Sony Classical is delighted to offer lovers of singing another ten complete recordings from the RCA Red Seal, CBS/Sony Classical and Eurodisc catalogues. The latest...

Sony Classical is delighted to offer lovers of singing another ten complete recordings from the RCA Red Seal, CBS/Sony Classical and Eurodisc catalogues. The latest instalment of this wide-ranging series not only features some of the greatest voices of the last century but also spotlights once popular works that have been unduly neglected in recent times. From 1988, a superb recording of The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame), with Emil Tchakarov and Bulgarian Opera. “When Tchaikovsky’s work is as superbly performed and recorded as it is here,” wrote Gramophone, “it sounds like the most convincing and inspired opera in the Russian language … A reading that catches all the romantic yearning, feverish passion and eerie atmosphere of this amazing score.” The cast is outstanding too: “Wieslaw Ochman makes an impressive Herman … Yuri Mazurok is a superb Yeletsky, and the duet of Lisa and her companion, Pauline, is beautifully done by Stefka Evstatieva and Stefania Toczyska, one of Tchaikovsky’ most magical inspirations” (Penguin Guide).

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REVIEW:

Strongly cast and dramatically conducted. Wieslaw Ochmann and Stefka Evstatieva are particularly striking as Hermann and Pauline.

– BBC Music Magazine