Johann Sebastian Bach, without a doubt in any music scholar's mind, was the greatest composer of the Baroque Period. His flair for instrumental music was rich, melodic and grand. He mastered everything that could possibly be mastered as far as Baroque musical convention- except for opera. Had Bach also taken an interest in writing music for operas, like George Frederic Handel did, he would have gone above and beyond. This collection is affordable and offers you 25 of his musical works that best depicts his style. The compilation album is one in the many series of "25 Favorites". Others include 25 Handel favorites, 25 Vivaldi Favorites, 25 Mozart Favorites, 25 Beethoven favorites, 25 Tchaikovsky favorites, 25 Dance Favorites and 25 Opera Favorites.

The album opens with the famous Toccata And Fugue In D Minor, originally a work for the organ. It was later re-made into a work for full orchestra. The conductor Leopold Stokowski popularized the music in Disney's Fantasia 1940. The "evil" sound of the ominous organ, particularily the opening toccata, was featured in the original 1930's "Dracula". It is still regarded as a sort of Halloween anthem. The toccata, strongly accented, is followed by a lyrical fugue which he builds on later to a dramatic crescendo and finale. This was Bach's specialty- counterpoint; many melodies being played at once. Also worth noticing is that Baroque music always ended in a decidely dramatic major chord because it was thought to really be the right way to end a piece of music. Bach could never imagine closing his music in pianissimo or a minor chord because it would seem unfinished. The rest of this album features Bach's Brandenburg concerti excerpts, Organ Prelude, Well-Tempered Clavier keyboard music, works for chorus Magnificat and Mass in B, Violin Concertos 1 and 2 and Harpsichord concertos. The Mainz Chamber Orchestra, which is mostly featured on here, may not be the most talented or perfect Baroque performers, but they do deliver a splendid job. If anything, this cd should get you hooked into Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach was the leading composer of the Baroque Era (1600-1750). He was an organist, a Catholic, father of many children, and a prolific composer of orchestral music in the style that was conventional at the time- concerti, preludes for organ, cantatas, oratorio, chorale, and keyboard/harpsichord works. Music history classes as well as music appreciation courses will always begin their timeline with Bach. He directed the course of music into the future. Far from the monotony of medieval instrumental sound and Gregorian/Hildegard Bingen chant as well as Renaissance music, the Baroque Era broke out in a new dimension of sound. Finally, multiple rhythms and melodies could be played in harmonious fugues and canons. Other composers of this age that were up there in the ranks of Bach were George Frederick Handel and Vivaldi. This trio- Bach-Handel-Vivaldi were the greatest of their day.

The Brandenburg Concerti: Six musical works in total. They were unsurpassed in their time. The fact that this recording features period instruments makes the quality of sound even greater. What we hear is exactly what thos aristocratic crowds heard in the 1600's with Bach himself conducting no doubt. The period instruments for this time were- brasses: trumpet and tuba, woodwinds: flute, clarinets, oboes; strings: violins, violas, cellos and the keyboard instrument was the harpsichord. Each concerto showcases the tone color and dynamics of each instrument. The Concerto No. 2 is a great display of trumpet music at one point and the No. 3 epitomizes the sheer elegance and lavish sound of the Baroque Age itself. The opening allegro to the 3rd is very famous. The Concerto No. 5 is a long-winded work of music that encompasses instrumental variety- even a lengthy solo for harpsichord, which is very virtuosic and seemingly difficult to play. This is the recording to get, especially because it remains true to the original sound of the period instruments. Other than Martin Pearlman and the Boston Baroque, Sir Neville Marriner and The Academy Of St. Martins-In-The-Fields deliver an incredible performance, as one review claimed. But to each his own. Some like John Elliot Gardiner's renditions, which are usually lazer-sharp and faster, the heavenly and skillful mastership of the Baroque is captured perfectly with the Orchestra Revolutionare Et Romantique or The Revolutionary And Romantic Orchestra, and Baroque music always comes off superbly in Camerata groups and Chamber Ensembles like I Musici. The featured violinist here is Daniel Stepner.

If anything, the Opera In English series ease a layman and newbie to the world of opera. If you want to get into opera, start with English-sung translations. Others in the series include Verdi's La Traviata, Bizet's Carmen, Handel's Julius Caesar and Wagner's Ring Of The Nibelung. This recording features the talented soprano Elizabeth Futral, who is still actively performing in opera houses and recitals worldwide. Mind you, Elizabeth Futral has sung the Donizetti Italian version of Lucia Di Lammermoor. But for some reason, she provided her unique talents in singing English to this recording. We are glad she did for she delivers an incredible performance- intensely dramatic, vulnerable and melancholy and her Mad Scene is sensational. Her full lyric voice is beautiful to hear and she commands coloratura with ease and annoted perfection. On the plus side, in English, she is able to act as if she were in a film or in a stage play.

This is Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor, considered his greatest opera. Lucia is drawn from the Sir Walter Scott Gothic novel, "The Bride Of Lammermoor" and supposedly inspired by an actual 19th century account. Set in the bleak moors of Scotland, Lucia Ashton is in love with Edgardo Ravenswood, but a la Romeo and Juliet, their love is forbidden since their families have been feuding for years over property and land ownership. Edgardo is the last of the Ravenswoods, all his family is resting in the ancestor's cemetery. Part of the conflict is that the Ravenswoods and the Ashtons are of opposing religions- Catholic and Protestant. Lucia's brother Enrico devises a plan to thwart their love. While Edgardo is off fighting a war in France, Enrico forges his letters and convinces Lucia that he is betraying her. Lucia is forced into a marriage of convenience with Arthur Bucklaw. However, Edgardo arrives only to see Lucia marry Arthur (The Sextet) He is enraged and heartbroken at once while Lucia's sanity is shattered. Not herself, she murders her husband on her wedding night (The Mad Scene). In the conclusion, Edgardo takes his own life when he hears that Lucia has died and that she had really loved him after all.

While the opera is always better in its original Italian, this version is nothing to laugh at. It's beautifully done. Elizabeth Futral performs a sensational Lucia. If you get the chance to see Futral performing, please do so, you won't regret it. I will be seeing Elizabeth Futral performing recital arias asCleopatra in Handel's Julius Casear this late February.

Franz Lehar was an expert Viennese operetta composer, his most famous being "The Merry Widow". His last operetta was "Paganini", dating from the 1920's when he died. This recording is sublime and showcases the talents of all its singers, primarily tenor Nicolai Gedda and soprano Anneliese Rothenberger. It's a gorgeous album that has some of the most beautiful German singers of the 1950's and 1960's, and the quality of the music is top-notch. It's hard to believe no one's reviewed this. I'm proud to be the first. Light opera became the vogue of Vienna musical theatre in much the same way that Gilbert and Sullivan operettas were popular at London's Savoy or the works of French composer Jacques Offenbach in the Opera Bouffes in Paris. They were light-hearted, simple stories that ended happily and thus were comedies, beautiful music and arias that were easy to sing and audiences could hum as they walked out the theatre. The German language was never more beautiful than it was in Viennese operetta. The greatest composer of these light operas was Johann Strauss (Die Fledermaus, Vienna Blood, A Night In Venice, The Gypsy Baron) but also making their mark was Franz Von Suppe and Daniel Auber.

Paganini tells the story of the supposed romantic affair between Napoleon's sister and the virtuoso violinist Niccolo Paganini. This may or may not have actually happened. It is accurate in that during Napoleon's day, Paganini was impressing and even frightening audiences with his mastership of the violin. He could play the violin so rapidly and fiercely that it seems as if he were possessed by the Devil (and some claimed he had been bestowed his talents by the Devil with whom he had made a Faustian bargain) his virtuoso trills on the violins and vivace movments could really excite the crowds while the pianissimo, adagio movements could become so melancholy he moved audiences to tears. The libretto may not be anything important, since it is a romantic comedy anyhow but the singers really deliver their best. Beautiful ensembles, trios, duets, arias and music which can only come from Franz Lehar himself.

Anneliese Rothenberger was without a doubt the greatest German soprano ranking next to the more famous Elizabeth Schwartzkopff. Rothenberger's was well-trained in everything German - from Mozart heroines like Constanza from "Abduction Of The Seraglio" to Pamina in The Magic Flute, the Johann Strauss operetta heroines, Richard Strauss' Arabella and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and mastered the role of Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck as well as Lulu and even performed in the new operas of the 20th century, like Rolf Liebermann's "School For Wives" and "Penelope". or Heinrich Sutermeister's "Madame Bovary". Nicolai Gedda seemed to be her male counterpart, as he was prolific in his tenor's repertoire- from the Italian roles of Alfredo in Verdi's Violetta, to Des Grieux in the French opera Manon by Jules Massenet, and even the Russian-sung Eugene Onegin of Tchaikovsky. So for a good price, you get two great singers performing at the top of their game in lighter work for opera.

This album is a magnificent tribute to the coloratura soprano Edita Gruberova. The arias she sings in this album really express her talents as a soprano of the highest calibre. Edita Gruberova seems to be the last of the great coloratura singers of the 20th century. She is right up there in the ranks of such coloratura songbirds as Lily Pons, Roberta Peters, Beverly Sills and the current Korean soprano Sumi Jo. Edita Gruberova is well-schooled and her voice seems to connect with the orchestra, the music for her scenes and character, and she immerses herself in her roles with real bravura, passion and feeling. She has sung the bel canto divas of Donizetti- Lucia, La Sonnambula, Elvira in Puritani and even the Tudor Queens- Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Queen Elizabeth in Roberto Devereux in performances obviously influenced by Beverly Sills.

This cd contains arias that showcase the high-flying, high-pitched intensity of Edita Gruberova's coloratura art form. Like the name coloratura suggests, she is able to "color" her voice and use head voice, high registers to produce cheerful sounds, beautiful lyricism in some portions and acrobatics and vocal fireworks in dazzling feats of canary, bird-like singing. Roulades, cadenzas, fast runs, trills and daring leaps present no problem to her. The album features some well known music, like the Johann Strauss "Voices Of Spring" which is timed to the beat of a waltz (Gruberova did her best work in this type of music as she has sung Adele from Die Fledermaus to enormous success), Ah Vouz Dire-jai Maman or the French version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and consequent variations of it.
Some lesser known works like The Concerto For Coloratura and Orchestra by Gliere is beautifully delivered as well as Il Bacio by Luigi Arditi and Villanelle by Dell'acqua. The Georgian Song by Rachmaninov is also a treat, as is The Nightingale by Alyabyev and the exciting Spanish-style French song "Les Fille Des Cadiz" by Leo Delibes. The cover for this album is the painting entitled"Gloved Singer" by the French Impressionist Edgar Degas. The painting is supposed to be that of a chanteuse cafe-concert singer who incorporated opera mannerisms and vocal technique into her singing.

This compilation album features some well-known Baroque Era musical works and serves as a perfect introduction to classical music. The great Baroque composers are showcased here - Bach, considered the greatest of them all, Handel, Vivaldi, Corelli and others. The Baroque period (from 1600 to 1750) was a time of great development and change in music. Before the Baroque Era, music was single-melody and primitive, in much the same way it had been since the Old World of the Greeks and Romans. Plaintive chorus was the only new invention of the medieval days- the Gregorian monk chant and Hildegard Bingen's nuns' chant. But during the Baroque Era, instruments were created and with them a new sound. Flutes, oboes, clarinets, drums, violins, violas and most significantly the trumpet, was played in a new medium called the orchestra. This music was played before royalty, kings of England, Germany and France, and often elitist aristocratic crowds. The same applied to Baroque Opera, which re-told Greek legends and classical heroes through music and the human singing voice of opera. Finally, music broke out from the old and into the new.

Johann Sebastian Bach is regarded as the best of the Baroque composers. He wrote prolifically for orchestra, for harpsichord (the earliest piano or keyboard instrument), as well as the organ. Among Bach's popular pieces are the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (which is the theme for "Dracula" and was made into an orchestra version by conductor Leopold Stokowski as seen in the Disney film Fantasia of 1940), his Brandenburg Concertos- a total of six concertos that showcase the tone color of several instruments of the orchestra and are considered the height of the Baroque musical style. The Brandenburg Concerti that are most famous are th 3rd and 5th. Bach's Golberg Variations for keyboard are also very virtuosic as well as his Organ Preludes. Bach's Orchestral Suites are the skeletons of the first symphonies, even if it it's not exactly a symphony form, and Bach's cantatas and Mass In B have long been hailed as the best works of chorus.

George Frederic Handel, a German-born composer, adapted the Italian musical technique, especially the new invention of opera, but performed publically in England, even writing the famous "Messiah" oratorio in English. Handel's skills were most keen in the orchestra. His "Concerti Grossi" which total a number of 12, are virtuoso and expressive of instrumental color. The Water Music and the Royal Fireworks music are also very famous and written in a grandiose style that was quintessentially Baroque. Vivaldi, a former priest, became a composer who specialized in small-scale chamber music. He created the "tone poem" long before it was even called that in the 19th century. His "Four Seasons" are his most acclaimed. The music expresses the four seasons of fall, winter, spring and summer. The violins, the woodwinds, the trumpets, each deliver a picture of pastoral scenes. Vivaldi also wrote numerous other concerti, including some for mandolin, an early guitar.

This collection is a must have for music lovers.

This album is an incredible showcase for the trumpet and the orchestra, in other words, the trumpet concerto. Hakan Hardenberger, the featured trumpet player, is highly talented and at the top of his game. Even the great jazz and classical trumpeter Winston Marsalis does'nt seem to reach the flights of fancy on the trumpet as does Hakan Hardenberger. Hardenberger masters the trumpet to perfection, capturing every nuance and every tone, from fortissimo fanfares to the softest pianissimo. On this compilation are the trumpet concerti of Baroque and Classical Era composers, among them Corelli and Albinoni and the Classical masters Franz Joseph Haydn and Leopold Mozart, Mozart's father. The sheer scale and magnetism of this music cannot be neglected. It is the greatest gathering of trumpet concerti ever made. The trumpet was perhaps the most fascinating instrument for Baroque composers. The trumpet produces grand, triumphant tones when played forte. It was an instrument that was displayed in ceremonial pomp- weddings, coronations and marches. The Baroque composers were sponsored by kings so they were expected to compose music for trumpet, which could be expressive not only as a fanfare for the king himself, but as an instrument of many dynamics. It can be played softly and slowly, which seems to create a nocturnal, reflective mood and staccato and fast-paced which made the music sound exciting and lively. In my opinion, it was the premier instrument of the Baroque Age.

The cd opens with the Trumpet Concerto In E Flat Major by Johann Hummel. This colorful piece is particularily impressive as it really explores the dynamic potential for the trumpet. It's third movement, the Rondo, is very exciting music, as it is played very fast and in a bouncy, dance-like manner. The Trumpet Concerto by Stamitz, Hertel and Richter are very stylish and must have been highly admired in the Baroque Era. The Trumpet concerto in E by Franz Joseph Haydn, who influenced Mozart, is beautiful, especially in its serenade-style andante second movement. In the last cd, Leopold Mozart's trumpet concerto is featured, and it's a good work. Perhaps his son Mozart greatly admired it, though Mozart did'nt really expand on trumpet concerti himself nor really ever showcased the instrument greatly. There are trumpet arrangements for the famous Albinoni Adagio in G, which on this version, sounds chilling, dark and dramatic. The cd concludes with trumpet versions of Bach's Organ Preludes and the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria.

The 1947 French Cocteau classic, "La Belle Et La Bete" (Beauty and the Beast)was revolutionary in its day and on this new DVD, we get all the scoop on the making of this film and the masterpiece of French cinema. There is commentary by cultural historians and film critics, insight from the director, cinematographer and the cast and even more impressive, the opera by Phillip Glass, which he modeled after this same film. The film stars Josette Day as Belle and a costumed and frightening Jean Marais as the Beast. This film was released when World War II still weighed on people's shoulders. The French cinema was taking the film world by storm. It would be only one of many Cocteau films, though most assuredly his best work. The most impressive aspect of this film is its special effects and cinematography. Cocteau infused the film with surrealism and magic, enhanced by special effects which were new at the time, though tame and old-fashioned by today's standards. Before the digital, computer-generated image, there was "camera tricks". Cocteau was wise to make a film set to an enchanted fairy tale. He was able to make the bewitched castle seem alive. There is a prevailing eerie mood. Gargoyle, stone statuary, noctunal moods, voices, talking mirrors and doors, doors which open and close on their own and dimly lit candelabrum made the interior of the Beasts castle supremely Gothic and sensational.

As far as the acting goes, the cast does a good job at deliviring a good performance eventhough they are portraying fantasy characters. Josette Day is a beautiful and noble heroine as Belle and the Beast, monstrous in looks but gentle of spirit and kind hearted in a more human way. The story is more true to the original concept of Beauty and the Beast. This is not to be mistaken with the Disney 1991 animated film. There is very little cuteness and charm in this one. It's presented as a serious work of cinema. A must have for cinema students.

This compilation album is a dazzling showcase of the multiple range and repertoire of the female singing voice in opera. It is a cd which fans of the opera and of sopranos should not be without. This "Mad About" series is a great way to get you into opera if you're not hooked into it already. Other titles in the "Mad" labels include "Mad About Puccini" "Mad About Wagner" "Mad About Italian Opera" etc. Look for them to add to you're collection. They're all very impressive. As the title indicates, this cd features the beauty and virtuosity of the soprano voice. The compilation album features some of the best singers of the last 30 years - among them Mirella Freni, Hildegard Behrens, Cheryl Struder, Kiri Te Kenawa and Agnes Baltsa. Of course, considering the total number of amazing sopranos who have graced the opera stage, this catalog of sopranos is very limited. Not showcased here is Maria Callas and her contribution to the opera world, Cecilia Bartoli whose mezzo-soprano style is dynamic, Beverly Sills whose coloratura ranks among the finest, Joan Sutherland, Shirley Verrett, Leontine Price, Elizabeth Schwartzkopff and Birgit Nilsson. These opera women have all been great artists throughout the 20th century and should have been featured on this cd.

The album makes use of the coloratura richness of Cheryl Struder in her role as Violetta from Verdi's Traviata. "Sempre Libera" is a tour de force aria and Struder really delivers all the goods. On here is the art of Mirella Freni, who was quite skilled at singing various Puccini heroines, from Tosca to Madama Butterfly. Freni's arias on here are "Vissi D'arte" and "Un Bel Di" respectively. But something that should have been used is her Russian repertoire. Mirella Freni performed as Tatiana from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin to great acclaim. Kiri Te Kenawa first achieved international recognition in her performance as The Countess in Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro. Her aria "Porgi Amor" is exquisite. Hildegard Behrens, a Wagnerian and German-singing soprano, was able to achieve equal success as Brunhilde and even as Tosca. The Immolation Scene from Gotterdammerung, Wagner's masterpiece, is featured on the last track and Behrens is sensational as the suicidal Valkyrie. There it is, folks. This is a must have for fans of the soprano voice in opera. Look also for "Mad About Tenors".

When I first saw this 1980's film it was as a short clip on the television channel Classic Arts Showcase, which runs 24 hrs a day and is free of charge on cable. I was breathtaken. The scene was Werther and Charlotte's encounter at the Covent (at least it looked like the interior of a convent). They sing a duet together and the music swells dramatically, as does their voices, ending climatically as they fall into each other's arms. Never before have I seen more passion in any opera, or in real life for that matter. This is a reason why lots of hopeless romantics flock to the opera. The opera is romantic. In the case of this DVD, we find the singers in top form and enough room in the film to act. They are reminiscent of the Rosi "Carmen" starring Placido Domingo and Julia Migenes Johnson as Don Jose and Carmen. Birgitte Fassbaender, formerly a mezzo soprano, takes on the lyric and dramatic role of Charlotte who struggles with feelings of love versus duty. Peter Dvorsky as the tenor hero Werther is absolutely the best. His voice and dramatic performance conveys the right depth and ardor. Jules Massenet drew this story from the novel "The Sorrows Of Young Werther" a quintessentially romantic plot in its day. Massenet knew that putting this story to opera would allow him to compose music that requires all the Romantic Era conventions- fate motifs, romantic melodies and idylls, dramatic conflict, crescendo, pumped-up orchestra and hushed pianissimo. Werther, madly in love with Charlotte, is driven to suicide because Charlotte decides to foresake his love. Suicide was a common theme in 19th century Romantic literature, plays and opera. Ophelia's Suicide in Hamlet was a darling of the day, as was the double suicides of Romeo and Juliet. Intense passions, romantic tragedy, thwarted love, beautiful scenery and excellent music makes this film one of the best.