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... |
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. |
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 ] |
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. |
Hungarian State Opera/Morandi
Verdi:overtures Vol.1 [ Naxos / CD ] |
Hungarian State Opera/Morandi
Verdi:overtures Vol.2 [ Naxos / CD ] |
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) |
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 |
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,... |
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. |
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 |
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... |
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. |
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) |
LEONARDO BALADA
Balada: La Muerte de Colon (Death of Columbus) - complete opera Jon Garrison / Judith Jenkins / Katherine Mueller / David Okerlund / Carnegie Mellon Choir and Philharmonic Orchestra / Robert Page [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 1/Oct/2009 ] "Leonardo Balada's The Death of Columbus has been critically acclaimed as 'uncommonly impressive and winning'...The Death of Columbus is an intensely moving opera, filled with lyrical melodies and imaginative orchestration" |
VERDI / RAMEAU / WAGNER
State Opera (documentary recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros, Kirill Petrenko, Zubin Mehta, Ivor Bolton, etc [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 20/May/2020 ] The State Opera is the first film ever made about the Bavarian State Opera, one of the world's oldest, most prestigious and internationally esteemed companies. It charts the course of three operas. |
PEDRO António AVONDANO
Avondano: Il mondo della luna (Soloists, Os Músicos do Tejo, Marcos Magalhães) João Pedro Cabral, Rui Bôrras, Carla Caramujo, João Fernandes / Os Músicos do Tejo, Marcos Magalhães [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 10/Oct/2020 ] Born in Lisbon of Italian parentage, Pedro António Avondano was employed at the court of Joseph I, becoming Portugal's leading composer of instrumental music and dances for the royal ballet. Il mondo della luna ('The World on the Moon') was a hugely... |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Albert Herring (Complete opera) Josephine Barstow (soprano) / Christopher Gillett (tenor) / Robert Lloyd (bass) / Felicity Palmer (mezzo) / Northern Sinfonia / Steuart Bedford [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 19/May/2003 ] "At the new price, there's no excuse for not having one of Britten's richest but least appreciated operatic scores in your collection." BBC Music |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: La Cenerentola (Cinderella) (Complete opera) Joyce DiDonato (mezzo) Josa Manuel Zapata (tenor) Paolo Bordogna (baritone) / Prague Chamber Choir / SWR Radio Orchestra Kaiserslauten / Alberto Zedda [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 18/Dec/2005 ] "A wonderfully spirited live recording of what is probably Rossini's masterpiece. With an ensemble of mostly young singers, where American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in the title role could hardly be bettered." (MusicWeb) |