Enjoy new music with our classical music chart for this week. Our weekly selections are based on sales numbers and simply what albums we love and think you NEED to hear.
For the complete top 20, tune into Classical Chartz with the New Classical FM’s Mark Wigmore every Saturday from 3-5 p.m.
Andre Rieu and his The Sound of Heaven keep their hold on the top spot of the Classical Chartz Top Ten this week. With more than 40 millions CD and DVD sales worldwide (that’s not including streaming numbers), 500 Platinum and 270 Gold record awards to his name, his current success comes as no surprise. Rieu understands how to create crowd pleasing programs, and proves he can do it over and over again.
Most of the other albums in the Top Ten jostle each other for positions over last week, but only the Vienna Philharmonic and Riccardo Muti (The New Year’s Concert 2025), and the compilation album Fragments II – Lili Boulanger, make positive moves. Muti and the Vienna Phil make the biggest upward leap, rising to No. 2 from No. 7 last week.
There’s one newcomer to the Classical Chartz Top Ten this week, and its rise is part of a current trend towards compilations with a special twist: Hollywood glamour. The original soundtrack for the movie Maria, the biopic starring Angelina Jolie in the story of the last weeks of Maria Callas’ life.
While the flick might have gotten mixed reviews from critics, there’s no disputing the value of Callas’ catalogue.
The songs in the movie sometimes featured a digital mix of Callas’ original and Jolie’s own vocals. On the soundtrack album, a 28-second track titled I Shows Him the Diary (feat. Pierfrancesco Favino & Vincent Macaigne) is credited to the actress, along with another 9 seconds (I Believe I”m Expected) that features Favino again, and 44 seconds of Last Night Before He Fell Asleep (feat. Caspar Phillipson).
The remainder of the tracks credit conductor Péter Illényi (leading an opera chorus), pianist Károly Zentai, and Greek actress Aggelina Papadopoulou, who performs Bizet’s famous Habanera from Carmen.
Maria Callas’ sublime voice is featured in historic tracks such as Bellini’s Qui la voice suavities soave (from I Puritani), and Verdi’s Sempre libera (La Traviata), along with a couple of other tracks.
Opera devotees may love the historic Callas, and newcomers will appreciate an introduction to the music.
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