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Davis... magnificently crowns his whole career as a Berlioz interpreter, generally outshining even his pioneer version of 30 years earlier... Petra Lang is superb, firm, rich and intense, investing every phrase with emotional power, instantly establishing her dominance... Ben Heppner excels himself (Penguin Guide ROSETTE). Gramophone Awards' Best Opera; Academie Charles Cros' Grand Prix du Disc, Opera News' Recordings of the Year; Grammy Opera of the Year Award 2001

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Financial Times' Disc of the Year; New York Times' CDs of the Year/ "Performance: * Recording: * 'Beuron, probably today's finest lyric tenor, gives the performance an essential idiomatic core in his narration... [Tenebrae are] dramatically alert and glowing as stained glass, the angelic messages skin-pricklingly ethereal." (BBC Music Magazine) "[Sir Colin's] revisitation of this truly classic score is utterly and totally compelling.' (International Record Review)

As an example of luscious late-Romantic orchestral writing, Die Seejungfrau could scarcely be bettered: a fine performance of a gorgeous orchestral score (MusicWeb) "Steinbacher's technique on the other hand is immaculate; how gracefully those swirls and leaps are articulated. Foster's support is always vivid and colourful" (MWeb) "Steinbacher's expressive cantabile alternates with enthusiastic verve in the virtuoso passages." (Gramophone)

First performance arranged at the prestigious Bolshoi, where it shared a double bill with Tchaikovsky's Iolanta (at his insistence). The composition was highly esteemed by the examiners' board which included Taneyev and Arensky. Rachmaninov got the highest mark, and was awarded the gold medal. In 1897, Aleko premiered in St Petersburg, the title role taken by the famous bass Feodor Chaliapin, who would go on to record the cavati na, endearing it to generations of record collectors. Russian bass Evgeni Nesterenko joined Moscow's famed Bolshoi Opera in 1971 and has taken on all of the major Russian bass roles and recorded widely.

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In his exploration of the vocal music of Mozart and his contemporaries, soprano Bruno de S� evokes Mille affetti - a thousand emotions - and adds six world premiere recordings to the catalogue: arias by Luigi Cherubini, Luigi Caruso, Felice Alessandrini, Franz Seydelmann, Johann Friedrich Reichardt, and Niccolo` Antonio Zingarelli. Joining him for this adventurous programme of sacred and secular repertoire are the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, organist Marcin Szelest, the NFM Choir and conductor Jaroslaw Thiel. For his debut Erato album, Roma Travestita, Bruno de S� focused on Baroque repertoire, causing BBC Music Magazine to marvel at his "immaculate legato, gift for scintillating decoration, dramatic octave drops and stratospheric ascents above the stave." Now he applies those talents to the Classical era. "This seemed like the moment to explore different musical possibilities," he says, "and also a period that really speaks to me - emotionally, musically and technically. There are some very virtuosic things here, but I've never struggled with them because they are such a joy to sing. I hope that people feel and hear that." Repertoire features: W.A. Mozart: Exsultate Jubilate, Franz Seydelmann: excerpts from Il Turco in Italia, Johann Friedrich Reichardt: excerpts from Andromeda, Niccol� Antonio Zingarelli: Salve, Regina, and more (repertoire selection by Yannis Fran�ois).

Six virtuoso vocal soloists and the instrumentalists of Les Accents rise to the dramatic and expressive challenges of Serpentes ignei in deserto - 'Fiery Serpents in the Desert' - a biblical oratorio by Johann Adolf Hasse. As the conductor and violinist Thibault Noally explains: "Hasse was probably one of the most famous composers of his time - as famous as Handel, or even more famous than Handel in some countries." Born near Hamburg in 1699, Hasse studied in Italy and was active in such musical centers as Naples, Vienna, Dresden and Venice, where he composed Serpentes ignei in deserto. The central role of Moses is taken by countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, who is joined by soprano Julia Lezhneva as an Angel, sopranist Bruno de S�, and three further star countertenors - Jakub J�zef Orlinski, Carlo Vistoli and David Hansen. "The score is demanding for all the singers," continues Thibault Noally. "Every character is very different from the others and each of our soloists has a unique personality and a unique vocal timbre. The result is a huge variety of temperaments and colors."

Rameau is one of the universal geniuses in European musical history, on the same level as Bach, Mozart and Haydn", asserts conductor Gy�rgy Vashegyi. With this recording of Les Bor�ades Vashegyi completes an ambitious 10-year Rameau project, run in collaboration with the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles. The cast of Sabine Devieilhe, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Tassis Christoyannis, Thomas Doli�, Gwendoline Blondeel, Benedikt Kristj�nsson and Philippe Est�phe is joined by the Orfeo Orchestra and Purcell Choir - both ensembles founded by Vashegyi. Devieilhe - who made her Erato debut with a Rameau recital - takes the central role of Alphise, Queen of Bactria, who must defy the traditions of her country if she is to marry the man she loves. The theme of freedom, 'la libert�', is important in the opera; conceived in 1763 to mark the end of the Seven Years' War, it had to wait more than 200 years for it's first full staging. When the performers on this recording appeared in a concert version of Les Bor�ades at the Th��tre des Champs-Elys�es in Paris, Concert Classique declared that "Rameau's genius shines through at every moment.

Terrific debut album for Huw Montague Rendall, showcasing his multifaceted talent and stylistic sensitivity. Contemplation spans three centuries, the idioms of opera, operetta, Broadway musical, lied and m�lodie with arias and songs by Mozart, Thomas, Gounod, Duparc, Messager, Mahler, Korngold, Rodgers and Britten. In a duet from Mozart's Die Zauberfl�te the baritone is joined by Canadian soprano Elisabeth Boudreault.

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Classical Music

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Giacomo Meyerbeer, the master of Parisian grand op�ra, was hugely successful in his time and a major influence on Verdi and Wagner. His music has fascinated Diana Damrau since her student days. With her brilliant coloratura, lyricism and dramatic power, the soprano rises triumphantly to the vocal and expressive challenges of arias from 10 of his operas, singing in French, Italian and German. Two of the arias receive their world premiere recording with this album. The idea of a Meyerbeer album has been close to Diana Damrau's heart since she first recorded for Erato back in 2006. She became fascinated by the composer's music as a student in W�rzburg, when she was invited to perform his cantata Gli amori di Teolinda. "I immersed myself in Meyerbeer's world," she explains, "and was excited by his multifaceted writing for the voice, by his orchestral colours, his theatrical instincts, the powerful and varied way in which he expresses emotion, his splendid melodies and, last but not least, his ability to capture precisely the right 'national style'. If you compare his Italian, German and French works, it is like listening to three different composers."

WAGNER: DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN (HIGHLIGHTS)

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VERDI: Trouvere (Le) (Il Trovatore) (1857 Paris Version)

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