Amazon Gems

“Fantasyland of adornment” – a selection of customer reviews

The Three Tenors, Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Renée Fleming and others.

[Note: spelling, spacing, punctuation, etc, are copied and pasted exactly as published on Amazon]

• Well I have one thing to say.. Art is Art and Renee is Renee.
• Before i start with anything, I don't have this album, but not in this form. I have almost the whole albums of this great soprano, and that means that I already have this album. Songs selected here are quite good, but they are, like what I've mentioned, are not for fans like me. The songs are quite catchy to catch someone by ear, but not me.
• Katherine Jenkins is a wonderful opera singer she reminds me of Nana Mouskouri...
• If she chooses to record Sarah Brightman's repertoire over and over again, she should get herself some comparable pipes.
• Listening to this recording reminds me of a stunning molasses sculpture.
• I don't even want to get THIS! Sexy Andrea Bocelli only has ONE song on the whole CD: Georges Bizet's "Agnus Dei."
• Opera "purists" seem to not know their Opera history. Before Mozart made Opera popular in the palaces of the King of Vienna, Opera was sung by none other than, oh my gosh, pop stars. Most Operas up until Mozart were performed mostly by men and women of the calibur of Sarah Brightman and Michael Ball.
• This group is outstanding. You can listen to them for hours and not even understand the language.
• I highly recommend Il Divo to anybody who loves the beauty of the Bell Canto mixed with the power of modern orchestration and hunting creative arrangements.
• Why are people are saying so much bad stuff about Renee, they are just jealous of her talent. These are the same snobs who are saying that Sarah Brightman is not a real opera singer.
• The songs are great as always. But it's hard for me to appreciate them with the CD artwork. I don't need to see Sarah half naked-thank you very much.
• Speaking strictly for me, if I never heard "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" again in my life, it would be too soon. So I thought I'd try out "The Three Tenors" and see what their Christmas album had to offer.
• Merry Xmas everybody, now lets be happy and kind, at least during the season.
• Once in a while you will be mystyfied at how he is able too sing so gloriously with his tounge lodged in the back of his throat, but that only adds to his mystique.
• Renee's singing is so divine, you will feel like you're in heaven and eating angels, crunch crunch. Simple Song is simply fabulous, Renee sings so fast! And wait till you hear Pie Jesu, it's even better than Charlotte Church version.
• However, no one can top Carreras when a line needs to be delivered that has "deep-gut" emotional feelings, almost mad sounding, i.e. the song "Because" -- listen when he sings "his love makes mangle of devile...", you'll understand what I mean.
• His singing is fine, but hardly under control. His vibrato can get warbly and his eyebrow doubly so.
• He is getting up there in years and his voice shows no sign of going away.
• His pronuciaton is a mockery of English.
• I like such music, it's very relaxing and makes me feel like I am floating in the ocean, like seaweed.
• As for the other "opera fanatics", those whose ears are so sensible that they'll have an allergy if someone other than Caruso, Gigli, Corelli or Bjorling is singing, I guess they still have much to learn. Meanwhile, I'll just keep playing my Carpenters, Perry Como, Muppets, and Merry Axemas albums.
• What was more worrying still i purchased a copy myself to add to my collection looks a bit odd being just below deaf leppard.
• I hope she will another Christmas album soon. It will be like Christmas shopping in paradise.
• Some reviewers talked about slow tempis. Hello! christmas songs! This is not Otello!
• Anyway, this is the type of concert which is probably better to watch than to listen to.
• And so, if the idea of sitting through 2 hours or so of opera is your idea of hell, or you have every three tenors album ever released, this will not disappoint you.
• I recommend it to all opera fans and even people who just like good music
• This is a title I listen to over and over again. I feel like I'm in Dodger Stadium.
• If she were to sing in any opera house, she would be inaudible. Listen to real operatic sopranos like Sutherland, Nilsson, Caballé, Sills, Price, Fleming, or even Callas.
• For heaven sakes, she is famous and it making more money than i ever will, she can sing bad all she wants!! who are we to say anything different??
• The abrupt ending really adds to it!
• My only small gripe is that since many of these songs are originally in Italian (Spanish too maybe?), I don't always know the words. But you don't really have to anyway.
• And for all you bashful critics out there who say that Ms. Brightman is not an opera singer, listen to her sing Alleluja (which is sung live) from Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate, then maybe you'll lighten up and realize that she has ecclectic tastes for expanding this otherwise insipid genre.
• So she has a small voice. That's why somebody invented amplifiers. […] We're not in the Middle Ages when they had to be able to scream to the back row of the auditorium because there weren't any microphones...
• There is a reason the #4 rated hotel in the world uses this piece in there water fountain display.
• What better way for the CD to start than with the title song.
• Three stars just for Con Te Partiro. The subtraction of yet another star because her lovely voice makes you upset that it's not yours.
• Okay, I was just kidding: I still like Sarah Brightman (for some reason). Granted I never really liked Maria Callas at all.
• About Andrea Bocelli having a goat vibrato, that really hurt me.
• I was wondering if anyone has a english translation of "Time to say Goodbye"?
• A whole CD with classic songs, opera and duets, full of responsability is a dangerous one, since many of Sarah's fans are young.
• Keep coming with more songs !!!!!! Show them who has the small voice now!!!!
• You want to stop your breathing problems, buy this CD.
• Most of the other songs are more classical in composure. She doesn't quite succeed in singing them, but some are better than others.
• La Wally: Pretty, but Sarah doesn't have the power enough to handle it perfectly. When she hits that high note, she's lost amidst the power of the orchestra. Even Maria Callas did a better job on that aria.
• This is the worst track on the CD because Sarah launches a rather bombastic coloratura attempt that makes it seem more like Pokémon than a performance at the Metropolitan Opera.
• There is one track where she sounds like Mickey Mouse (or minny) but outside of that it is an incredible production of music and harmonies.
• Words can describe how I feel for her music.
• "In pace", pronounced "inn-paw-chay", is lovely. The track is sung in Latin. Sarah lets her voice go in the conclusion of the piece, bringing me to tears.
• "Bilitis" is another tear jerker. Sarah doesn't sing words, but she vocalises in this track. That's what makes it so pretty. It was written by the composer Generique.
• Okay, all you opera purists out there who trash Sarah's opera singing abilities. I don't know what planet you're from, or if your ears are living on a different planet from mine, or WHAT. I have never heard a more pure, crystalline interpretation of Nessun Dorma than this.
• She has never called herself an opera singer. She is more than that. Sarah gives the audience an enjoyable experience while listening to operatic music.
• Sarah Brightman would be a gift to the opera world, much in the way that Andrea Bocelli is.
• This cd is a wake eup call for me, and I have spread the wealth and been thanked.
• Boy does she have a set of lungs on her.
• My favorite songs on the CD are "No One Like You," both duets with supposed big star José Cura (who, for what he is, gave an exquisite performance, even though Bocelli baby is the bomb-diggity).
• I've read some reviews saying that this album was garbage because it was opera. Well, listen to this: this album is NOT opera.
• And on the closer, W.A. Mozart's "Alleluja," that pretty extensive coloratura makes her sound like she's done drugs (no offense to her, though). Nevertheless, this album is platinum-certified great classical fun.
• Unfortunatelly, Sarah does have nice voice
• I never thought of myself as a classic music lover, but Time To Say Good Bye surely changed that.
• I might buy this CD again - but having heard it, only if I could get a discount price.
• This is a truly one of the best CDs I ever accidentally purchased…
• My wife and I frequently fall asleep to this album, as a matter of fact, only recently did we even hear the last few songs of the CD as it constantly puts us to sleep. What a soothing beautiful production.
• Give the following a try: Natalie Dessay: "Vocalises" - Ruth Ann Swenson: "i carry your heart" - Dawn Upshaw: "I Wish it So" - Heidi Grant Murphy: "Twilight and Innocence" - Kathleen Battle: "So Many Stars". These sopranos possess voices that are in a similar category to Ms. Brightman's.
• This is consistantly one of the best CDs for a Soprano lover there cold be. Or for any lover of anything.
• i finished taking upto italian 4 (basically the prereqs for an italian studies major), and this cd helped me review my italian. it has a lot of that subjunctive tense that i hate, but i still remember it through this cd.
• stick this in the CD and let the music soar across the sky. Be carried for an instant to be to the Tuscan hills overlooking the towered towns and vinyards. Breathe the lavender air. Now turn down the volume before the neighbors gripe.
• I love Bocelli's singing. His voice has such range and passion, and he's really in top form here. But what I really love are his instrumental numbers included here.
• While he had been popular in Europe for years his only 'claim-to-fame' here in America was singing in a commercial for a local winery. Who said this isn't a great country!?
• Candlelight dinner romantic. I like to listen to this CD with my portable CD player and savor all the sounds through the earphones !
• Andrea gives it his all on this selection to such an extent thathe actually moves you instead of just make you think twice beforecrying.
• have you guyz ever heard of an awesome rock band called TOOL? you should check them out, the actually create some real music and maynard has a hell of a lot better voice than this fruit.
• when my wife and two adult children where sitting watching our favorite family show at 10:00 pm wednesday nights, we all became enthralled when kenny began belting out this mesmerizing tune.
• However, there are a number of songs on this album which, like "Con Te Partirò," have made Andrea into the strong, silent type he's always been and God knows will probably forever remain.
• The most intimately beautiful song on the album, in my opinion, is "La Luna Che Non C'e" (The Moon That Is Not There), which should be used as a chill-down remedy for headaches, just like the rest of the recording.
• The first thing I did after bringing this treasure home, was fill the tub with steamy water and bubbles, light some candles, poured a large glass of crisp white wine and indulged in an afternoon of utter decadence. Mesmerizing mixtures of Italian, French, and Spanish influences within these tracks had me in a fantasyland of adornment. I found the duets delightful....but when the water turned as cold as the wine, it was, well, "Time To Say Good-Bye".
• Anyway, his sexy voice won him millions of fans (no wonder Sarah Brightman is a klutz compared to him!), and he is on his way to overtaking Luciano Pavarotti as the most successful classical stunt in the history of the world....
• His performance makes me want to go to the Opera and experience something truly moving.
• i don't even wanna listen to this! opera shouyld be sung by Girls only!
• Let me begin,looking over the front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas where the view is water fronting a most beautiful hotel as a Tusconey village. Next, the magnificent music of Romanza was in the air with a show of fountain water. This music shall always be with me.
• We walk around with our hearts in our throats when listening to Bocelli's wonderful voice..
• I listened to this cd before reading the translations... I suggest you do the same, and you will fall instantly in love with this man's voice.
• The power of his voice and the strength of the music leads you at some stages to think that your radio is a bit too loud.
• Everytime she listens to Andrea, she ends up melting all over the floor.
• Since the very first time when you listening this album, since no one could touching your bright eyes with so much tender to this universal.
• But half baked Renee is better than most could do on their best days so props to her...
• Imagine, if you will, moving slowly through the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, aboard an American cruise ship, and hearing for the very first time, over the ship's P A system, Time To Say Goodbye.
• Not owning this recording is like not having a refrigerator in your kitchen.
• Barbra Streisand has always been my favourite singer and there never was a second one. Until now. Renee…
• Tears came to my eyes the first time I put this CD in my player while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge last month!
• Still overall this is a great CD with some wonderful singing, although you might develop the urge to buy more of this great performer's work.
• I think that her voice could also occupy a place beside other female singers of our times that deserve our recognition for the artistry they display... Nanci Griffith, Sarah Brightman, Loreena McKinnett
• The voice is so captivating, that the texts, the words, seem to not matter at all, no matter what language they are sung in.
• She has pushed her immense talent beyond what was expected of her and immersed the winner.
• Her manners are regal, draped in an Oscar de la Renta gown with tasteful huge diamonds.
• She popularized the lesser known Russian opera by Dvorak, Rusalka.
• I love her timber.
• Renee is in a class all by herself, and even the likes of Kathleen Battle and Sarah Brightman have nothing on her interpretation of "Il Mio Babbino Caro."
• Her rendition of "Bailero" on the "Beautiful Voice" disk is the musical equivalent of pouring hot fudge sauce on a garden salad.
• i just wanted to point out that i too, a lot of times, think that renee fleming can be affected and insincere with her vocalism. but in this repertoire, i believe that is more appropriate.
• I have not listened to this recording yet. However, I am giving Fleming the benefit of the doubt by giving her four stars.
• I don't know about any one else but I got tired of hearing Renee doing repertoire that we know she can do.
• I have listened to this recording while trying to wind down from the day. I have fallen asleep more than three times before hearing the finale; that's good too me.