Aria recommendations

cleargos · Post by **cleargos** » Mon May 29, 2006 12:49 pm

Hello all,

well the thing just happened to me, unbelievable. I usually never listen to classical music, but in a broader effort to improve ones quality of live (lol) i decided to buy some classical music and give t a go. So in the store i wondered around completely lost ofcourse and more on the layout than any information whatsoever, i decided to buy Die Zauberflote by Mozart.

And what a choice that was! What an Aria's ! Especially "der Hoelle Rache" thats no music anymore, its electrifying happines unstoppable.

Pls recommend opera's, Aria''s like that so i can continue to enjoy this (art) music , (and wont be restricted to layout music selection )

Thank you in advance

Mark Antony Owen · Post by **Mark Antony Owen** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:09 pm

Welcome!

Glad you like Mozart's 'The Magic Flute'. I have a version sung in English arriving soon - it was the opera that turned my head, too!

There are others better qualified than I to recommend suitable arias - I'm something of an opera virgin myself - so stick around and await some great responses (I hope!). Bearing in mind the different countries we're all in, you may have to wait a little while, but I'm certain you won't be disappointed.

Isn't classical music great?

Post by **Corlyss_D** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:20 pm

cleargos wrote:Hello all,

well the thing just happened to me, unbelievable. I usually never listen to classical music, but in a broader effort to improve ones quality of live (lol) i decided to buy some classical music and give t a go. So in the store i wondered around completely lost ofcourse and more on the layout than any information whatsoever, i decided to buy Die Zauberflote by Mozart.

And what a choice that was! What an Aria's ! Especially "der Hoelle Rache" thats no music anymore, its electrifying happines unstoppable.

Pls recommend opera's, Aria''s like that so i can continue to enjoy this (art) music , (and wont be restricted to layout music selection )

Thank you in advance

Welcome to the board, Clear. Lots of Vivaldi, Handel, and Rossini have similar coloratura passages.

Post by **Lance** » Mon May 29, 2006 2:52 pm

Hello Cleargos - and welcome to the Classical Music Guide.

You probably couldn't have selected anything more wonderful than opera to get you off the ground, particularly an opera by Mozart! Eventually, you will want to own all the major ones.

In the meantime, if you're opera-bent at the moment, this is one time when I would recommend "compilation" CDs of collections of arias and segments of operas sung by many singers. This not only acquaints you with a wide variety of music, but also with the wrodl's great artist's names and interpretations of this repertoire.

I don't know where you live, but if you have access to a megastore, such as Virgin or Tower, they can lead you to compilations of arias. Here's a few recommendatations:

EMI 68306 (budget-priced) - "The Most Famous Opera Arias" with Moffo, Kraus, Dimitrova, Obratsova, Domingo, Gedda, etc.
EMI 69128 [2 CDs, budget-priced] - "Opera Collection I" with arias from Mozart, Verdi, Bellini, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Gounod, Delibes, Massenet, Bizet, Berlioz, and Wagner with all the best-known EMI recording artists.
EMI 69131 [2CDs, budget-priced] - "Opera Collection II" with arias from Gluck, Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Gounod, Massenet, Thomas, Bizet, Offenbach, Charpentier, R. Strauss, and Wagner, again with all celebrated singers/performers.

There are many such compilations on many CD labels. These often give you the most famous arias and will whet your appetite to eventually acquire complete operas. The next step takes you to the symphonic literature, piano and chamber music. It's a wide open world out there for classical music enthusiasts. I'm very happy you have found this music, which will add great dimensions to your life! Happy hunting.

cleargos · Post by **cleargos** » Mon May 29, 2006 5:01 pm

Thank you all for such a warm welcome.

@mark fortunately i understand german, and yes it is great

@corlyss thanks for the suggestions
@lance excellent idea ! ill go after those compilations tomorrow.
Its like ive just discovered a goldmine lying before me all those years. (tomorrow ill start digging

)

Best wishes to all

Chopin fan · Post by **Chopin fan** » Mon May 29, 2006 5:41 pm

You should totally watch Ingmar Bergman's rendering of the Magic Flute. The Criterion Collection has a great transfer.

The shortest of the three ladies is totally hot!

And the dragon-monster in the beginning is totally cool!

You might also like Beethoven's Fidelio-yo!

Brendan · Post by **Brendan** » Mon May 29, 2006 6:25 pm

You might be interested in The Best of Maria Callas, one of the greatest artists of opera. Some great solo work there.

Cyril Ignatius · Post by **Cyril Ignatius** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:49 pm

Here's a few CDs to start with:

"Costa Diva" Angela Gheorghiu sings a series of great arias here in her usual spectacular form. She has others as well.

Any good CD compilation of Puccini arias is a must.

Renee Fleming has several recordings out that meet the bill here.

Anna Netrebko's CDs on DGG are excellent.

Post by **Corlyss_D** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:55 pm

Chopin fan wrote:You should totally watch Ingmar Bergman's rendering of the Magic Flute. The Criterion Collection has a great transfer.

The shortest of the three ladies is totally hot!

And the dragon-monster in the beginning is totally cool!

Bar none, the best and funniest stagings of Flute ever!!! Available on DVD too.

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