Lakme Opera

London Concertante presents a sensational evening at the opera with an array of the finest opera arias and overtures, performing works from Puccini, Verdi, Rossini, and Mozart. Enjoy some of the best from Madame Butterfly, Turandot, Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Carmen, Così fan tutte and so much more.

Decca, the opera company, presents a premium collection of the 100 most beautiful Opera tracks on 6 CDs. Enjoy classic arias and overtures, performed by the greatest opera stars of all time. Artists include Pavarotti, Bartoli, Fischer-Dieskau, Tebaldi, Calleja, Sutherland, Bergonzi, Ghiaurov, Freni, Nilsson, del Monaco, Domingo, Horne, Te Kanawa, Solti, von Karajan, Terfel, Price, Caballe, Kaufmann, Gheorghiu and more.

Callas Live Recordings - Live in Rome 1952 and San Remo 1954 - CD 1 of 11
Classical | 1 CD | FLAC CUE LOG | NO COVER NO BOOK | 266 MB
EMI B000069V7Q | Release Date: 2002

From early in her career, it was striking how Callas juxtaposed coloratura heroines, traditionally sung in previous decades by twittering sopranos such as Lily Pons, with heftier roles that Pons and her ilk would not have touched in a million years. The Rome recital (with Rome's Orchestra della RAI and conductor Oliviero de Fabritiis) is a fine example of this: Verdi's Lady Macbeth and Abigaille are followed by Donizetti's Lucia and Delibes' Lakmé, and it doesn't seem ridiculous or misguided at all. Granted, Delibes' Indian priestess does not give Callas much to sink her teeth into, dramatically speaking, but the coloratura is impressive. (Truth to tell, though, other singers jumped those hurdles better than she did.) Even with the conductor's excessively leisurely tempos, Callas creates a malevolent Lady Macbeth. She would be even better in this role later on – see below. The San Remo material (Orchestra della RIA conducted by Alfredo Simonetto) offers similar juxtapositions: Mozart's Konstanze ("Martern aller Arten" is sung in Italian as "Tutte le torture") and Meyerbeer's Dinorah are put in their places by Rossini's fearsome Armida! In between, Charpentier's dreamy Louise ("Depuis le jour") displays the soprano's skills as a lyric soprano as well. All of this is most impressive. The voice is in excellent condition throughout this CD, and the sound has held up very well over the decades.

Decca has pulled together a blockbuster collection of many of opera's greatest hits from the standard repertoire. The selection is heavily weighted to the nineteenth century, and to Italian operas, but it does indeed offer a generous sampling of what the general public understands as the staples of the repertoire. It includes one Baroque aria, from Handel's Rodelinda, and several from the Classical era - two arias from Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurydice, and seven from Mozart's operas - and the rest range from the bel canto of Rossini to the verismo of Cilea and Puccini. The selection is primarily made up of arias, but includes ensembles, choruses, and orchestral excerpts.

Sony Music presents Top 40 Opera: The Ultimate Top 40 Collection - 37 classical opera gems including Montserrat Caballé, Placido Domingo, Anna Moffo and others.

Mozart's operas are renowned for their beautiful and dramatic arias. Some of his most famous include "Der Hölle Rache" (The Queen of the Night's aria) from The Magic Flute, "Madamina, il catalogo è questo" (Leporello's catalogue aria) from Don Giovanni, and "Voi che sapete" from The Marriage of Figaro. These arias showcase Mozart's mastery of vocal writing and his ability to convey complex emotions through music.

French Touch is soprano Petibon's 2003 release which features the works of such French composers for example Delibes, Massenet and Offenbach to mention a few. Petibon sings with much enthusiasm and joy which makes it a very enjoyable recording. Yves Abel leads the national orchestra and choir of Lyon. On track she sings duet with mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes.