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171 of 175 found the following review helpful:
 A superb collection of Opera favourites! Oct 31, 2001
By Sally Burnell
I was raised in a large family headed by a single parent, my mother, who was widowed while pregnant with my brother. She had few moments of peace and quiet trying to raise the four of us in a small house. But Saturday afternoons, starting at 1:00, she demanded time for herself to listen, on the radio, to the Metropolitan Opera, live from Lincoln Center in New York, hosted by Milton Cross. This album nostalgically brings back to me those quiet Saturday afternoons, with the Opera on the radio, my mother sitting in her favourite chair reading.
None of us cared for Opera in those days. It wasn't until years later, watching a simulcast of Puccini's "La Boheme" on PBS that was also being broadcast on the radio, that I began to appreciate what my mother loved for all those years. To finally see the action, and to read the subtitles, made me realise how wonderfully romantic Opera really was, and this album is "mother's milk" to my ears. It's literally the best of the best of Opera arias and overtures, and now I regard this music with many fond memories of my childhood.
Also, if you are, like me, of the generation that was raised on Looney Tunes cartoons, you will recognise how many clever and downright hilarious send-ups they did of Opera, if you were listening to the music while watching the cartoons. Those cartoons were as much for the adult audiences as they were for children, and many of us received our earliest introductions to serious music through those classic cartoons. You will hear many of those arias and overtures that Warner Brothers used in those days in their cartoons. I only wish they would do something like that again so that today's children would not regard Classical Music as some kind of collosal bore.
If you've never listened to Opera, this is the album to get to introduce yourself to it. This features the very best of many composers and styles of Opera, and should be an essential part of any good music lover's library. I highly recommend this album for anyone who's either intimately familiar with Opera or who has never before listened to it. It's well worth your while to acquire this CD.
57 of 59 found the following review helpful:
Good sampler for opera newbies or just a CD of favorites Apr 06, 2001
By Joanna Daneman
I have plenty of opera, but I wanted this CD for my favorites all in one place. There were three particular arias that made this a very good choice; the tenor duet from the Pearl Fishers (Les Pecheurs De Perles: C'est Toi... Au Fond Du Temple Saint), Montserrat Caballé doing Turandot and Lucia Popp in Mozart's Don Giovanni. This is really a very well-thought-out assembly of opera. You can't go far wrong with this cd.
35 of 36 found the following review helpful:
Prepare yourself Aug 16, 2002
By Paul J. Bellantoni
You must prepare yourself for the journey you are about to embark upon with this album. From the moving deliverance that only Pavarotti can give, to the remarkable Orchestration, right to "The Flower Duet" this album will never let you down. Whether you use it as background music as you prepare your favorite Italian recipe, or as a background to a wonderful evening this album has it all. It is flawless in its execution, has all of your current favorites and what soon will become your new favorites.
Buy it for yourself, buy it as a gift, but just buy it- you will only regret not owning it sooner.
20 of 22 found the following review helpful:
Another superb compilation Apr 21, 2001
It is difficult to differentiate among the several "only opera album you will ever need" offerings now available on the market, but this one is as good as any, showing exquisite good judgment in terms of both selections and performers (any compilation where Pavarotti does the honors on several numbers including the immortal Nessun Dorma has a leg up). Mirella Freni is particularly fine in Un Bel Di as well; Troyianos is a great choice for the Carmen; and perhaps my only quibble would be with the Pearl Fishers Duet. A perfect gift for someone who needs an introduction to the great world of opera.
28 of 33 found the following review helpful:
 Fine singing, but too much Pavarotti Jun 05, 2004
By music lover
In 2004, any recording by Luciano Pavarotti (Decca`s own house tenor) will seem great to many people. But not so much because of Pavarotti, but more so because there aren`t any really good tenors today. On this CD, there is however just too much of Pavarotti. He doesn`t sound romantic(Bohème or Madama Butterfly) and certainly not dramatic(Pagliacci).
His voice, although he sings with some freedom and brilliance in the upper register when his breathing allows it, does not evoke exstacy or other overwhelming feelings. But he is certainly famouse, no doubt about that. This CD is for beginners in Opera.
And therefore it is OK. But Pavarotti is merely one of many good singers, and there were better singers and greater artists before him. Two of them are certainly present on this disc; Jussi Björling in the tremendous aria from Fedora, which he sings with burning passion and with supreme vocal control seemingly without breathing, and Renata Tebaldi in Puccini`s aria from Gianni Schicchi. It should be added that these two fantastic singers together still hold an unbeatable curtain-call record at the Metropolitan from a Tosca performance in February 1957. It is enough to say that there has been no tenor to match Björling`s vocal brilliance ever since, and probably not many sopranos to match La Tebaldi either.
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