Opera
Reviews of full operas as well as collections and recitals of arias
A guide to the best recordings of Gluck’s operas
by Ralph Moore
Verdi: Aïda (Pristine Audio)
A superlative transfer of an Aida which should be in every serious opera collection [PSt]
Marina Rebeka (soprano) Voyage (Prima Classic)
An attractive programme of songs by French composers [MC]
Handel: Giulio Cesare (Harmonia Mundi)
Probably the best DVD version and one of the best in any format [BW]
Auber: Le Philtre (Naxos)
This light-hearted comedy is charming entertainment and the presentation is worthy [GF]
Rautavaara: The Gift of the Magi (Arthaus Musik)
(Déjà Review) An intelligent, small-scale opera well performed, and accompanied by a moderately interesting documentary [Gpu]
Donizetti: Signor Gaetano (Pentatone)
A welcome debut recital which promises much for the future of bel canto singing [MP]
Korngold: Die Kathrin (cpo)
(Déjà Review) Music of your most romantic dreams and packing a grand emotional punch [RB]
Verdi: Rigoletto (Opus Arte)
An imaginative and involving production, but flawed by some intrusive and insensitive vulgarities [PCG]
Handel: Eternal Heaven (Erato)
Music making of the highest order for anyone with an open mind for whom no borderlines exist [GF]
Verdi: Falstaff (Urania)
Though Sir Geraint Evans is rather gruff and dry-toned, this lavishly cast recording is worth anyone’s money [GF]
Sibelius: The Tempest (Naxos)
Kamu has the measure of Sibelius’s complete Tempest music [LW]
Verdi: Aida (Pristine Audio)
Pristine’s typically successful remastering into Ambient Stereo helps appreciate afresh the virtues of this classic recording [RMo]
Jonathan Tetelman (tenor) Arias (Deutsche Grammophon)
Tetelman will win many new admirers with this outstanding debut album [MC]
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (Naxos)
An innovative and at times challenging production, with high calibre singing and playing [RWe]
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (Pristine Audio)
Pristine delivers this classic Barbiere in an airy and better-balanced revision, free of hiss and noise [MZ]
Macfarrren: The Soldier’s Legacy (Retrospect Opera)
Macfarren’s 1864 ballad-chamber-pastoral-Opera da Camera for four singers [JW]
Mozart: Cosi fan tutte (Pristine Audio)
A glorious documentation of the high standards of the ensemble at the Royal Stockholm Opera more than 80 years ago [GF]
Verdi: Rigoletto (Opus Arte)
A striking new Rigoletto from the Royal Opera House, strongly cast and very well conducted [RWe]
Britten: The Turn of the Screw (Alpha)
A vivid rollercoaster approach, the listener smarting on the front row stalls [MG]
Martinů: Larmes de couteau (Capriccio)
Martinů’s one-act operas heard in persuasive, lively performances [JW]
Mattheson: Boris Goudenow (CPO)
A long hidden operatic version of Boris Godunov gets its first recording with a respectable cast of young performers [MP]
Hina Spani (soprano) Complete Recordings (Marston)
The complete recorded output of a great but neglected soprano – with a fine bonus [RMo]
Handel: Theodora (Erato)
An extrovert reading of Theodora but one short of consolation [JW]
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