Opera

Reviews of full operas as well as collections and recitals of arias

Cimarosa: L’Olimpiade (Château de Versailles)

Rousset and his team earn a gold medal for this premiere recording of a long-unheard opera [MP]

Benjamin: Picture a day like this (Nimbus Records)

This powerful, moving, beautiful and disturbing new work is a triumph [SB]

wagner knappertsbusch gotterdammerung

Wagner: Götterdämmerung (Pristine Audio)

All Wagnerians should consider this 1956 live Bayreuth Götterdämmerung [SB]

Lehár: Schön ist die Welt  (cpo)

A qualified recommendation for a new recording of Lehár’s final operetta for Berlin [PT]

Saimir Pirgu (tenor) Saimir (Opus Arte)

A comprehensive recital: a lot of brilliant and heroic singing, and some subtle and lyrical [GF]

Huw Montague Rendall (baritone): Contemplation (Erato)

Superb, sensuous, subtle singing from a highly gifted British lyric baritone [RMo]

Puccini Turandot Bjorling Nilsson Pristine PACO218

Puccini: Turandot (Pristine Audio)

Yet another classic opera recording given new lustre by Pristine’s remastering [RMo]

Bellini: Norma (Pristine Audio)

A pleasure to be reacquainted with Callas’s Norma in this remastering of her second studio recording [PT]

Verdi: Rigoletto (Warner Classics)

An under-rated, somewhat overlooked recording featuring an array of superb voices, very well conducted [RMo]

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Rodgers: Carousel (Chandos)

Wilson and his colleagues do full justice to this Broadway masterpiece [JQ]

Langgaard Antikrist Naxos Blu-ray NBD0176V

Langgaard: Antikrist (Naxos)

Langgaard’s richly iconoclastic opera undermined and subverted by an over-rich iconoclastic staging [PCG]

Ponchielli La Gioconda Callas 1952 Pristine PACO216

Ponchielli: La Gioconda (Pristine Audio)

Pristine’s splendid enhancement of this recording into Ambient Stereo further minimises the differences between this and Callas’ recording seven years later [RMo]

puccini butterfly pristine

Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Pristine Audio)

De los Ángeles is a winning Butterfly in this classic set, now reissued by Pristine [PT]

offenbach hoffmann erato

Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann (Erato)

Alagna and van Dam are very fine, but the Bonynge recording retains its place in the affections of collectors [RMo]

penderecki paradise dux

Penderecki: Paradise Lost (Dux)

A valuable Penderecki rediscovery undermined by problems of preparation and presentation [PCG]

handel arias linn bell

Handel: Arias (Linn)

(Déjà Review) I will treasure this disc as a record of a fine singer at a wonderful peak in her career [RH]

wagner rheingold karajan deutsche grammophon

Wagner: Das Rheingold (Deutsche Grammophon)

A stunning new high resolution transfer of this classic recording [MP]

Dvorak Rusalka Chalabala Supraphon SU00132612

Dvořák: Rusalka (Supraphon)

(Déjà Review) This is a recording which instilled in me a love of the opera which has so far not died; it will surely do the same for many new listeners [CH]

Bizet Carmen Le Conte Pristine PACO217

Bizet: Carmen (Pristine Audio)

A marvellous restoration of an old and half-forgotten recording [GF]

Benjamin Picture a Day Like This Nimbus

George Benjamin: Picture a day like this (Nimbus)

A beautiful, subtle, yet fully effective portrait of grief [MBu]

Ombre di luce – recital (Pentatone)

An attractive programme, very well sung, with several rarities [GF]

Michael Spyres (tenor): In The Shadows (Erato)

An interesting and enterprising recital but a question mark over the suitability of the voice for some of the material [PT]

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Wagner: Parsifal (Deutsche Grammophon)

The best new Parsifal recording since Kubelik [SSc]

Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles

A survey by Ralph Moore