Your basket is empty

Categories:

Results 1 to 20 out of a total of 3389

Bellini: Il Pirata

Vincenzo Bellini

Opera - Released November 19, 2021 | Prima Classic

Booklet
Download not available
Carried off by an intestinal perforation at the age of 33 in Puteaux, at the gates of Paris, this son of Catania is still greatly appreciated in his native city, where this new studio recording of Il pirata, Vincenzo Bellini's first major opera, first performed at La Scala in Milan in 1827, was made. With this work, the young Sicilian author distanced himself from the Rossinian style then in vogue by giving free rein to his incomparable melodic verve.Chopin's unbounded admiration for Bellini is well known, and the melodic contours of his music ripple through the works of the Polish composer, who was not an admirer of too many other people. The Pirate is full of superb melodies, such as Imogene's aria 'Lo sognai ferito' in the first act, Gualtiero's cantilena 'Pietosa al padre' and the last scene of the work, whose instrumental introduction presages Norma's famous 'Casta diva'.Recorded in the summer of 2020 at the Teatro Sangiorgi in Catania, a recently restored old Liberty style theatre, this new version, vigorously conducted by Fabrizio Maria Carminati at the head of the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, is distinguished by its absolute completeness, with all the repeats, original cadenzas and variations written by the singers, and with its rarely performed Finale.Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka reigns supreme over this recording released by Prima Classic, her own label. Alongside this immense bel canto, Javier Camarena was needed to overcome the extraordinary difficulties of a score that is not sparing of those vocal effects and top notes that can enchant an entire hall. A bel canto specialising in the works of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, the Mexican tenor triumphs on the great stages of the world, especially at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he is one of the very few singers to be recalled to the stage. © François Hudry/Qobuz
From
CD$8.09

Beatrice di Tenda

Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin

Classical - Released January 1, 1993 | Brilliant Classics

From
CD$30.09

Giuseppe Verdi : Luisa Miller

Katia Ricciarelli

Classical - Released January 1, 1980 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

From
HI-RES$31.79
CD$24.59

Louise Bertin: Fausto

Les Talens Lyriques

Classical - Released January 26, 2024 | Bru Zane

Hi-Res Booklet
The classical best-seller charts are unfamiliar environs for the Palazzetto Bru Zane label, which specializes in forgotten 19th century opera. However, this release achieved best-seller status in early 2024, and this is absolutely no surprise, for Louise Bertin's Fausto is a remarkable work. One wonders how long it will take programmers to present it in a cycle with Berlioz's and Gounod's versions of the Faust tale (and perhaps Arrigo Boito's); the work is colorful in the extreme and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser even though it closed after three performances in 1831 and was shelved for the next 190 years. Perhaps the opera mixed so many influences that audiences just did not know what to make of it. Bertin, who was 25 when the work had its premiere in Paris, wrote the libretto herself in Italian. It has all the trappings of Rossinian opera -- fortepiano-accompanied recitative, aria, scena, preghiera, cavatina, big multi-part finales ending with a fast stretta -- but the effect of the music is completely different, and the settings stand up to the weighty aspect of the material. It is as if Weber had written a Faust opera, sometimes even as if Beethoven had written one. The role of Faust is sung by a mezzo-soprano, which is how Bertin wrote it, although a tenor version also exists. This results in intriguing equal-status duets between Karine Deshayes as Fausto and Karina Gauvin as Margarita. Conductor Christophe Rousset catches the ambition and the drama; his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques uses historical instruments but wisely bulks up to an adequate size for the work. Palazzetto Bru Zane, as usual, does the opera justice sonically with a studio recording. This is a remarkable release, not only for lovers of 19th century opera or those interested in music by women, but for anyone.© James Manheim /TiVo
From
HI-RES$31.79
CD$24.59

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Céphale et Procris

Reinoud Van Mechelen

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
From
HI-RES$27.99
CD$22.39

Vivaldi : Il Giustino

Ottavio Dantone

Full Operas - Released November 16, 2018 | naïve classique

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason - Gramophone Editor's Choice - Choc de Classica
From
HI-RES$17.49
CD$13.99

Casta Diva - Operatic arias transcribed for trumpet

Matilda Lloyd

Opera - Released April 28, 2023 | Chandos

Hi-Res Booklet
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
From
HI-RES$12.79
CD$10.19

Vivaldi, Cantate per soprano I

Arianna Vendittelli

Classical - Released November 12, 2021 | naïve

Hi-Res Booklet
This new recording in the Edition Vivaldi series – the first of two volumes dedicated to Vivaldi’s "cantate da camera" for soprano – displays the energetic vitality with which a new generation of artists in their thirties is encountering the baroque repertoire. This sixty-eighth album of the Edition highlights the expressively powerful voice of the soloist, soprano Arianna Vendittelli, already heard in the operas Il Tamerlano (2020) and Il Giustino (2018) conducted by Ottavio Dantone, as well as the artistic vision and high standards of the harpsichordist, organist and conductor Andrea Buccarella, who in 2018 carried off the first prize at the Bruges International Early Music Competition with his Abchordis Ensemble. In these six cantatas – of around thirty attributed to the Venetian master and composed between 1718 and the mid 1730s – these artists display their enhanced vocal and instrumental artistry, and a profound understanding of Vivaldi’s scores. No subtlety escapes these artists in their interpretation of this secular vocal genre, so fashionable during the 18th century, and still being rediscovered today, with its alternating arias and recitatives.
From
HI-RES$17.59
CD$15.09

The Off-Season

J. Cole

Hip-Hop/Rap - Released May 14, 2021 | Dreamville, Inc., Under exclusive license to Roc Nation Records

Hi-Res
J. Cole can come across as a man with something to prove. The Off-Season opens up with the hysteria-inducing blowout piece 95.south, followed by amari, which is strongly influenced by the Chicago sound. These choices seem to show us a J. Cole who is trying to contradict his image as a nice rapper, but for all that, hardness isn't necessarily his strong suit. J. Cole's real strength, as this sixth album shows, is that balance between modern sounds, boom bap samples and vocal melodies that he has been putting out throughout his career, in which smart songwriting trumps pure attitude. Tracks like close or the.climb.back demonstrate this perfectly. Although sometimes a bit hampered by the artist's affected seriousness, this album is nevertheless one of his best releases in five years. Listen to one of its singles, my.life featuring 21 Savage and Morray, and you'll be convinced. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz
From
HI-RES$24.71
CD$19.77

Bizet: Carmen, WD 31 (Live)

Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra

Opera - Released October 12, 2018 | Orfeo

Hi-Res Booklet
From
HI-RES$16.59
CD$14.39

Scarlatti - Father and Son. Cantatas and Sonatas (con idea humana)

Tenta La Fuga

Classical - Released May 5, 2023 | Prospero Classical

Hi-Res

Il Disco Del Sole

Jovanotti

Pop - Released December 8, 2022 | Universal Music Italia srL.

Download not available
From
HI-RES$38.99
CD$29.29

Handel: Rodelinda

The English Concert

Classical - Released May 14, 2021 | Linn Records

Hi-Res Booklet
Handel's Rodelinda, regina de' Longobardi, HWV 19, was a hit at its first performance in 1725 and has dropped out of the repertory only during periods when all of Handel's operas did. It is absolutely loaded with great Handelian tunes and also has a more-than-coherent plot involving an imprisoned queen in a conquered Milan, the intrigue that swirls around her among her lustful conquerors, and her disguised husband, Bertarido, who attempts to rescue her. The lead role has drawn star sopranos from Joan Sutherland on down, but many listeners will be drawn to the singing here of Lucy Crowe, who really inhabits the role. She sang it with the Dutch National Opera, and here, she returns with convincing delivery that will keep listeners' heads out of the libretto. She is aided by the clean playing of the English Concert under Harry Bicket, who leads from the harpsichord, and a strong supporting cast, including the ideal Iestyn Davies as Bertarido. This performance was planned for the English Concert's annual live concert at Carnegie Hall in New York; that was canceled due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, but Bicket and the group decided to record the opera instead, inaugurating a new series of Handel operas. The socially distanced playing and singing at St. John's Smith Square is a little rusty in spots, and the venue is somewhat airy for the music, but all in all, this is a Handel opera performance that makes one anxious for more of the same for the performers.© TiVo
From
HI-RES$14.49
CD$10.49

Monteverdi : Madrigali (Cremona), Vol. 1

Paul Agnew

Classical - Released May 11, 2015 | Les Arts Florissants

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason - Gramophone Award - Gramophone Editor's Choice - Choc de Classica
From
CD$13.09

Lo chiamavano Trinità (Original Soundtrack)

Franco Micalizzi

Film Soundtracks - Released October 1, 2013 | Carosello Records

From
CD$16.99

Monteverdi & Marazzoli : Combattimenti !

Vincent Dumestre

Classical - Released October 21, 2010 | Alpha Classics

Booklet Distinctions Choc de Classica
From
HI-RES$17.59
CD$15.09

Passione

Freddie De Tommaso

Classical - Released April 9, 2021 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

Hi-Res Booklet
Twenty-something Freddie De Tommaso has been the subject of plenty of buzz since signing with the major Decca label, and Passione, his debut release, has performed strongly on the charts right out of the box. It's something of a tenor throwback release, with semi-popular pieces made famous by the likes of Caruso and Mario Lanza. These are fun; the pieces by Paolo Tosti aren't heard as often as they should be, and there's a convincing English-language setting of Cara mia by Mantovani (ditto). Yet, De Tommaso also sings a couple of Puccini songs newly arranged for orchestra, and it is perhaps here that he impresses most. He does not have pure vocal sweetness, but he has charisma and command, and in the involved melodic structures of the Puccini pieces, with explosive high notes, he's quite absorbing. He gets sympathetic support from the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Renato Balsadonna, and the whole thing is attractively recorded. This is definitely a young tenor to watch, and many of these pieces are soon going to be all over British radio if they aren't already. © TiVo
From
HI-RES$24.70
CD$19.76

Cadmus & Hermione

Vincent Dumestre

Classical - Released May 1, 2021 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

Hi-Res Booklet
Jean-Baptiste Lully's Cadmus & Hermione of 1673 was arguably the first true French opera, telling a tragic story (Lully and his librettist Philippe Quinault called it a tragédie en lyrique), employing Italian-style recitatives, and collecting the varied music and dance forms of Louis XIV's opulent court into a coherent narrative that at once celebrated Louis (he is conflated with Cadmus of Thebes) and moved beyond the ceremonial nature of earlier French dramatic music. It's a sprawling work, with five acts, an overture, and a sizable Prologue with its own overture; highlights include a dragon that eats Africans, a monster snake, and a full complement of Greek gods and goddesses. Realization of the work has, until now, been beyond the means of early music performance groups, and this is the world premiere recording of the opera, made in 2019 and based on a 2008 performance at Versailles Palace by some of the same performers. The leader is Vincent Dumestre, conducting the Le Poème Harmonique orchestra and the vocal ensembles Aedes. The forces are large enough to capture the splendor of the music (thankfully, no one-voice-per-part techniques here), and Dumestre is alert to the huge variety of musical devices Lully brings to bear on his story; there are dances, big choruses, bagpipes, and much more. Cadmus & Hermione may be a difficult work to bring to life for modern audiences, but Dumestre keeps things moving along and probably comes as close as anyone could. Of course, anyone interested in the life of the French court in the 17th century will find this an essential acquisition that will keep giving and giving. © TiVo
From
CD$12.55

Olympia 2005

Nadau

Pop - Released August 28, 2018 | Pyrène

From
CD$22.39

Antonio Vivaldi : Orlando Finto Pazzo (Opere teatrale, vol. 3)

Alessandro De Marchi

Full Operas - Released April 27, 2004 | naïve classique