After three decades of Carmen in opéra comique-style, each one offering its own brand of authenticity, here we are back in the 19th century with the old grand opera version, with the Guiraud recitatives, tacked on after Bizet’s death. This was the way Carmen was usually performed until the 1950s, when producers and scholars started to reconsider the original.
For 30 years Michel Plasson has recorded French music exclusively for EMI Classics. This exclusive box is truly unique as it covers all the masterpieces of French repertoire: concertos by Ravel, Fauré's Requiem, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Bizet's only symphony, L'Arlesienne; Lalo's Symphony; etc . . .
For 30 years Michel Plasson has recorded French music exclusively for EMI Classics. This exclusive box is truly unique as it covers all the masterpieces of French repertoire: concertos by Ravel, Fauré's Requiem, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Bizet's only symphony, L'Arlesienne; Lalo's Symphony; etc . . .
Diva is an entertaining and attractively packaged compilation of Angela Gheorghiu's EMI recordings made between 1996 and 2002. All of the selections have appeared on previous releases, but some of them only in the context of complete operas. As a one-disc snapshot of Gheorghiu's career so far, Diva does pretty well, and it would make a good first choice for anyone looking to get to know her work.
Roberto Alagna is the kind of ‘opera singer’ who can sing for all with such infectious pleasure that all we can do is sit back and enjoy. And so happy are we to listen to him that there’s only one thing we feel we should say to him: thank you. This collection features aria from Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Gounoud, Massenet, Bizet, Berlioz, Offenbach and Bernstein.