GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Equivoco stravagante (Complete Opera recorded in 2018) Königliches Kurtheater, Bad Wildbad / Antonella Colaianni, Giulio Mastrototaro, Emmanuel Franco, Patrick Kabongo / José Miguel Pérez-Sierra (cond) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 10/Oct/2021 ] No opera has been performed at Rossini in Wildbad as often as L'equivoco stravagante, so it was the perfect choice for the festival's 30th anniversary in 2018. |
BEDRICH SMETANA
Smetana: The Bartered Bride (Complete opera recorded in 1933) Jaroslav Gleich, Otta Horáková, Karel Hruška / Prague National Opera, Otakar OstrĨil [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 16/Jul/2001 ] "The orchestra of the Czech National Opera under Otakar Ostrcil produces a veritable tour de force. This 'Bartered Bride' is an early, rare opera-document, rendered by a one-hundred percent authentic Czech voice- and musical-culture." Pizzicato |
MOZART
Idomeneo (complete opera) Kurt Streit / Angeles Gulin / Iano Tamar / Sonia Ganassi / San Carlo Theatre Chorus and Orchestra / Marco Guidarini [ Naxos Opera Classics / 3 CD - released 1/Jul/2010 ] The notable musicologist Alfred Einstein commented that Idomeneo is 'one of those works that even a genius of highest rank, like Mozart, could write only once in his life'. |
VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (complete opera recorded in 2015) La Fenice / Jessica Pratt, Sonia Ganassi, Rubén Amoretti, Shalva Mukeria / Shalva Mukeria (cond) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 13/May/2022 ] "I can tell you that from the first to the fourth performance, which was on Sunday, enthusiasm reached, or perhaps surpassed, the levels of Il Pirata and La Straniera in Milan" Bellini in a letter to a friend |
VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (complete opera recorded in 2015) BLU-RAY La Fenice / Jessica Pratt, Sonia Ganassi, Rubén Amoretti, Shalva Mukeria / Shalva Mukeria (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 13/May/2022 ] "I can tell you that from the first to the fourth performance, which was on Sunday, enthusiasm reached, or perhaps surpassed, the levels of Il Pirata and La Straniera in Milan" Bellini in a letter to a friend |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: La finta giardiniera (complete opera recorded in 2018) La Scala / Krešimir Špicer, Julie Martin du Theil, Bernard Richter / Diego Fasolis (cond) [ Naxos DVD / 2 DVD - released 9/Jul/2021 ] On 13 January La finta giardiniera, a dramma giocoso, was premiered at the Salvatortheater in Munich, then on 23 April the serenata Il re pastore was staged at the archbishop's palace in Salzburg. |
PUCCINI
Turandot (complete opera) Lando Bartolini / Giovanna Casolla / Bilbao Choral Society / Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra / Alexander Rahbari (Conductor) [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 1/Oct/2006 ] "Calling all 'Nessun dorma' fans who've never listened to the Puccini opera it climaxes...both [stars] exhibit considerable force and character, taking commendable charge of a uniformly fine cast” - The Observer |
SAMUEL ARNOLD
Polly (complete opera) Laura Albino / Eve Rachel McLeod / Gillian Grossmann / Aradia Ensemble / Kevin Mallon [ Naxos / CD - released 11/May/2010 ] "The Toronto-based Aradia Ensemble, directed by Irish violinist Kevin Mallon, sounds warm and tidy in their accompaniments of the short songs, while in the instrumental numbers they are given a little more opportunity to shine." (TheWholeNote.com) |
TOM CIPULLO
Cipullo: The Parting Laura Strickling (soprano), Catherine Cook (mezzo-soprano), Michael Mayes (baritone) / Music of Remembrance, Alastair Willis [ Naxos American Opera Classics / CD - released 1/May/2020 ] Heard here in its world premiere recording, The Parting is a daring opera by award-winning composer Tom Cipullo and librettist David Mason that explores the life and art of Miklós Radnóti, one of the most important poetic witnesses to the Holocaust.. |
HANSON
Merry Mount, Op. 31 Lauren Flanigan / Walter MacNeil / Richard Zeller / Northwest Boychoir / Seattle Girls' Choir / Seattle Symphony Orchestra / Gerard Schwarz [ Naxos American Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 13/Jun/2007 ] The plot of his 1933 opera, Merry Mount, set in New England in 1625 during a conflict between the Puritans and the Cavaliers, is anything but merry. However, the composer described the music as “warm-blooded…essentially a lyrical work [that] makes... |
JULES MASSENET
Massenet: Don César de Bazan (complete opera 1888 version) Laurent Naouri, Elsa Dreisig, Marion Lebègue / Ensemble Aedes, Orchestre des Frivolités Parisiennes, Mathieu Romano [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 10/Jun/2020 ] Don César de Bazan is an opéra-comique with a narrative of dashing Spanish chivalry and romance. Its plot revolves around deception and comedies of reversed identity, with a struggle between true nobility and wicked selfishness. |
PACINI
Il convitato di pietra (The Stone Guest) (complete opera) Leonardo Cortellazzi / Geraldine Chauvet / Zinovia-Maria Zafeiriadou / Cluj Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester / Daniele Ferrari [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 13/Mar/2011 ] It is based on the same tale used by Mozart for Don Giovanni but without the character Donna Elvira. While Pacini's version is scored for chamber orchestra and draws on arias from his other operas, many of which were doubtless family favourites, it... |
BENET CASABLANCAS
Casablancas: L'Enigma di Lea (complete opera recorded in 2019) Liceu Grand Theatre / Allison Cook, José Antonio López, Sara Blanch, Marta Infante, Sonia de Munck / Josep Pons (cond) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 21/Jan/2022 ] Recorded at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain, 12-13 February 2019 |
BENET CASABLANCAS
Casablancas: L'Enigma di Lea (complete opera recorded in 2019) Blu-ray Liceu Grand Theatre / Allison Cook, José Antonio López, Sara Blanch, Marta Infante, Sonia de Munck / Josep Pons (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 21/Jan/2022 ] Recorded at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain, 12-13 February 2019 |
EMILIO de CAVALIERI:
de Cavalieri: Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo (complete opera recorded in 2021) Blu-ray Theater an der Wien / Georg Nigl, Cyril Auvity, Anett Fritsch, Daniel Schmutzhard / Giovanni AntoninI [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 24/Mar/2023 ] "This Rappresentatione is as entertaining a sermon as you're ever likely to see. Does it belong in the opera house? Carsen certainly makes a persuasive case." Gramophone Editor's Choice June 2023 |
LISZT
Liszt: A Faust Symphony, S108 Andras Molnar (tenor) Franz Liszt Academy of Music Orchestra, Hungarian State Opera Chorus, Andras Ligeti [ Naxos / CD ] "There's a lot right with this performance, not least being its outspoken acknowledgement of Faust's stormy character. Liszt's first-movement portrait receives zestful advocacy, less polished than some, perhaps, but fired by immense gusto. The... |
DVORAK / SMETANA
DVORAK: Symphony No. 9 / SMETANA: Moldau (Kleiber) (1927-1948) London Philharmonic Orchestra / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Berlin State Opera Orchestra / Erich Kleiber [ Naxos Historical / CD - released 3/Mar/2002 ] |
NICOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel (complete opera recorded in 2021) l'Opéra National de Lyon / Nina Minasyan, Margarita Neksarova, Andrey Popov, Dmitry Ulyanov / Daniele Rustioni (cond) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 12/Aug/2022 ] In the autumn of 1906, at a time when he was saying he didn't want to write anything further, Rimsky-Korsakov had the idea of starting an opera based on The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, the last of Pushkin's folk tales in verse, written in 1834. |
NICOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel (complete opera recorded in 2021) Blu-ray l'Opéra National de Lyon / Nina Minasyan, Margarita Neksarova, Andrey Popov, Dmitry Ulyanov / Daniele Rustioni (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 12/Aug/2022 ] In the autumn of 1906, at a time when he was saying he didn't want to write anything further, Rimsky-Korsakov had the idea of starting an opera based on The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, the last of Pushkin's folk tales in verse, written in 1834.... |
Lotric/Ukrainian National Oper
Tenor Opera Arias [ Naxos / CD - released 2/Jun/2003 ] |