Classical Music

Classical Music

Few operas benefit as much as does Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro from being sung in the language of the audience. Even in this age of super-titles, there is no substitute for the direct communication from singers to audience in this brilliantly conceived social comedy. Thus, this new recording may well be one of the most important releases in Chandos’s admirable “Opera in English” project...this is a very well paced, lovingly shaped performance that binds into a persuasive whole. Chandos’s recording is, as is usually the case, on the reverberant side, but not unpleasantly so. An excellent essay accompanies the set, along with a complete English printed text. Henry Fogel, FANFARE

Classical Music

Classical Music

OVERTURE TO THE BALLET THE CRE

The 2008 Salzburg Festival production of Dvorák's opera Rusalka was outstanding even by the Festival's high artistic standards. Its exceptional nature was due in part to the fact that in the pit the Cleveland Orchestra was appearing for the first time as an opera orchestra in Salzburg. The high expectations raised by the orchestra and its Music Director, Franz Welser-Möst, were fully met, and even in the live recording of the opening night made by Austrian Radio, the conductor's genuinely dramatic approach to the work is never less than gripping.

The fairytale narrative gains in psychological focus and depth, aided and abetted by the team of soloists headed by Camilla Nylund as Rusalka and Piotr Beczala as the Prince. To the role of the water nymph, Nylund brings a beautiful lyric soprano voice that retains its focus and penetrating power even in the score's most dramatic outbursts, while the bright tenor voice of Piotr Beczala produces a convincing vocal portrait of the hapless heroine's inconstant lover, following her decision to enter the world of mortals. The remaining roles were cast from strength, notably the admonitory figure of the Water Goblin, taken here by Alan Held, whose powerful Wagnerian bass-baritone lends the role an impressive profile; Birgit Remmert, with her dark-hued, impressively full-toned voice and Emily Magee's burnished soprano, with its brilliant upper register.

Particularly gratifying in a Salzburg Festival production is the casting of minor roles with promising young singers including Eva Liebau as the Turnspit, Adam Plachetka as the Gamekeeper and the three well-modulated wood nymphs of Anna Prohaska, Stephanie Atasanov and Hannah Esther Minutillo. Appearing alongside this team of singers is the Vienna State Opera Chorus on outstanding form. All in all, then, it comes as no surprise to know that the response to the musical side of this production was extremely positive, a response which it is hoped will be repeated in the case of the present live recording.

The American Richard Tucker’s ringing, clarion, enthusiastic tenor in its prime is a self-recommending statement; his presence on the world’s opera stages and even on American television (search out footage of him singing under the razor-sharp control of the great Toscanini) always a joy to hear. This 1959 live Verdi Rigoletto from the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Italy may, aside from Renato Capecchi and possibly Ivan Sardi, leave you amiss in the name-recognition department, but the cast and the sound, re-mastered and fine for its time and circumstance, will win listener’s over.

Classical Music

The principal champion pre-Colin Davis of Hector Berlioz's neglected 19th c. masterpiece Les Troyens was Rafael Kubel�k. This Milan 1960 recording - now back in the catalog - is a remarkable sound document. The sound is basic; there are cuts; and it's in Italian rather than the original French. But it also makes for electrifying listening. Kubel�k conducts with intensity and dignity. Featuring a cast that includes Mario Del Monaco, Giulietta Simionato and the under-represented on disc Nell Rankin, it's essential listening for anyone with an interest in Berlioz. - The Guardian, 2012.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

It's his greatest, or at least his most popular, opera, and she one of the finest interpreters of it's title role. Though she seems somehow to have slipped from view when considering the greatest 20th c. sopranos, Renata Tebaldi is etched firmly into that mountainside with but few others. One of her great roles was, of course, Tosca, and she is heard here singing just this role in a 1961 live recording from Tokyo, Arturo Basile leading the NHK Symphony and Chorus. The cast is complementary to Tebaldi, with Giangiacomo Guelfi's Scarpia being the most notable. Remastered in 24bit/96kHs sound.

From a 1960 live performance in Paris with the Orchestre Lyrique de l'O.R.T.F. and conducted by Pierre-Michel Le Conte, this classic tale of star crossed love features an all-French cast including arguably the most visible of French tenors in the post war era, Alain Vanzo as Romeo complemented by lyric soprano Huguette Riviere's Juliette.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Walhall Eternity label is for the first time releasing in it's entirety the legendary 1959 Covent Garden Ring cycle of Richard Wagner conducted by Franz Konwitschny, performances that feature the finest Wagnerian voices of the 1950's, including Wolfgang Windgassen, Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay, Ramon Vinay, Amy Shuard (student of Eva Turner and Covent Garden regular), Gottlob Frick and more. Franz Konwitschny's gripping interpretations lie comfortably between those of F�rtw�ngler's commanding heights supremacy and Solti's fire and spontaneity. Re-mastered 24bit/96kHz.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music