Opera
Reviews of full operas as well as collections and recitals of arias
Beethoven: Fidelio (Decca)
(Déjà Review) This Fidelio will surely be one of the most important releases of 2011 [JQ]
Rangström: Kronbruden (Sterling)
A fine first recording of Rangström’s most important opera [WK]
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (Pristine Audio)
A classic Barber returns to the catalogue in better sound than ever [ST]
Montserrat Caballé (soprano): Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi: Rarities (RCA)
A classic recording which as a collection represents a repository of all that was best about Caballé’s art [RMo]
Mozart: Don Giovanni (Channel Classics)
This new, spirited version of the opera, while not really standing out, is well worth considering [DJa]
Martin: Der Sturm (Hyperion)
(Déjà Review) Magically re-imagined and brought to harvest [RB]
Puccini: Heroines (Pentatone)
Sondra Radvanovsky demonstrates that she shares in Puccini’s gift for dramatic expression [MC]
Andrew Kennedy (tenor): Arias by Gluck, Mozart and Berlioz (Signum)
(Déjà Review) Andrew Kennedy does Berlioz proud [GF]
Halévy: La Juive (Naxos)
A warhorse in excellent performance but problematic production [SB]
Barber: Vanessa (National Symphony Orchestra)
Very well performed and beautifully presented recording of Barber’s Romantic opera [NB]
Rossini: Otello (Naxos)
If you are curious about Rossini’s version of Otello then you will not go far wrong with this Naxos recording [RH]
Mirella Freni (soprano): Great Singers Live (BR Klassik)
(Déjà Review) I just couldn’t stop playing this disc which is not surprising given that Freni has one of the finest soprano voices I have ever heard [MC]
Leoncavallo: I Medici (Deutsche Grammophon)
An idiomatic, well focused and vigorous performance [JS]
Peter Mattei (baritone): Great Baritone Arias (BIS)
(Déjà Review) A glorious disc! [OL]
Raff: Dame Kobold (Naxos)
A lukewarm achievement at best [MP]
Prokofiev: The Gambler (C Major)
(Déjà Review) A major triumph [RC]
Wagner: Lohengrin (Warner Classics)
(Déjà Review) A glorious reading becomes all the more appealing in its newest incarnation [ST]
Mozart: Airs d’opéras (Forgotten Records)
(Déjà Review) All lovers of elegant stylish Mozart singing should lend an ear to this disc [GF]
Musgrave: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge & Green (NMC)
(Déjà Review) Three magnificent works, superbly performed and recorded [WH]
Rachmaninov: Aleko (Chandos)
Déjà Review) Noseda conducts intelligently, sensitively, with full structural awareness of the dramatic trajectory [CC]
Bellini’s Il pirata – a survey of the recordings
by Ralph Moore
Verdi: La Traviata (Opus Arte)
(Déjà Review) Renée Fleming triumphs but this Covent Garden production is less than perfect [IL]
Rangström: Kronbruden (Sterling)
A curious conflation of rural folktale and Symbolist myth in a compelling, convincing performance [NB]
R Strauss: Elektra (Opus Arte)
(Déjà Review) A terrific Elektra to which I will, without doubt, return [GF]
