Customer Rating: 
Summary: A great collection for beginners!
Comment: I am brand new to most opera - my main exposure has been Bugs Bunny cartoons! But, I've always loved hearing the Three Tenors sing, and I liked the symphony the few times I have been. So, I thought maybe there was something I was missing. I ordered this CD and from the first minute I was transfixed. I don't understand a word of what they are singing, and I understand from other reviews that these are not the famous folks performing the selections, but this CD is wonderful! I have never been moved to tears by anyone's voice in my life, but Anna Moffo (from Rigoletto, the first selection on the album) did it to me. She also sings a selection from The Barber of Seville, which is beautiful. There's a song by Placido Domingo, and many other gifted and beautiful voices besides. If you are looking for an introduction to opera, buy this one!
Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent introduction
Comment: This CD is offered at a very attractive price, and features an excellent selection of opera arias. Most of the great composers are represented (such as Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, and Bizet) as well as some lesser-known but worthwhile names (such as Gluck, Gounod, and Saint-Saens).There is only one superstar singer on this album (Placido Domingo singing "Celeste Aida"), but don't let that deter you: the singing is uniformly rich, skillful, and warm. As another reviewer has pointed out, of the total of 16 tracks, 3 are performed by tenors and 13 by sopranos, but I feel nonetheless that the selection of arias found here is both broad and representative.
The orchestras that are featured are lesser-known ensembles from Western and Central Europe, but they play with conviction and precision, and the CD's sound-recording quality (all the tracks are either "ADD" or "DDD") is first-rate.
All in all, this is a great product brought to you from the vaults of the prestigious EMI Classical label. This is the perfect CD to add to your Amazon.com order if you need to get your grand total above $25 to qualify for free shipping
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Place To Start
Comment: As some other reviews have mentioned, no, this doesn't cover the full scale of the opera repertory, but it's geared to beginners, and I can't think of a better place to start than this that's out on the market right now. So don't listen to them.While this collection is some small, it still has a collection of some famous arias, all sung at levels of very good and up. Anna Moffo's "Caro Nome" as the first track is mind-blowing--the cadence she pulls at the end is absolutely celestial; I've skipped back many a time just to hear her. The following aria from Rigoletto isn't done quite as well (Kraus doesn't even go for the high C), but is sufficient.
Other notable tracks on this album include Edita Gruberova's cavatina from Romeo and Juliette "Je Veux Vivre," Yelena Obraztsova "Mon Coeur" from Samson and Delilah (absolutely beautiful), Domingo's "Celesta Aida," (definitely one of the best recordings of this aria out there), another Moffo gem with "Una Voce Poco Fa" from Il Barbiere, an excellent "Che Gelida Manina" by an underrated tenor, Nicolai Gedda, who holds the high C in "speranza" for the longest I've ever heard any tenor hold it, and possibly the best aria on the whole CD, Gruberova's rendition of "Der Halle Rocke." For some reason, a previous reviewer said this was a horrible recording of it---I beg to differ, drastically; I'd even venture to turn some people away from listening to this track, since it's possibly the best recording of this aria ever made. I've covered my ears at many sopranos her shriek through the colorature, but she sings it like an angel.
Overall, this is a great CD to start with. There are a few problems, like another reviewer mentioned, there are few male arias and no baritone/bass arias whatsoever, but the sound and clarity is good. I must say, though, that I did have a problem with scratching on the CD---a friend of mine owns the same CD and also it appeared to scratch fairly easily, so watch out.
Want to have some real fun? Blast Gruberova's "Der Halle Rocke" while you're driving down the street with the windows open. See how many funny looks you get.
Enjoy.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Be forewarned
Comment: The music is wonderful, and the price can't be beat, but be forewarned -- only 3 of the 16 selections are sung by men. Evidently the producers of this Highlights CD felt that the overwhelming majority of the great opera arias are sung by women. This is clearly a matter of taste, but disconcerting nevertheless.
Customer Rating:
Summary: excellent sampler CD
Comment: For the money, this is surely of the greatest bargains you'll ever see. Of course, some performers are featured 3-4 times, mezzos in particular, and there are NO baritones or bassos represented here (not even Toreador's song, which has got to be one of the "most famous"). Dimitrova really stands out as a larger-than-life dramatic soprano, but casting her as Butterfly was a glaring mistake. Her Tosca is magnificent, however. Overall the disc has 72 minutes of great singing and the sound is ADD with a couple of early DDD's thrown in. A serious fan will have all of the selections here, but it may be a good start for the beginning opera listeners. I hope that after hearing Placido Domingo's "Celeste Aida" they'll be tempted to purchase a complete recording.
