GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: La Pietra del paragone (complete opera) Agata Bienkowska (mezzo) / Alessandro Codeluppi (tenor) / Raffaele Constantini (bass) / Anna Rita Gemmabella (sop) / Anke Herrmann (sop) [ Naxos Opera Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 2/Jun/2004 ] "Polish mezzo Agata Bienkowska...here evinces a rich-toned flexible voice of considerable promise ..The conductor, Alessandro de Marchi, is well known in early music circles. He brings clear articulation to the ensembles." MusicWeb |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Marvellous Mezzo-Soprano and Contralto: Best Loved Opera Arias Agnes Baltsa (mezzo-soprano), Sonia Ganassi (mezzo-soprano), Marjana Lipovšek (mezzo-soprano), Ewa Podleś (contralto) [ Naxos / CD - released 23/Apr/2021 ] Portraying characters such as Rossini's lovestruck heroines, Verdi's dramatic roles and the seductive Carmen, the mezzo voice is valued for a tone that embodies richness and sensuality in all its operatic variety. |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Vivaldi: Griselda RV718 (complete opera) Colin Ainsworth / Carla Huhtanen / Lynne McMurty / Marion Newman / Aradia Ensemble / Kevin Mallon [ Naxos / 3 CD - released 23/Jan/2008 ] Vivaldi's Griselda, one of more than twenty operas, is based on a story retold in Boccaccio's Il decamerone about the testing of Griselda's patience and virtue by her royal husband through a series of cruel trials. The sense of drama that permeates... |
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Rameau: Castor Et Pollux [1754 version] Colin Ainsworth, Joshua Hopkins, Monica Whicher, Meredith Hall, Giles Tomkins, Renée Winick Opera in Concert Chorus, Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2004 ] Recorded: 9-13 February 2003 Recording Venue: Grace Church on the Hill, Totonto, Canada |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Ricciardo e Zoraide (complete opera) Alessandra Marianelli, Silvia Beltrami, Maxim Mironov, Randall Bills / Camerata Bach Choir, Poznań, Virtuosi Brunensis, José Miguel Pérez-Sierra [ Naxos / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Feb/2018 ] "High standards of florid singing allow this performance to take flight and remain in the air: in fact..it's a vocal feast. Conductor José Miguel Pérez- Sierra shows considerable expertise" Opera, June 2018 |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (complete opera) Alessandro Carmignani / Marinella Pennicchi / Rosita Frisani / Cappella Musicale di San Petronio di Bologna / Sergio Vartolo [ Naxos Early Music / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] "Carmignani has an expressive tenor voice...Pennicchi is lovely as Euridice. The singers are excellent and integrated into a carefully prepared ensemble...You will not do much better at triple the price" - Fanfare |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Il Signor Bruschino (complete opera recorded in 2002) Alessandro Codeluppi, Maurizio Leoni, Elena Rossi / I Virtuosi Italiani, Claudio Desderi (conductor) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jun/2010 ] Born in Pesaro in 1792, the son of a horn-player and a singer, Rossini even in childhood had experience of the theatre, both as an orchestral player and as a singer himself. |
ERMANNO WOLF-FERRARI
Wolf-Ferrari: Das Himmelskleid ('The Garment of Heaven') (complete opera) Angelina Ruzzafante, Anna-Maria Dur, Sibrand Basa, Reinhard Leisenheimer, Peer-Martin Sturm / Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra & Opera Chorus, Gerhard Mar [ Naxos / 3 CD Box Set - released 2/Dec/2022 ] Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari is best known for his comic operas. With this reputation established, the appearance of Das Himmelskleid in 1927, with its 'symbolical twilight world… that rises musically to religious greatness and a world of dreams' was a... |
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (complete opera) Rah Graciela Alperyn, Giorgio Lamberti, Doina Palade, Alan Titus / Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Alexander Ra [ Naxos Opera Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Jan/2000 ] |
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK
Humperdinck: Music for the Stage Andrea Chudak, Ruxandra Voda van der Plas, Harrie van der Plas, Malmö Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Dario Salvi [ Naxos / CD - released 27/Nov/2020 ] Engelbert Humperdinck won a worldwide reputation through his application of Wagnerian techniques to folk music in Hänsel und Gretel. But he wrote far more widely for the stage than is acknowledged. |
SPYRIDON SAMARAS
Samaras: Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle (Complete opera) Angelo Simos, Tassis Christoyannis, Pavlos Maropoulos, Pantelis Kontos / Kaval Choir of Sofia, Pazardzhik Symphony, Byron Fidetzis [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 11/Jun/2021 ] Remembered today for the Olympic Anthem, Spyridon Samaras was the most distinguished Greek composer of his day and the first to gain international recognition. |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Ciro in Babilonia (complete opera) Anna Rita Gemmabella / Islam-Ali-Zade / Riccardo Botta / ARS Brunensis Chamber Choir / Wurttemberg Philharmonic Orchestra / Antonino Fogliani [ Naxos Opera / 2 CD - released 4/Mar/2007 ] Rossini's Ciro in Babilonia is a bold fusion of biblical and secular subjects set to brilliant, thrilling music. Although intended to be staged during Lent, Ciro includes all the time-honoured ingredients of serious opera such as the test of love,... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Ariadne auf Naxos (complete opera recorded 1986 with libretto) Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, Kathleen Battle, Gary Lakes, Hermann Prey / Wiener Philharmoniker, James Levine [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD Box Set - released 30/Oct/2014 ] "For its debut on CD, Ariadne auf Naxos receives a bright, clear DG recording, ... Much of this can be credited to James Levine's acute sense of tempo throughout" Gramophone |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: La Favorite (complete opera recorded in 2022) Annalisa Stroppa (mezzo-soprano) Javier Camarena (tenor) Florian Sempey (baritone) Evgeny Stavinsky (bass) / Orchestra Donizetti Opera, Riccardo Frizz [ Naxos / 3 CD Box Set - released 19/Apr/2024 ] Written for the Opéra in Paris, Gaetano Donizetti's La Favorite contains some of his most famously enthralling arias. While its much-reduced Italian version has continued in popularity, this superb production from the Donizetti Opera Festival in... |
DEEMS TAYLOR
Peter Ibbetson [Complete Opera] Anthony Dean Griffey / Lauren Flanigan / Richard Zeller / Seattle Symphony and Chorale / Gerard Schwarz [ Naxos American Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2009 ] From its triumphant, star-studded première in 1931 until 1985, Peter Ibbetson was the most-performed American opera at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The story (based on the novel by George Du Maurier) of two star-crossed lovers who secretly... |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Don Carlo (complete opera) Antonietta Stella, Fedora Barbieri, Mario Filippeschi, Tito Gobbi, Boris Christoff / Rome Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Gabriele Santini [ Naxos Historical / 3 CD - released 7/Feb/2006 ] "Gobbi goes from strength to strength … Rodrigo's noble death scene elicits from this artist some of the loveliest baritone singing I have ever heard on record.With the cardinal rôles of the King and Posa finely done, with beautifully moulded... |
VERDI
La Traviata (complete opera recorded in 1955) Antonietta Stella (soprano) Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor) Tito Gobbi (baritone) / Milan La Scala Orchestra / Tullio Serafin [ Naxos Historical / 2 CD - released 1/Dec/2007 ] Having already recorded La Traviata for CETRA Maria Callas was contractually barred from taking part in this 1955 recording of the opera, which featured, instead, the emerging Italian soprano Antonietta Stella, who went on to become an acclaimed... |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Rinaldo (Complete opera) Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon (Conductor), Nicole Bower (Soprano), Catherine Affleck (Soprano), Lenard Whiting (Tenor) [ Naxos Opera / 3 CD - released 18/Apr/2006 ] "Fine soloists make the most of their coloratura opportunities, especially Barbara Hannigan as the enchantress Armida and Kimberly Barber in the title role. Recorded in Canada, this budget-price version led by Kevin Mallon is a welcome addition to... |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Torvaldo e Dorliska (complete opera) Anna Rita Gemmabella, Huw Rhys-Evans, Paola Cigna / ARS Brunensis Chamber Choir / Czech Chamber Soloists / Alessandro de Marchi [ Naxos Opera / 2 CD - released 14/Sep/2006 ] Torvaldo e Dorliska belongs to the category, stemming from France, of rescue opera, so called from the basic pattern of plot that is common to these pieces, among them Rossini's La gazza ladra as well as Beethoven's Fidelio. |
RAFFAELLO DE BANFIELD
Lord Byron's Love Letter (complete opera recorded in 1958) Astrid Varnay / Gertrude Ribla / Nicoletta Carruba / Mario Carlin / Academy Symphony Orchestra of Rome / Nicola Rescigno [ Naxos Historical Great Opera Recordings / CD - released 10/May/2011 ] The RCA Victor recording of Raffaello de Banfield's 1955 opera Lord Byron's Love Letter is a true rarity, remaining in their catalogue for only a short time and never reissued on CD before now. Based on a Tennessee Williams play set in late... |