The Best Opera Album in the World...Ever!

Opera is not my thing in the sense that I would attend or listen to a complete opera. However, there is a great deal of music from operas that appeals to me: overtures, arias, and choruses. To satisfy that interest, I have bought a number of these anthology CDs. I won't say that I like everything that is on them, but they give a sampling of opera that exposes the listener to much of its beauty. This is one such CD. Is it the "Best Opera Album in the World"? Probably not or at least arguable. What it does is provide the listener with an introduction to this long standing genre of music. I think you will like it.

My wife requested an opera CD for a Christmas gift. Although I really enjoy classical orchestral material I'm not one for opera. I explored many of the reviews in Amazon.com and ended up purchasing this CD and 'Rapture'. Eventually I listened to these CDs myself... starting with Rapture. Wow, I really couldn't deal with Rapture. After my experience with that title I was a little wary moving on to this one. Well, after just a few songs it was obvious that this set was much more entertaining for an opera newbee. I recognized almost all of the songs and finished the set. My wife felt the same way. She preferred this set also. The recordings all seemed fine, nothing detracted from enjoying the music. This was exactly what I was looking for in an opera CD.

I am enjoying this CD, but I am not as appreciative of these selections as the 40 Most Beautiful Arias. Many of the same artists but some not as easy to listen to as in the other CD for my burgeoning taste.Excellent instrumentals though and very educational for a new opera vocal student.

The album should have contained two discs but only one was in the package. I love listening to disc two but would love to have disc one too since I paid for it. I emailed the problem to customer care at Amazon, and the response was boiler plate intention to improve in future. This was only a $13 purchase. I spent more on delivery costs than the product. Amazon didn't seem to care about whether I got what I paid for and has made no effort to make things right. If I can't trust Amazon on small items, how can I have confidence to order an expensive product?Allen Jones, Amazon Prime Member

Started to listen to the 1st opera excerpt on the #1 CD, and could barely hear the singer, yet the orchestra was louder. I turned the volume up 6 points on my player, and could then hear the singer, but the orchestra about blew me out of the room. This degree of audio discrepancy occurred on 3 separate excerpts. All others sounded normal. I did, however, have to keep the volume high for the entire set. I don't have a volume problem on my other CD's. The music is outstanding. The audio recording is a disappointment.

Before I knew much about opera, someone gave me this album. Over time, I learned to love the music and this leadto a desire to actually see the opera. I'm happy to say, I've seen nearly all of them over the last l0 years. I stillenjoy listening to these discs. I have bought this disc a number of times as gifts for people with slight operainterest and have received very favorable responses about it.

In addition to the great male tenors, Maria Callas, Victoria de los Angeles, Renata Scotto, Helga Dernesch, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Mirella Freni, Madi Mespli, and others sing the great arias. This double CD will make you cry, it is so beautiful, and this from someone who never paid much attention to opera. I listen to it only about once a week, so I won't get tired of it, and after several months it still grabs my by the throat and makes tears run down my face. In 40 years of listening to rock and pop, I have never experienced this before. Buy it!

Lots of songs.