Opera Sets
-
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:
-
Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
-
Penguin Guide, Rosette
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -
-
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:
-
Gramophone Awards, 1992, Winner - Opera
-
Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1980s
-
Penguin Guide, Rosette
-
Grammy Awards, 35th Awards (1992), Best Engineered Album, Classical
-
Grammy Awards, 35th Awards (1992), Best Opera Recording
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -
-
Puccini: Turandot
RecommendedJoan 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…Awards:
-
Building a Library, July 2012, First Choice
-
Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1970s
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -
-
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:
-
Penguin Guide, Rosette
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -
-
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:
-
Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1970s
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -
-
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:
-
Gramophone Awards, 2001, Winner - Editor's Choice
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -
-
Wagner: Lohengrin
RecommendedPlácido Domingo (Lohengrin), Jessye Norman (Elsa), Siegmund Nimsgern (Telramund), Eva Randová (Ortrud), Hans Sotin (Landgraf), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Herald)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti
Wagner-wise this is new Solti, a more contemplatively mellow interpreter, returning to a score that he hadn't led since earlier days in German repertoire houses...Norman had worked hard, and... — More…
Awards:
-
Grammy Awards, 31st Awards (1988), Best Opera Recording
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -
-
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia
RecommendedCecilia Bartoli (Rosina), Leo Nucci (Figaro), William Matteuzzi (Almaviva), Enrico Fissore (Bartolo), Paata Burchuladze (Basilio)
Chorus & Orchestra of Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Giuseppe Patanè
Cecilia Bartoli's rich, vibrant voice copes brilliantly with the technical demands. Like the conductor, Bartoli is wonderful at bringing out the fun. So is Leo Nucci and he gives a beautifully... — More…
Awards:
-
Building a Library, December 2001, First Choice
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -
-
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:
-
Gramophone Awards, 1980, Record of the Year
-
Grammy Awards, 24th Awards (1981), Best Opera Recording
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -
-
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K492
RecommendedLucia Popp (Susanna), Kiri Te Kanawa (Countess), Frederica von Stade (Cherubino), Samuel Ramey (Figaro), Thomas Allen (Count)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti
Kiri te Kanawa sings the Countess's aria with meltingly beautiful tone...The discreet flirtation with Cherubino...is done with some feeling...Thomas Allen is quite simply superb as the Count. — More…
Awards:
-
Grammy Awards, 26th Awards (1983), Best Opera Recording
Downloads
What are FLAC and MP3? -