Great+recordings

The album includes some rarities, among them "Mira, o Norma" from Norma and "Santo di patria" from Attila. It also features excerpts from Sills' complete recording of Massenet's Manon plus excerpts from La Traviata and Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Readers familiar with Yogi Berra might comment that it's déjà vu all over again, as it has been not even two years since Deutsche Grammophon devoted a two-CD compilation to Beverly Sills. That one was called The Art of Beverly Sills (DG 471766-2), and it included 134 minutes of excerpts from "Bubbles's" operatic recordings and recitals. The Great Recordings does not copy a single note of what was on the earlier compilation, which is good, but I must grumble that the result is that Sills' Mozart and Richard Strauss record – one of my favorites – now has been divided between two separate releases and three separate discs, and that excerpts from her complete recordings of Manon and Hoffmann are similarly scattered. So much for continuity! Perhaps DG will repackage the two 2-CD sets and reunite the divided material. Better yet, perhaps they will embark on a comprehensive "Sills Edition" of everything they can get their hands on, and release it at a very reasonable price!

Leopold Stokowski’s eminence as one of the truly great conductors of the 20th century over a career spanning more than six decades is exemplified in this set, which features live performances in stereo of symphonies and other works he conducted in concert during his final years and which, in many cases, he had premiered on record as well. In one of the many outstanding reviews of these live concerts, the distinguished Times critic William Mann wrote of the 1963 ‘Proms’ premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No.2: “A performance which was superb by any standards, meticulously loyal, noble and deeply felt out of long and thoughtful experience”. The set has been newly remastered to reflect Stokowski’s instructions on how he wanted his recordings to sound.

Leopold Stokowski’s eminence as one of the truly great conductors of the 20th century over a career spanning more than six decades is exemplified in this set, which features live performances in stereo of symphonies and other works he conducted in concert during his final years and which, in many cases, he had premiered on record as well. In one of the many outstanding reviews of these live concerts, the distinguished Times critic William Mann wrote of the 1963 ‘Proms’ premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No.2: “A performance which was superb by any standards, meticulously loyal, noble and deeply felt out of long and thoughtful experience”. The set has been newly remastered to reflect Stokowski’s instructions on how he wanted his recordings to sound.