80° Banda Musicale Giuseppe Verdi

Decca proudly presents the Complete Works by Giuseppe Verdi in a single 75 CD box set. From the ever-popular “Aida” to the obscure “Alzira,” all 28 of Giuseppe Verdi's operas are here as well as his Sacred Works, Arias, Songs, Ballet Music, the String quartet and other rarities.

Of all Pavarotti´s opera recordings, this is, for me, the most memorable. Not just because of him: this 'Aida' is one of those opera recordings that offers the excitement of a live event, where everything gells. The singers do a good job individually - Chiara as a lovely Aida - but are even more convincing as an ensemble. Maazel conducts a sensitive performance, grander in scale than Abbado, Muti and many others.
-By E. J. Van Sten

Au moment de cet enregistrement, au début des années quatre-vingt, Sir Georg Solti était encore tout auréolé du prestige d'une précédente interprétation du Bal masqué réalisée en 33 tours. Plus encore que dans la première mouture, le chef d'origine hongroise exacerbe ici la violence du drame, poussant tous les personnages vers leur destin, dans un souffle épique d'une rare intensité. Une distribution quasiment idéale fait face au chef : un Pavarotti de la grande époque, un Bruson idiomatique et une Christa Ludwig d'une ardeur insoupçonnée.

Between 1960 and 1981, the music label Deutsche Grammophon recorded the eight greatest operas (plus the Requiem) composed by Verdi at La Scala in Milan…

Joan Sutherland who, three years earlier had wowed the world with her Lucia, easily accomplishes the act 1 coloratura… She does manage to inflect emotion into Violetta’s solos in act 3 with a particularly poignant rendering of the letter scene. Bergonzi’s Alfredo in this recording is one of his best assumptions on record. His voice is at its lightest with near perfect legato and with phrasing that other tenors can only aspire to.