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AUBER / DONIZETTI
Fra Diavolo / La figlia del reggimento (abridged recordings of the Italian versions of these operas) Giuseppe Campora / Ugo Benelli / Anne Maccianti / Orchestra Filarmonica e Coro del Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi Trieste / Arturo Basile [ DG Opera House / 2 CD - released 12/Dec/2005 ] "What matters is the high spirits of singers and players" - Penguin Guide |
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VERDI / MEYERBEER / LEONCAVALLO / PUCCINI / BOITO / etc
Opera Recital Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor) / Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino / Bruno Bartoletti [ DG Spotlight / CD - released 24/Aug/2006 ] 'His voice is of faultless beauty and remarkable expressive power; it possesses the velvety richness which we have not experienced since the days of Gigli and Lauri Volpi', wrote an eminent American critic in 1948 following Giuseppe Di Stefano's... |
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JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann [The Tales of Hoffmann] (complete operettas recorded in 2013) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Natalie Dessay, Michael Spyres, Kathleen Kim, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Michèle Losier / Stéphane Denève (conductor) [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Jul/2015 ] "The production belongs to Laurent Naouri who finds something truly distinctive in each of his portraits...Dessay is remarkable as Antonia" (BBC Music) |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore (complete opera recorded in 2005) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Rolando Villazon, Maria Bayo, Jean-Luc Chaignaud / Daniele Callegari (cond) [ Virgin Classics DVD / DVD - released 1/Jul/2011 ] "Rolando Villazón is here on top form, fleshing out the notes with alternate delicacy and vehemence and personifying the shy, frustrated hero with a Chaplinesque range of gesture and mannerism." (BBC Music) |
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DONIZETTI
L'elisir d'amore (Complete opera) Hilde Gueden, Giuseppe di Stefano, Fernando Corena / Orchestra e coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli [ Decca Heritage Masters / 2 CD - released 20/Sep/2011 ] "Hilde Gueden's Adina is properly coy and sweetly sung, Giuseppe di Stefano an affecting Nemorino, but Fernando Corena's Dulcamara steals the show." (BBC Music) |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La Traviata (Complete Opera recorded in 1955) Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Ettore Bastianini / Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Milano, Carlo Maria Giulini [ Warner Classics The Opera Series / 2 CD - released 10/Jul/2011 ] The brand new series celebrates EMI - The Home of Opera with Giulini's legendary recording of La Traviata with Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano. Includes complete libretto and synopsis on a bonus CD ROM. |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Tosca (Complete Opera recorded in 1953) Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi / Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Milano. Victor de Sabata [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Remastered / 2 CD - released 20/Oct/2014 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1851-1900) - 50 GREATEST RECORDINGS OF ALL TIME (No 5) - BBC MUSIC |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Complete opera) [Recorded 1953] Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Robert Massard / Coro e Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Remastered / 2 CD - released 20/Oct/2014 ] 'Callas's Lucia is a great performance of the part and, especially in the Mad Scene, we hear some of the finest singing of our time. Credit is also due to Tullio Serafin for his admirable direction of the opera and to the engineers for the excellent... |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Turandot (3 LP) Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Eugenio Fernandi, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Giuseppe Nessi / Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Tullio Serafi [ Warner Classics LP / 3 Vinyl Box Set - released 8/Sep/2023 ] "To have Callas, the most flashing-eyed of all sopranos as Turandot, is the most natural piece of casting. With her Turandot was not just an implacable man-hater but a highly provocative female" Gramophone |
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GIORDANO / BELLINI / DONIZETTI / PUCCINI / VERDI / GLUCK
Maria Callas - Live & Alive (Remastered Recordings) Maria Callas, with Mario del Monaco, Rolando Panerai / various conductors [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Remastered / 2 CD - released 18/Mar/2018 ] The passion and charisma of Maria Callas, performing live on the stages of the world's greatest opera houses and concert halls, can now be experienced as never before - thanks to new audio remastering from the best available sources. These are... |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (Complete Opera recorded in 1958) Rosanna Carteri, Luigi Alva, Giuseppe Taddei, Rolando Panerai / Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin [ Warner Classics The Home of Opera / 2 CD - released 25/Apr/2018 ] L'elisir d'amore is an 'essential' Italian comic opera and this 1958 recording, recorded with the forces of La Scala, Milan has a distinctively Italian pedigree. If its Nemorino, Luigi Alva, was born in Peru, he trained and established his reputation... |
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DONIZETTI / BELLINI / VERDI / PUCCINI
Virginia Zeani: Operatic Recital Virginia Zeani (soprano) / Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma, Franco Patané / Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Gianandrea Gavaz [ Decca Most Wanted Recitals Vol. 50 / CD - released 20/Sep/2014 ] |
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J.S. BACH / CHOPIN / LISZT / MOZART / MOSZKOWSKI / RACHMANINOV / SCARLATTI / SCRIABIN / etc
Vladimir Horowitz-Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon Vladimir Horowitz (piano) with Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala / Carlo Maria Giulini [ DG Collector's Edition / 6 CD - released 26/May/2003 ] "Vladimir Horowitz, incomparable wizard of the keyboard, is a law unto himself-more than ever so in his freewheeling eighties-and what a compelling law it is." Gramophone |
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WALTON / VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / HOLST / DELIUS / ELGAR / etc
Great British Orchestral Classics (Incls 'Nimrod' from 'Enigma' Variations by Elgar, Tintagel by Bax & Summer Night on the River by Delius) Academy of St Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner / City of London Sinfonia / Richard Hickox / Bournemouth Sinfonietta / Norman Del Mar / etc [ Chandos 241 / 2 CD - released 1/Sep/2005 ] Chandos is famous for its recordings of British music and this 2-CD set, available for the price of one full-price disc, is a compilation of some of its finest and most popular recordings. |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Guitar Recital: Adriano Del Sal Adriano Del Sal (guitar) [ Naxos Guitar Laureate Series / CD - released 2/Mar/2011 ] Adriano Del Sal is one of the most significant young guitarists of recent years, whose extraordinary musical talent and total technical control make his performances truly unforgettable, and have earned him a dozen first prizes at national and... |
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GOUNOD
Roméo et Juliette [Romeo and Juliet] (Complete opera) Andrea Bocelli, Maite Alberola, Andrea Mastroni, Marzio Giossi / Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice, Fabio Luisi [ Decca / 2 CD - released 13/Sep/2012 ] Andrea Bocelli, the award-winning tenor and international "cross-over" superstar, returns to his first love - grand opera - with a starring role in one of the grandest operatic love stories of all. |
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AMILCARE PONCHIELLI
Ponchielli: la Gioconda (complete opera recorded in 1958) Anita Cerquetti, Franca Sacchi, Mario del Monaco, Cesare Siepi, Giulietta Simionata / Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Gianandrea Gavazzeni [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2019 ] 'To compare Anita Cerquetti's Gioconda with Callas's is a revelation. Cerquetti brings to the role intelligence, musicianship, and an appealing voice' High Fidelity |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Don Pasquale (complete opera recorded in 2010) Metropolitan Opera / Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, John Del Carlo / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophone DVD / DVD - released 26/May/2011 ] A red hot ticket at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010/2011 was Donizetti's comic gem, Don Pasquale, with Anna Netrebko reviving Norina, the part that made her a star in New York. |
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PETER RACINE FRICKER / DAVID MORGAN / DON BANKS
Violin Concertos Yfrah Neaman (violin) Erich Gruenberg (violin) / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Norman Del Mar / Vernon Handley [ Lyrita / CD - released 20/Mar/2008 ] New recording |
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FRANCESCO CAVALLI
Vespro della Beata Vergine (1656) Barbara Borden / Emily van Evera / Rodrigo del Pozo / Gerd Turk / Mark Padmore / Harry van der Kamp / Concerto Palatino / Bruce Dickey [ Glossa / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2012 ] On this recording Glossa present the principle musical items which could have been heard at second Vespers on a feast of the Virgin Mary (in this case the Feast of the Assumption) either at St. Mark's or at one of a variety of other Venetian... |