80° Banda Musicale Giuseppe Verdi

After years of comparative neglect Giuseppe Martucci is taking his rightful place as one of the most important late romantic Italian composers. His style is a happy and individual mix of Wagner and Verdi, dramatic chromatism softened by lyrical, bel canto style melodies. Martucci was a composer, conductor, teacher and excellent pianist, who made extensive European tours as a soloist. His music from his early period is written in sophisticated salon style, charming and picturesque. Later Martucci wrote more substantial works, like the two Piano Trios and Piano Quintet recorded on this 2CD, full blooded romantic music in which the virtuoso pianism is proof of Martuccis great gift as a performer. Excellent performances by Italian forces: pianist Maria Semeraro and the Quartetto Noferini.

Renata Scotto (born 24 February 1934) is an Italian soprano and opera director.
Recognized for her sense of style, musicality and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, specializing in the bel canto repertoire with excursions into the verismo and Verdi repertoires.
Since retiring from the stage as a singer in 2002, she has turned successfully to directing opera as well as teaching in Italy and America, along with academic posts at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Juilliard School in New York.

Giuseppe Verdi: Falstaff – Tito Gobbi; Luigi Alva; Rolando Panerai; Elisabeth Schwartzkopf; Anna Moffo; Fedora Barbieri;
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus; Herbert von Karajan
Classical | 2 CDs + Bonus CD | EAC Rip | 636 MB (3% recovery) | FLAC+LOG+Cue | Complete scans
Publisher: EMI Classics | Recorded: 19563 | Published: 2011

None of the Falstaff recordings that have come along subsequently – 15 are listed on the current Gramophone Database, not including videos – has come close to what Karajan and his hand-picked cast achieved in Kingsway Hall, London, in June 1956. It will surely prove difficult to surpass its particular combination of virtues. - Gramophone

The Italian 19th Century is characterized by an unparalleled opera bulimia, the theaters tirelessly program stagings to be submitted to the perennial abstinents of “belcanto” and the music publishing industry that revolves around the phenomenon flourishes and gears up to not disappoint the fleets of music lovers.

The legendary Italian baritone Giuseppe Taddei, born in Genoa on 26 June 1926, passed away in Rome on 2 June. Equally adept at singing dramatic and comic roles, especially in bel canto scores, Mr. Taddei was one of the finest Verdi singers of the Twentieth Century. His Metropolitan Opera début, in his calling-card role of Falstaff, came in 1985, nearly fifty years after Mr. Taddei's professional début. Mr. Taddei possessed one of the most beautiful natural baritone voices of the Twentieth Century, a voice preserved on many standard-setting recordings. Voix-des-arts.blogspot.com

Ivan Repušić made his debut as principal conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra in September 2017 with Giuseppe Verdi's "Luisa Miller". It was followed by "I due Foscari" in October 2018 and "Attila" in October 2019 (the complete recordings have already been released by BR-KLASSIK on CD 900323, 900328 and 900330). His successful cycle of early masterpieces by the Italian opera composer continues with the recent concert performance on April 23, 2023 of Verdi's stage work "I Lombardi" – also at the Prinzregententheater in Munich. Authentic fluidity and vocal splendour are provided here once again by outstanding performers and the Bavarian Radio Chorus. The Munich Radio Orchestra plays under the direction of Ivan Repuŝić. - This highlight of Munich's musical life from the early part of this year has now been released by BR-KLASSIK as a double CD.

Andrea Bocelli's work in this Il Trovatore is remarkable. Power, nuance, accuracy, rich emotional range: his Manrico has all of these. If you take the word of those who for whatever reason want to see Bocelli fail (Jealousy? Inability to change an opinion? Ignorance of his current work? The mistaken notion that one person's success hurts another's chances?) and you miss this Il Trovatore, you are missing something phenomenal -Amazon-