RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Die Walkure (complete opera recorded in 2003) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Richard Berkeley-Steele / Falk Struckmann / Linda Watson / Bertrand de Billy (cond) [ Opus Arte / Kultur DVD / 3 DVD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2009 ] Filmed at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2003, Harry Kupfer's acclaimed production, first staged in Berlin, numbers among the greatest productions of modern times and is recorded in sumptuous surround sound. |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: La Finta Semplice (complete opera recorded in 1983) Helen Donath, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Robert Holl, Teresa Berganza / Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Leopold Hager(cond) [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2012 ] "Helen Donath is her usual bright-toned and fluent self and she has a fine trill; Teresa Berganza is lovely too, nuanced as always and still in creamy voice. Light and springy, even more delectable is Jutta-Renate Ihloff in the soubrette role." |
SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Coleridge-Taylor: Hiawatha (complete opera with libretto) Helen Field, Arthur Davies, Bryn Terfel / Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, Kenneth Alwyn [ Argo / 2 CD Box Set - released 5/Nov/2007 ] "The performance is both spirited and sensitive...Bryn Terfel is splendid in his dramatic strength and sharpness of focus" Gramophone |
WALTER BRAUNFELS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Braunfels: Die Vogel [The Birds] (complete opera ) Hellen Kwon, Endrik Wottrich, Michael Kraus, Marita Posselt, Wolfgang Holzmair, Matthias Görne / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Lothar Zagrosek [ Decca / 2 CD Box Set - released 16/Feb/2011 ] "Zagrosek's reading and the performances by his cast and orchestra are gripping and more than do justice to this wonderful score. Wottrich and Kraus are impressive in the male leads." ClassicalNet |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Britten: The Turn of the Screw (Complete Opera recorded in 2002) Ian Bostridge, Joan Rodgers, Julian Leang, Caroline Wise / Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Harding [ Virgin Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Apr/2011 ] Gramophone Magazine Award Finalist 2003 - Editor's Choice (Gramophone Magazine) October 2002 |
GEORGES BIZET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bizet: Les Pecheurs des Perles [The Pearl Fishers] (Complete Opera recorded in 1963) Ileana Cotrubas, Alain Vanzo, Guillermo Sarabia, Roger Soyer / Choeur & Orchestre du Theatre National de 'Opera de Paris / Georges Pretre [ EMI Classics For Pleasure / 2 CD - released 10/Feb/1990 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die - "The well-recorded CfP set is valuable principally because it has Cotrubas at her best, a most appealing Leila and worth the bargain price of the discs on her own account." (Gramophone) |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: Turandot (highlights from the complete opera) Inge Borkh, Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco, Fernando Corena / Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma, Alberto Erede [ Decca Belart / CD - released 1/Apr/1996 ] "The recording has a glitter and brilliance to match even the fabulous court of the emperor of China" (Penguin Guide) |
RICHARD STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Strauss, (R.): Ariadne auf Naxos (Complete opera recorded in 1988) Metropolitan Opera / Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, Tatiana Troyanos / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon / DVD - released 29/Aug/2002 ] "This performance represents an above-average night at the Metropolitan in the late 1980s: three of its most popular stars, a generally distinguished cast, the house's musical director conducting its great orchestra in one of the works he does best." |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Berlioz: Beatrice et Benedict (Complete opera) Janet Baker, Robert Tear, Christiane Eda-Pierre, Thomas Allen, Helen Watts, London Symphony Orchestra. Sir Colin Davis [ Philips / 2 CD - released 5/May/2005 ] Dame Janet Baker and Robert Tear lead an outstanding cast in this classic recording of Berlioz' operatic setting of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, under the baton of the distinguished Berlioz conductor Sir Colin Davis. |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia [The Barber of Seville] (Complete Opera recorded in 1992) Jerry Hadley, Bruno Praticò, Susanne Mentzer, Thomas Hampson, Samuel Ramey / Orchestra della Toscana, Gianluigi Gelmetti [ EMI Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 10/Dec/1993 ] "..an absolutely complete text (the recent critical edition by Alberto Zedda is used) shorn of the accretions of nearly 200 years, and singers of the calibre of Thomas Hampson and Samuel Ramey." Classical-Music |
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) |
LEO DELIBES
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Delibes: Lakme (Complete opera recorded in 1968 with complete libretto) Joan Sutherland, Alain Vanzo, Gabriel Bacquier / Orchestra and chorus of Monte Carlo National Opera, Richard Bonynge [ Decca / 2 CD - released 12/May/1989 ] "(Joan's) "Bell Song" is treasurable, with an ease of execution which is almost frightening and a sinuousness which reeks of oriental mystery. Bacquier's Nilakantha is magnificent." MusicWeb |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: Turandot (Complete Opera with complete libretto) Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballe, Nicolai Ghiaurov / London Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta [ Decca Records / 2 CD Box Set - released 17/Feb/2015 ] "Sutherland gives an intensely appealing interpretation, while Pavarotti gives a performance equally imaginative. Mehta directs a gloriously rich and dramatic performance. Still the best-sounding Turandot on CD." Penguin Guide |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: La Traviata (Complete Opera recorded in 1981 with libretto) Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Matteo Manuguerra / National Philharmonic / Richard Bonynge [ Decca Records / 2 CD - released 27/Sep/2001 ] Classic 1981 recording, with full libretto and translations. |
JULES MASSENET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Massenet: Werther (complete opera recorded in 2010) Paris National Opera / Jonas Kaufmann, Sophie Koch, Ludovic Tezier / Michel Plasson (cond) [ Decca Music Group DVD / 2 DVD - released 14/Oct/2010 ] Hard on the heels of a triumphant Lohengrin, Decca follows up with an equally astonishing debut performance from Jonas Kaufmann: Goethe's love-lorn hero Werther, in Massenet's romantic opera. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: La Traviata (Complete Opera) : live from Paris Josa Cura, Eteri Gvazava, Rolando Panerai / Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI/ Zubin Mehta [ Teldec / 2 CD - released 7/Jul/2000 ] "..the performances of a cast of singers chosen as much for dramatic as for musical appropriateness has resulted in a performance on disc that is thoroughly convincing." BBC Music |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander [The Flying Dutchman] (complete opera recorded in 1953) Josef Metternich, Annelies Kupper, Wolfgang Windgassen, Josef Greindl / RIAS Kammerchor & RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester, Ferenc Fricsay [ Australian Deutsche Grammophon Eloquence / 2 CD - released 10/Aug/2015 ] "By a fair margin [this set] remains my favourite, with Fricsay at his most electrifying and the team of men quite unbeatable." (Gramophone) |
JULES MASSENET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE; Massenet: Werther (Complete opera) Julia Gertseva (mezzo) Andrea Bocelli (tenor) / Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Conducted by Yves Abel [ Decca Records / 2 CD - released 24/Mar/2005 ] A studio recording of the complete opera Werther by Jules Massenet, conducted by Yves Abel. Andrea Bocelli sings the title role of Werther - which he has sung on stage several times to great critical acclaim (including his USA stage debut).... |
GEORGES BIZET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bizet: Carmen (complete opera with full libretto) Julia Migenes Johnson, Placido Domingo, Ruggiero Raimondi, Faith Esham / National Orchestra of France, Lorin Maazel [ Erato / CD - released 1/May/1984 ] "Carmen is sung here by Julia Migenes Johnson. Her Habanera is wonderfully shapely and sexy, in a quite light flirty manner. In Act 4 she and Placido Domingo (as Don José) give us a wonderfully dramatic climax to the opera." (MusicWeb) |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Lohengrin (Complete opera with libretto ) Karl Ridderbusch, James King, Gundula Janowitz, Thomas Stewart / Bavarian Radio Chorus,Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Rafael Kubelik [ Deutsche Grammophon / 3 CD Box Set - released 6/Sep/2003 ] "Gundula Janowitz is an ideally innocent, vulnerable Elsa - far more so than Sharon Sweet for Davis, while Thomas Stewart and Gwyneth Jones as Telramund and Ortrud make a formidable pair of villains." (BBC Music) |