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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
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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
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Handel: Giulio Cesare, HWV 17

Alan Curtis

Classical - Released November 20, 2012 | naïve

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Gramophone Editor's Choice
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Verdi : Ernani (Remastered)

Thomas Schippers

Classical - Released January 1, 1968 | Sony Classical

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Verdi: Falstaff

Herbert von Karajan

Classical - Released March 14, 2011 | Warner Classics

Distinctions Choc de Classica
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Bellini: La Sonnambula

Dame Joan Sutherland

Classical - Released January 1, 1962 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

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Verdi: Falstaff

London Symphony Orchestra

Opera - Released October 11, 2004 | LSO Live

Colin Davis' 2004 recording of Verdi's Falstaff is a strong entry in the LSO Live series, anchored by Michele Pertusi's wooly but authoritative turn as the titular anti-hero. Falstaff, though immensely entertaining on-stage, is one of the hardest operas to capture in recordings: the dense interplay of characters, the busy stage action, and the general ensemble nature of the piece make it a difficult listen unless your Italian and your attention span are both top-notch. The most any recording can hope to do is capture the madcap energy and vivid vocal characterizations and leave the rest to the imagination, and in that sense this is a very solid effort. The mere sound of Pertusi's voice announces his identity from the start, and his performance is invested with a giddy, self-important raunchiness that he seems born to deliver. Similarly, the voices of Bülent Bezdüz and Maria Josè Moreno are perfectly cast as Fenton and Nanetta; even if you're lost by the time they sing their first duet, you'll know that young love is in the air. Carlos Alvarez's dark, knotty baritone is perfectly chosen to convey the self-important and jealous aristocrat Ford, particularly in his signature rant against the trustworthiness of women. The rest of the cast, led by Ana Ibarra as Alice Ford (the target of Falstaff's affection), brings liveliness and admirable clarity to the ensembles. Davis and the LSO keep up the frenetic pace without sacrificing much in the way of precision, and Davis' sense of pacing serves the piece extremely well, although he rushes Dame Quickly's cartoonish Act I "Reverenza"s in a way that robs them of their comedy. The sound engineering and production are excellent. © TiVo
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Bellini: La Sonnambula

Dame Joan Sutherland

Classical - Released January 1, 1982 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

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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
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Écho & Narcisse

Hervé Niquet

Classical - Released August 25, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Casta Diva - Operatic arias transcribed for trumpet

Matilda Lloyd

Opera - Released April 28, 2023 | Chandos

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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
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Verdi : Aida (Remastered)

Erich Leinsdorf

Classical - Released January 1, 1971 | Sony Classical

Hi-Res Distinctions 5 de Diapason
« En 1970, neuf ans après la mythique version Solti, Leontyne Price, malgré un médium moins nourri, reste une Aïda d'anthologie, d'une irrésistible sensualité. Sous la baguette experte d'Erich Leinsdorf, à Londres, Grace Bumbry, séduisante et redoutable, Placido Domingo entre vaillance et abandon, Sherill Milnes, père inflexible, sont à sa hauteur.» (Diapason, mars 2018 / Didier Van Moere)
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53°32'46.0"N 9°59'42.4''E (Bach Organ Landscapes / Hamburg)

Jörg Halubek

Classical - Released December 3, 2021 | Berlin Classics

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You'll need your latest smartphone if you want to understand anything about the latest albums by the wacky German organist Jörg Halubek. Of course, the name Halubek is already a bit of an in-joke itself if one considers the journey to Lübeck (!) that Bach made in 1705, on foot, to meet Dietrich Buxtehude, the greatest German composer of his time. Underneath the GPS coordinates of the places and instruments frequented by Bach, we see Jörg Halubek from the back, looking out over the endless sea as in a painting by Caspar David Friedrich.More seriously, Jörg Halubek is a complete musician. An organist and harpsichordist, he also studied period performance practice with Jesper Christensen and Andrea Marcon at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, before forming his own ensemble, il Gusto Barocco, with whom he has made several recordings. This new volume of his Bach complete works, "Bach Organ Landscapes", undertaken since 2019 for the Berlin Classics label, takes us this time to Hamburg.Together with the Toccata in C, BWV 564, the works on this album represent the influence of the North German style on Bach's music. There are also some works composed before the trip to Lübeck and chorale preludes from his apprenticeship in Lüneburg. This project is based on ten historical organ builders who played a role in the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Haendel: Opera Seria

Sandrine Piau

Classical - Released November 2, 2004 | naïve classique

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Les Arts Florissants: Music & Theater

Les Arts Florissants

Classical - Released April 5, 2019 | harmonia mundi

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Don Giovanni (Intégrale)

Hans Rosbaud

Full Operas - Released July 19, 2007 | INA Mémoire vive

Booklet Distinctions 4 étoiles du Monde de la Musique
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Scarlatti - Father and Son. Cantatas and Sonatas (con idea humana)

Tenta La Fuga

Classical - Released May 5, 2023 | Prospero Classical

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Verdi : Il Trovatore (Remastered)

Zubin Mehta

Classical - Released September 16, 2013 | Sony Classical

Hi-Res Distinctions The Qobuz Ideal Discography
Unquestionably a jewel in the crown of the discography: incandescent and inspired conducting from start to finish (under the baton of Zubin Mehta, not the only example), and great voices of the time, sumptuous and committed — Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto, Sherrill Milnes and Placido Domingo. A fascinating and burning work is answered by an interpretation of flesh, fire and ashes to be counted in the leading pack of Trovatori in the catalog. (Qobuz/GG) 
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Atys

Christophe Rousset

Opera - Released January 5, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Backed by the Sun King despite a lukewarm audience reception at first, Lully's Atys (1676) went on to become one of the composer's most successful operas, with revivals at French court theaters as late as 1753. In modern times, however, it is a considerably rarer item due to the massive forces and time required. Christophe Rousset was in the pit as harpsichordist when conductor William Christie gave the first modern revival of the work in the late '80s. That experience marks this 2024 release, which made classical best-seller lists at the beginning of that year. That is not common for a hefty five-act Baroque opera, but even a bit of sampling will confirm why it happened: Rousset, from the keyboard, brings tremendous energy to the opera. He pushes the tempo in the numerous dances and entrance numbers, and the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques and the singers of the Choeur du Chambre de Namur, all of whom have worked closely with Rousset in the past, keep right up. The singers in the solo roles are all fine; haut-contre Reinoud Van Mechelen in the title role and Ambroisine Bré as the goddess Cybèle, who sets the tragic plot in motion, are standouts. The sound from the increasingly engineering-expert Château de Versailles label is exceptionally clear in complex textures, and the sensuous cover art (representing, it is true, not the Roman mythological figure of Atys but Hippomène and Atalante) is a bonus. In the end, this is Rousset's Atys, and that is a very good thing.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Jules Massenet: Ariane

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Classical - Released September 8, 2023 | Bru Zane

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
For many years, it was only Manon and Werther that were heard among Massenet's operas, but his reputation appears to be on the rise, and his champion, conductor Laurent Campellone, has recorded a good number of them. Ariane, from 1906, is one of the last to receive its recorded premiere. The Palazzetto Bru Zane label, specializing in obscure French opera, does a typically fine job here; the sound is superb, and the cast of singers, led by the soprano Amina Edris in the lead role, offers several revelations. In his later operas, Massenet often attempted to put a French stamp on the newer styles of the day, and here, it is Wagner who gets this treatment; the opera is built around a set of motifs de rappel (or "reminiscence motifs"), whose parentage in Wagner's leitmotifs is clear. This structure is shoehorned into the durable machinery of French opera. There are big entrance scenes, a pantomime, and plenty of spectacular stage machinery to go with the love triangle plot involving Ariane (Ariadne), Phèdre (Phaedra), and Theseus, who gets to take on the Minotaur in a grand scene with Wagnerian bass trumpet and bass trombone. Massenet's orchestration is impressive throughout. The work does not have the inevitability of truly great art, but it is in no way dull, and anyone with any interest in French opera should hear it for the singers alone; enough of those listeners have already weighed in and put the album on classical best-seller lists in the late summer of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo