The unforgettable passion and intensity that soprano Leonie Rysanek and baritone George London brought to their most famous pairing in Wagner's Der fliegende Hollander is well-represented here as well on this recording of a 1955 live performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugen Onegin, starring Ms. Rysanek as Tatyana and Mr. London as Onegin. Though already becoming less common at the time, the opera is sung in German translation rather than Russian for the Austrian audience in attendance. This historic recording has been remastered in 24bit/96kHz sound.

All the world's a joke, says Falstaff, and these words are truly given weight by Ambrogio Maestri, one of the finest Falstaffs of our time. The Italian baritone brings a powerful, versatile voice to his role, but also brings to his character a hilarious buffo quality. Daniele Gatti, one of the most acclaimed opera conductors working today, leads a stunning cast of singers, including Barbara Frittoli as Alice Ford. This boisterous production by stage director Sven-Eric Bechtolf delivers a Falstaff that is a fireworks display of high spirits. "Bechtolf turns Verdi's last opera "musically and dramaturgically into a feast of life and of love of life."

There is hardly a singer who has sung so many and such varied (main) roles as Walter Berry - both tragic and comic, German and Italian, and with such well-loved singing partners and conductors. All this can be heard in our selection from his fifty-year career at the vienna State Opera.

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Also available on standard DVD

After public and critical acclaim for his Eugene Onegin (available on DVD from BelAir), "Macbeth" on Blu-ray and DVD is the latest production from Russian stage director Dmitri Tcherniakov, recorded at the Paris Opera.

Coproduced with Siberia's Novosibirsk Opera, this new Macbeth uses cutting-edge multimedia technology to give the viewer a fresh perspective on the work. Google Earth satellite images plunge us into the heart of the action: a gloomy square surrounded by soulless buildings, and the interior of an aristocratic residence. Witches are no more a part of Tcherniakov's Macbeth that the duel was of Onegin, but once again the atmosphere is one of brooding claustrophobia. Tcherniakov has chosen a great cast, beginning with the marvellous Lithuanian soprano Violeta Urmana as Lady Macbeth. Greek baritone Dimitris Tiliakos is a powerful presence as Macbeth, while the Italians Ferruccio Furlanetto (bass) and Stefano Secco (tenor) are sumptuous as, respectively, Banquo and Macduff. In this, his second production at the Paris Opera, Teodor Currentzis, music director of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre conducts with verve and a splendid theatrical sense.

Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian
Format: Stereo, DTS-HD 5.1, Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Director: Andy Sommer & Denis Sneguirev

REVIEWS:

"All Fidelio and Beethoven fans will need this."

As most opera lovers know, Beethoven toiled greatly over his sole opera which was premiered in 1805 and revised in 1806--and then finally again in 1814, in the version that is now famous and beloved. The recording under consideration here is of the first version; this is the third time it has been recorded commercially.

Listening to this version...is an ear-opener: much music was eventually used in the familiar 1814 version, but even within those many pages there are small alterations everywhere and they're great fun to spot.

The performance is excellent, indeed marginally better than [the recording by John Eliot] Gardiner. It's as tightly led in exciting passages but Bertrand de Billy also captures some rapturous stillness and warmth in "Mir ist so wunderbar" and elsewhere, while Gardiner seems a bit clinical. De Billy also has slightly better singers. Camilla Nyland's sound is grander than Hillevi Martinpelto, and her reading of the text is deeper; Kim Begley and Kurt Streit are vocally both fine, but Streit's sweetness and goodness make a better case for Florestan. Peter Rose's understated Rocco is never mugged, and while I prefer a heavier voice than Gerd Gochowski's as Pizarro, his ease with the vocal line is a pleasure to hear. Dietmar Kerschbaum's Jaquino never cloys and Brigitte Geller's Marzelline is beautifully sung. De Billy gets thrilling playing from the Vienna Radio Symphony--the scoring in this version of the opera is very horn-heavy and generally heftier than the 1814--and I have a preference for ORF's non-period instruments here. The Arnold Schoenberg Choir sings with accuracy and feeling. All Fidelio and Beethoven fans will need this.

-- ClassicsToday.com

'This is an enchanting recording' Church Music Quarterly Three Christmas Fables for children and eavesdropping adults. (Formerly available on COLCD115)

Schoenberg' polyphonic tone poem Pelleas und Melisande is often compared to Debussy' opera based on the same text by Maurice Maeterlinck. According to the composer, "The first performance, 1905, in Vienna, under my own direction, provoked riots amo.

On the CD Musica Warmiensis Vol. 4, we can discover further sacred pieces from the second half of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, performed by church music ensembles active in the historic region of Warmia. Scores from that period were found in the collections of the Library of the Higher Theological Seminary of the Warmia Metropolis "Hosianum" in Olsztyn by the Reverend Father Tomasz Garwolinski, who is also the originator and main implementing party of the project. These are mostly sacred vocal and instrumental compositions, but also songs and symphonies. The pieces are written for an ensemble known from other religious centres in Poland, including a four-part choir, soloists, a group of string and wind instruments and an organ - a total of from a few to a maximum of seventeen musicians. The album features world premiere recordings of joyful compositions, full of vitality, which - in excellent interpretations of the orchestra and soloists - will certainly again captivate listeners with their radiant tones.

The composer, violinist and conductor, Hugo Alfven (1872-1960), is a kind of national composer in Sweden. His tonal language is very much romantic nationalism and his period of glory ranges from the late 1890s until the mid-1920s. He was active in all imaginable genres, such as symphonic works, chamber music, choirs, solo instruments, and his many songs are still widely performed today. Several songs are available in different arrangements, partly for voice and piano, partly with orchestra in different settings. The great majority of the orchestral song versions presented on this album are first recordings, performed by a dream team of singers: Kerstin Avemo and Sabina Bisholt, sopranos; Tobias Westman, tenor; Karl-Magnus Fredriksson, baritone. The Goteborg Opera Orchestra is conducted by one of Sweden's foremost conductors, Patrik Ringborg.

Jeji pastorkyna (Her Stepdaughter; commonly known as Jenufa) is an opera in three acts by Leos Janacek to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Jeji pastorkyna by Gabriela Preissova. Jenufa is based on a play by the Czech writer Gabriela Preissova�. Set a Moravian village, it follows the travails of two half-brothers, steva and Laca, and the woman with whom they are both in love, Jenufa. Jenufa loves steva in return, and is secretly pregnant with his child. But, after the jealous Laca slashes her face, steva abandons her, repelled by the disfigurement. Things only get worse for Jenufa in the second act. Laca, who now hopes to marry her instead, finds out about the child and is furious. In a desperate attempt to help, Jenufa's stepmother kills the baby - but tells them both it died naturally. Her plan appears to work and the pair agree to marry, but the child's body is discovered, forcing Jenufa's stepmother to confess. The opera ends with a remarkable reconciliatory duet between Laca and Jenufa. Here Janacek's music gleams, luminous and hopeful after such sustained darkness.

Die Walkure is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. The story of Die Walkure is based on the Norse mythology told in the Volsunga saga and the Poetic Edda. In this version, the Volsung twins Sieglinde and Siegmund, separated in childhood, meet and fall in love. This union angers the gods, who demand that Siegmund must die. Sieglinde and the couple's unborn child are saved by the defiant actions of Wotan's daughter, the title character, Valkyrie Brunnhilde, who as a result faces the gods' retribution.

It's the Viking era. The hero Angantyr has fallen. In his grave, he has taken with him the magical sword Tirfing, a sword that never misses to kill the enemy. His daughter Hervor needs the sword to protect herself from the cruel world of the Vikings. From his grave, Angantyr, who had no sons, demands that his daughter forever must appear as a man in order to retrieve and use the sword. Hervor dresses as the warrior Hervardur, receives the sword, which makes him/her an always unbeatable hero on the battlefields. However, the disguise will eventually prove to be her undoing. A love triangle develops between Hervardur and Vidar, "his" brother-in-arms who, in his way, is in love with Hervor/Hervardur, and Vidar's sister Gullv�g, who has fallen in love with the hero Hervardur, not knowing that he, in fact, is a woman. Gullv�g is courted by the three kings Gestur, Svasur, and Harald. Encouraged by her father, King Gudmundur, Gullv�g asks three riddles to be solved by the courting cavaliers. She will marry the one who can solve them all. But she is, in fact, in love with Hervardur, who succeeds in solving the riddles to Gullv�g's joy. However, Hervardur must (for obvious reasons) reject Gullv�g, which makes Vidar furious, meaning that this is an unforgivable insult to his family. He therefore challenges Hervardur to a duel, whereupon he is killed by the invincible sword Tirfing. Hervardur is proclaimed an outlaw by King Gudmundur. Brokenhearted, Hervardur tells Gullv�g of her true origin and once again seeks out her father's grave, returns the sword Tirfing, and dies.

The opera Waldermarsskatten is a fantasy around a real historical event on the island of Gotland on the east coast of Sweden, “The Valdemar Atterdag holding Visby to ransom, 1361”. The trade in the Baltic Sea was dominated by the German trading monopoly The Hanseatic League, which existed around 1150–1650. The city of Visby was included in this association. After a plague pandemic in the Nordic countries in the 1350s, the so-called ‘black death’, in which a third of the population died, the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag wanted the rich merchants of the Hanseatic League to pay for a renewal of their trade privileges. Valdemar set off to Visby with about thirty ships to Gotland at the end of July 1361. Battles were fought, first on the coast-line then at Visby’s city wall, and in total around 1 800 Swedes are said to have lost their lives, while the Danes’ loss was around 300 souls. An unfair fight, one might think, as the Danish army consisted of German mercenaries, while Gotland was defended by civilian farmers.

The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and it's chief conductor Karina Canellakis continue their Bartok journey with the composer's only opera, Duke Bluebeard's Castle, starring mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham (Judith) and bass-baritone Gabor Bretz (Bluebeard). One man, one woman, and a dark castle with seven mysterious doors are all it takes to create a psychological thriller full of suspense and intense emotion. Karina Canellakis and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra received a Grammy nomination for their recording of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra and 4 Orchestral Pieces, which BBC Music Magazine praised as "enticing and brilliantly engineered", while Gramophone lauded how orchestra and conductor "paint the soundscapes with both finesse and fire." For Canellakis, Bartok's opera recorded here is "an homage to life itself, to life's brevity and fleeting beauty, to being human, to love, and to death." Internationally acclaimed for her emotionally charged performances, technical command and interpretive depth, Karina Canellakis has become one of the most in-demand conductors of her generation. She returns to PENTATONE as Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra continuing their Bartok cycle that began with the aforementioned Concerto for Orchestra in 2023. Rinat Shaham and Gabor Bretz are sought after by the world's greatest opera houses and have long-standing experience performing Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle with various orchestras and conductors around the world.

Two traditions coalesce in Casanova e l'Albertolli (1937), the third of the four operas by the Swiss late-Romantic composer Richard Flury (1896-1967): Italian bel canto and the Swiss Festspiel - high art and popular culture. Styled a 'Commedia lirica', it invests the comic intrigue onstage with sweeping melodies of Puccinian richness, combining them with choruses based on Ticino folksong - it even has a yodelling chorus - in an engaging hybrid that deserves to be far better known. At the end, of course, evil is banished and love rewarded, but the entire score is dappled with happy inspirations that will bring a smile to the listener's lips.

Following the success of its recording of Georg Caspar Schürmann’s opera Die getreue Alceste, the barockwerk hamburg ensemble very much wanted to discover more music by this wrongly neglected Hamburg composer. His opera Jason enjoyed great success at Hamburg’s Gänsemarkt Opera during 1720-22 and was repeated no fewer than thirty-one times during these years. And the fact that Schürmann occupied himself with his Jason for thirteen years also clearly indicates that it was regarded as a highly promising work. This recording presents a considerably abridged version of this bilingual stage work containing elements of the Italian and German Baroque opera and lasts about two hours. Along with the highly effective coloratura arias, the harmonic and melodic language of the recitatives also not least merits special mention because it is highly expressive and bold as well as finely nuanced. Medea’s part is throughout the most multifaceted one, and a broad spectrum of emotions can also be heard in her recitatives – ranging from enamorment through doubt, jealousy, revenge, and seduction to desire for power and delight in victory.

Sir Mark Elder has long been hailed for his interpretation of the works of Sir Edward Elgar. This special release box set celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the Hallé label and marks Hallé’s Elgar oratorios festival at the Bridgewater Hall in June 2023. Elgar’s three major oratorios are brought together in this special release box set. The multiple award-winning recordings feature the highly acclaimed Hallé Chorus and Youth Choir and a stellar line-up of major international vocal soloists.

The wife of a duke resists the advances of a powerful lecher and is "punished" by being cast adrift at sea. A well-meaning overseer of a mining operation rescues the shipwrecked woman and, under a different name, shelters her as his niece for ten years. At last, the duke-widowed for a second time-arrives at the place of her exile. They are reunited, and the villain meets his well-earned fate... Nothing new, one might think. Yet L'inganno felice ("The Fortunate Deception"), this one-act opera first performed in Venice in early 1812, is so brimming with Rossini's most fiery spirit that we forget the familiar plot entirely over the course of it's roughly 90-minute runtime: it ignites and sparkles, glitters and whirls with the most beautiful melodies, the most tingling rhythms, and the most furious orchestral surges the master of The Barber of Seville was capable of. The festival was far from the only one to be enthralled!

Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre return to Handel with a complete recording of his opera Alcina. The title role is interpreted by Magdalena Kožená, who reunites with Les Musiciens and maestro Minkowski after a series of acclaimed baroque recordings. She is joined by an excellent casts of soloists, consisting of Erin Morley (Morgana), Anna Bonitatibus (Ruggiero), Elzabeth DeShong (Bradamante), Alois Muhlbacher (Oberto), Valerio Contaldo (Oronte) and Alex Rosen (Melisso). This studio recording transports the listener to Alcina’s enchanted island, and shows Handel at the peak of his power: the score is dramatic, lush and colourful as well as introspective and profound where the story requires it. Since its foundation in 1982, and under the baton of its founder and musical director Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre have developed into one of the world’s best period-instrument ensembles, with a vast discography. The ensemble returns to Pentatone after having presented Mozart’s Mass in C Minor in 2020. Alcina is star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožena’s fifth album as part of her exclusive collaboration with Pentatone, after having presented the baroque cantatas recital album Il giardino dei sospiri and the songs in chamber-musical setting project Soiree in 2019, as well as Nostalgia together with Yefim Bronfman (2021) and Folk Songs with the Czech Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle (2023). The other soloists all make their Pentatone debut.

REVIEW:

There are relatively few recordings of Alcina out there, even though Handel’s Tempest-like opera of infatuation, rescue and enchantment is one of his most popular on stage. This new one scores highly, partly for the dramatic relish with which the conductor Marc Minkowski and his Musiciens du Louvre dispatch the music, but principally for a tour de force performance in the title role from the mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená.

— Guardian (UK)

Melody Moore pays tribute to the legendary soprano Renata Tebaldi, presenting a selection of arias and scenes by Rossini, Verdi, Boito, Catalani, Puccini, Mascagni, Giordano, Cilea and Alessandro Scarlatti, documenting the most important stages in the career of “la voce d’angelo”. Moore performs these pieces together with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra under the baton of Lawrence Foster. Melody Moore and Lawrence Foster both have a vast Pentatone discography, including collective complete recordings of Verdi’s Otello (2017) and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and La Fanciulla del West (both 2021). The latter album was also the Pentatone debut of the Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra.

REVIEW:

Does Moore sound like Tebaldi? Not exactly: a track-by-track comparison reveals subtle differences in timbre and interpretation. But this is an act of homage, not impersonation, and Tebaldi’s repertoire certainly suits Moore’s voice and showcases her versatility, as she differentiates each heroine from the next.

-- BBC Music Magazine

The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and conductor Carlo Montanaro present a powerful interpretation of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, together with a cast of soloists including Melody Moore (Tosca), Stefan Pop (Cavaradossi) and Lester Lynch (Scarpia). Tosca has been an audience favourite from the onset. Premiered in 1900, it marks the beginning of twentieth- century opera, in which sex, violence and the uncanny abysses of the human psyche would be explored, inspiring composers to expand the musical means of expression in all thinkable ways. Until today, Tosca has lost little of its expressive power, and Puccini’s intricate score deserves to be taken seriously. Its symphonic qualities are fully brought out by the inspired playing of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, led by the seasoned maestro Carlo Montanaro.

Melody Moore, Stefan Pop and Lester Lynch bring the passionate, electrifying score to life with performances of dazzling power. The splendid cast is completed by Kevin Short (Angelotti), Alexander Köpeczi (Un Sagrestano), Colin Judson (Spoletta), Georg Streuber (Sciarrone), Axel Scheidig (Un Carceriere), and Lean Miray Yüksel (Un Pastore). The members of Rundfunkchor Berlin and Kinderchor der Deutschen Oper Berlin add their marvelous choral sound to the recording, culminating in the famous Te Deum. Melody Moore and Lester Lynch both have a vast Pentatone discography, including complete opera recordings as well as solo recitals. The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin also has a long history with the label, having recorded multiple orchestral works, as well as Wagner’s ten mature operas, often in collaboration with the Rundfunkchor Berlin. Stefan Pop makes his Pentatone debut.

PENTATONE releases Gordon Getty's fourth opera, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, in a new studio recording featuring Nathan Granner, Melody Moore, Lester Lynch, and Kevin Short, as well as the San Francisco Boys Choir and Barbary Coast Orchestra, under the baton of Dennis Doubin. Based on the popular 1934 novella Goodbye, Mr. Chips and other stories by James Hilton, Goodbye, Mr. Chips tells the heart-warming story of a teacher at Brookfield, an all-boys English boarding school to which "Chips" dedicates most of his adult life. The opera chronicles Chips' story of love, loss and learning over his decades-long tenure at Brookfield. Along the way, we're reminded of the difference one good teacher can make as we watch Chips and his children, "thousands of them, and all boys," enrich each other's lives. Writing both the music and libretto of his opera, Getty has shaped Hilton's cherished story into a memory play, in which the protagonist looks back on important episodes of his life. The score encapsulates the intimacy of the plot and the nuances of it's characters. Just like Chips, Getty treats each personality with a profound understanding of-and love for-the human spirit, with all it's strengths and flaws. After decades of fascination with the character and story of Mr. Chips, the completion of this opera is the realization of a long-held dream. Gordon Getty is a PENTATONE artist with a vast discography. Goodbye, Mr. Chips is his fourth opera recording on the label, after Plump Jack (2012), Usher House (2013) and The Canterville Ghost (2015). Melody Moore, Nathan Granner, Lester Lynch and Kevin Short have featured on many PENTATONE recordings. Conductor Dennis Doubin and the San Francisco Boys Chorus make their label debut.

Maestro Marek Janowski, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and the Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir present Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera (1859), together with a stellar cast consisting of Freddie De Tommaso (Riccardo), Lester Lynch (Renato) and Saioa Hernández (Amelia). Un ballo in maschera is Verdi’s tragicomic masterpiece, in which the composer skilfully switches gears between the light and tragic, as well as between his earlier and more mature style. As such, it is both an entertaining and highly sophisticated work. The three main soloists are all seasoned Verdi interpreters, while Janowski approaches this ingenuous score with his eye for symphonic architecture, resulting in a performance that is lively and balanced.

Marek Janowski is one of the most celebrated conductors of our time, and has a vast Pentatone discography, mostly consisting of German operas and symphonic works. After Cavalleria rusticana and Il Tabarro (both 2020), this is his third Italian opera recording for the label. Lester Lynch also has a longstanding relationship to Pentatone, and starred in many opera recordings, including Otello (2017), Cavalleria rusticana and Il Tabarro (both 2020), as well as La Fanciulla del West, Madama Butterfly (both 2021), and La Traviata (2022). The Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir has featured on several opera recordings, while the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo appeared on Arabella Steinbacher’s Fantasies, Rhapsodies & Daydreams (2016). Freddie De Tommaso and Saioa Hernández make their Pentatone debut.

REVIEWS:

The Transylvanian choir is in fine fettle, and as always with Pentatone the quality of the recording is beyond reproach. The prerequisites for a successful performance are, in other words, favourable.

No opera performance stands or falls completely with the singing and acting of one specific soloist, but...[tenor Freddie De Tommaso's] entrance [as Riccardo,] Amici miei… Soldati…ai deputati (CD 1 track 3) is like a fresh summer wind: lyric beautiful tone, elegant phrasing and that special Italian warmth and youthfulness. This is a happy governor and just a minute or so later he intones that wonderful love theme, which we first encountered in the prelude and which also returns in the last act, La rivedrà nell’estasi. He never forces, he never distorts the phrases with lachrymose gulps in the Gigli manner. He is tasteful and full of life. Di’ tu se fedele (CD 1 track 14) in the Ulrica scene is again elegant, sung with appropriate swagger and he takes that giant downward leap to the bass register with confidence. In the long duet with Amelia on the gallows hill he is palpably in love with her; his tone glows, and the whole scene becomes the highpoint it should be. Forse la soglia attinse – Ma se m’è forza perderti in the last act also glows and Ella è pura is so tender. The recording is worth its price for De Tommaso’s achievement alone – but there are further reasons for acquisition as well.

Saioa Hernández’ Amelia is one. In both her arias as well as the duet on the gallows hill she sings with feeling. Her horror in Ecco l’orrido campo – Ma dall’arido stelo (CD 1 track 20) when the bell rings at midnight is moving, and so is the prayer that rounds off the aria proper. Her second aria Morrò, ma prima in grazia (CD 2 track 4) is even more heartrending. She has the voice also for the more dramatic outbursts, maybe with a certain hardness of tone at fortissimo, but there is a thrill in her singing.

Annika Gerhards’ Oscar is charming and glittering and Elisabeth Kulman’s Ulrica impresses greatly. Here is a contralto of the old school with solid chest notes (CD 1 track 9). The basses Samuel and Tom are also forces to be reckoned with, in particular Kevin Short’s Samuel. Jean-Luc Ballestra is also an expressive Silvano in the Ulrica scene.

And how does this production stand the test against existing competitors? Very well, I would say. Leinsdorf-Bergonzi will never be redundant, but this Janowski-De Tommaso recording is an admirable newcomer that should be heard by all admirers of Verdi.

-- MusicWeb International

This release is the world premiere recording of Estonia's first major work in art music in it's original score and sung in Estonian. Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918) is widely celebrated in Estonia as the 'father of Estonian music' and considered as the first Estonian composer to have obtained a degree in composing after completing his studies at the St Petersburg Conservatoire. In this recording the composer's magnum opus, Joonas (Jonah Oratorio) is performed by a first-class Estonian line up led by the award-winning ensembles Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and conductor Tonu Kaljuste.

Onute Narbutaite's (b. 1956) Oratorio Centones Meae Urbi (1997) is a key work in Lithunian contemporay music and a work that also earned the composer the Lithuanian National Laureate. This new 2024 recording of the work - which potrays the rich history of Lithuanian's capital city Vilnius - with Robertas servenikas conducting the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Kaunas State Choir and with Lithuanian vocal soloists, Gunta Gelgote and Nerijus Macevicius, is a major addition to Lithuanian recorded music.