The best Opera & Vocal albums: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

You know, I haven't bought an actual CD in quite a few years. Let's indulge in some retail therapy! There's still two copies left!

I had a tuba solo once. Probably middle school. The song was 'The Egotistical Elephant' because of course it was.

If you like tuba solos, you can always listen to this CD, which I was gifted sometime by my parents or something. They're crazy good musicians, but I can only listen to so much tuba music.

https://www.amazon.com/Tuba-Six-Musical-Romp/dp/B000002SKB

Also love the Love DVD-A disc! Pink Floyd DSOTM on 5.1 SACD is outstanding, even if at the risk of being cliche. I also have a 5.1 SACD of the 1812 Overture and other Tchaikovsky works performed by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops which uses a very engaging implementation of surround sound for the cannons leading to, and throughout the crescendo. Amazon link

The spotify list mentioned earlier is awesome. I highly recommend it. Specifically, though, I have three songs that I use to test out headphones (which also are great for fun/bassy types):

Foy Vance - She Burns

1812 Overture (this version with the badass canons at the end)

Blue Man Group - Above

EDIT:

If you ever splurge on some hi-fi speakers, definitely use that telarc version of the 1812 overture to demo them. With the right setup you'll damn near feel THX certified.

Are you thinking of the Telarc recording maybe? The LP is known to jump track on many turntables due to the extreme bass from the canon shot.

We tend to use Gregorian Chants this disc is really good. We've also used stuff like The DaVinci Code Soundtrack, or the Soundtrack to 1492 that kind of thing

I'm personally working on getting Wardruna (Traditional Norwegian music, very cool) into the rotation

We have a guy with a Bluetooth speaker and his phone who handles the music and have it going whenever there is no one talking (both degrees and regular meetings) like when visitors are entering, waiting for someone to enter, perambulation, balloting etc. that type of thing

I'll start with this:

http://www.amazon.com/Rossini-Barber-Seville-Roberta-Leinsdorf/dp/B000003G4F

Roberta Peters. Absolutely an incomparable Rosina (if you allow the "soprano Rosina" variant. The role was actually written for a mezzo, but I'm reasonably confident Rossini wouldn't blink an eye at transposing for the needs of a given singer.)

Switched On Bach by Wendy (or Walter) Carlos. For those who don't know what this is, it is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach on a Moog synthesizer. It is a great introduction to the music of Bach and to the sound of the Moog.

It's Christmas Time - Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby

My favorite Christmas album...it's just full of warm fuzzies, you know?

Another favorite that I grew up with The Carpenters -Christmas Portrait

The Carpenter's Christmas Portrait is my favoritefavorite album. We had it on vinyl for years.