CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
Gluck: Orphee et Eurydice (Complete opera recorded in 2000) Theatre Musical de Paris / Magdalena Kozena, Madeline Bender, Patricia Petibon / Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists / Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 10/Oct/2009 ] When the historic Theatre du Chatelet in Paris re-opened after a period of extensive refurbishment, the first two productions mounted in the theatre were Gluck's Alceste and Orphée et Eurydice. |
PUCCINI
Tosca (complete opera recorded in 1964/5) Maria Callas, Carlo Bergonzi, Tito Gobbi, Giorgio Tadeo / aris Conservatoire Orchestra, Paris Opera Chorus, Georges Prêtre [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Remastered / 2 CD - released 10/Nov/2014 ] Tosca was the role in which - in 1965, the year this recording was made - Callas gave her last complete performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera and the Paris Opéra. This was her final complete recording of an... |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Tosca (complete opera recorded in 1964/5) Maria Callas, Carlo Bergonzi, Tito Gobbi, Giorgio Tadeo / Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Paris Opera Chorus, Georges Prêtre [ Warner Classics Legendary Opera Recordings / 2 CD Box Set - released 23/Sep/2016 ] This Tosca was Maria Callas's final studio recording of a complete opera. In 1965, 12 years after her first recording of the opera (made in Milan Victor de Sabata) she was reunited in Paris with the Scarpia of Tito Gobbi. Both singers bring new... |
PUCCINI / BELLINI / ROSSINI
Maria Callas: Toujours - Paris 1958 BLU-RAY Maria Callas (soprano) / Orchestra & Chorus of the Paris National Opera [ Warner Classics Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Nov/2015 ] This Blu-ray disc is part of a collection of three that gather together concert and stage performances from the latter phase of Callas's career, 1958-1964. These are the only professional video recordings of Callas in performance on stage. |
PUCCINI / BELLINI / ROSSINI / BIZET / VERDI / BELLINI / etc
Maria Callas: In Concert London, Hamburg & Paris BLU-RAY Maria Callas (soprano) / Orchestra & Chorus of the Paris National Opera, Symphonieorchester des NDR, Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Cove [ Warner Classics Blu-ray / 3 Blu-ray Disc - released 25/Sep/2017 ] Callas at Covent Garden (London 1962 & 1964) Callas in Concert (Hamburg 1959 & 1962) Toujours (Paris 1958) |
MOZART / BEETHOVEN / WEBER
Maria Callas: Mozart, Beethoven, Weber recital (1963-1964) Maria Callas (soprano) / Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Remastered / CD - released 1/Dec/2017 ] This recital of Austro-German repertoire (albeit composed to Italian and English texts) was prompted by Callas's indignation on discovering that her EMI producer, Walter Legge, had chosen his wife, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, for a recording of the Verdi... |
VERDI
Verdi Arias III (1964-69) Maria Callas with Paris Conservatoire Orchestra & Paris Opéra Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Remastered / CD - released 10/Nov/2014 ] 'I love these recordings: for Callas' command of line, of declamation, of rhythm, of dramatic and musical sense. Callas at her very finest!' (Gramophone) |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Violin Concertos / Solo Partita in D minor Yehudi Menuhin (violin) / Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, George Enescu [ Warner Classics Original Jacket Reissues / CD - released 21/Aug/2015 ] Bach's music was central to the life and career of Yehudi Menuhin, and the violinist is captured in his full early bloom in these performances from the 1930s. Joining the teenage Menuhin in the first and most celebrated of his four recordings of the... |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Orchestral Music (Includes The Ride of the Valkyries and the Funeral Music from Gotterdammerung) Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim [ Deutsche Grammophon Virtuoso / CD - released 27/Oct/2011 ] "Barenboim keeps Wagner moving. The Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan find him ever ready to press ahead in stringendo...these are all warm and energetic performances." (Gramophone) |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY / MAURICE RAVEL
Debussy / Ravel: Orchestral Works (Incls 'La Mer', 'Images', 'Bolero' & 'Daphnis et Chloe') Orchestre National de l ORTF, Orchestre de Paris, Jean Martinon, with Aldo Ciccolini (piano) Itzhak Perlman (violin) [ Erato / Warner Classics / 8 CD Box Set - released 25/Jul/2018 ] "If you are satisfied with performances that are lucid, imaginative, thoughtful and unselfconscious then you will be very happy with Martinon." (MusicWeb on the Debussy) |
Paris
The Devil Made Me Do It [ Rhino Records / CD - released 1/Jul/1991 ] |
W.A. MOZART
Die Zauberflote [The Magic Flute] (complete opera recorded in 2001) Paris National Opera / Piotr Beczala / Dorothea Roschmann / Desiree Rancatore / Ivan Fischer (cond) [ TDK / DVD - released 1/Nov/2008 ] "A Paris National Opera production of The Magic Flute in German sounds like an unlikely prospect, yet the stage settings are beautifully rich and imaginative, as are the costumes. Dorothea Roeschmann as Pamina is outstanding" (Giv Cornfield) |
PROKOFIEV
Romeo & Juliet (Complete Ballet recorded in 1995. Choreography by Rudolf Nureyev) BLU-RAY Paris Opera Ballet / Monique Loudieres, Manuel Legris, Charles Jude / Vello Pahn (cond) [ Kultur / Warners / Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Apr/2014 ] "this is an often scintillating performance, and should be seen by any lover of ballet wanting to experience Nureyev's own idiosyncratic take on one of the most iconic ballets in the 20th century repertoire." - Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-Ray.com |
RAMEAU
Hippolyte et Aricie (complete opera recorded in 2012) Paris Opera Palais Garnier / Topi Lehtipuu, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Stéphane Degoutad, Sarah Connolly / Emmanuelle Haim [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 28/Nov/2014 ] Recorded live at the Paris Opera Palais Garnier, Haïm is joined by the orchestra of Le Concert d'Astrée, as well stellar cast including Sarah Connolly as Phèdre, Stéphane Degout as Thésée, Anne-Catherine Gillet as Aricie and Topi Lehtipuu as Hippolyt |
RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Symphony No 3 / Caprice Bohemien / Vocalise / etc Orchestre de Paris, Paavo Jarvi (conductor) [ Erato / Warner Classics / 2 CD - released 1/Oct/2015 ] That theatrical thrill is captured in this 2-CD set of live recordings of works by Rachmaninoff, made in 2011 and 2013 at the Salle Pleyel, the Orchestre de Paris's home until its move in early 2015 to the French capital's new Philharmonie. |
PUCCINI
Madama Butterfly (Highlights from the opera) Richard Cowan, Richard Troxell, Ying Huang / Paris Orchestra / James Conlon [ Sony Music / CD - released 1/Jul/2009 ] "Chinese soprano Ying Huang doesn't rock the rafters with her vocal power; hers is a tender, delicately observed performance. Tenor Richard Troxell's self-seeking Pinkerton is well sung. Overall, this is a haunting cinematic treatment of an... |
PORTER / LOPEZ / MANSARD / etc
C'est magnifique!: Songs of Luis Mariano Roberto Alagna (tenor) / Paris Symphonic Orchestra / Yvan Cassar [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 16/Dec/2005 ] Roberto Alagna pays tribute to Luis Mariano with a fresh and virtuosic take on the highlights of popular repertoire |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Don Carlos (Complete French version recorded in 1996) Theatre du Chatelet, Paris / Roberto Alagna, Thomas Hampson, Karita Mattila / Antonio Pappano (cond) [ Warner Music Vision DVD / DVD - released 18/Jan/2001 ] G - Libretto by Joseph Mery and Camille du Locle after Schiller's dramatic poem Don Carlos. The original French version in five acts by Ursula Gunther, revised after the original version by Ursula Gunther and Luciano Pelazzoni. |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe (complete ballet) / La Valse Orchestre et Choeurs de L'Opera national de Paris, Philippe Jordan [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 1/May/2015 ] This new recording of Daphnis et Chloé, Ravel's most sumptuous score, marks a number of firsts as it evokes the heady days of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris in the early years of the 20th century. It grew from performances of the... |
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Iolanta (complete opera recorded in 1984) Galina Vishnevskaya, Nicolai Gedda, Walton Gronroos, Tom Krause / Groupe Vocal de France & Orchestre de Paris, Mstislav Rostropovich [ Warner Classics Erato Opera Collection / 2 CD - released 12/Oct/2009 ] "Rostropovich's 1984 Paris concert performance [is] centred round Galina Vishnevskaya… singing warmly and strongly, with a fine Vaudemont from Nicolai Gedda." Gramophone |