Boa Sorte (2014)

The rediscovery of the almost forgotten opera seria repertory of the 18th century has led to spectacular aria recitals by stars as big as Renée Fleming as well as a host of European and American specialists. Recordings of entire operas, other than those by Handel, have been a good deal rarer; even Vivaldi hasn't really gotten his due. Now comes this major-label release of an opera by Johann Adolf Hasse, a German composer who conquered Italy (they called him "Il Caro Sassone," the dear Saxon) and married one of the leading sopranos of the age, Faustina Bordoni. Siroe is an adapation of a story also set by Handel, in a slightly different version; the libretto here is by Pietro Metastasio, despite his cancer-evoking name the most famous operatic dramatist of the century.

The punk rock of the Sex Pistols and the Clash has had a major effect on the music of German vocalist and songwriter Phillip Boa. As leader of the Voodoo Club, from 1985 until 1993, Boa created some of Germany's hardest hitting music…

Betrayal, revenge, inheritance conflicts and forbidden love at the Persian court: in 1728 this explosive mixture inspired Handel to compose the successful opera 'Siroe, Re di Persia', one of his last compositions for the Royal Academy of Music at the King’s Theatre. Handel based his work on the libretto by the famous poet Pietro Metastasio. In its first season 'Siroe' was performed on 18 successive evenings, but was never subsequently revived in Handel’s lifetime.

A loopy concoction of transcendant post-punk pop. There are a few clunkers here (Primitive Man, I'm Waiting for my Man) but the brilliance of the gems (You Sent All My Letters, Happy Spider, They Say Hurray, Albert is a Headbanger, Fine Art in Silver, etc.) more than makes up for it…

This box set gathers the finest vocal recordings (opera, sacred music) from the Vivaldi Edition by some of the most reputed artists of today. Also it features the main vocal ranges: soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, bass.

Classical Opera continue their series of Mozart Operas on Signum with Mozarts Mitridate, re di Ponto, K. 87 (74a). Mozarts first great operatic success premiered at the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan on 26 Dec 1770, marking the culmination of Mozarts first trip to Italy. The work received an initial twenty-two performance run sure proof of success and news of this astonishing youthful work spread quickly. As well as the complete opera, this 4CD set includes a bonus disc featuring original versions of a number of arias from the opera that Mozart subsequently changed in the final version.

Rokoko is Croatian counter tenor Max Emanuel Cencic's 2014 release on Decca, in which he explores the elaborate and emotionally stirring arias of Johann Adolf Hasse, one of the neglected masters of 18th century opera. These 11 vocal selections reflect the popular taste of the period, oriented as it was to the extraordinary abilities of the great castrati. Supported by George Petrou and the period instruments group Armonia Atenea, which plays with authentic rococo sonorities, rhythmic vigor, and precision, Cencic displays astonishing virtuosity and power in the arias taken from Hasse's long forgotten operas, Arminio, Il Siroe, Tito Vespasiano, L'Olimpiade, Ipermestra, Il Trionfo di Clelia, La Spartana Generosa, and Tigrane, as well as an aria from the oratorio, Il Cantico de’ Tre Fanciulli.