One attraction of this release, which made classical best-seller charts in the autumn of 2023, is that it lives up to its title; the music is generally obscure, and it is well worthy of revival. It might be called "Unjustly Forgotten Arias." These are countertenor, originally castrato arias from the late Baroque period (or early Classical, depending on how one looks at it), composed between 1748 and 1770. Texts are by Pietro Metastasio, the greatest librettist of the age, and there are several instances in which multiple composers set the same one. So the album is of interest to serious students of the period. For the general listener, though, the attraction is the voice of countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, which is in fine form. One might even argue that this material fits his now middle-aged instrument perfectly. There are some fiery runs of the type that made him famous, but these are, for the most part, arias in which sheer passagework is beginning to break up into more variegated melodic expression. They are quite virtuosic, but this is not always a question of runs of 16th notes. Instead, there are big leaps of an octave (or even two), and the composers force the singer down into a lower register, even down to low C; Jaroussky's low notes are rich and tough. Some of the pieces are melodically quite attractive; try "Per quel paterno amplesso" from Johann Christian Bach's Artaserse, probably the most famous opera libretto of the time and one in which composers strove to outdo each other. Jaroussky gets excellent support from Le Concert de la Loge under conductor Julien Chauvin on an album that makes an especially strong entry in Jaroussky's distinguished catalog.© James Manheim /TiVo

Born in a small Norwegian village in 1987 (and is thus inevitably compared to her long-time compatriot Kirsten Flagstad), soprano Lise Davidsen was almost built to embody Wagnerian and Straussian heroines. For her first record under the label Decca, with whom she has signed an exclusive contract, she has chosen to present several facets of femininity in the vocal stylings of Elisabeth (Tannhäuser), Ariane (Ariane à Naxos) and… Pauline. Pauline being Richard Strauss’ beloved wife to whom he dedicated many Lieder from his opus 27 - the 1894 cycle offered to his wife as a wedding gift - until the last Vier letzte Lieder in 1948.Under the supple baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonic Orchestra embraces the brassy voice of the Norwegian soprano with finesse and elegance. As you will see, this record, with its carefully devised programme, oscillates between youth and old age, in the presence of ghosts and death. You may wonder how one can express mortality at just 30 years old with such a powerful timbre, radiant health and a whole life ahead of you. The answer lies in Lise Davidsen’s voice, which upsurges as if it were a promise of immortality, the music of the last Strauss piece returning one last time to its past, to a Europe in ruins.Discovered in 1984, after the death of the singer and dedicatee Maria Jeritza, Malven (“The Mallows") is Richard Strauss’ true “last song”. Lighter in tone than the Vier letzte Lieder to which it might have belonged, it is presented here in an orchestration by Wolfgang Rihm. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Both the music and especially the central figure on this release by British soprano Carolyn Sampson will be largely unfamiliar to most listeners, for the vocal music of the French Baroque has received many fewer contextual studies on recordings than its English and Italian counterparts. Marie Fel was the star singer of mid-18th century Paris, a Bordeaux native who was discovered by an agent of the Paris Opera when she was 20. Roughly as Senesino was to Handel, she was an inspiration to Rameau, and many other composers wrote for her as well. Sampson tries to penetrate Fel's musicality, and the album is not just a compilation of works associated with her. She sings a sacred aria (Joseph Hector Fiocco's Laudate pueri, track 12) with the ornamentation Fel herself wrote out, and she even ventures into the Occitan language, which Fel spoke natively, for the extremely unusual Gasouillats auzeléts by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville (track 11). Speakers of Occitan are invited to judge her pronunciation (an English translation is included), but even those with no particular interest in the history of singing will be struck by the variety of Fel's repertoire, which ranged from the older Lully style of French opera to the bright simplicity of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Salve regina of 1752 (not a common item either). Sampson's voice is not absolutely comfortable when forced to do acrobatics at the top of its range, but for the most part she lives up to d'Aquin's description of Fel's instrument as "always lovely, always seductive." Her range is matched by that of the instrumental group Ex Cathedra under Jeffrey Skidmore, which is called upon to deliver a variety of theatrical effects. Highly recommended.© TiVo

With his agile technique, dramatic eloquence and rich palette of vocal colours, Jonathan Tetelman here inhabits a range of roles from the French and Italian repertoire. Recorded at the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus with the Orquesta Filarm¢nica de Gran Canaria and its Chief Conductor, Karel Mark Chichon, this collection shows the strong and powerful voice of the tenor in a selection of popular and rather unknown arias. © Deutsche Grammophon

There's no shortage of Handel aria recitals these days, especially in Britain, but this one by bass baritone Christopher Purves stands out from the crowd in several respects. First of all, it is rare in collecting arias for bass voice, which was, in Handel's time as it was later on, generally associated with a few fixed and generally negative character types (tyrants, rogues, repressive patriarchs). Second, it's a very pleasantly varied collection of tunes, including displays of brilliant passagework, out-of-the-norm writing in service of characterization (Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori, from Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, track 4), and high climactic drama (the big, three-part Revenge, Timotheus cries, from Alexander's Feast, track 19, is a familiar example). Finally, Purves unearths some rarely heard pieces and programs them intelligently. When did anyone last year anything from Muzio Scevola, or Riccardo Primo, rè d'Inghilterra, which must have pleased London audiences in 1727 despite its Italian-language text. Purves does not have the biggest voice in the bass baritone universe, and there could be a bit more sound in the very low notes. But the dimensions of the music are right for the period. He's pleasingly accurate in the passagework, and he's a real actor who makes these potentially stilted characters come alive. Listeners will want to hear Purves in a small production of one of these operas after hearing this album, preferably accompanied by the strong historical-instrument group Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen, as he is here.© TiVo

Five years after her solo debut recording, Direct Message, which programmed 20th and 21st century works for trumpet and piano, trumpet player Matilda Lloyd departs the traditional repertoire (aside from the two Arban arrangements from the Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet). Instead of following more well-worn routes, Lloyd elects to present a program of Romantic period opera arias, mostly in arrangements for trumpet and chamber orchestra (undertaken here by the Britten Sinfonia under Rumon Gamba) by William Foster, who worked closely with Lloyd on this project. Lloyd's skill as a musician is evident throughout, though the two Arban tracks most clearly allow her abilities to shine. The arrangements throughout are good, though how much they add to the performances rather than transcriptions and transpositions is up for debate. Lloyd notes with excitement the decision to include two pieces by Pauline Viardot, and one of the highlights here is the treatment of Viardot's Havanaise. This is certainly a trumpet release aimed at a wider audience than trumpet and brass circles, and it has already found success on the retail market. Chandos delivers just the right atmosphere from the Church of St. Augustine, Kilburn, in London. The future is bright for this trumpeter, and one looks forward to where her path may take her. © Keith Finke /TiVo

This album isn't just for fans of the counter-tenor's voice - Franco Fagiolo being one of the stars in the market - but also for lovers of the airs from Handel’s operas, and any serious baroque orchestra enthusiast, the orchestra here being Il Pomo d'Oro. When you unite all these elements together in a recording, the result is spectacular. This record includes the thrills of big hits like "Ombra mai fu" from Serse or "Cara sposa" from Rinaldo, as well as a number of no-less-interesting rarities, which have the advantage of shining a light on the lesser played works of the caro Sassone. After all, Ariodante, Partenope, Imeneo and Oreste (the album covers the composer's entire period of lyrical creativity) all have some great moments, and completely original airs, often loaded with the instrumental surprises that Handel arranged so well. And so, fans, if all three of the big elements are there - or if you are just curious to hear a very well made record - get stuck in! © SM/Qobuz

Gaetano Guadagni (1728-1792) was one of the leading castrati of his time and composers such as Handel and Gluck wrote important roles for him. He was known not for having a particularly large voice but for his dazzling technique and dramatic sensitivity. Iestyn Davies does not, on first impression, stand out as among the most spectacular of the extraordinary crop of counter tenors to emerge in the first decade of the 21th century. His singing, though, is notable for the openness and freedom of his vocal production, which gives him an appealing, natural, and unmannered sound. He sings with absolute security, precise intonation, timbral clarity, and his vowels are impeccably pure. He excels in long-breathed lyrical lines and seamless legato phrasing, and most of these selections highlight those strengths rather than providing the kind of high-octane pyrotechnics that singers like Philippe Jaroussky and Max Emanuel Cencic thrive on. Davies is fully capable of the most agile coloratura, though, as he demonstrates in "Destructive war," from Belshazzar. The naturalness of his delivery and his pure tone make him a counter tenor that even people who don't generally like counter tenors could warm to.A caveat that can apply to Davies' performances is the fact that he does not always draw out the theatricality in these arias, which are taken mostly from dramatic works, either operas or dramatic oratorios. Its context and premise in the oratorio Theodora make "The raptur'd soul," which extols the joys of martyrdom, one of the nuttiest texts Handel set; Davies delivers it with gorgeous musicality but without a hint of its dramatic import. It's a reasonable interpretive decision in the context of a recital, and Davies' performance is musically meaningful and immaculate, but it may not satisfy listeners looking for the visceral charge that the music has the potential to ignite. In any case, it is inarguably musically thrilling, polished singing. Jonathan Cohen draws gorgeous, exceptionally colorful, flexible playing from the British ensemble Arcangelo, a group he founded, and the deployment of the continuo parts is especially inventive, lively, and emotionally apt. The group is given a chance to shine on its own in a highly charged, utterly engaging performance of C.P.E. Bach's Orchester-Sinfonie in D major. Naxos' excellent sound is clear, clean, immediate, and warmly ambient, with terrific balance.© TiVo

As Mozart wrote to his father in 1778: "I love it when an aria fits a singer as perfectly as a suit". This, by reasoning, means that virtually all of his greatest melodies – for both prima donna and secondary (supporting) roles - were designed for a specific type of voice. This means that anyone who wants to tackle numerous Mozart roles must know how to adapt their suit accordingly – no simple task, to say the least. Swiss soprano coloratura Regula Mühlemann, with her sumptuous, clear and precise vocals, has perfectly adapted to all of these melodies, as well as the wide range of genres, styles and characters explored. Among the works, one will find Exultate, Jubilate and also a melody that Mozart had written to be inserted in The Barber of Seville by Paisiello, although this did not materialize and Mozart left the work unfinished. Regula Mühlemann, whom we have already witnessed in Salzburg, Berlin, Paris, Zurich, and many other prestigious cities and settings, is accompanied here by the Basel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, the nephew of famous Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. © SM / Qobuz

Cuban-born American soprano Lisette Oropesa is a newcomer to the world of opera singers, releasing an album devoted to the French operas of Rossini and Donizetti. Unusually, she was thrust into the public eye when a member of the audience sang an excerpt from La Traviata with her during a recital at the Verdi Festival in Parma, Italy, in 2021. The video immediately went viral around the world.The young singer has become a real star since her debut at the MET in New York, where she played Susanna in The marriage of Figaro at the age of 22, and then went on to receive great success at the Paris Opera in Abduction from the Seraglio (Konstanze), Rigoletto (Gilda) and The Barber of Seville (Rosina). She dedicates this brilliant recital with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Corrado Rovaris) to the ‘Grande Boutique’, the nickname given by Verdi to the Paris Opera.There are excerpts from Rossini's Siège de Corinthe, Guillaume Tell and Comte Ory alongside Donizetti’s Les Martyrs, Lucia di Lammermoor and La Fille du regiment. The latter concludes the album with his famous Salut à la France, which was patriotically performed on bank holiday evenings on the 14th of July in many French opera houses. At the Metropolitan Opera in New York on 28th December 1940 – the start of the German occupation – this aria was sung by Lily Pons and followed by La Marseillaise (the French national anthem) sung by soloists and chorus. © François Hudry/Qobuz