Opera Duet

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

The "100 Years of Italian Opera" series released by Opera Rara is unique in the annals of opera recordings. However, this installment is especially exciting as it documents the evolution of Italian opera during the 1820's, the decade when romanticism truly began to come into its own on the operatic stage. Opera Rara has lovingly compiled a variety of arcana written by composers famous and forgotten. Included is everything from overtures to arias, duets, ensembles, and entire scenes.

Scottish Opera - Gilbert & Sullivan: HMS Pinafore (2016) {2CD Set Linn CKD 522}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 343 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 200 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 18 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2016 Linn Records | CKD 522
Classical / Opera / Romantic / Musical Comedy

The Scottish Opera's live concert performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore was given at the 2015 Edinburgh International Festival, and the one-night-only show was well received by both the audience and critics. Featuring a charismatic cast including John Mark Ainsley as Sir Joseph Porter, Elizabeth Watts as Josephine, Andrew Foster-Williams as Captain Corcoran, Toby Spence as Ralph Rackstraw, Hilary Summers as Buttercup, and comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor as the Narrator, the production was especially noteworthy for conductor Richard Egarr's historically informed approach to the music.

Revived after 171 years in oblivion, the staging of Rosmonda d’Inghilterra at Bergamo’s Teatro Donizetti proved fascinating for the Italian public. From the excellent cast of singers, Jessica Pratt and Eva Mei gave standout performances. The opera revolves around a tale of love and intrigue surrounding the main protagonists- the famous Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, her husband Henry II of England, and the fair Rosamund de Clifford. Rosmonda is the quintessential innocent, unaware that the man she loves is the King of England and that she has unwittingly become a rival to the much-feared Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The labels that are now gathered under the Universal Classics umbrella have a pretty impressive scorecard in the area of classical compilations. We've seen The Greatest Opera Show on Earth, The Yellow Guide: Classical Music, Best of the Millennium, and now there's The No. 1 Opera Album. But that's no surprise, since Universal has some of the finest interpreters in its catalogue to draw from. This two-CD set (at the price of one), for example, brings together the likes of Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Luciano Pavarotti, Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Georg Solti, Herbert von Karajan, and many more. Yet the other key to a successful compilation is canny anthologizing, and here again, you have a nice selection to give you a smattering of opera's heavyweights from the Italian, German, and French repertory (there's even a step outside the standard framework with an aria from Dvorák's lovely Rusalka). Ranging from 1959 to 1997, the choices from back catalogue will doubtless be the entry ticket for many into this grandest of the arts.

Continuing their complete Mozart opera recording cycle, Classical Opera’s latest release shines a light on two early opera works by Mozart.

Regarded as one of the great voices of the Metropolitan Opera, Richard Tucker made his debut there as Alfredo Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata, in January, 1945, and became a specialist in the Italian and French lyric roles. He appeared with the Metropolitan Opera in 734 performances. The only other tenors to have had longer professional careers were Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. Sony Classical celebrates 100 years of this legendary American tenor with the release of two limited- edition original album releases.

Shamus O’Brien is set against the Irish rebellion of 1798, and tells the story of the charismatic Shamus O’Brien, hunted by the English so he can be brought to justice – but will he manage to escape? The opera was so successful that Stanford feared it would incite anti-English sentiment and he withdrew it, but, revived after his death, its mix of pathos, drama, and melodies proved irresistible. Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was a prolific composer, and his church music, in particular, is regularly played and sung.

Shamus O’Brien is set against the Irish rebellion of 1798, and tells the story of the charismatic Shamus O’Brien, hunted by the English so he can be brought to justice – but will he manage to escape? The opera was so successful that Stanford feared it would incite anti-English sentiment and he withdrew it, but, revived after his death, its mix of pathos, drama, and melodies proved irresistible. Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was a prolific composer, and his church music, in particular, is regularly played and sung.