AKA Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill

Advantages: Classic Tebaldi, fine Bergonzi, wonderful Bastianini
Disadvantages: perhaps a little slow

...assumption as Marcello - certainly one of the best alongside Robert Merrill. Serafin as ever, gives us a performance which is italianate and powerful without being brash. The performance is a little slow in places but not to the extent of say Karajan (Decca, 1970s).... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Smooth voiced protagonists, nice sound
Disadvantages: Slightly tame Escamillo, maybe lacking in some french style

...to the role but his voice is not in as fine form as Domingo's was in the late 70s and Domingo has a more powerful and arguably beautiful voice than some of the competition (Shicoff, Alagna, Lamberti etc). Domingo has good french altough he has a strong spanish accent, which might distract native speakers. The baritone, Sherrill Milnes has lots of vocal glamour but lacks something in french style. His toreador's song seems a little tame in comparison with that of Robert Merrill, that other famous American baritone, on the older baritone's recording with Leontyne Price as Carmen, Herbert von Karajan conducting. This recording has recently been cut down to midprice and at that level it is a complete steal. The sound is very good and the conducting is dramatic but not forced. Maybe not for purists after 100% french style - they could maybe choose... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great voice, interesting range of songs, uplifting
Disadvantages: Depends of what you are willing to listen to

...Helen Shapiro burst into the public eye in 1961at the tender age of 14 with number one hits 'You Don't Know' and 'Walking back to Happiness'. A quarter of a century later, her life changed dramatically when she became a Messianic Jew, ie a Jew who believes that Jesus is the Messiah, sometime called a Jewish Christian. This album reflects this phase of her life, and I bought it after seeing her in a concert in Bush House (BBC) in the mid 1990s. When we moved the CD went missing, but it turned up out of blue last week and I have scarcely listened to anything else since. Shapiro has a wonderfully velvety voice, and the production quality of this recording is top notch. This is a worship album, in a number of styles, jazz, funk as well as some more traditional numbers with a Jewish resonance. So strong is the Jewish influence that some... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful