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Operas
This series presents legendary Decca opera recordings in new and fresh packaging, showcasing many of the greatest opera recordings ever made. Several of these recordings have been unavailable for many years, so see a welcome return to the catalogue.
Here you will find legendary recordings of Tosca (Freni & Pavarotti), Norma (Sutherland & Pavarotti), Aida (Chiara & Pavarotti) as well as several important rarer opera recordings such as Giordano’s Fedora, Krenek’s Jonny spielt auf, Massenet’s Esclarmonde, Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina and Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh.
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Janáček: From the House of the Dead
RecommendedDalibor Jedlicka (Goryantchikov), Jiri Zahradnicek (Luka Morosoff), Jaroslava Janská (Alyeya), Václav Zitek (Shishkov), Antonin Svorc (Old Prisoner), Ivo Zidek (Skuratov)
Wiener Staatsopernchor & Wiener Philharmoniker, Charles Mackerras
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1980, Recording of the Year
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Grammy Awards, 24th Awards (1981), Best Opera Recording
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Verdi: La Traviata
Joan Sutherland (Violetta), Luciano Pavarotti (Alfredo), Matteo Manuguerra (Giorgio Germont), Della Jones (Flora), Marjon Lambriks (Annina), Jonathan Summers (Barone Douphol), John Tomlinson (Marchese d'Obigny)
The London Opera Chorus & The National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
Sutherland's second studio Traviata shows her on mature if still considerable form alongside the ebullient Pavarotti and the considered Matteo Manuguerra. —
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Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Luciano Pavarotti (Edgardo), Sherrill Milnes (Enrico), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Raimondo), Ryland Davies (Arturo), Huguette Tourangeau (Alisa), Pier Francesco Poli (Normanno)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Richard Bonynge
Though some of the girlish freshness of voice which marked the 1961 recording had disappeared by the 1971 set, Sutherland's detailed understanding was intensified. Power is there as well as... —
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Britten: Peter Grimes
RecommendedJon Vickers (Grimes), Heather Harper (Ellen), Jonathan Summers (Balstrode), Elizabeth Bainbridge (Auntie), Forbes Robinson (Swallow), Patricia Payne (Mrs Sedley), Thomas Allen (Ned Keene), Richard Van Allan (Hobson)
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis
the cast is fine and the tension cumulative —
Awards:
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Grammy Awards, 22nd Awards (1979), Best Opera Recording
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Britten: Gloriana
RecommendedJosephine Barstow (Elizabeth), Philip Langridge (Essex), Della Jones (Lady Essex), Jonathan Summers (Charles Blount), Alan Opie (Cecil), Yvonne Kenny (Lady Rich), Bryn Terfel (Henry Cuffe), Richard van Allan (Walter Ralegh)
Welsh National Opera, Sir Charles Mackerras
The Cinderella among Britten's operas finally received its due with this recording. The superb cast and Mackerras's sure touch reveal Gloriana as a touching insight into the travails of leadership. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1994, Winner - Opera
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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)
Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano and Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Riccardo...
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... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1998, Winner - Opera
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Massenet: Werther
RecommendedJosé Carreras (Werther), Frederica von Stade (Charlotte), Isobel Buchanan (Sophie), Thomas Allen (Albert), Robert Lloyd (Le Bailli), Malcolm King (Johann), Paul Crook (Schmidt), Donaldson Bell (Brühlmann), Linda Humphries (Kätchen)
Orchestra & Children's Chorus of the Royal Opera House...
the pacing of each tableau vivant is handled so superbly by Sir Colin that there is not a single moment of longueur...The casting polarizes this Werther and this Charlotte. Jose Carreras is... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1981, Winner - Engineering
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Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
RecommendedWillard White (Porgy), Leona Mitchell (Bess), McHenry Boatwright (Crown), Florence Quivar (Serena), Barbara Hendricks (Clara), Barbara Conrad (Maria), Arthur Thompson (Jake), François Clemmons (Sporting Life)
The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, Lorin Maazel
The first essentially complete Porgy remains one of the finest, with maximally polished orchestral playing and arguably the strong vocal line-up yet assembled. Maazel is at his most committed. —
Awards:
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Grammy Awards, 19th Awards (1976), Best Opera Recording
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Verdi: Aida
RecommendedMaria Chiara (Aida), Luciano Pavarotti (Radames), Ghena Dimitrova (Amneris), Leo Nucci (Amonasro), Paata Burchuladze (Ramfis), Luigi Roni (Il Re di Egitto), Madelyn Renée (Una Sacerdotessa), Ernesto Gavazzi (Un Messaggero)
Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala, Lorin Maazel
Pavarotti was well into the autumn of his career when this recording under Lorin Maazel was made in 1985, but the golden lustre of the voice remains undimmed; starrier sopranos have recorded... —
Awards:
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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Puccini: Manon Lescaut
Mirella Freni (Manon Lescaut), Luciano Pavarotti (Des Grieux), Dwayne Croft (Lescaut), Giuseppe Taddei (Geronte), Ramon Vargas (Edmondo), Cecilia Bartoli (Una voce sola)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus, James Levine
Levine conveys the tensions and atmosphere of a stage performance in a way that plainly owes much to his experience at the Metropolitan...it avoids the feeling of a studio performance....[Pavarotti],... —
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