The Phantom of the Opera
[ Universal Pictures / DVD - released 20/Apr/2005 ] Based on the hit musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the tale tells the story of a disfigured musical genius that haunts the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera, waging a reign of terror over its occupants. When he falls fatally in love with the lovely... |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Le Willis (complete original production) Ermonela Jaho, Arsen Soghomonyan, Brian Mulligan / Opera Rara Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder [ Opera Rara / CD - released 25/Sep/2019 ] "The chorus and orchestra are both impressive, while conductor Mark Elder delivers a lively and loving account of the score" BBC Music Award Finalist 2020 |
MOZART / MEHUL / OFFENBACH / LEONCAVALLO / LEHAR / WAGNER / RAVEL / etc
Michael Spyres - BariTenor Michael Spyres (baritone/tenor) / Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Marko Letonja, Choeur d'hommes de l'Opéra national du Rhine [ Erato Classics / CD - released 1/Oct/2021 ] "The range of roles is astonishing, but then so are these performances...Spyres really is a tenor - and a baritone, it seems - who has the operatic world at his feet." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Vocal & Ensemble |
AGOSTINO STEFFANI
Steffani: Niobe Regina di Tebe (complete opera) Karina Gauvin, Philippe Jaroussky, Amanda Forsythe, Aaron Sheehan / Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs [ Erato / Warner Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 18/Jan/2015 ] "The performance is never forced but always emotive...An exemplary testament of superb musicianship from all participants...this is a landmark event in Steffani's much-deserved rehabilitation." (Gramophone Magazine Award Nomination 2015 Baroque Vocal |
LEONARDO VINCI
Vinci: Artaserse (complete opera) Max Emanuel Cencic, Philippe Jaroussky, Franco Fagioli, Valer Barna-Sabadus / Concerto Köln, Diego Fasolis [ Erato / 3 CD Box Set - released 25/Jan/2013 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST 2013: Baroque Vocal |
MALCOLM ARNOLD
Arnold: The Dancing Master, Op. 34 Eleanor Dennis (sop) Catherine Carby (mezzo) Fiona Kimm (contr) Ed Lyon (ten) Mark Wilde (ten), Graeme Broadbent (bass-bar), BBC Concert Orchestra [ Resonus / CD - released 25/Sep/2020 ] "Arnold's inventive, eclectic score is vividly brought to life...this is no dismissible pastiche, but a seriously worthwhile addition to the repertoire." BBC Music Award WINNER 2021 - Opera |
GOUNOD / PUCCINI / STEIBELT / MASSENET / MOZART / ROSSINI / etc
Miroir(s): Opera Arias Elsa Dreisig (soprano), Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie Pyrénées Méditerranée, Michael Schønwandt [ Erato Warner Classics / CD - released 20/Mar/2019 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 TOP THREE - Recital |
FRANCESCO CAVALLI
Ombra mai fu: Francesco Cavalli Opera Arias Philippe Jaroussky (counter-tenor) / Ensemble Artaserse, with Emöke Baráth (soprano) [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 15/Mar/2019 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 WINNER - Recital |
THOMAS ADES
Ades: The Exterminating Angel (complete opera recorded in 2017) Metropolitan Opera / Audrey Luna, Amanda Echalaz, Sally Matthews, Sophie Bevan, Alice Coote, Christine Rice, Iestyn Davies / Thomas Ades (cond) [ Erato DVD / DVD - released 20/Feb/2019 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 TOP THREE - Contemporary |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Peter Grimes (complete opera filmed on Aldeburgh beach in 2013) Alan Oke, Giselle Allen, David Kempster / Guildhall School of Music & Drama & Britten-Pears Orchestra, Steuart Bedford [ Arthaus DVD / DVD - released 10/Mar/2014 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD NOMINATION 2014 |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Partenope, HWV 27 (complete opera) Karina Gauvin, Philippe Jaroussky, John Mark Ainsley, Teresa Iervolino / Il Pomo d'Oro, Riccardo Minasi [ Erato / Virgin Records / 3 CD Box Set - released 5/Nov/2015 ] Handel's sparkling opera Partenope reunites Erato' star countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and the captivating Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin, who both made such an impact in the Erato recording of Steffani's rediscovered opera Niobe, released in early... |
ANTONIO SALIERI
Salieri: Armida Lenneke Ruiten, Teresa Iervolino, Florie Valiquette, Ashley Riches / Les Talens Lyriques, Chœur de Chambre de Namur, Christophe Rousset [ Aparte / 2 CD - released 22/Jan/2021 ] GRAMOPHONE Award Nomination 2021 - Opera |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: Persephone (compete melodrama) Andrew Staples & Pauline Cheviller / Finnish National Opera, Esa-Pekka Salonen [ Pentatone SACD / CD - released 1/Apr/2019 ] "Orchestral textures are clean yet sensuous, rhythms exactingly precise. In lesser hands, the score can seem episodic. Salonen, however, forges it into a unified drama, in which not a note or word seems wasted…The choral singing is warm and focused." |
ALBAN BERG
Wozzeck (complete opera recorded at the Bolshoi in 2010) Bolshoi Theatre / Georg Nigl, Mardi Byers, Maxim Paster / Teodor Currentzis (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 20/Sep/2012 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST 2013: Opera |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Il Sogno di Scipione (complete opera) The Choir and Orchestra of Classical Opera, Ian Page [ Signum / 2 CD - released 13/Oct/2017 ] Classical Opera continue their continuing complete Mozart opera recording series with the one-act dramatic serenade 'Il sogno di Scipione', K126. Composed in 1771 as a celebratory homage to Prince Archbishop Sigismund Schrattenbach of Salzburg,... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527 (complete opera) Dimitris Tiliakos, Vito Priante, Myrtò Papatanasiu, Kenneth Tarver, Karina Gauvin / MusicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis [ Sony Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Mar/2017 ] "Do not expect a familiar 'warm bath' experience here; it offers an invigorating shower of fresh new insights" BBC Music Magazine Awards 2017 - Opera Winner |
FANTINI:/ MALVEZZI / CACCINI / MARENZIO / BRUNELLI / STRIGGIO
Stravaganza d'Amore!: The Birth of Opera at the Medici Court Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD Box Set - released 15/Nov/2017 ] "The performances are highly polished, chorus and ensemble, producing a glossy and liberally embellished sound while the dozen soloists give fine and well-balanced contributions." BBC Music Opera Choice Oct 2017 |
THOMAS ADES
Ades: The Exterminating Angel (complete opera recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Metropolitan Opera / Audrey Luna, Amanda Echalaz, Sally Matthews, Sophie Bevan, Alice Coote, Christine Rice, Iestyn Davies / Thomas Ades (cond) [ Erato Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 20/Feb/2019 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 - Contemporary |
GEORGE BENJAMIN
Benjamin: Written on Skin (complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House / Christopher Purves, Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Victoria Simmonds / George Benjamin (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Aug/2014 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD WINNER 2014 - Contemporary |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Turandot (Complete Opera) Sondra Radvanovsky, Jonas Kaufmann, Ermonela Jaho, Michele Pertusi / Orchestra e Coro dell'Accadmia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano [ Warner Classics / 2 CD - released 10/Mar/2023 ] "A Turandot for the ages? This recording holds its own against venerable competition and, in the original Alfano completion, is unique." Gramophone Award Finalist 2023 - Opera |