Main centres: | 1-3 business days |
Regional areas: | 3-4 business days |
Remote areas: | 3-5 business days |
Artists: | Various |
Released: | 2011 |
Studio: | EMI |
Album Type: | Studio |
Tracks: | CD 1 covers the Baroque era and includes popular arias from operas, oratorios and cantatas by J. S. Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell and Rameau. It ends with two items by Gluck, whose works link the Baroque period with the Classical era of Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart that followed it. ¿¿ CD 2 is devoted entirely to arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, many of whose operas remain today the mainstay of the repertoire in opera houses around the world. The most famous Mozart operas are generously represented here with several items each from Die Entf¿¿hrung aus dem Serail, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cos¿¿ fan tutte and Die Zauberfl¿¿te. ¿¿ CD 3 begins with two arias from Beethoven¿¿s only opera, Fidelio, and one from Weber¿¿s classic work Der Freisch¿¿tz, before moving to a group of pieces by Richard Wagner. Then come several examples of arias from Slavonic operas by Tchaikovsky (Russian), Dvoř¿¿k and Smetana (Czech) before returning to Germany for attractive examples of the music of Richard Strauss and Erich Korngold. ¿¿ The next CD transports us to France to enjoy extracts from some of the world¿¿s most famous operas, including Bizet¿¿s Carmen, Gounod¿¿s Faust, Massenet¿¿s Manon, Offenbach¿¿s Contes d¿¿Hoffmann and many other favourites. The disc ends with the romantic aria ¿¿Depuis le jour¿¿ from Charpentier¿¿s Louise. ¿¿ In CD 5 we visit Italy at the height of its operatic glory in the 19th century, starting with the bel canto treasures of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini and them moving to some of the best-loved arias of all times by Giacomo Puccini from his great masterpieces like La boh¿¿me, Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot. The disc concludes with music from the verismo school in three highly dramatic arias by Catalani, Mascagni and Giordano, including ¿¿Ebben? ne andr¿¿ lontana¿¿ and ¿¿La mamma morta¿¿. ¿¿ CD 6 is devoted entirely to possibly the greatest Italian operatic composer of all ¿¿ Giuseppe Verdi. It covers all his best-known operas from early works like Ernani and Attila, through his three great middle-period triumphs of Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata, up to the great masterpieces of his maturity like La forza del destino, Don Carlo and Aida. The programme ends with the poignant ¿¿Ave Maria¿¿ from the last act of Otello, sung by Desdemona before she is murdered by her jealous husband Othello. |
Product Code: | 10796364 |