GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: Tosca (complete opera recorded in 2000) Teatro alla Scala / Maria Guleghina, Salvatore Licitra, Leo Nucci / Riccardo Muti (cond) [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 23/Jun/2011 ] "As Tosca, Maria Guleghina is in fine voice, and Muti supports her at every turn. Her great Act Two lament 'Vissi d'arte' is beautifully shaped, with phrases carefully structured so as not to peak too soon." MusicWeb |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rossini: Barber of Seville, The [Il barbiere di Siviglia] complete studio recording of the opera recorded in 1972 Teresa Berganza, Luigi Alva, Hermann Prey, Enzo Dara / Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 21/Jun/2005 ] In the 1970s, the era from which this production emanates, the director Jean Pierre Ponnelle was reaching the height of his powers. In his 1972 production at Milan's La Scala, Ponnelle designed a realistic set that still feels fresh. |
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... |
RUGGIERO LEONCAVALLO
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Pagliacci (Complete opera) (Recorded 1953) SPECIAL PRICE! Victoria de los Angeles, Jussi Bjorling, Leonard Warren, Robert Merrill / The Columbus Boy Choir. The Robert Shaw Chorale. Renato Cellini [ EMI Historical / CD - released 20/Nov/2003 ] 'the most enjoyable performance of Pagliacci we have ever heard' (The Record Guide) |
CHARLES GOUNOD
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gounod: Faust (complete opera directed by Ken Russell in 1985) Vienna State Opera / Gabriela Benackova, Francisco Araiza, Ruggero Raimondi / Erich Binder (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 23/Jun/2006 ] Gounod's crowning achievement Faust, first staged in 1859 at the Lyric Theatre in Paris, is a conflict of good and evil, love and hate. |
FRANCESCA CACCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Caccini: La liberazione di Ruggerio dall'isola di Alcina (complete opera) Allabastrina, La Pifarescha / Elena Sartori (harpsichord/direction) [ Glossa / CD - released 13/Jan/2016 ] With this production of Francesca Caccini's 'La liberazione di Ruggerio dall'isola di Alcina', directed by Elena Sartori, an important stepping-stone in the development of 17th-century opera receives a superb new recording from Glossa. For much of... |
ARRIGO BOITO
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Boito: Mefistofele (Complete opera recorded in 1995 with Libretto) Ambrosian Opera Chorus / London Symphony Orchestra / Norman Treigle (bass), Placido Domingo (tenor), Montserrat Caballe (soprano) etc... [ EMI / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/1987 ] Inspired by the Faust legend, Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele is an imaginative work which is also faithful to Goethe's original conception. |
BELA BARTOK
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bluebeard's Castle (complete opera) Anne Sofie von Otter, John Tomlinson / Berliner Philharmoniker, Bernard Haitink [ EMI Classics / CD - released 1/Apr/1996 ] Originally recorded in February 1996 |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito (complete opera with libretto) Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Sylvia McNair, Julia Varady, Anne Sofie von Otter / The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon Archiv / 2 CD Box Set - released 9/Jun/2011 ] With starring roles from Ann Sophie Von Otter, Sylvia McNair, the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir all under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner. |
ALBERT LORTZING
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Lortzing: Der Wildschutz (complete opera) Hermann Prey, Anneliese Rothenberger, Fritz Wunderlich /Bayerischen Staatsoper Munchen, Robert Heger [ EMI Classics The Opera Series / 2 CD Box Set - released 14/Jan/2007 ] Original 1964 recording |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Tannhauser (complete opera recorded live in 2019) (Blu-ray) Bayreuth Festival / Stephen Gould, Lise Davidsen, Elena Zhidkova, Markus Eiche / Valery Gergiev (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 15/May/2020 ] "In his Bayreuth debut, Valery Gergiev conducts with such verve that at multiple turns it was like hearing the score anew." Limelight. |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Lohengrin (complete opera filmed in 1993) Bayreuther Festspiele / Paul Frey, Cheryl Studer, Gabriele Schnau / Peter Schneider(cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 DVD - released 20/Sep/2008 ] G - "Film director Herzog (Fitzcarraldo) creates an atmospheric staging amid glaciers and stone circles. Schneider conducts effectively; Studer, Schnaut and Wlaschiha impress." BBC Music Magazine, May 2008 **** |
RUGGIERO LEONCAVALLO
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Complete opera with libretto) Carlo Bergonzi, Joan Carlyle, Giuseppe Taddei, Ugo Benelli / Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala. Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon The Originals / CD - released 12/Oct/2004 ] "..long-breathed, expansible tempi and the minimum of exaggeration. Karajan's choice of soloists was clearly aimed to help that...rarely if ever on record has the La Scala Orchestra played with such beautiful feeling for tone-colour." - Penguin Guide |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Il Trovatore (Complete Opera with libretto) Carlo Maria Giulini (conductor), Placido Domingo (tenor), Rosalind Plowright (soprano), Brigitte Fassbaender (mezzo-soprano) etc... [ Deusche Grammophon / 3 CD - released 20/Sep/1984 ] Il trovatore ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El trovador (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's most successful... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Strauss, (R.): Der Rosenkavalier (the complete opera recorded in 1994) Felicity Lott, Anne Sofie Von Otter, Barbara Bonney, Kurt Moll / Carlos Kleiber (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 16/Aug/2004 ] "Lightly Handled, well-played Strauss. Strongly recommended." -Gramophone June 2001 |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rossini: La Cenerentola [Cinderella] (complete opera with full libretto recorded in 1992) Cecilia Bartoli, William Matteuzzi, Enzo Dara, Alessandro Corbelli / Orchestra & Chorus of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Riccardo Chailly [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 28/Aug/2014 ] "All eyes and ears, inevitably, are on Bartoli, and she doesn't disappoint...The singing itself is ravishing. At the same time, the performance makes dramatic sense...Decca provide a superb Alidoro, an alluring Clorinda, inventive and elaborate... |
JULES MASSENET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Massenet: Hérodiade (complete opera with libretto) Cheryl Studer, Jose van Dam, Nadine Denize, Thomas Hampson/ Choeur et Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, MIchel Plasson [ EMI Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2018 ] During the Belle Époque, Jules Massenet rose to become France's leading composer of opera, as notable for his acute dramatic sense as for the refined sensuality of his music. NOTE: Outer cover has some very minor wear |
BELA BARTOK
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bartok: Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Complete Opera) Christa Ludwig, Walter Berry / London Symphony Orchestra, Istavan Kertesz [ Decca The Classic Sound / CD - released 1/Nov/2002 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) - "In 1965 Kertesz set new standards in his version of Bluebeard's Castle with Christa Ludwig and Walter Berry, not only in the playing of the LSO at its peak, in the firm... |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Die Walkure (complete opera recorded in 1992) Daniel Barenboim / Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele / Harry Kupfer / Poul Elming / Nadine Secunde / Matthias Holle / etc. [ Warner Music Vision / Unitel DVD / 2 DVD - released 28/Oct/2005 ] "In many ways this is now the best bet for anyone wanting a DVD version of Die Walkure." (International Record Review) |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Complete Opera) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kirsten Flagstad, Ludwig Suthaus, Philhar. Furtwangler [ EMI Great Recordings of the Century / 4 CD Box Set - released 20/Aug/2001 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1851-1900) "a uniquely compelling performance" Penguin Stereo Guide |