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W.A. MOZART
Die Zauberflote [The Magic Flute] (recorded 1937 & 1938) Helge Roswaenge, Tiana Lemnitz, Gerhard Husch, Erna Berger / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Thomas Beecham [ Naxos Historic Great Opera Recordings / 2 CD - released 26/Jan/2008 ] "These singers, and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, come through with unprecedented clarity in this new transfer by the gifted sound engineer Mark Obert-Thorn. The new reissue looks likely to replace them in the hearts of Mozart fans, offering a... |
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JOHANN STRAUSS 11
Jabuka (Das Apfelfest) (Complete operetta) Helmut Josef Etti, Alexander Eschig, Veronika Groiss, Max Sahliger / European Johann Strauss Orchestra / Christian Pollack [ Naxos Opera / 2 CD - released 1/Dec/2007 ] With its strikingly fresh and original melodies, great ensembles and some of the finest choruses Strauss ever wrote, Jabuka was a huge success at its première in Vienna in October 1894. |
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RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Salome (Complete opera recorded 1954) Plus additional earlier recordings Herbert Alsen / Walter Berry / Franz Bierbach / Christel Goltz / Julius Patzak. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Clemens Krauss, conductor [ Naxos Historical / 2 CD - released 16/Jun/2005 ] Salome was possibly the most important event in German opera since those of Wagner. Its creation marked a new development in operatic art with its concentrated power, its eerie and sinister harmonies and its extraordinarily exotic and colourful... |
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W. A. MOZART
The Ultimate Mozart Opera Album [2 CD set] Herbert Lippert, Bo Skovhus, John Dickie, Helen Kwon, and other Naxos recording artists [ Naxos Opera / 2 CD - released 10/Dec/2010 ] This marvellous selection reveals Mozart's astonishing gift for laying bare the inner lives of the many beloved characters from his most famous operas, whether embroiled in farce or defying fate. |
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WAGNER
Meistersinger von Nurnberg Hermann Gallos (Tenor) / Hilde Gueden (Soprano) / Vienna State Opera Chorus / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Hans Knappertsbusch (Conductor) [ Naxos / 4 CD - released 27/Jun/2006 ] The conductor chosen for this enterprise was Hans Knappertsbusch, who started recording for Decca in 1947, having earlier built up an enviable reputation as a Wagnerian conductor. He was also somewhat bohemian in manner with a very ready wit, at... |
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STRAVINSKY
The Rake's Progress (complete opera recorded in 1953 and conducted by the composer) Hilde Gueden / Blanche Thebom / Eugene Conley / Mack Harrell / Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Igor Stravinsky [ Naxos Historical Great Opera Recordings / 2 CD - released 2/Sep/2007 ] This 1953 recording was the first of the two complete recordings of Stravinsky's operatic masterpiece The Rake's Progress to be conducted by the composer. |
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JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: La Vie Parisienne (Complete Operetta recorded in 2021) Théâtre des Champs-Élysées / Jodie Devos, Rodolphe Briand, Marc MauIllon, Sandrine Buendia / Romain Dumas (cond) [ Naxos DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/Feb/2023 ] "Director Christian Lacroix's dazzling sets and costumes perfectly complement Offenbach's beguiling music (played by Les Musiciens du Louvre under the baton of conductor Romain Dumas), and it's charmingly sung by a superlative cast." FlipSide |
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PETITGIRARD
Guru (complete opera) Hubert Claessens / Sonia Petrovna / Philippe Do / Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Budapest / Laurent Petitgirard [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 26/Oct/2011 ] |
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ARVO PART
Fratres / Festina Lente / Summa Hungarian State Opera Orchestra / Tamas Bendek [ NAXOS / CD - released 19/Jan/2008 ] Arvo Pärt was born in Paide (in central Estonia) on 11 September 1935. An only child, his parents divorced when he was three, and he was brought up by his mother (a kindergarten teacher) and stepfather. |
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Hungarian State Opera/Morandi
Verdi:overtures Vol.1 [ Naxos / CD ] |
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Hungarian State Opera/Morandi
Verdi:overtures Vol.2 [ Naxos / CD ] |
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GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Le Comte Ory (complete opera) Huw Rhys-Evans / Linda Gerrard / Luisa Islam-Ali-Zade / Luca Salsi / Czech Chamber Soloists / Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno / Brad Cohen [ Naxos Opera / 2 CD - released 13/Jun/2007 ] "At the usual Naxos give-away price this is a highly recommendable version of one of Rossini's most spirited comedies." (MusicWeb Nov 2007) |
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W. A. MOZART
Così fan tutte, K588 (complete opera recorded in 1934-35) Ina Souez, Luise Helletsgrüber, Heddle Nash / Chorus & Orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival, Fritz Busch [ Naxos Great Opera Recordings / 2 CD - released 20/Aug/2011 ] Recorded 1934-35 |
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ALEXANDER BORODIN
Borodin: Prince Igor (complete opera recorded in 1951) Alexander Melik-Pashayev, Bruno Reibold, Evgeniya Smolenskaya / Bolshoi Theatre Chorus, Bolshoy Opera, Alexander Melik-Pashayev [ Naxos Historical / 3 CD - released 2/May/2005 ] The leading rôles are taken by the cream of the Bolshoy's singers at this time. Yaroslavna, Prince Igor's wife, is sung by the soprano Evgeniya Smolenskaya (1919-1989). After making her début in 1945 at Stalingrad she joined the Bolshoy in 1947,... |
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JULES MASSENET
Massenet: Werther (Complete Opera) Jael Azzaretti (soprano) Marcus Haddock (tenor) Rene Massis (baritone) / Orchestre National de Lille-Region Nord, Jean-Claude Casadesus, conductor [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 10/Jan/2003 ] The most successful opera composer of his generation in France, Massenet wrote music that has sometimes inspired cynicism and hostility through its particularly sensuous beauty. |
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REBEL / FRANCOEUR
Zelindor, roi des Sylphes / Suite from 'Le Trophee' Jean-Paul Fouchecourt, Heidi Grant Murphy, William Sharp / The Opera Lafayette Orchestra / Ryan Brown [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Apr/2010 ] "The evening's strength, however, was the crisp, resilient playing of the period orchestra, bringing the lilting dance music to colorful life." The New York Times |
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RAMEAU
Operatic Arias for Haute-contre Jean-Paul Fouchecourt (tenor) / Opera Lafayette / Ryan Brown [ Naxos / CD - released 9/Oct/2007 ] "Musically this is a string of pearls of wonderful scenes with dances and arias, joyful, dramatic, elegiac, beautiful. For a taster of Fouchécourt's accomplishment try the little arietta from Platée - Quittez nymphes, quittez (tr. 2), where his... |
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VERDI
The Ultimate Opera Album [2 CD set] Jitka Saparova, Yordy Ramiro, Miriam Gauci, Marina Mescheriakova, and other Naxos recording artists [ Naxos Opera / 2 CD - released 10/Dec/2010 ] This highly dramatic album includes the most famous moments from Verdi's ever-popular operas, in which public splendour and private pathos, true love and tragedy, vie for supremacy at every turn. |
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IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress (complete opera recorded in 1993) John Cheek, Jon Garrison, Jeffrey Johnson, Shirley Love, Melvin Lowery, Jane West, Wendy White, Arthur Woodley / Robert Craft [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2009 ] "That we have such a direct link to Stravinsky's living thoughts and intentions in Robert Craft and such a powerful performance makes this recording as much a 'must have' as the composer's own." (MusicWeb July 2009) |