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Opera Sets
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Strauss, R: Die Frau ohne Schatten
RecommendedHildegard 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…
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1992, Winner - Opera
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Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1980s
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Grammy Awards, 35th Awards (1992), Best Engineered Album, Classical
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Grammy Awards, 35th Awards (1992), Best Opera Recording
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Dvořák: Rusalka, Op. 114
RecommendedRenée 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…
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1999, Recording of the Year
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Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
RecommendedJoan 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…
Awards:
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Janáček: From the House of the Dead
RecommendedJiri 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…
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1980, Record of the Year
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Grammy Awards, 24th Awards (1981), Best Opera Recording
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Handel: Rinaldo
RecommendedCecilia 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…
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 2001, Winner - Editor's Choice
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Rossini: Il Turco in Italia
RecommendedCecilia Bartoli (Fiorilla), Ramon Vargas (Narciso), Michele Pertusi (Selim), Laura Polverelli (Zaida), Alessandro Corbelli (Don Geronio), Roberto De Candia (Prosdocimo), Francesco Piccoli (Albazar)
La Scala Milan Chorus & Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly
Chailly has recorded the work before, but in the years since he's matured as a Rossini conductor, and the Scala orchestra has this music under its fingers; there's an energy and vitality to... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1998, Winner - Opera
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Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24
RecommendedNicolai Gedda, Jules Bastin, Josephine Veasey, Richard Van Allan, Gillian Knight
Ambrosian Singers, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Colin Davis
Awards:
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Grammy Awards, 17th Awards (1974), Best Choral Performance
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Building a Library, February 2018, Also Recommended
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Janáček: Jenufa
RecommendedElisabeth Söderström (Jenufa), Wieslav Ochman (Laca), Eva Randová (Kostelnicka), Petr Dvorsky (Steva), Lucia Popp (Karolka), Marie Mrázová (Stařenka Buryjovka), Václav Zitek (Mill Foreman), Dalibor Jedlicka (Mayor), Ivana Mixová (Mayor's Wife), Vera Soukupová (Herdswoman), Jindra Pokorná (Barena),...
Söderström is powerfully complemented by Ochman's restless Laca and Randová's Kostelnicka. — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1984, Winner - Opera
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Building A Library, May 2022, Recommended Recording
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Verdi: La Traviata
RecommendedAngela Gheorghiu (Violetta), Frank Lopardo (Alfredo), Leo Nucci (Giorgio Germont), Leah-Marian Jones (Flora), Gillian Knight (Annina), Robin Leggate (Gastone), Mark Beesley (Dottore Grenvil), Richard Van Allan (Baron Douphol), Roderick Earle (Marchese d'Obigny)
Chorus & Orchestra of Royal...
For Angela Gheorghiu, Violetta was the right role at the right time. The whole drama is there in her voice, every expression in the eyes and beat of the heart reflected in the way she shapes... — More…
Awards:
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Puccini: La Bohème
RecommendedMirella 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…
Awards:
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Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1970s
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