berry, Frick, Schwarzkopf, Ludwig; Klemperer

13 reviews
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Otto Klemperer, ...

EMI, 1995

Klemperer brings light to every dark scene
This is one of my favorite recordings of the Magic Flute. I like the slower tempos that Otto Klemperer employs. It adds grandeur to the music. Walter Berry is a great Papageno and proves his comic character, but tends grumble some of his roles. I wish the three boys were sung by boy trebles though. That would have made the recording more memorable. Gedda is still the Prince Tamino and is as good ...

The Voices of Christmas
Voice of Christmas

© 2002 Universal Classics Group / DECCA, 2002

Mozart: Die Zauberflote

29 reviews
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Otto Klemperer, ...

EMI Classics, 2000

A glorious achievement, brimming with magic and wonder
Walter Klemperer's historic 1964 recording of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte is a genius in operatic productions. Unlike Le Nozze di Figaro or Don Giovanni, Mozart's final opera is so dramatically convoluted and ridiculous that the recitatives provide more of a source of distraction and confusion than storyline continuation. Thus, Klemperer sculpts a marvelous collection of arias and ensembles with ...

Beethoven: Fidelio

3 reviews
Ludwig van Beethoven, Karl Böhm, ...

Deutsche Grammophon, 2005

An exceptional performance on CD at last
I had better "declare an interest," because a previously published and enthusiastic review of this recording, in its original LP version, written by me (using the pseudonym "Roland Graeme") is quoted on the back of the CD's box and on a sticker affixed to its front. If this superb 1969 recording was previously reissued on CD, I missed it. Here it is, as a budget-priced two-CD set, and it's even ...

Bach: Sacred Masterpieces

8 reviews
Hermann Prey, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, ...

Archiv Produktion, 2000

A Very Musical Offering from Richter
First of all, I don't own this box set but I do own each of the individual recordings it contains. The box would have been considerably cheaper and would take less precious space on my shelves. However, for each of the works presented here, Richter's versions are my favourite, and I have 40+ recordings of the Mass alone (ten or fewer of the other compositions). These aren't period instruments ...

Johannes Brahms: Choral Works And Overtures

1 review
Franz Crass, Johannes Brahms, ...

Philips, 1994

Good Requiem....Excellent overtures
One does not normally associate Sawallisch to Brahms. At the same time, Vienna Symphony Orchestra (not to be confused with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) is hardly a world-class orchestra. However, these recordings remind us how careful we must be when making such broad generalizations. Unfortunately, Sawallisch's German Requiem faces strong competition from Klemperer, Karajan, and Gardiner ...

Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio)

4 reviews
Franz Crass, Johann Sebastian Bach, ...

Polygram Int'l, 1988

Benchmark Modern-Instrument Bach
Music-lovers of a certain age will have grown up listening to Richter's near-definitive (for their time) traversals of the core Central-European oratorio repertoire. It is a wonderful thing to have this Weihnachtsoratorium available on CD. The solo quartet could hardly be improved upon - Gundula Janowitz (be still my beating heart) and Fritz Wunderlich alone would be worth the purchase price. ...

Wagner: Tannhäuser (Highlights)
Richard Wagner, Wolfgang Sawallisch, ...

Philips Import, 1995

Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser

2 reviews
Eberhard Wächter, Gerd Nienstedt, ...

Polygram Records, 1993

The "Supreme" TANNHAUSER?.......YOU BET! ! ! !
As I am the first to review this recording, and in addition since it is out of print, currently, I feel sort of strange writing this material. Perhaps I should start with some comparative information on the better known, "available", recordings. First, the Decca release, conducted by Solti, featuring Dernesch, Ludwig, Kollo, Bailey, Jungwirth, Hollweg, Braun, and Sotin is just wonderful, ...

Wagner: Tannhäuser

5 reviews
Richard Wagner, Wolfgang Sawallisch, ...

Opera D'oro, 1998

Glorious Live Wagner
Tannhauser is a surprisingly infrequently recorded opera, and of the studio recordings currently available none are satisfactory. That being said I was thrilled to discover this live recording. I was somewhat dubious of the label, because I had heard bad things about live opera, and this label specifically. Thankfully the low-range price encouraged me to buy it just to try. What good fortune ...

Passage to Paradise: 33 Highlights from Great Sacred Music

1 review
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Dimitri Kavrakos, ...

Angel Records, 1997

Lo maximo en musica
Este es un disco fabuloso, para aquellos que aman la grandiosa musica sacra. Escuchar este disco es sentir la vida nuevamente.

Wagner: Lohengrin

2 reviews
Richard Wagner, Lovro von Matacic, ...

Orfeo D'or, 2006

Sandor Konya's Glorious Knight
At last count I had 18 Lohengrins - an opera very dear to my heart for many musical and personal reasons. The acclaimed Hungarian tenor Sandor Konya in this performance is the most romantic and gorgeous Lohengrin of the lot. He sings here with a unique Italianate lyricism distinctly different from other tenors who have taken on this role. The Musical Times described his Lohengrin as "one of the ...

Beethoven: Fidelio

34 reviews
Franz Crass, Gottlob Frick, ...

EMI Classics, 2000

A Must Have
Klemperer's Fidelio as remastered here is well deserving of its status as a "Great recording of The Century" by EMI. The sound is as clear as a digital recording and allows all the nuances of the orchestra and singers to be heard. Beethoven's opera is underrated I believe, and with this recording one can see why. The drama and emotion of the story are even more enhanced by the superb phrasing ...

Janácek: Missa Glagolitica; Tagebuch eines Verschollenen

4 reviews
Leos Janacek, Rafael Kubelik, ...

Dg Imports, 2002

Can I Give It 10 Stars?
Take every other recording of the Mssa Glagolskaja and melt them down into something more useful: This is the ONLY one you'll ever need. How can you even speak of another recording after listening to this version. Kubelik is some sort of magus. There is not one flaw to this reading. And the work itself? Janacek is a genius. From start to finish the Mssa is the physical manifestation of an ...

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