We were delighted when the internationally renowned soprano Christine Brewer agreed to record some of her favourite repertoire pieces on her first recital disc for Chandos in 2005. No surprise that it was a huge success – so we were even more delighted when she returned to record this second volume – repertoire which you would never hear in a single concert or operatic performance, but here capturing Brewer’s glorious range, wonderfully supported by Judith Howarth, Timothy Robinson and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Parry.

Christine Brewer’s earlier recital (CHAN3127) introduced into this series the dramatic soprano voice and included in its programme, as does its successor, arias from Gluck’s Alceste and Wagner’s Tannhäuser. In a previous age both operas were sung by Kirsten Flagstad, by general consent the greatest heroic-dramatic soprano of all. Christine Brewer now adds one of the most formidable challenges in the repertoire, Leonore’s solo in Act I of Beethoven’s Fidelio. Otherwise, the two significant extensions are in time, backward to Handel and forward to Britten and Menotti.