WAGNER / WEBER / SMETANA / TCHAIKOVSKY
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Elizabeth Schwarzkopf - Romantic Opera Arias Elizabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano) / Philharmonia & London Symphony Orchestras, various conductors. with Christa Ludwig (mezzo) [ EMI Studio / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/1986 ] Original recordings from 1956 - 1958 |
DOMENICO CIMAROSA
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Cimarosa: Il matrimonio segreto (Complete opera recorded in 1957) Eugenia Ratti, Graziella Sciutti, Ebe Stignati, Luigi Alva, Franco Calabrese / Teatro alla Scala, Nino Sanzogno [ EMI Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Nov/1997 ] Note: This is extremely rare. American websites are asking $43US. |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Donizetti: Olivo e Pasquale (complete opera recorded in 1980 with complete libretto) Eva Czapò, Benedetta Pecchioli, Gastone Sarti, Gino Orlandini, Mario Chiappi / Coro Della Radio Televisione Della Svizzera Italiana, Bruno Rigacci [ Nuova Era / 2 CD Box Set - released 21/Jun/1997 ] Recording Date: October 26, 1980 Recording Location: Lugano, Svizzera, Auditorio RSI |
RICHARD STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Der Rosenkavalier (Complete opera recorded in 1976) Evelyn Lear, Frederica von Stade, Jules Bastin / Rotterdam Philharmonic Opera, Edo de Waart (conductor) [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / 3 CD - released 20/Feb/2012 ] Evelyn Lear as the Marschallin and Frederica von Stade as her lover Octavian lead a strong cast as Edo de Waart's complete recording of Der Rosenkavalier returns to the catalogue. |
PIETRO MASCAGNI / RUGGIERO LEONCAVALLO
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana / Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Complete Operas) [with Opera Intermezzi] Fiorenza Cossotto, Carlo Bergonzi, Giuseppe Taddei / Coro e Orchestra del Teatro all Scala, Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon / 3 CD Box Set - released 3/Feb/2002 ] Includes a booklet with the synopsis and libretto of both operas in German, Italian, English and French. |
PIETRO MASCAGNI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana (Complete Opera with libretto) Fiorenza Cossotto, Carlo Bergonzi, Mariagrazia Allegri / Coro e Orchestra del Teatro all Scala, Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD Box Set - released 3/Feb/2002 ] Includes a booklet with the synopsis and libretto in German, Italian, English and French. |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rossini: The Barber of Seville [Il Barbiere di Siviglia] (Complete Opera recorded in 1983) Francisco Araiza, Agnes Baltsa, Thomas Allen, Robert Lloyd / Academy St Martins / Neville Marriner [ Decca Opera! / 2 CD - released 10/Mar/2011 ] Sir Neville Marriner makes one of his rare appearances as an opera conductor and the combination of a superb cast and stylish orchestral playing combine to make a magnificent recording of Rossini's comic masterpiece. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (complete opera with libretto) Piero Cappuccilli, Mirella Freni, José van Dam, Nicolai Ghiaurov / La Scala Chorus & Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon Originals / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Jul/2016 ] "one of the most beautiful Verdi sets ever made. The playing of the orchestra is brilliantly incisive as well as refined, so that the drama is underlined by extra sharpness of focus..with electrifying choral singing as well." (Penguin Guide) |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: Madama Butterfly (complete opera with full libretto) Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Christa Ludwig, Robert Kerns / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus, Herbert von Karajan [ Decca / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Oct/2019 ] "Freni is an enchanting Butterfly, constantly growing in stature...Pavarotti is an intensely imaginative Pinkerton" Penguin Guide |
MODEST MUSSORGSKY / NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV / RYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Galina Vishnevskaya - Songs and Dances of Death / Songs & Opera arias by Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov (Recorded 1 Galina Vishnevskaya (soprano) / London Philharmonic orchestra. Mistislav Rostropovich [ EMI Great Recordings of the Century / CD - released 20/Dec/2003 ] "In this, the first ever recording of the Songs and Dances of Death in Shostakovich's orchestration, Vishnevskaya's art is quite exceptionally imaginative and magnetic." (Gramophone) |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Monteverdi: Orfeo (complete opera with libretto) Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Julianne Baird, Lynne Dawson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Nancy Argenta / Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gard [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD Box Set - released 2/Feb/1987 ] "This is an impressively musical Orfeo. With John Eliot Gardiner in charge of such a strong cast of singers and players, it could hardly have been otherwise. Most enigmatic of all is Anthony Rolfe Johnson's acting of the central role." Gramophone |
MENDELSSOHN / VERDI / CHOPIN / SATIE / SAINT-SAENS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Romantic Ballet Music - The Lady and the Fool / A Midsummer Night's Dream / etc [2 CD set] Garrick Ohlsson (piano) / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / London Philharmonic Orchestra [ EMI Ballet Edition / 2 CD - released 1/Jul/2011 ] Sir Frederick Ashton appropriates Mendelssohn's exquisite incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream and Satie's haunting Gymnopédies; John Cranko, ably abetted by Sir Charles Mackerras, cherry-picks from the early operas of Verdi. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Ernani (complete opera with libretto) Giorgio Lamberti, Sylvia Sass, Lajos Miller, Kolos Kováts / Hungarian State Opera; Hungarian State Opera Chorus, Lamberto Gardelli [ Hungaroton / 3 CD Box Set - released 5/Jan/1982 ] "...rich digital sound clarity and depth, the most experienced of conductors, an excellent orchestra and chorus and some starry names in the cast.... As ever, (Sylvia Sass) can at times be wild and shrill but she constantly colours her voice,... |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutte (complete opera recorded in 2006) Glyndebourne Opera / Topi Lehtipuu, Luca Pisaroni, Miah Persson, Anke Vondung / Ivan Fischer (conductor) [ Opus Arte / Rai Trade DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/May/2007 ] 'I had to search long and hard down memory lane to recall a Così that so vividly revealed both the pleasure and the overwhelming pain of this evermore disturbing masterpiece, and I failed.' Opera |
GEORGES BIZET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bizet: Carmen (complete opera recorded in 1985) Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers, Mirella Freni, Justino Diaz / Vienna State Opera Choir & Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan [ Deusche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 1/Dec/2005 ] This famous film of the world's best-loved opera, directed by Herbert von karajan, features the three greatest exponents of their respective roles at the time. - "overwhelming in its truthfulness to the tragic vision of Carmen", wrote the... |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gotterdammerung (complete opera recorded in 2004) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Harry Kupfer / Deborah Polaski / John Treleaven / Matti Salminem / Falk Struckmann / Gunter von Kannen / Bertrand de Billy [ Opus Arte DVD / 3 DVD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2009 ] "This is in many respects superb. The acid test is that one should emerge exhausted from Wagner's emotional outpourings, yet uplifted, and this de Billy and his team of soloists do in the final analysis achieve" (MusicWeb Sept 2005) |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rossini: Il Barbiere Di Siviglia [The Barber of Seville] (Highlights) Hakan Hagegard, Jennifer Larmore, Raul Gimanez, Samuel Ramey / Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Jesus Lapez-Cobos [ Teldec / CD - released 1/Jul/1994 ] "Barbara Frittoli makes a good showing in her aria and Jennifer Larmore seems sublimely unfazed by the conductor's fast tempi. The voice is always full and warm, the coloratura flawless and the characterization vivid." (MusicWeb July 2004) |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527 (Complete opera) Hakan Hagegard, Gilles Cachemaille, Arleen Auger, Della Jones / Drottningholm Court Theatre, Arnold Ostman [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2007 ] "Even those who have never been to Drottningholm and experienced Arnold Ostman's Mozart in the flesh will know exactly what it is that makes his recorded performances live." (Gramophone) |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Tannhauser (Complete Opera with libretto) Hans Sotin, Christa Ludwig, Rena Kollo, Helga Demesch / Vienna Philharmonic, Solti [ Decca Records / 3 CD Box Set - released 11/Aug/2002 ] "One of the most satisfying of Georg Solti's Wagner recordings. Christa Ludwig is a seductive Venus in this, the Paris version, Helga Dernesch a sweet-toned Elisabeth, though René Kollo isn't quite the singer we expect from Tannhäuser." BBC Music |
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. |