Your basket is empty

Categories:
Narrow my search:

Results 1 to 20 out of a total of 3243
From
HI-RES$28.09
CD$24.09

Verdi: Macbeth

Luciano Pavarotti

Classical - Released January 1, 1993 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

Hi-Res Booklet
From
HI-RES$24.71
CD$19.77

Verdi: Rigoletto

Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Opera - Released November 10, 2017 | Delos

Hi-Res Booklet
Nashville is rough on the living, but she really speaks well of the dead, says a country song, and opera is the same way. Recordings by the late Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky have soared on the charts since his untimely death. Along with the superb song album Russia Cast Adrift, this one makes a suitable memorial. Hvorostovsky was never a typical Italian opera baritone, and that was what made his performances of Rigoletto over the years so well loved; they stood apart from the crowd. This version was made in Kaunas, Lithuania (in the Philharmonic Hall -- it is not a live recording), in 2016, after the baritone's diagnosis with brain cancer. Cognoscenti may grouse that at certain junctures Hvorostovsky's voice has less power than formerly (which, at his age, would have been true even without his illness), but the essential qualities that made him a great Rigoletto are on full display here. Where Western baritones sing, Hvorostovsky growls, rasps, and snarls, and the role of the exquisitely bitter jester has rarely come alive as it does here. The rest of the cast is decidedly not as strong; soprano Nadine Sierra can't decide whether Gilda should be a wounded innocent or something more substantial, and her pitches are often less than stable. Yet this is how it should be. With a star of Hvorostovsky's magnitude, the focus should be on the star, and that is where it resides. Clean accompaniment by the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra that effectively stays out of his way is another plus. An essential for Hvorostovsky lovers. © TiVo
From
HI-RES$21.99
CD$16.99

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Op. 10 No. 3, Op. 26 & "Grande sonate pathétique", Op. 13

Gianluca Cascioli

Classical - Released February 2, 2024 | Arcana

Hi-Res Booklet
From
HI-RES$24.71
CD$19.77

Verdi : I due Foscari (Live)

Ivan Repušić

Opera - Released July 5, 2019 | BR-Klassik

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason
From
HI-RES$19.89
CD$17.19

Verdi

Ludovic Tezier

Classical - Released February 5, 2021 | Sony Classical

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or / Arte
It was time for Ludovic Tézier to finally provide his admirers with a recital. His performances as a Verdian baritone are impressive: Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff, Giorgio Germont (La Traviata), Posa (Don Carlo), Le Conte De Luna (Il Trovatore), Renato (Un ballo in maschera), Iago (Otello). And almost all of these are reprised in this solo album. To this impressive list of stage roles, Tézier brings the welcome addition of arias from Ernani, Macbeth and Nabucco all accompanied by Frédéric Chaslin at the head of the orchestra of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna. It was in 1998 in Tel Aviv that the French baritone played his first Verdian role. He was thirty years old when he was Ford in a production of Falstaff. "There is an absolutely fascinating energy in Verdi, both for the audience and for the singers", he admits. "His roles are usually very challenging, but his music acts at the same time as a fountain of youth. Verdi is brimming with vitality, which is what allowed me to return to the stage just two days after my father's death". Now with a fully-matured voice, Ludovic Tézier is in demand all over the world for his Verdi roles. He is one of the best performers of Verdi's work, standing alongside the late Piero Cappuccilli who remains his great role model. This record offers timely confirmation of his stature. © François Hudry/Qobuz
From
CD$7.90

Verdi : Le Trouvère (Diapason n°609)

Choeur de L'Opera de Vienne

Classical - Released September 25, 2011 | Les Indispensables de Diapason

Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
From
CD$28.59

Verdi: Falstaff

Herbert von Karajan

Classical - Released March 14, 2011 | Warner Classics

Distinctions Choc de Classica
From
CD$9.19

Haendel: Opera Seria

Sandrine Piau

Classical - Released November 2, 2004 | naïve classique

From
CD$26.59

Verdi: La Traviata

Anna Moffo

Classical - Released December 29, 1997 | Living Stereo

From
HI-RES$24.71
CD$19.77

Verdi: Rigoletto (Live)

Orchestre du Mai Musical Florentin

Opera - Released January 21, 2022 | Dynamic

Hi-Res Booklet
Rigoletto is regarded as the first operatic masterpiece of Verdi’s mature artistic period. Its complex psychology identifies characters with different styles of music, and with an incredible variety of accents for a central figure conceived by the composer as "deformed and laughable, but actually passionate and full of love". From the famous aria "La donna è mobile", to the final horrific tragedy as the curse unfolds, the triumphant success of Rigoletto since its premiere in 1851 has endured to the present day. © Dynamic
From
CD$5.99

Les Arts Florissants: Music & Theater

Les Arts Florissants

Classical - Released April 5, 2019 | harmonia mundi

Booklet
From
HI-RES$24.71
CD$19.77

Verdi: La Traviata

Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Opera - Released January 29, 2008 | Farao Classics

Hi-Res
Farao Classic's recording of La Traviata is revelatory, largely because of the extraordinary quality of the principals who, until this release, were largely unknown to international audiences. Anja Harteros is a stunningly effective Violetta -- fresh and young sounding, with absolute vocal security and interpretive sensitivity. Her tone is natural and unforced, she sings with beautiful intonation, and the skill and psychological range and insight with which she shapes the vocal lines make this a performance of the highest order. Her of renunciation of Alfredo and her death scene are heartbreakingly poignant, great moments of theater. Her voice and her dramatic depth clearly mark Harteros as an artist to watch out for. The same could be said for Paolo Gavanelli; his burnished, vibrant tone in service to a nuanced, compassionate characterization makes his Germont genuinely compelling. Piotr Beczala makes an intense, passionate Alfredo, and he sings with an open-throated, clarion sound, but he sounds too consistently overwrought to be completely persuasive. Zubin Mehta is in top form, in complete control of the score's tragic dramatic arc; his reading is both shapely in its details and propulsive in its theatricality. The Bayerischen Staatsorchester and the Chorus of the Bayerischen Staatsoper are fully responsive to his direction and perform with finesse and urgency. The SACD's clarity, presence, and balance are unusually good for a live recording. This fine new version should be of strong interest to anyone who loves the opera. © TiVo
From
CD$17.19

Verdi : Otello

Tullio Serafin

Classical - Released March 18, 2016 | Sony Classical

Distinctions Diapason d'or
From
HI-RES$25.29
CD$21.89

Verdi : La Forza del Destino (Remastered)

Thomas Schippers

Classical - Released January 1, 1965 | Sony Classical

Hi-Res
From
HI-RES$21.09
CD$18.09

Carl Nielsen: The Symphonies

Danish National Symphony Orchestra

Classical - Released April 21, 2023 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet
Fabio Luisi and his musicians from the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, for which he has been the musical director since 2014, worked extensively to play the vast corpus of Carl Nielsen's Six Symphonies before recording them for Deutsche Grammophon over three sessions in 2022. We immediately revel in the beauty of the sound recordings made in the warm acoustics of the Copenhagen Symphony Hall built by Jean Nouvel. With a reverberating sound giving an airy sense to the entire ensemble, the sound plans are clearly defined and always remain readable, without overloading or saturating the ears.In the Scandinavian countries and Northern Europe, the symphony took some time to really take off. In the 19th century, the Swedish recluse, Franz Berwald, did not have a following despite the very original and personal style he gave to his four symphonies. While a few adventurous composers have made attempts, it wasn’t until after the two masterful cycles by Sibelius and Nielsen that the genre really came into its own.Composed between 1892 and 1925, Carl Nielsen's Six Symphonies are, like those of Sibelius, six masterpieces. They represent an immense field of research, with an expressive power of great force. While the first two remain somewhat dependent on the Brahmsian model, they already demonstrate a very personal fearlessness, combining both style and harmony. The array of moods expressed in these works did not escape Maestro Fabio Luisi, who endeavoured, above all to exalt the dark and dramatic, even violent, side of Nielsen's music, demonstrating similar levels of drama previously created by Bruckner, Mahler, and Shostakovich. He is accompanied by an all-encompassing orchestra of exceptional quality, endowed with a great richness of tone and incredible sound power resources. It represents an essential gateway for appreciating a great composer’s music, one who’s symphonic repertoire can be considered somewhat “off the beaten track,” in a world where we usually say “well-worn.” © François Hudry/Qobuz
From
HI-RES$60.09
CD$52.09

Haydn - 48 Piano Sonatas

Daniel-Ben Pienaar

Classical - Released August 25, 2023 | Avie Records

Hi-Res Booklet
From
CD$19.77

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas

Annie Fischer

Classical - Released April 15, 2001 | Hungaroton

From
HI-RES$16.49
CD$10.99

Debussy : Les Trois Sonates, The Late Works

Isabelle Faust

Chamber Music - Released October 5, 2018 | harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason - Gramophone Editor's Choice - 5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik
Marking the centennial of Claude Debussy's death, Harmonia Mundi has steadily released multiple volumes in a 2018 series of his complete works, freshly recorded by some of the label's leading artists. Debussy: Les Trois Sonates - The Late Works, like previous titles in the acclaimed series, is presented in a handsome trim-line box, though this release contains only a single CD and a thin booklet, so it is a bit over-packaged. However, the evocative performances of the Sonata for violin and piano, the Sonata for flute, viola, and harp, and the Sonata for cello and piano make the purchase worthwhile, and connoisseurs will regard this as one of the most sublime Debussy releases of the year. Featuring violinist Isabelle Faust and pianist Alexander Melnikov in the Violin Sonata, Debussy's last completed work; flutist Magali Mosnier, violist Antoine Tamestit, and harpist Xavier de Maistre in the Sonata for flute, viola, and harp; and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and pianist Javier Perianes in the Cello Sonata, the program boasts artists of exceptional artistry and expressive depth, all ideally suited to these refined and sometimes rarefied works. Interspersed between the chamber compositions are four keyboard works, performed by Tanguy de Williencourt in somewhat introspective readings that complement the more conversational ensemble pieces, though in Debussy's music, the emphasis on atmosphere tends to make everything seem reflective and intimate. The recorded sound is clean and transparent, which is ideal for capturing subtle nuances in quiet passages. © TiVo
From
CD$54.09

Radu Lupu - Complete Decca Solo Recordings

Radu Lupu

Classical - Released January 1, 2010 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or - The Qobuz Ideal Discography
It takes only 10 discs to contain the complete solo Decca recordings of Radu Lupu, one of the great pianists of the late 20th century. It's also amazing that these few recordings stretch over a quarter of a century, from 1971 to 1995, making Lupu one of the most infrequently recorded of the great pianists; even Argerich and Michelangeli have outdistanced him. Yet even that is not the most amazing thing about this collection; it is the performances themselves, some of which are among the greatest ever made. Has any pianist ever topped Lupu's heroic account of Brahms' F minor Sonata, or his poetic readings of the composer's late piano works? Has any ever equaled, much less surpassed, his deeply inward performances of Schubert's Moments musicaux or his two sets of Impromptus? Has any account of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata ever glowed brighter, or any reading of the "Waldstein" Sonata ever been more ecstatically serene? And has any pianist ever caught the uncanny mixture of the playful, the romantic, and the diabolical in Schumann's Kreisleriana? Anyone interested in great piano playing should avail themselves of these superlative performances at their earliest possible opportunity.© TiVo