The Queen

The album takes its name from the Marx Brothers film "A Night at the Opera", which the Queen watched one night at the studio complex when recording. It was originally released by EMI in the United Kingdom, where it topped the charts for four non-consecutive weeks, and Elektra Records in the United States, where it peaked at #4.

This year, the Queen Elisabeth Competition was devoted, for the tenth time, to the voice. And the Competition that has just taken place illustrates the growing interest it is attracting among young singers and the public. A record number of candidates (412) applied to take part and, after the video preselection process, the 55 candidates who performed in Brussels sang, right from the first round, in a packed Studio 4 in Flagey. In a first for the voice competition, it was also possible to follow the performances in the first round on video via the platforms of the Competition and its partners. The jury, chaired by Bernard Foccroulle, brought together well-known names from the world of opera. For the recordings in this CD set, the singers were accompanied on the piano, either by a pianist of their own choice, or by one of the Competition’s excellent official pianists (Ouri Bronchti, Anna Naretto, Nino Pavlenichvili, Philippe Riga, and Ian Tindale) in the rounds that took place in Flagey. In the final at the Centre for Fine Arts, their accompaniment was provided by the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, conducted by its Music Director, Alain Altinoglu.

Although Freddie Mercury had a legitimate solo career in Europe, the Queen singer's solo output was largely ignored stateside (since Queen's albums weren't selling that well in the U.S. during the mid- to late '80s, you wouldn't expect Mercury's solo material to exactly light up the charts). But Mercury managed to score quite a few solo hits back home in the U.K., especially his 1985 outing Mr. Bad Guy, as well as an assortment of singles and a vocal tour de force with opera singer Montserrat Caballe, Barcelona, all of which serve as the basis for the ten-track collection The Freddie Mercury Album…