Bellini: I puritani (Recorded 1952)

This new release is a live opera performance, recorded at the Bologna Teatro on November 28, 1961. Oliviero De Fabritiis conducts this outstanding performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Ballo in maschera. This performance features Leyla Gencer, Carlo Bergonzi, and Mario Zanasi.

Verdi: La traviata (Live)

Verdi: La forza del destino

The only Verdi recording in an otherwise admirable but unduly foreshortened discography due to his premature passing in 1956 at age 65, this 1951 I Vespri Siciliani – uncut and issued in very good sound – from Firenze, Italy, is one of the best recordings of this opera available. The cast, including leading baritone Enzo Mascherini (1910-81), a young Maria Callas near the very start of her career, and legendary bass Boris Cristoff, perform under the great conductor Kleiber (father of Carlos) conducting the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra and Chorus.

Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (Live)

Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

This incredible historical performance of Richard Wagner’s Tristan & Isolde is from Bayreuth, 1962. Based on the story by Gottfried von Strassburg, Richard Wagner composed Tristan & Isolde between the years 1857 and 1859. Wagner did not refer to the work as an opera, rather, he called it “eine Handlung” (a drama, plot, or action). This performance features some of the best Wagnerian voices, including Birgit Nilsson and Josef Greindl.

Giordano: Andrea Chénier (Live)

Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa (Sung in Italian) [Recorded Live 1954]

Richard Strauss: Die schweigsame Frau, Op. 80, TrV 265 (Reco

Richard Strauss: Salome, Op. 54, TrV 215 (Live)

Alfano: La leggenda di Sakuntala – Bellini: Il pirata

Wagner: Götterdämmerung, WWV 86d

For the first time, the complete Beyreuth Ring from 1962 is being released on this magnificent 4-volume collection. This legendary performance is conducted by Rudolf Kempe, and features Otto Wiener as Wanderer, Hans Hopf as Siegfried, and Birgit Nilsson as Brunnhilde. Siegfried is the third of Wagner’s four music dramas that make up his epic Der Ring des Nibelungen.