Cavalleria Rusticana

Universal Music presents 5-CD box-set - 100 Film Classics. 100 Classic hits from classical movies and different genres. You can find out here Miles Davis, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ennio Morricone, The Beach Boys, Johnny Cash alongside with classical works by Mozart or Strauss.

André Rieu, the King of Waltz, and one of the most famous violinists of our time, will celebrate his 70th birthday in October this year. Universal is creating a unique and first-time catalogue release to tie in with the festive occasion. It will be 2CDs with all his greatest hits, waltzes, operas, musical and movie themes, 20th century defining songs and the song “Happy Birthday” (previously only released (physically) in Australia). A perfect collection and a rare Best Of for this occasion.

The great Russian bear has disgorged another magnificent voice. To encounter Galina Gorchakova for the first time, as I did, in the intimate surroundings of Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall was a hair-raising experience nobody would be likely to forget. Her blazing soprano has conquered audiences in the opera-house and, though the recordings which followed – such as Mazeppa (DG, 1/94) and Prince Igor (Philips, 4/95) – have sometimes raised doubts, they are not enough to obscure the essential message: Gorchakova promises to be one of the vocal giants of her generation.

Victoria de los Angeles was one of the finest lyric sopranos in the decades after World War II. She was born Victoria Gómez Cima, and learned to sing and play piano and guitar while still in school. She entered the Conservatorio de Liceo in Barcelona to study piano and singing, completing the six-year program in three and graduating with full honors. Her membership in the Conservatory's Ars Musicae gave her wide exposure to the art song repertory and Baroque and Renaissance music.