RICHARD STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Strauss, (R.): Ariadne auf Naxos (Complete opera recorded in 1988) Jessye Norman, Julia Varady, Edita Gruberova / Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Kurt Masur [ Philips / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/May/1989 ] "Jessye Norman's is a commanding, noble, deeply felt performance, ranging extraordinarily wide; she provides the perfectfocus for a cast as near ideal as anyone could assemble today." (Penguin Guide) |
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
Gluck: Alceste (complete opera) Jonas Degerfeldt (tenor) / Justin Lavender (tenor) / Teresa Ringholz (soprano) / Drottningholm Theatre Chorus and Orchestra / Arnold Ostman [ Naxos Opera / 3 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] 1001 Classical recordings to hear before you die (1761-1800) - "The recording, which is post-theatre rather than live, is keenly balanced between voices and instruments. At super-budget price this is an invaluable addition to the still-slim Gluck... |
LEONARD BALADA
Balada: Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) [Opera] Jose Carreras (tenor) Miguel Sola, Luis Alvarez (baritones) Montserrat Caballe (sop) / Liceu Grand Theatre Orchestra / Theo Alcantara [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 1/Sep/2009 ] From one of the world's great opera houses, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, comes Leonardo Balada's richly melodic opera about one of the world's great explorers, Christopher Columbus, commissioned by the Spanish government for the 5th... |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: L'Enfant et les sortileges (complete opera) / Sheherazade Julie Boulianne / Genevieve Despres / Kirsten Gunlogson / Chattanooga Boys Choir / Nashville Symphony Orchestra / Alastair Willis [ Naxos Opera Classics / CD - released 1/Apr/2009 ] "raucous humour with heartfelt tenderness... Julie Boulianne's child has wide-eyed wonder... She can be heard in grown-up, and decidedly seductive mode in the accompanying Shéhérazade." BBC Music |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Jussi Bjorling: Opera Arias Jussi Bjorling (Tenor) / Stockholm Royal Opera Orchestra, Stockholm Symphony Orchestra, Nils Grevillius [ NAXOS HISTORICAL GREAT SINGERS / CD ] Recorded in the small auditorium of the Stockholm Concert Hall |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Rigoletto (complete opera recorded in 1945) Jussi Bjorling (tenor) Bidu Sayao (soprano) Leonard Warren (baritone) / Chorus & Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, Cesare Sodero [ Naxos Historical Opera / 2 CD - released 1/Jul/2008 ] "Taken as a whole, this is a remarkable document." Opera Now |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Equivoco stravagante (Complete Opera recorded in 2018) BLU-RAY Königliches Kurtheater, Bad Wildbad / Antonella Colaianni, Giulio Mastrototaro, Emmanuel Franco, Patrick Kabongo / José Miguel Pérez-Sierra (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - 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. |
JAROMIR WEINBERGER
Weinberger: Frühlingsstürme [complete operetta recorded in 2020] Komische Oper Berlin / Stefan Kurt, Alma Sade, Vera-Lotte Boecker / Jordan de Souza (cond) [ Naxos DVD / 2 DVD - released 6/Nov/2020 ] Czech-born composer Jaromír Weinberger, best known for his opera Schwanda the Bagpiper, was forced to flee to America in order to escape Nazi terror. Frühlingsstürme was first staged in 1933. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Booming Bass & Baritone: Best Loved Opera Arias Lado Ataneli (Baritone), Matthias Goerne, (Baritone), Carlo Colombara (Bass), Samuel Ramey (Bass) [ Naxos / CD - released 23/Apr/2021 ] From the jack-of-all-trades, Figaro, to the impotent jester Rigoletto, and from the heroic William Tell to the mischievous Méphistophélès, these larger-than-life characters for baritone and bass represent the grandeur of great music. |
CHARLES IVES
Ives: Holidays Symphony (II - IV): Decoration Day / Fourth of July / etc Malmo Opera Chorus / Malmo Symphony Orchestra / James Sinclair [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 10/Nov/2009 ] "Love him or hate him, Charles Ives is now accepted as the major figure he is. This marvellous collection is very well played, expertly recorded and has a good note in the inlay sheet." (MusicWeb Feb 2010) |
ROSSINI
Otello (complete opera) Michael Spyres / Jessica Pratt / Ugo Gagliardo / Cluj Transilvania Philharmonic Choir / Virtuosi Brunensis / Antonino Fogliani [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 11/May/2010 ] "Powerful American tenor Michael Spyres is in lower tessitura and sings Otello characterfully and flawlessly. English soprano Jessica Pratt, is strong and heartfelt in the role of Desdemona. All supporting roles are equally fine." (TheWholeNote.com) |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (Complete Opera recorded in June 2021) Opéra Comique, Paris / Luciana Mancini, Marc Mauillon, Sara Mingardo / A Capella Reial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations, Jordi Savall [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 9/Sep/2022 ] Monteverdi's L'Orfeo was premiered in 1607 and is the oldest opera still performed today. The narrative is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus who, armed only with the weapons of music and love, descends into Hades. |
LEO DELIBES
Delibes: Lakme (complete opera recorded in 2022) BLU-RAY Opera Comique, Paris / Sabine Devieilhe, Grederic Antouni, Stephane Degout, Ambroisine Bre / Pygmalion, Raphael Pichon [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 20/Oct/2023 ] "Laurent Pelly transforms Delibes's opera into an exploration of colonialism and cultural appropriation...Raphaël Pichon, conducting Pygmalion on original instruments, relishes Delibes's lush orchestration." BBC Music Blu-ray of the Month Jan 2024 |
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (Complete Opera recorded in June 2009) BLU-RAY Opéra Comique, Paris / Anna Caterina Antonacci, Andrew Richards, Nicolas Cavallier, Monteverdi Choir / John Eliot Gardiner (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 14/May/2021 ] On 3 June 1975, the day after the 33rd performance of Carmen - indicating limited success as the receipts were meagre - he died from a heart attack, at the age of 36, like Mozart. |
ALFRED CELLIER
Cellier: Dorothy [Operetta] Majella Cullagh, Lucy Vallis, Stephanie Maitland, Matt Mears, John Ieuan Jones / Victorian Opera, Richard Bonynge [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Feb/2019 ] Alfred Cellier was a contemporary of Arthur Sullivan as a Chapel Royal chorister, and would later conduct several Gilbert and Sullivan productions. With its rural tale of disguise and romantic scheming, its jaunty tunes, lively characters and... |
VERDI / BIZET / MOZART / PUCCINI / HANDEL / STRAUSS / WAGNER
150 Years Of Wiener Staatsoper: Great Opera Evenings (Limited Edition) Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Carlos Álvarez, Johan Botha, Angelika Kirchschlager, Brigitte Fassbaender, Wiener Staatsopernorchester [ Arthaus DVD / 11 DVD Box Set - released 2/Aug/2019 ] Limited Edition - Experience four decades of opera history from the Wiener Staatsoper on 11 DVDs. 150 Years Vienna State Opera means 150 years of impressive opera events featuring the greatest conductors of all time, and, high-class opera stars. |
ALBENIZ / BIZET / BONOLIS / CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO / de FALLA
Carmen - A ballet in two acts BLU-RAY Rebecca Bianchi, Amar Ramasar / Corpo di Ballo & Orchestra of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Louis Lohraseb (conductor) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 10/Oct/2020 ] Choreographer Jiří Bubeníček's Carmen celebrates the incredible inspiration of Bizet's timeless music in a completely new two-act ballet that also includes music by Albéniz, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Falla, orchestrated and adapted by Gabriele Bonolis.... |
ALBENIZ / BIZET / BONOLIS / CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO / de FALLA
Carmen - A ballet in two acts Rebecca Bianchi, Amar Ramasar / Corpo di Ballo & Orchestra of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Louis Lohraseb (conductor) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 10/Oct/2020 ] Choreographer Jiří Bubeníček's Carmen celebrates the incredible inspiration of Bizet's timeless music in a completely new two-act ballet that also includes music by Albéniz, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Falla, orchestrated and adapted by Gabriele Bonolis |
CARL MARIA von WEBER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Weber, completed Mahler: Die Drei Pintos (The Three Pintos) [complete opera] Robert Holzer, Sophie Marilley, Peter Furlon / Wexford Festival Opera Chorus, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus Paolo Arrivabeni [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2004 ] Recorded: 22, 25, 28 & 31 October 2003 Recording Venue: Theatre Royal, High Street, Wexford, Ireland |
RICHARD FAWKES
Fawkes: The History Of Opera (Unabridged) Read by Robert Powell [ Naxos Audiobooks / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/Aug/2005 ] Since its origins in the sixteenth century, opera has been an extravagant, costly affair, arousing great passions. It has also produced some of the most sublime works of art, from Monteverdi to Wagner. .. |