Cheap Verdi For Dummies (Music) (Giuseppe Verdi, Lamberto Gardelli, Riccardo Muti, Thomas Schippers, Julius Rudel, Nicola Rescigno, Antonino Votto, Carlo Maria Giulini, Zubin Mehta, Renata Scotto) Price

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Customer Reviews of Verdi For Dummies

A basic music appreciation introduction to Verdi's music
The first thing that surprised me about "Verdi for Dummies" is that there is only one track from "La Traviata," Renata Scotto singing "E strano! E strno!...Ah! Fors'e lui." How you can introduce people to Verdi's operas and not trot out "Libiamo ne'lieti calici (Brindis)" is beyond me. This disc offers up a dozen tracks including the Anvil Chorus from "Il Travatore," "La donna e mobile" from "Rigoletto," and three tracks from "Aida." However, the true strength of "Verdi for Dummies" is the CD-Rom features. We start with a Composer Biography of Verdi, with details on his life and times, music influences, etc. But the main features are available when listening to the music. The "Jukebox" allows you to play the CD selections with accompanying graphics, pictures and read-along text that breaks down each song into distinct musical segments keyed to the track time. What you get is rather bare boned music appreciation, but it is certainly a move in an interesting direction. Finally, there is also a Music Workshop that allows you to play around with "The Anvil Chorus" using a midi music interface. You can isolate specific voices or sections of the orchestra and even change the instruments around a bit. These extras probably explain why there are only a dozen tracks of music. "Verdi for Dummies" can certainly be approved on, but it is a step in the right direction.