VERDI / BIZET / MOZART / PUCCINI / HANDEL / STRAUSS / WAGNER
150 Years Of Wiener Staatsoper: Great Opera Evenings (Limited Edition) Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Carlos Álvarez, Johan Botha, Angelika Kirchschlager, Brigitte Fassbaender, Wiener Staatsopernorchester [ Arthaus DVD / 11 DVD Box Set - released 2/Aug/2019 ] Limited Edition - Experience four decades of opera history from the Wiener Staatsoper on 11 DVDs. 150 Years Vienna State Opera means 150 years of impressive opera events featuring the greatest conductors of all time, and, high-class opera stars. |
BEHZAD ABDI
Abdi: Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle (Complete opera) Mohammad Motamedi, Hossein Alishapour, Babak Sabouri, Eshaq Anvar / Credo Chamber Choir, Ukraine National Symphony, Vladimir Sirenko [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 13/Aug/2021 ] The music of Iranian composer Behzad Abdi fuses dastgāh (the Iranian modal system) with Western classical forms. He wrote Iran's first national opera, Rumi, and Hafez also exemplifies his approach to the medium. |
JOSEPH MARTIN KRAUS
Aeneas in Carthage (orchestra excerpts from the opera) Sinfonia Finlandia / Patrick Gallois [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Feb/2010 ] "This is an absolutely wonderful recording of some amazing 18th century incidental music. First-rate engineering completes the picture. Don't miss this." (10 / 10 ClassicsToday) |
VERDI
Aida (complete opera) Maria Callas (soprano) / Fedora Barbieri (mezzo) / Richard Tucker (tenor) / Tito Gobbi (baritone) / La Scala Chorus and Orchestra / Tullio Serafin [ Naxos Historical / 2 CD - released 7/Feb/2007 ] Callas' dramatic power and her ability to shade the beautiful vocal line here find the best imaginable medium". In, for example, the opening phrases of the Act III love duet with Radamès, 'Là, tra foreste vergini', her voice has a limpidity which... |
VERDI
Aida (complete opera recorded in 1952) Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco, Ebe Stignani, Aldo Protti / Chorus and Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome, Alberto Erede [ Naxos Great Opera Recordings / 2 CD - released 20/Aug/2011 ] Recorded 1952 |
VERDI
Aida (complete opera recorded in 1955) Plus highlights from Un Ballo in Maschera (rec 1955) Jussi Bjorling (Tenor) / Zinka Milanov (Soprano) / Fedora Barbieri (mezzo-soprano) / Rome Opera House Orchestra / Jonel Perlea (Conductor) [ Naxos Historical Great Operas / 3 CD - released 16/Jul/2006 ] The Aida recording was transferred from the best portions of three American LP pressings, while the Ballo highlights came from an Italian LP. |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Albert Herring (Complete opera) Josephine Barstow (soprano) / Christopher Gillett (tenor) / Robert Lloyd (bass) / Felicity Palmer (mezzo) / Northern Sinfonia / Steuart Bedford [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 19/May/2003 ] "At the new price, there's no excuse for not having one of Britten's richest but least appreciated operatic scores in your collection." BBC Music |
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
Gluck: Alceste (complete opera) Jonas Degerfeldt (tenor) / Justin Lavender (tenor) / Teresa Ringholz (soprano) / Drottningholm Theatre Chorus and Orchestra / Arnold Ostman [ Naxos Opera / 3 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] 1001 Classical recordings to hear before you die (1761-1800) - "The recording, which is post-theatre rather than live, is keenly balanced between voices and instruments. At super-budget price this is an invaluable addition to the still-slim Gluck... |
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
Gluck: Alceste (complete opera recorded in 1941) with commentary introductions Rose Bampton, René Maison, Leonard Warren / New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus, Ettore Panizza [ Naxos Immortal Performances / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Aug/2011 ] Radio broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera, March 1941. |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Aleko / The Miserly Knight / Francesca da Rimini (excerpts) Sofia National Opera Chorus / Sofia National Opera Orchestra / Nayden Todorov (Conductor) [ Naxos / CD - released 9/Sep/2006 ] "Another Naxos opera triumph. An intelligent and valuable concept. All performed with passion and commitment." (MusicWeb Sept 2006) |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Alfonso und Estrella (complete opera recorded in 1997) Theater an der Wien / Olaf Bar / Luba Orgonasova / Thomas Hampson / Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 1/Apr/2009 ] G - Filmed at the Theater an der Wien during performances in Wiener Festwochen, May 1997. |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: All-Night Vigil, Op. 37, Vespers Eugen Antoni (tenor) / Raisa Palmu (soprano) / Erja Wimeri (contralto) / Finnish National Opera Chorus. Eric-Olof Soderstrom, conductor [ Naxos SACD / SACD - released 15/Jan/2005 ] Rachmaninov had been in contact with Orthodox sacred music since his childhood. The influence of Orthodox chant is clearly detectable in his music, for instance in his use of stepwise motion, a characteristic of Orthodox chant, in his themes. -... |
UMBERTO GIORDANO
Giordano: Andrea Chenier (complete opera recorded in 1931) Luigi Marini / Lina Bruna-Rasa / Carlo Galeffi / Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala / Lorenzo Molajoli [ Naxos Great Opera Recordings / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] This is one of the more groundbreaking series of complete opera recordings made at the La Scala Opera in the early 1930's |
RICHARD STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Strauss, (R.): Ariadne auf Naxos (Complete opera recorded in 1988) Jessye Norman, Julia Varady, Edita Gruberova / Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Kurt Masur [ Philips / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/May/1989 ] "Jessye Norman's is a commanding, noble, deeply felt performance, ranging extraordinarily wide; she provides the perfectfocus for a cast as near ideal as anyone could assemble today." (Penguin Guide) |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Ariadne auf Naxos (Complete opera recorded in 1988) Metropolitan Opera / Jessye Norman / Kathleen Battle / Tatiana Troyanos / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon / DVD - released 29/Aug/2002 ] G : - "This performance represents an above-average night at the Metropolitan Opera in the late 1980s: three of its most popular stars, a generally distinguished cast, the house's musical director conducting its great orchestra in one of the works he... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Ariadne auf Naxos (complete opera recorded in 1970) Hildegard Hillebrecht, Tatiana Troyanos, Reri Grist, Jess Thomas / Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Karl Böhm [ Australian Deutsche Grammophon SBS Eloquence / 2 CD - released 3/Apr/2015 ] "Reri Grist is my ideal Zerbinetta, precise of rhythm and intonation, witty in phrasing and verbal inflexion, tough in attack yet delectably sensual in vocal quality, the whore of one's dreams, sweet and permissive and utterly natural, never calculat |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Ariadne auf Naxos (Complete opera) [Recorded in 2000] Deborah Voigt, Natalie Dessay, Anne Sofie von Otter (sopranos) Ben Heppner (tenor) / Staatskapelle Dresden / Giuseppe Sinopoli [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2009 ] 'Any opera house in the world would think themselves fortunate to assemble this cast … A landmark in the history of the gramophone … this really does triumph over them all.' Gramophone |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss (R.): Ariadne auf Naxos (complete opera recorded in 2012) BLU-RAY Staatskapelle Dresden / Renée Fleming, Robert Dean Smith, Sophie Koch / Christian Thielemann (cond) [ Decca Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/May/2015 ] Filmed live in Baden-Baden by the veteran director Brian Large, Renée Fleming makes her debut in the role of Ariadne together with fellow key Strauss interpreters Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann, following on from their Rosenkavalier... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Ariadne auf Naxos (complete opera recorded in English) Christine Brewer / Robert Dean Smith / Gillian Keith / Alice Coote / Scottish Chamber Orchestra / Richard Armstrong [ Chandos / 2 CD - released 1/Sep/2010 ] "Richard Strauss in English? Yes, when the cast is as smart and committed as this...Hofmannsthal's fine but word-rich libretto is clear and audible in Christopher Cowell's translation...Sir Richard Armstrong conducts a voluptuous but brisk... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Ariadne auf Naxos (Complete opera recorded in March 2013) Glyndebourne Opera / Soile Isokoski, Kate Lindsey, Laura Claycomb, Sergey Skorokhodov, Thomas Allen / Vladimir Jurowski (conductor) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 20/Aug/2014 ] Director Katharina Thoma sets Richard Strauss's comedy in a country house in the South Downs (a surrogate for Glyndebourne), immediately before and during the Second World War. Hofmannsthals' conceit - that a hapless young composer has to accept the... |