Just plain great!
This is my favorite album!!! I use it to mellow out, or just listen to her magnificent voice. I've passed on a few of her other albums, but if I lost this one, I'd buy it over and over again.

New to opera
The female voice is an instrument that is second to none and Renee knows how to play it.You might think you dont care for opera but pick and choose what you like off this cd with the help of the jacket insert containing the verses translated into english.Hear what is uplifting in a format and style in operatic composition."It ain't over till the fat lady sings", this woman breaks the sterotype.

the cover says it all
Maybe one star is being too mean- but Renee Fleming provokes such a response inside me. It is disgusting that she has firmly endeared herself to the hearts of so many America opera fans, with fervor not seen since the heyday of the dearly departed Beverly Sills. Why can't others hear the acute mannerisms, tasteless cadenzas, misguided interpolations, and utter disrepect for great composers' music?

The cover DOES say it all. Look at the cover of her Visions of Love (Mozart) recital. The healthy, radiant glow mirrors her vocal ability at the onset of her international career. Now, look at the cover of By Request, several years into the future. It's all artifice, assembled strand by hair strand.

Oh, her accompanists and conductors will gush about how La Fleming has nary a diva air about her. Be that as it may, but doesn't address how Team Fleming has conspired to throw musicianship and artistic integrity out the window.

The most emblematic aria of this collection is Sempre Libera. Where's Verdi in all this? Surely, Verdi didn't want his fickle courtesan to sound so labored, bland, and world-weary! If this is an Act I Violetta, what would she resemble in Acts II and III? As usual, "The Beautiful Voice" (TM) gets away with it.

P.S.- There are those who claim that the way she sounds on disc is not how she sounds in the theater. I respectfully disagree. I was in the audience when she sang her first-ever Traviatas, at Houston Grand Opera. The bellowing at the end of the aforementioned aria was an atrocity I didn't think possible!

Not all the arias were her best
There is something lacking. Although most of these are indeed her "Best" releases, some things could have been left out. Her O Mio Babbino Caro and her Casta Diva weren't her best efforts at all. Casta Diva, sung to perfection by other revered artists, sounded too breathy and fearful here. It has good chest notes, and it is definitely better than Joan Sutherland's Norma though. Her O Mio Babbino Caro is the usual aria sung in its usual way, without leaving any trace of awe at an ability of a singer to interpret the aria. Rachmaninov's Vocalise was good, and it was great of Decca to release her Song to the Moon on this disc. However, some new additions weren't all that good as well. For example, if you listen to her excerpt from La Traviata, you will find that she sounds like she was singing jazz when uttering out "Gioir!". I think Decca should have issued the live performance version of this instead. That was so much better. Also, they should have showcased more of the bel canto repertoire she had specialized in. That would have made this CD a gem!

DIDN'T QUITE FULFIL MY REQUEST
THIS CD DEFINITELY BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN HER REPERTOIRE. SHE IS SOLID, WARM, AND BRILLIANT ON MOST OF THE SONGS. SINCE I OWN MANY OF HER CDS MOST OF THE TRACKS I HAVE IN DUPLICATE. EVEN SO EACH VERSION HAS A DIFFERENT FEEL TO IT. HER "O MIO" IS GREAT BUT GENERALLY I FEEL THAT KIRI TE KAWANA IS A LITTLE CLEARER THAN RENEE. HER "Ebben?...Ne Andrò Lontana" IS ALWAYS BRILLIANT FROM HER HIGH ENDS TO THE NECESSARY LOW NOTES TO FINISH THIS GLORIOUS TRACK. HER COUNTESS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A STRONG AND POWERFUL CHARACTERIZATION AND HER BUTTERFLY TEETERS ON HAPPINESS AND PAIN. THESE RICH LYRIC ROLES DESERVE A SOPRANO LIKE RENEE. I WAS HOWEVER, VERY DISAPPOINTED THAT SHE ADDED "SEMPRE LIBERA" TO THIS CD AS SHE'S NEVER BEEN A COMPELLING VIOLETTA AND CAN'T EVEN MUSTER THE HIGH "C" WE ALL EXPECT NOW A DAYS. HER RUSALKA IS ALWAYS MESMERIZING AND HER SIMPLICITY ON GLUCK'S "Das Mir Verblieb" WAS AN INCREDIBLE SURPRISE. I FOUND THE OTHER SONGS BORING DUE TO THE FACT THAT I DON'T LIKE THEM AND I KIND OF WISHED SHE WOULD HAVE REPLACED THEM WITH SOME BETTER WORKS. I MISSED HER SOFT AND DEFEATED "AVE MARIA" FROM OTHELLO OR HER FULL BODIED SPOILED MUSETTA IN "QUANDO MEN VO" OR HER RICH SADNESS IN "DOVE SONO"