CARL NIELSEN
Nielsen: Maskarade (complete opera recorded in 2006) Royal Danish Orchestra / Royal Danish Opera Chorus / Stephen Milling / Susanne Resmark / Michael Shonwandt [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 24/Feb/2008 ] Recorded at Operaen, Copenhagen on 13 and 15 November 2006 |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: La Pericole (Complete Operetta recorded in 2022) Stephanie D'Oustrac, Philippe Talbot, Tassis Christoyannis, Eric Huchet / Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Julien Leroy [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 10/Feb/2023 ] La Perricholi - in reality, Micaela Villegas - was Lima's leading theatrical l lady in the 1770s when Peru was a Spanish colony. Her life was fictionalised in a one-act play by Prosper Mérimée and a libretto was fashioned on which Offenbach created... |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Tancredi (Complete opera) Sumi Jo (sop) Anna Maria di Micco (contralto) Stanford Olsen (tenor) Ewa Podles (contralto) / Collegium Instrumentale Brugense, Alberto Zedda [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 8/Jan/2004 ] 1001 Classical recordings to hear before you die (1801-1850) |
ERICH KORNGOLD
Korngold: Die Tote Stadt (complete opera) Katarina Dalayman, Lars-Erik Jonsson, Hilde Leidland / Royal Swedish Opera Chorus and Orchestra [ Naxos / 2 CD Box Set - released 26/Jul/1999 ] "This set from Naxos really does him [Korngold] proud....The result is addictive music, certainly when performed with this degree of loving care. Leif Segerstam has the measure of this idiom." Classic CD |
JULES MASSENET
Massenet: Cendrillon (complete opera recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Theater Freiburg / Kim-Lillian Strebel, Anja Jung, Anat Czarny / Fabrice Bollon (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 18/Sep/2018 ] Massenet's opera Cendrillon has enjoyed enduring popularity on stage and in recordings, but there are surprisingly few Blu-ray releases of this enchanting work. |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Moïse et Pharaon (1827 Paris version) (complete opera) Baurzhan Anderzhanov, Elisa Balbo, Randall Bills, Alexey Birkus, Albane Carrère, Silvia Dalla Benetta / Virtuosi Brunensis, Fabrizio Maria Carminati [ Naxos / 3 CD - released 14/Aug/2020 ] Following the French theatre tradition for spectacular biblical dramas during Lent, Rossini's Moïse was an incredible success at its Parisian premiere in 1827, and the opera is presented here in its complete form. |
BEST OF OPERA
The Best of Opera Vol 3 (Incls The Ride of the Valkyries & The Anvil Chorus) Various Artists from the vast Naxos catalogue [ Naxos / CD ] A generous selection of popular opera drawn from the vast Naxos catalogue |
JOHANN STRAUSS II
Strauss, (J II): Die Göttin der Vernunft (The Goddess of Reason) (complete operetta) Veronika Groiss / Manfred Equiluz / Kirlianit Cortez / Franz Födinger / Slovak Sinfonietta, Žilina / Christian Pollack [ Naxos Opera / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "For this recording all the numbers - including the extra material - are played, and with some style under Viennese light-music specialist Christian Pollack...As well as the operetta itself, various dance selections drawn from it are included." BBC... |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: La Boheme (complete opera recorded in 1956) Victoria de los Angeles / Jussi Bjorling / Robert Merrill / Lucine Amara / RCA Victor Orchestra / Sir Thomas Beecham [ Naxos Great Opera Recordings / 2 CD - released 11/Apr/2007 ] Featuring Victoria de los Angeles and Jussi Björling in glorious form, the 1956 set ranks alongside the Callas De Sabata Tosca (Naxos 8.110256-57) as one of the greatest studio recordings of an opera ever made. |
HAVERGAL BRIAN
Brian: Symphony No. 1, The Gothic Vladimir Dolezal (tenor) / Eva Jenisova (soprano) / Peter Mikulas (bass) / Dagmar Peckova (alto) / Slovak National Opera / Lenard [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 12/Jun/2004 ] "Now it's reissued at bargain price, no one who claims the slightest interest in 20th-century British music has any further excuse to be without this thrilling, astonishing work." Calum MacDonald, BBC Music Magazine, 08/04 |
RICHARD STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Ariadne auf Naxos (complete opera recorded 1986 with libretto) Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, Kathleen Battle, Gary Lakes, Hermann Prey / Wiener Philharmoniker, James Levine [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD Box Set - released 30/Oct/2014 ] "For its debut on CD, Ariadne auf Naxos receives a bright, clear DG recording, ... Much of this can be credited to James Levine's acute sense of tempo throughout" Gramophone |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Ariadne auf Naxos (Complete Opera recorded in 1955) Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Rita Streich, Rudolf Schock, Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan [ Warner Classics Home Of Opera / 2 CD - released 1/Jul/2019 ] 'Perfectly cast, magnificently performed and superbly recorded, this is one of Karajan's most stylish performances. Under his direction everyone is inspired to give of their best.' Gramophone |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Marvellous Mezzo-Soprano and Contralto: Best Loved Opera Arias Agnes Baltsa (mezzo-soprano), Sonia Ganassi (mezzo-soprano), Marjana Lipovšek (mezzo-soprano), Ewa Podleś (contralto) [ Naxos / CD - released 23/Apr/2021 ] Portraying characters such as Rossini's lovestruck heroines, Verdi's dramatic roles and the seductive Carmen, the mezzo voice is valued for a tone that embodies richness and sensuality in all its operatic variety. |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Vivaldi: Griselda RV718 (complete opera) Colin Ainsworth / Carla Huhtanen / Lynne McMurty / Marion Newman / Aradia Ensemble / Kevin Mallon [ Naxos / 3 CD - released 23/Jan/2008 ] Vivaldi's Griselda, one of more than twenty operas, is based on a story retold in Boccaccio's Il decamerone about the testing of Griselda's patience and virtue by her royal husband through a series of cruel trials. The sense of drama that permeates... |
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Rameau: Castor Et Pollux [1754 version] Colin Ainsworth, Joshua Hopkins, Monica Whicher, Meredith Hall, Giles Tomkins, Renée Winick Opera in Concert Chorus, Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2004 ] Recorded: 9-13 February 2003 Recording Venue: Grace Church on the Hill, Totonto, Canada |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (complete opera) Alessandro Carmignani / Marinella Pennicchi / Rosita Frisani / Cappella Musicale di San Petronio di Bologna / Sergio Vartolo [ Naxos Early Music / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] "Carmignani has an expressive tenor voice...Pennicchi is lovely as Euridice. The singers are excellent and integrated into a carefully prepared ensemble...You will not do much better at triple the price" - Fanfare |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Il Signor Bruschino (complete opera recorded in 2002) Alessandro Codeluppi, Maurizio Leoni, Elena Rossi / I Virtuosi Italiani, Claudio Desderi (conductor) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jun/2010 ] Born in Pesaro in 1792, the son of a horn-player and a singer, Rossini even in childhood had experience of the theatre, both as an orchestral player and as a singer himself. |
ERMANNO WOLF-FERRARI
Wolf-Ferrari: Das Himmelskleid ('The Garment of Heaven') (complete opera) Angelina Ruzzafante, Anna-Maria Dur, Sibrand Basa, Reinhard Leisenheimer, Peer-Martin Sturm / Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra & Opera Chorus, Gerhard Mar [ Naxos / 3 CD Box Set - released 2/Dec/2022 ] Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari is best known for his comic operas. With this reputation established, the appearance of Das Himmelskleid in 1927, with its 'symbolical twilight world… that rises musically to religious greatness and a world of dreams' was a... |
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (complete opera) Rah Graciela Alperyn, Giorgio Lamberti, Doina Palade, Alan Titus / Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Alexander Ra [ Naxos Opera Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Jan/2000 ] |
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK
Humperdinck: Music for the Stage Andrea Chudak, Ruxandra Voda van der Plas, Harrie van der Plas, Malmö Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Dario Salvi [ Naxos / CD - released 27/Nov/2020 ] Engelbert Humperdinck won a worldwide reputation through his application of Wagnerian techniques to folk music in Hänsel und Gretel. But he wrote far more widely for the stage than is acknowledged. |