Davis Tosca

Caballé's Tosca is one of the most ravishingly on record, with scarcely a less than beautiful note throughout, save where an occasional phrase lies a touch low for her. José Carreras recorded Tosca twice in the 1970s–his best years–but his voice was much better for Colin Davis when recording this set in 1976 than it was for Herbert von Karajan's 1979 interpretation. Davis's direction is flexible but dramatic and finely detailed, and the secondary singers are all very good.

The stirring young voice of Charles K. L. Davis brings you in this album a number of the world’s favorite arias, his voice ranging from lines of lyric beauty to passages of dramatic power. The melodic splendor of Puccini, the vigor and brilliance of Verdi, the exquisite expressiveness of Mozart – all are here, along with others – demonstrating many styles, moods, and feelings. Members of the New York Philharmonic (The Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York) are joined by famed Metropolitan Opera conductor Wilfred Pelletier.

José Carreras, one of the legendary "Three Tenors," was born Josep Carreras (Josep is his Catalan name, the equivalent of the Castilian Spanish José) in Barcelona in 1946. He began singing at a very early age; family lore holds that he serenaded passengers on a voyage home from Argentina when he was only five. He was inspired by the film biography The Great Caruso, starring Mario Lanza, and is said to have learned each and every aria contained within

Ivanka Ninova (mezzo-soprano), Steven Page (baritone), Mary Hughes (mezzo-soprano), John Oakman (tenor), Susan McCulloch (soprano), Rachel Rosales (soprano), Maria Spacagna (soprano), Richard di Renzi (tenor), Sylvia Sass (soprano), Maria Luisa Barducci (soprano), Charles K. L. Davis (tenor), Werner Hollweg (tenor), Edward Carroll (trumpet), János B. Nagy (tenor), Jana Scharkowskaja (soprano), Thomas Dewald (tenor), Patrick Marques (tenor), Lyubomir Dyakovski (tenor), Denes Gulyas (tenor), Günter Kurth (tenor), Reiner Goldberg (tenor), Heather Johnson (soprano), Albert Miklos (tenor), Sandor Solyom-Nagy (baritone), Bulgarian National Choir, Anatolji Kotscherga (bass), Christine Moore (soprano), Hans-Ulrich Mielsch (tenor), Ursula Buckel (soprano), Lajos Miller (baritone)

At number one was Beethoven’s triumphant Choral Symphony, featuring the ‘Ode to Joy’, closely followed by Bizet’s opera The Pearl Fishers, with its famous duet ‘Au fond du temple saint’, and in third place Handel’s beloved oratorio Messiah. This highlights from The Classic 100: Voice, including the complete top ten as well as selections from throughout the countdown. From the divine choral works of Bach to the passionate operas of Mozart, Verdi and Puccini, and from the majestic grandeur of Handel’s Zadok the Priest to the pure serenity of Tallis’ Spem in Alium, this is the ultimate celebration of the musical instrument with which we are all born: the human voice.

Je n'aime décidément pas le classique, mais ça j'aime bien! is a successful series of compilation albums of classical music interpreted by various artists. They were released on RCA / Sony BMG. The set was favourably reviewed by RTL's "classics" radio presenter Charlotte Latour. -–Wikipedia