The Very Best of Thomas Hampson | Marc Barrard, Thomas Hampson, ...

The Very Best of Thomas Hampson | Marc Barrard, Thomas Hampson, ... | Gorgeous, Natural Sound.

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The Very Best of T...

	The Very Best of Thomas Hampson Marc Barrard, Thomas Hampson, ... EMI Classics, 2005 average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Details TBA. EMI. 2005.

An Homage to a Great Artist

EMI is wisely creating a series of recordings to gather the moments of artists that showcase the very reasons they become so highly regarded. Usually these collections are produced late in careers or even posthumously, but in the case of THE VERY BEST OF THOMAS HAMPSON the artist is still one of the more active and premiere singers of our day. Yet while he doesn't still perform all of these inclusions, it is wonderful to have excerpts from various successful recordings to remind us of the artistry that Hampson represents.

The two disc set includes arias from operas: Rossini's 'Il barbière di Siviglia', von Weber's 'Euryanthe', Gounod's 'Faust', Massenet's 'Hérodiade', Bizet's 'Les Pêcheurs de perles' (in duet with Placido Domingo), Thomas' 'Hamlet', Verdi's 'Don Carlo', 'Il Travatore', 'Macbeth', 'La Traviata', and 'Falstaff', Korngold's 'Die Tote Stadt', and Wagner's 'Tannhäuser'.

But the rewards of a Hampson recording must include his impeccable career as a lieder stylist and on this recording are excerpts from Schumann's 'Dichterliebe', Schubert's 'Winterreise', Mahler's 'Rückert Lieder' and 'Das Lied von der Erde', as well as songs by Meyerbeer, Rossini, Grieg, Kalman, and Lehar. And very importantly there are examples of American songs that Hampson has always emphasized in his recitals. Works by Stephen Foster, and two extraordinary works with the brilliant accompanist Armen Guzelimian - 'An Old Song Re-sung' by Griffes and 'At Dawning' by Charles Wakefield Cadman - round out this fine survey.

Not usually a collector of such 'recombinations', for this listener this album is so very fine that it deserves the attention of all those who appreciate the artistry of Thomas Hampson - then and now. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 05

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Gorgeous, Natural Sound.

Thomas Hampson, like Bryn Terfel, is a favored baritone for a reason. He has accomplished the natural tone and beautiful phrasing that all singers strive for throughout their carreers. The only way I could possibly see where the writer of the previous negative review was coming from is if he had been taught to sing in the early twenitieth century when the throaty, dark tone and unnatural phrasing and pronounciations were in vogue. This is an excellent recording of an excellent musician.

SImply Untrue

The previous review is simply a gross falsification. I have been an obsessed opera fan for a long time, and Thomas Hampson is a truly special singer. He is not the possesor of the largest or most interesting voice, which he will tell you and indeed says so all the time. His commitment to text, his willingness to search out parts to fit his voice, and his dedication to art song make im invaluable to Americans as a ture Troubador. His light Baritone was ideally suited to Figaro and to Valentin and the art song he loves. He must stretch to sing Verdi, where his voice sounds dry and small but many singers have chanced Verdi at their peril, and his innate ablity to inhabit a song, here evidenced in Di Provenza overcomes fact that it is out of his fach. You misinformed opinion of Hampson is mean and strangly bitter. I love Opera, but I do not love every singer, which doesn't mean I debase their very artistic existance. I have seen Hampson live, and have loved him (in Thias) and somewhat disliked him (in Simon Boccanegra) As for him being pretentious, somwetimes I find him mannered, but always charming. SOmetimes Intellectualism can appear pretentious, but surely you wont hold an opera singer to the charge that he must be unintellectual. what a vitriolic review, please buy this Cd, it merits repeated listening to a true American SINGER,

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Classical and Folk at its best!

Thomas Hampton does equally well on the operatic numbers as he does on the Stephen Foster numbers in expression and style. A wonderful recording.

reviews: page 1, 2

Tracks
Act I. La ran la lera...Largo al factotum | Act. II. Ô sainte médaille...Avant de quitter ces lieux | Act II. Ce breuvage...Vision fugitive | Act I. C'est toi...Au fond du temple saint | Act. V. La fatigue alourdit mes pas...Comme une pâle fleur | Act II. Écoute!...Dieu, tu semas dans nos âmes | Act IV. C'est mon jour suprême | Act II. Tout est désert...Son regard | Act III. Ove son io?...Vada in fiamme | Act IV. Perfidi! All'anglo contro me...Pietà, rispetto, amore | Act II. Di Provenza il mar, il suol | Act II. È sogno? O realtà? | Act II. Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen | Act II. Wo berg' ich mich?...So weih' ich mich den Rachgewalten | Act III. Wie Todesahnung...O du mein holder Abendstern | Im wunderschönen Monat Mai | Aus meinen Tränen sprießen | Die Rose, die Lilie | Ich will meine Seele tauchen | Ich grolle nicht | Gute Nacht | Die Post | Von der Schönheit | Act I. O Vaterland, du machst bei Tag | Act I. Als flotter Geist | Act I. Komm, Zigány

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