Perhaps no opera is better known by more people than Carmen. It's musical themes are universally recognizable even in isolation. An exceptional cast distinguishes this particular performance: Jennifer Larmore, Angela Gheorgiu, and Sam Ramey give standout performances that bring this alternately soaring and salacious work to it's pinnacle.
Music from the original soundtrack 'Swan Lake,' presenting scores by Tchaikovsky. Performed by Oliver Award winning production nominee Matthew Bourne and The New London Orchestra under the direction of David Lloyd-Jones. An original BBC release is now available on the Teldec label.
Verdi almost called his Egyptian opera Amneris, and it is this proud, calculating but vulnerable character who often stays in the mind at the end of a performance of Aida; she is the one who travels the greatest emotional distance over the course of the opera and with the right interpreter she can steal the show from the slightly self-obsessed lovers.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt was praised for his chamber music, evolving from the Piano access to "Aida" in 1997 in Zurich. Against both nothing is to say, in principle, only a guarantee for an exciting, rousing opera recording is not self-evident. I must say that I really enjoy the recording until the score in his hand and made music excellent and brilliant the many carefully worked out details that almost meticulous compliance with the dynamic demands of Verdi and transparency in the spotless ensembles especially in the of the Vienna Philharmonic could appreciate orchestral passages (with over four lasting several months, recording sessions, I expect that as well). - Thomas Tillmann, http://www. Omm. De
Maxim Vengerov now confronts - and conquers - one of the supreme challenges all great violinists must face: The Brahms violin concerto. This beautiful, virtuosic work has defined careers from Heifetz to Perlman. Vengerov's turn has come, and his rich, burnished tone and impassioned phrasing make this one of the standout concerto CDs of the year. The soulful partnership of Vengerov and Barenboim (one of his most important mentors) is also a strong selling point.
Daniel Barenboim continues his acclaimed Mozart concerto cycle with the Berlin Philharmonic, widely acknowledged among the greatest orchestras in the world. Barenboim, conducting from the piano, achieves an effortless collaboration with the orchestra, establishing himself once again as a premier Mozart interpreter. Barenboim's intricate playing and sensitive interpretation misses no detail of these works, and draws a warm and vigorous response from the Berliners.
American-born soprano Barbara Bonney provides the sparkle in this ebullient account of Mozart's gem of a cantata, Exsultate jubilate (K. 165). Harnoncourt and his charges do a lovely job with the orchestral pages of the setting, originally written to accompany the singing of the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini. Equally well done is the youthful C Minor Missa solemnis (K. 139), which in many ways looks forward to the great C Minor Mass (K. 427) and to the operas of Mozart's mature years in Vienna. -Ted Libbey
