Dame Janet Baker Philips and Decca Recordings, 1961-1979 (Limited Edition)
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	Type	Audio CD
	Release Date	2003-11-25
	List Price	$39.98
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Categories
Bach, Johann Sebastian - Works by J.S. Bach  Beethoven, Ludwig van - Works by Beethoven  Berlioz, Hector - Works by Berlioz  Britten, Sir Benjamin - Works by Britten  Gluck, Christoph W. - Works by Gluck  Haydn, Franz Joseph - Works by Franz Joseph Haydn  Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus - Works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  Paisiello, Giovanni - Works by Paisiello  Pergolesi, Gio Battista - Works by Pergolesi  Classical - Featured Composers, A-Z - ( P ) - Piccinni, Niccolò - General  Classical - Historical Periods - Baroque (c.1600-1750) - Composers - Purcell, Henry - General  CD Album  Box Sets
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Icon: Janet Baker Sings Mahler, Elgar, Berlioz, Chausson, Schubert, Schumann, Bach, Handel [Box Set] Schumann: Lieder [Box Set] The Very Best of Janet Baker Purcell: Dido and Aeneas / James, Lewis, Baker, Herincx Great Recordings Of The Century - Janet Baker Sings Mahler / Barbirolli, et al
Customer Reviews
Superb.   2009-07-28
By Aslan Tomov
Simply superb. Janet Baker's voice is magnificent. But in addition to a wonderful voice Janet Baker is a wonderful opera performer in the sense that she is in absolute harmony with the pieces she performs. Simply put, Janet Baker just gets the works she performs in their entirety. This collection of disks is a good example of that. The recording quality is very good as well. It is just done right. Highly recommended. P.S. A minor negative point about the edition at hand is that its disks come in paper envelopes that are not very convenient. But I cannot dare take a star off for such a small thing. :-)
Essential Performances from a Great & Beloved Singer   2004-01-09
By Nicholas A. Deutsch (New York, NY USA)
For those of us who grew up on Janet Baker's recordings (and were lucky enough to hear her "live" as well), the sound of her voice and her singular artstic personality - British restraint coupled with fierce emotional and spiritual commitment - are indelibly imprinted in our minds and hearts. The closest current equivalent is Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, another superb artist who has charted her own course, and not surprisingly there is some overlap of repertoire, in the music of J.S. Bach, of course, but also Berlioz's Didon and Beatrice, Handel's Ariodante and Britten's Phaedra (composed for Baker). This wonderful compilation is complementary to EMI's 2-CD "The Very Best of Janet Baker" -- no overlap of repertoire whatsoever. Unlike that set, which focused on concert repertoire (with orchestra or piano) there's a generous sampling here of Baker's operatic roles including Handel, Mozart, Purcell, Rameau, Gluck, and Britten. Also welcome is "Phaedra," one of Britten's strongest late works. And it's good to have the Berlioz: "Cleopatre" and "Herminie" complete, the big aria from "Beatrice et Benedict." (Why EMI included nothing from her recording of the last 2 scenes of "Les Troyens" is unfathomable.) The wide time-span allows us to hear Baker's voice in all its youthful, "sappy" warmth, as well as in its artistic maturity (though truth to tell she was pretty much a complete artist from the start). There are a few signs of wear in later items, nothing serious, in fact rather less than I remembered. I could have done with fewer of the "Arie Amorose" in favor of more cuts from her Gluck LP, which I believe has never been issued complete on CD, but that's just personal preference. The focus here is entirely on orchestrally accompanied works (or, in the case of the marvelous early disc of Ravel, Chausson & Delage songs, with chamber ensemble) so for Baker the supreme interpreter of English, German and French song you'll need to go elsewhere (the EMI has a fair sampling, especially of her Schubert). But everything here is indispensible.