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GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Complete Opera recorded in 2016) Anna Netrebko, Yusif Eyvazov, Armando Piña, Carlos Chausson / Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Marco Armiliato [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD - released 2/Dec/2016 ] "Netrebko's Manon soars over the rest of the cast, framed attentively, eloquently and imaginatively by Marco Armiliato and the Munich Radio Orchestra." BBC Music |
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UMBERTO GIORDANO
Giordano: Andrea Chenier (Blu-ray) Bayerische Staatsoper, Jonas Kaufmann, George Petean, Anja Harteros / Marco Armiliato (cond) [ BSO Recordings / Blu-ray - released 18/Aug/2023 ] First performed in 1896, Andrea Chénier is rightly regarded as one of the key works of verismo. With his melodrama about the historical poet André Chénier during the upheavals of the French Revolution, the composer Umberto Giordano created an... |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
The Berlin Concert - Live From the 'Waldbuhne' Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko. Rolando Villazon / Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin / Marco Armiliato [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 18/Jan/2007 ] "Three charming singing actors giving their audience a real treat, this concert is something to return to" (MusicWeb Feb 2007) |
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SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (complete ballet recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Teatro alla Scala / Roberto Bolle, Misty Copeland, Antonino Sutera, Mick Zeni, Marco Agostino / Patrick Fournillier (cond) [ C Major BLU-RAY / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Dec/2017 ] This classic choreography of Romeo and Juliet by Kenneth MacMillan, set to the immortal notes of Prokofiev, is legendary in La Scala´s repertoire. In this ballet the choreographer MacMillan deals with the matter paying great attention to human... |
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IVAR HALLSTROM
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Hallstrom: Duke Magnus & the Mermaid (complete opera) Lars Johansson, Robin Svanvik, Marco Stella, Jonas Olofsson, Emelie Sigelius, Ingela Bohlin, Eva Marklund / Vadstena Academy Choir, Niklas Willen [ Marco Polo / 2 CD Box Set - released 17/Feb/2003 ] Although he learnt the piano, Hallström was self-taught as a composer. He studied law in Uppsala and in 1853 was appointed librarian to Prince Oscar which assisted him in advancing his career as a composer. His operas in collaboration with the... |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Tosca (complete opera recorded in 2010) Daniela Dessì (Tosca), Fabio Armiliato (Mario Cavaradossi) & Claudio Sgura (Scarpia), Teatro Carlo Felice, Marco Boemi (conductor) [ Arthaus Musik / DVD - released 10/Apr/2012 ] "Sgura possesses a timbre rather warmer than usual for Scarpia - it's nice to hear 'Va, Tosca' sung rather than roared...The conductor, Marco Boemi, has the idiom solidly in hand and extracts full-blooded, sumptuous sound from the Genoa players" |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (Complete Opera recorded at the New Zealand Festival 2000) Gordon Hawkins, Vladimir Vaneev, Yaron Windmuller, Nuccia Focile / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus, Marco Guidarini [ Trust / 2 CD Box Set - released 25/Feb/2006 ] Verdi's sombre and powerful operatic masterpiece, with its themes of love, hate, treachery and reconciliation, is brought to life in this production from the 2000 New Zealand Festival, featuring the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Chapman... |
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VERDI
Macbeth (complete opera) - Sferisterio Opera Festival, 2007 Guiseppe Altomare / Ohla Zhuravel / Pavel Kudinov / Rubens Pelizzari / Marco Voleri / Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra / Daniele Callegari [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 1/Oct/2009 ] Verdi was justifiably pleased with Macbeth, his tenth opera and his first on a Shakespearian subject-it would long remain his own favourite among his 'early period' operas. Eighteen years later, at the invitation of the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, he... |
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BIZET / VERDI / OFFENBACH / PUCCINI / BOITO / etc
Joseph Calleja - The Maltese Tenor Joseph Calleja (tenor) L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Marco Armiliato, with Aleksandra Kurzak, soprano [ Decca Music Group / CD - released 26/May/2011 ] "Calleja's timbre, brilliant, caressing, keenly focused, is entirely individual...All in all, this is a fine calling-card for a tenor, still only in his early thirties, on the threshold of greatness, during a transition phase of his career. The... |
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RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (complete opera recorded in 2010) Netherlands Opera / Juha Uusitalo, Robert Lloyd, Catherine Naglestad, Marco Jentzsch / Harmut Haenchen (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 30/Jun/2011 ] "It never feels rushed but it does feel inexorable, with the orchestra playing with amazing transparency: one can hear Wagner's genius creating and growing....Haenchen manages Wagner's awkward mood/tempo changes as if they were organic." I.R.R. |
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ENNIO MORRICONE / NINO ROTA / PAOLO SILVESTRI / GATO BARBIERI
Postcards From Italy: Italian Music For Film Marco Albonetti (saxophone), Roma Sinfonietta, Paolo Silvestri [ Chandos / CD - released 6/Oct/2023 ] For his third album for Chandos, the saxophonist Marco Albonetti turns to the rich tradition of film music from his native Italy. Marco writes: 'Film music has been described as the defining new genre of classical music in the twentieth century. It... |
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Marco Tamburini & Hampton Slid
Trip Of Emotion [ Fabula Classica / CD - released 25/Apr/2011 ] |
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JOHN FIELD
Field: Complete Piano Concertos Paolo Restani (piano) / Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Marco Guidarini [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 10/Dec/2009 ] "A bargain for all fans of John Field's influential Piano Concertos" Gramophone |
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PUCCINI / MASCAGNI / CILEA / LEONCAVALLO / GIORDANO
Piotr Beczala: Vincerò! Piotr Beczala (tenor), with Evgeniya Khomutova (mezzo) / Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana , Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana, Marco Boemi [ Pentatone SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 15/May/2020 ] "Beczała never needs to force unduly, yet there's plenty of emotion to these readings" Gramophone Recording of the Month June 2020 |
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PUCCINI / CILEA / MASCAGNI / UMBERTO / GIORDANO
Piotr Beczala: Vincerò! Piotr Beczala (tenor), with Evgeniya Khomutova (mezzo) / Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana , Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana, Marco Boemi [ Pentatone SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 15/May/2020 ] Global star tenor Piotr Beczala presents Vincerò!, the first fruit of his exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE. Vincerò! is a collection of heart-wrenching opera arias by Puccini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Giordano and Cilea. |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
The Berlin Concert - Live from the 'Waldbuhne' (complete concert) BLU-RAY Placido Domingo / Anna Netrebko / Rolando Villazon / Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin / Marco Armiliato [ Deutsche Grammophon Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jan/2009 ] "The vocalism consistently stood out as superior...Domingo at 65 remains a phenomenon...His junior colleagues never lapsed vocally below their wonted high levels" (MusicalAmerica.com) |
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BELLINI / DELIBES / ROSSINI / GOUNOD / DONIZETTI
A Journey: Pretty Yende Pretty Yende (soprano) / Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Marco Armiliato, with Kate Aldrich (mezzo-soprano) [ Sony Classics / CD - released 1/Dec/2016 ] "On this basis of this disc, I can imagine Pretty Yende will soon be in demand all over the world." BBC Music Opera Choice Dec 2016 |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Tosca (complete opera recorded in 2010) Blu-ray Teatro Carlo Felice / Daniela Dessì, Fabio Armiliato & Claudio Sgura / Marco Boemi (conductor) [ Arthaus Musik Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 10/Apr/2012 ] "This is a good, conventionally designed Tosca, well sung and played and with a satisfying theatrical flair." - MusicWeb |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: La Rondine (Complete opera recorded in 2009) Metropolitan Opera / Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Lisette Oropesa / Marco Armiliato (cond) [ Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 4/Oct/2010 ] "I have never heard Alagna sing better, and Gheorghiu is at her sumptuous best. There are comparably beautiful performances by the younger couple, Marius Brenciu and Lisette Oropesa" New York Daily News |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
DonizettI: Lucia di Lammermoor (complete opera recorded in 2009) Metropolitan Opera / Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczala, Mariusz Kwiecien / Marco Armiliato (conductor) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 16/Nov/2009 ] "Director Mary Zimmerman's…offers a Victorian gloss on the drama… which adds a fresh and fascinating resonance. This is reinforced by the filming, often steeply angled from front stage, and enjoys uncommonly strong choral and orchestral support." BBC |
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HANDEL
Organ Concertos, Op. 4 Nos. 1-6, HWV289-294 Ottavio Dantone (solo organ & conductor), Stefano Montanari (violin) & Marco Frezzato (cello) / Accademia Bizantina [ Decca L'Oiseau Lyre / CD - released 13/Apr/2009 ] "…Handel's organ concertos… benefit from strong gestures and an overall brightness of approach that reaches out to the listener. Ottavio Dantone and Accademia Bizantina achieved these with ease, first of all by using a six-stop chamber organ with more bit |
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Marco Beltrami
Ost: The Wolverine [ Sony Classical / CD - released 22/Jul/2013 ] |
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Marco Di Marco featuring Nathan Haines
My London Friends [ Arision Recordings / CD - released 9/Mar/2006 ] A moody, lovely set from pianist Marco Di Marco - the Italian player's ode to London - featuring masterful accompaniment on sax and flute by Nathan Haines! |
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FERRUCCIO BUSONI
Busoni: Works for 2 Pianos Aldo Ciccolini, Aldo Orvieto, Marco Rapetti (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Aug/2020 ] Ferruccio Busoni composed a significant number of works for two pianos throughout his life. |
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GIORDANO
Andrea Chenier (complete opera) Andrea Bocelli / Violeta Urmana / Lucio Gallo / Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Milano Giuseppe Verdi / Marco Armiliato [ Decca Music Group / 2 CD - released 11/Mar/2010 ] This new recording partners Andrea Bocelli with the aristocratic soprano of Violeta Urmana, who has sung the role of Maddalena at the world's leading houses, including The Metropolitan Opera, New York. |
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GLASS / KANCHELI / TUUR
Music for Violin & Piano Andrea Cortesi (violin) Marco Ventur (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 20/Aug/2014 ] The reissue of one of the gems from the famous VOX catalogue: the complete Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos played by Gabriel Tacchino and the Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg, conducted by maitre Louis de Froment. |
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GIYA KANCHELI
Miniatures for Violin and Piano Andrea Cortesi (violin) & Marco Venturi (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 1/Dec/2016 ] Any album of music by the Georgian composer Giya Kancheli is eagerly awaited by a wide audience receptive to his particular, post-Soviet voice, which has touched the hearts and minds of many thousands of listeners through his music for both film and... |
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ROBERT SCHUMANN
Schumann: Violin Sonatas Andrea Cortesi (violin) & Marco Venturi (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 22/Feb/2016 ] These wonderful violin sonatas, written a few years before his death in an asylum, belie the dictum that "Schumann started as a genius, and ended as a talent". These are works by a passionate genius, highly original, full of feverish energy,... |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Aida (complete opera recorded in 2012) BLU-RAY + BLU-RAY 3D Arena di Verona / Hui He, Marco Berti, Andrea Ulbrich, Ambrogio Maestri / Daniel Oren (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray Disc - released 25/Nov/2015 ] "It's straightforward, recalling Edwardian toy theatre...And the spectacle isn't overdone...Ulbrich is a fiery Amneris. But it's the Ethiopians who carry the day, with Maestri's thundering Amonasro and, above all, Chinese soprano Hui He's Aida, vocal |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI / CHARLES GOUNOD / GIUSEPPE VERDI
Arena Di Verona Collection Volume 1: Turandot / Romeo et Juliette / Aida Arena di Verona / Maria Guleghina, Salvatore Licitra, Tamar Iveri, Nino Machaidze, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Hui He, Marco Berti, Andrea Ulbrich, etc [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / 4 DVD Box Set - released 9/Aug/2019 ] A 3-Opera set (Limited Edition) featuring great productions seen at the prestigious Arena di Verona : Puccini's Turandot, Gounod's Roméo & Juliette, Verdi's Aida. TURANDOT For their 88th edition the prestigious Arena di Verona Festival... |
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CARLO GRAZIANI
Six Sonatas For Violincello & Continuo Op.3 Armoniosa (Stefano Cerrato solo violincello, Marco Demaria violincello di continuo, Michel Barchi harpsichord) [ Rubicon Classics / 2 CD - released 22/Sep/2017 ] Carlo Graziani, born in the Italian city of Asti c1710 was one of the earliest cello virtuosos. Well travelled, he played in London with the 7 year old Mozart in 1764 and left many sets of sonatas and several concertos for his instrument. He retired... |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Tosca (complete opera recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Baden-Baden Opera / Kristine Opolais, Marcelo Álvarez Mario, Marco Vratogna, Alexander Tsymbalyuk / Sir Simon Rattle [ EuroArts Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Sep/2018 ] "Rattle and his orchestra add both depth and gloss: to hear the shimmer of the Berlin strings in the eerie dwells of the Te Deum is enough to absolve the conductor of his reverential tempos" Gramophone |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Storie Di Napoli Marco Beasley, Ensemble Accordone, Gido Morini [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 22/Oct/2012 ] This programme of Neapolitan music, covering a vast historical span (from the Renaissance to the 20th century) is a 'manifesto' of the musical influences that have nurtured Marco Beasley. Guido Morini's arrangements, written especially for him, make... |
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FRANCESCO PAOLO TOSTI
Tosti: The Song of a Life, Volume 2 Benedetta Torre, Eugene Villaneuva, Luisa Prayer, Desirée Rancatore, Marco Scolastra, Jurgita Adamonyté, Piotr Lempa, Marco Moreco [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD - released 23/Feb/2018 ] This is the second instalment of a huge enterprise, a world premiere: the recording of the complete songs by Tosti! Paolo Tosti (1846‐1916) worked in poverty as a music teacher till he met the influential composer Giovanni Sgambati, who became his... |
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RAVEL
Complete Melodies Monica Piccinini, Christian Immler, etc., Filippo Farinelli (piano), Claudia Giottoli (flute), Giacomo Menna (cello) / ECU Ensemble, Marco Momi [ Brilliant Classics / 2 CD - released 24/Jun/2013 ] Exquisite, refined, exotic, full of colouristic effects and unheard-of timbres, Ravel's songs are a cornerstone of the 20th century song repertoire. This new recording contains the complete songs, accompanied by piano or by instrumental ensemble. |
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DOMENICO CIMAROSA
Cimarosa: L'Impresario in Angustie (complete opera recorded in 2017) Camilla Antonini, Lavinia Bini, Paola Cigna, Alejandro Escobar, Luca Gallo, Marco Filippo Romano / Orchestra Bruno Maderna di Forli, Aldo Salvagno [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 1/Nov/2018 ] The Neapolitan Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) was certainly a prolific composer of operas, having more than 80 titles to his name. Though many have only recently enjoyed a revival, they were widely admired in his day. |
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DIEGO ORTIZ
Ad Vesperas: Napoli 1565 Cantar Lontano / Marco Mencoboni [ Alpha Classics / Hybrid SACD - released 20/Aug/2009 ] Cantar Lontano, Marco Mencoboni |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
La Tarantella Christina Pluhar, L' Arpeggiata, Marco Beasley, Lucilla Galeazzi [ Alpha / CD - released 4/Nov/2002 ] Traditional music from the Kingdom of Naples. In 1630 a strange disease called "Tarantism" struck Italy. It was attributed to a spider's bite with alternating symptoms of exaltation and prostration. Tarantella are enchanting songs and dances meant... |
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TCHAIKOVSKY
Serenade for Strings in C, Op. 48 / Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70 Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. Conducted by Marco Boni [ Pentatone SACD / SACD - released 12/Apr/2005 ] Hybrid/SACD = playable on all Compact Disc players |
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JOSEF HAYDN
Haydn: Symphonies Nos 22 'The Philosopher', 44 'Mourning', 64 'Tempora Mutantur' Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Marco Boni [ Pentatone SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 15/Sep/2003 ] |