"Grigolo made a triumphant Covent Garden debut...He balances Italianate ardour with style and intelligence...and his good looks and energetic acting make him an appealing stage figure." - The Daily Telegraph
"He's got everything the role demands - a voice that flows, terrific looks, an instinctive sense of theatre. He's entirely credible as a 20 year old uncontrollably in love and everything he does seems natural, from his impetuous first appearance in the Aimens courtyard, to his chilling shriek of despair at Manon's death." - The Guardian
"In his Covent Garden debut, rising star Vittorio Grigolo wins the audience's hearts with his good looks, ardent singing and an eager demeanour that takes on the full tragic dimension of Chevalier des Grieux's predicament." - The Stage
"More than matching Netrebko for passion and control was the Des Grieux of the young Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, making his debut at Covent Garden. The thunderous ovation he received at curtain call suggested that the audience sensed the birth of a star." - The Evening Standard
"Vittorio Grigolo's dashing and thrillingly sung Chevalier des Grieux, his seductive middle voice covered to beautiful effect in the many subito shadings in mezza voce." - The Independent
"The voice was ablaze, mobile in dynamics like Des Grieux's heart, able to soar and sob alike without the slightest strain. The house loved him." - The Times
Rossini's ceaseless wit and invention are best exemplified in his series of operas. His colorful orchestration and command of both comic and tragic elements can be savored in this second of four volumes of the complete symphonic overtures. Guillaume Tell, with it's overture in four movements, includes a scene for five solo cellos. La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder), one of his most popular pieces, opens with an overture of charm and elan. Volume 1 (8.570933) was described by MusicWeb Internationals "an admirable start to what looks like being a very desirable series".
Part: Triodion, Ode VII... / Elora Festival Singers
Naxos
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%Sep 26, 2006
This new Arvo Pärt choral music collection includes a significant number of works sung in English. The three-part Triodion is one of the composer's most inward, contemplative pieces, drawing heavily on early Renaissance choral style for its stark, spare harmonies. Tribute to Caesar, I am the True Vine, and The Woman with the Alabaster Box follow in this tradition, though these feature a richer harmonic palette as well as more fluid movement and brighter colors.
The remaining works include the brooding and intense Ode VII (Memento) from Kanon Pokajanen, the brief, celebratory Bogoróditse Djévo (which closes the program), Nunc dimittis, and Dopo la Vittoria. This last is one of the most beautiful compositions on the CD. Here we have the more familiar, "modern" Pärt as we hear passages that sound faintly minimalistic while always draped in luminous colors and arresting timbres. Of course, those two attributes apply to most of Pärt's moving and exquisitely rendered choral music. Exquisite also describes the performances of the Elora Festival Singers, who provide pure-toned and texturally beautiful singing under Noel Edison's direction. Naxos' recording is spacious and well-detailed, with wide dynamics. A truly enjoyable hour of music, essential for Pärt aficionados and choral enthusiasts.
Teresa Berganza is undoubtedly one of the greatest Spanish singers of the 20th century. She enchanted the audiences in the opera houses around the world. She was also an excellent singer with a wide repertoire of songs, even though she has become famous primarily through her operatic roles. Throughout her career, she would give recitals of song - especially the songs of her homeland. This is also reflected in the current program, recorded at the Schwetzingen Festival Songs of 1985. Her versatility as a singer can be heard in a full range of repertoire - German, Russian, French, Portuguese - and finally, with Ernesto Halffter a Spaniard. Teresa Berganza's voice spreads before the listener a rich palette of colors and emotions, always classy and bright.
Recorded over the course of two and a half years, this four disc set showcases a comprehensive body of esteemed countertenor Valer Sabadus's repertoire. Valer Sabadus, despite his young age, has already joined the ranks of the world's best vocalists. Sabadus's wide-ranging repertoire extends from early Baroque works by the great masters, to contemporary pieces riddled with unique harmonies and vocal techniques. The breadth of his abilities is shown through his versatility and adaptability. This CD set includes works from Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Henry Purcell, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others.
Blu-ray pressing. Paul Anka is known as the last great crooner. On this live release, Anka promotes his successful Rock Swings project by performing many of the tracks live alongside his own classics including 'Diana', 'My Way', 'New York New York', 'Put Your Head on My Shoulder' and more.
This DVD is accompanied by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen's audio recording of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 (COR16126). In the BBC documentary, actor and former chorister Simon Russell Beale invites us into the heart of the Vespers and the world of their creator. It is the story of a Renaissance Duke and the composer who worked for him - and how their volatile relationship would create one of the most revolutionary and beautiful collections of music ever published: The Monteverdi Vespers of 1610.
While the unifying thread which links these works is that of loss, the underlying focus is an uplifting celebration of life and love. Gabriel Jackson's Requiem combines traditional solemnity with poems which embrace wide-ranging spirituality, resulting in images of light and radiant optimism. Contrasting poignancy of expression is heard in personal tributes from John Tavener and Francis Pott, while Bob Chilcott uses Pachelbel's famous Canon to set Oscar Wilde's Requiescat. Vasari Singers' Great British Anthems (8.572504) was described as 'essential listening' by Gramophone. Founded in 1980, Vasari Singers is among the leading chamber choirs in Britain, performing music ranging from Renaissance to contemporary. The choir performs regularly in London as well as visiting many of England's cathedrals to sing services, with recent trips to Canterbury, Salisbury, Bath and Ripon. The choir and Jeremy Backhouse are deeply committed to contemporary music and have commissioned over twenty works since 2000, including works by Francis Pott and Gabriel Jackson.
Andrew Parrott and his Taverner Consort and Choir honour the 400th anniversary of 16th-century Italian composer Carlo Gesualdo with a reissue of their seminal recording of Tenebrae Responses for Good Friday. Honouring the 400th anniversary of Carlo Gesualdo, the harmonically adventurous and experimental 16th-century Italian composer, Prince of Venosa, Andrew Parrott and his Taverner Consort and Choir offer a newly repackaged reissue of their seminal recording of Tenebae, the composer's final group of sacred madrigals devoted to Good Friday. The Taverner singers navigate Gesualdo's highly symbolic polyphonic structures with idiomatic first-rate performances and incisive scholarship.
Choral elements from Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and medieval traditions are included in this anthology of anthems and motets, many drawing inspiration from the Psalms. They range from sixteenth-century Germany (Eccard), through the nineteenth-century Anglican tradition of Hanforth, Stainer and Stanford and the twentieth-century Catholicism of Poulenc, to contemporary England (Rose, Tavener, Harvey), Scotland (MacMillan), Australia (Halley) and the USA (Paulus). Previous recordings from the Choir of St John's, Elora have been described as "a real joy" (Gramophone on 8. 557037, Faire is the Heaven), and "world-class... sensational" Psalms for the Soul).
Drama, surprise, humour and still life - with a bubbling undertone of anarchy. Composer Ib Nørholm (b. 1931) presents us with a delightful twist on Danish nocturne and condensed music drama for two in Tavole per Orfeo. This world premiere recording by soprano Else Torp and guitarist Per Pålsson unfolds as a fascinating testimony to an inspired encounter between words and music and a meeting of strong artistic personalities. Else is a core member of Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices, with whom she has performed around the world.
Handel: Messiah / Christophers, Handel & Haydn Society
Coro
CD
$16.49$32.99Save 50%Sep 29, 2014
Dramatic, highly-colored music from one of the most approachable and individual voices in contemporary music.
Handel’s ever-popular Messiah was recorded live in the superb acoustic of Boston’s Symphony Hall, to mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Handel and Haydn Society, America’s longest-standing performing arts organization. Messiah was first performed in Dublin in 1742 and the Handel and Haydn Society gave the first complete performance of the work in the USA in 1818. It has been performed annually in Boston as part of the Handel and Haydn Society concert season every year since 1854.
REVIEWS:
In his rendering of the score, Harry Christophers eloquently guides us through the entire oratorio with a steady hand and firm conviction. The tempi are sprightly where they ought to be, even sparkling like jewels at times—but not blazing as if on fire—and are equally slackened when they need to be. Further, the text is not merely declaimed; rather, every word is expressed!
The period instrument orchestra plays each and every note, trill, and ornament to perfection. As one would expect, the soloists are likewise fantastic. Soprano Gillian Keith, countertenor Daniel Taylor, tenor Tom Randle, and baritone Sumner Thompson off er impressive virtuoso contributions.
The chorus’s full-bodied yet accurate ensemble singing perked up these ears from the very first pitch of “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed” all the way through “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” and the mammoth, closing “Amen.”
![Verdi: Messa Da Requiem / Theodossiou, Ganassi, Aronica, Zanellato, Temirkanov [blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/2309759.jpg?v=1786838146&width=800)
![Verdi: Messa Da Requiem / Theodossiou, Ganassi, Aronica, Zanellato, Temirkanov [blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/91Ct2G2VMfL_687f9000-b991-4da8-8fb7-eb0f2ca8b29a.jpg?v=1786838146&width=800)
![Verdi: Messa Da Requiem / Theodossiou, Ganassi, Aronica, Zanellato, Temirkanov [blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/2309759.jpg?v=1786838146&width=400)
