Browse: Opera Sets (series)
Puccini: La Bohème
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Mirella Freni (Mimi), Luciano Pavarotti (Rodolfo), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Colline), Elizabeth Harwood (Musetta), Rolando Panerai (Marcello), Gianni Maffeo (Schaunard), Michel Sénéchal (Alcindoro/Benoit), Gernot Pietsch (Parpignol)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
Pavarotti's Rodolfo is perhaps the best thing he has ever done: not only the finest recorded account of the role since Björling's on the Beecham set, but adding the honeyed Italianate warmth... — More…
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2 CDs
$25.25In stock
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Handel: Rinaldo
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Cecilia Bartoli (Almirena), David Daniels (Rinaldo), Bernarda Fink (Goffredo), Gerald Finley (Argante), Luba Orgonasova (Armida), Daniel Taylor (Eustazio), Bejun Mehta (A Christian Magician)
Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood
most familiar and unfamiliar opera: familiar because, as his lavish first stage work for London, it has been much written about both by modern historians and by the composer's contemporaries;... — More…
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3 CDs
$37.75Downloads
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Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
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Joan Sutherland (Antonia/Stella/Giulietta/Olympia), Plácido Domingo (Hoffmann), Gabriel Bacquier (Coppélius/Dapertutto/Lindorf/Miracle), Huguette Tourangeau (Nicklausse), Hugues Cuénod (Franz)
Suisse Romande Choir & Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
This is a wonderfully refreshing set. The story emerges crystal-clear, even the black ending to the Giulietta scene in Venice, which in Bonynge's text restores the original idea of the heroine... — More…
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2 CDs
$32.00Downloads
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Strauss, R: Die Frau ohne Schatten
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Hildegard Behrens (Die Färberin), Julia Varady (Die Kaiserin), Plácido Domingo (Der Kaiser), José van Dam (Barak), Reinhild Runkel (Die Amme), Sumi Jo (Stimme des Falken)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti
This was the most ambitious project on which Strauss and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal collaborated. It's both fairy tale and allegory with a score that's Wagnerian in its scale and breadth.... — More…
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Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
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Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Luciano Pavarotti (Edgardo), Sherrill Milnes (Enrico), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Raimondo)
Chorus & Orchestra of Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Richard Bonynge
As Callas's star waned so Joan Sutherland's rose. Her Lucia is different, moving the heart through beauty of tone. Sutherland recorded the role four times - the first two have vocal freshness... — More…
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3 CDs
$50.75Downloads
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Puccini: Turandot
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Joan Sutherland (Turandot), Luciano Pavarotti (Calaf), Montserrat Caballé (Liù), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Timur), Tom Krause (Ping), Pier Francesco Poli (Pang), Piero De Palma (Pong), Peter Pears (L'imperatore Altoum), Sabin Markov (Un mandarino)
John Alldis Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin...
Turandot is a psychologically complex work fusing appalling sadism with self-sacrificing devotion.
The icy Princess of China has agreed to marry any man of royal blood who can solve three riddles... — More…
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Dvořák: Rusalka, Op. 114
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Renée Fleming (Rusalka), Ben Heppner (Prince), Dolora Zajick (Jezibaba), Eva Urbanová (Foreign Princess), Franz Hawalta (Water Goblin)
Kühn Mixed Choir, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Mackerras
Renée Fleming's tender and heartwarming account of Rusalka's Invocation to the Moon reflects the fact that the role of the lovelorn water nymph, taken by her in a highly successful production... — More…
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Massenet: Thaïs
Renée Fleming (Thaïs), Thomas Hampson (Athanael), Giuseppe Sabbatini (Nicias), Estefano Palatchi (Palemon)
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Yves Abel
At last – a modern recording of Thaïs with a soprano who can sing the title-role. All we need is a soprano with a fabulously beautiful voice, idiomatic French, a sensuous legato, pure high notes... — More…
2 CDs
$32.00Downloads
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Janáček: From the House of the Dead
Recommended
Jiri Zahradnicek, Ivo Zidek, Dalibor Jedlicka
Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Mackerras
From the House of the Dead (the 1980 Gramophone Record of the Year) was here recorded for the first time in its proper, original version; and this revealed it as even more of a masterpiece –... — More…
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Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Mirella Freni (Butterfly), Luciano Pavarotti (Pinkterton), Christa Ludwig (Suzuki), Robert Kerns (Sharpless)
Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
In every way except one the transfer of Karajan's radiant Vienna recording for Decca could hardly provide a firmer recommendation. The reservation is one of price – this Karajan is on three discs,... — More…
