e. J. James

Decca is proud to present this unique recording of Rigoletto. The only Rigoletto stage production on film featuring Luciano Pavarotti, this performance of one of Verdi's best-loved operas was discovered in the Metropolitan Opera Archives and is available here for the first time. Recorded in 1981, it presents Pavarotti at the peak of his career, supported by an outstanding cast that includes Louis Quilico in the title role, Christine Eda-Pierre as Gilda, Ara Berberian as Sparafucile, and Isola Jones as Maddalena, with Met Music Director James Levine on the podium.

Medieval Baebes and other far greater shocks to the bourgeoisie have come along. Wild adventures placed under the rubric of performances of Vivaldi's Four Seasons are commonplace. Yet Nigel Kennedy continues to roost atop the classical sales charts in Europe, and even to command a decent following in the U.S. despite a low American tolerance for British eccentricity. How does he do it? He has kept reinventing himself successfully. Perhaps he's the classical world's version of Madonna: he's possessed of both unerring commercial instincts and with enough of a sense of style to be able to dress them up as forms of rebellion. Inner Thoughts is a collection of slow movements – inner movements of famous concertos from Bach and Vivaldi to Brahms, Bruch, and Elgar.

Back in New York after three years spent gigging and recording in Europe, a mature and rejuvenated James Moody resumed the endless North American scuffle to get by as a contemporary jazz musician. Volume five in the Classics James Moody chronology presents 16 rare Mercury recordings made between October 1951 and June 1953, followed by eight Prestige titles from January and April, 1954. The first four tracks feature baritone saxophonist Cecil Payne; high points include the rowdy, bristling "Moody's Home" and "Wiggle Waggle," an R&B rocker that sounds like something right up out of the King record catalog. Beginning with the material recorded on May 21, 1952, Moody is heard leading a group largely composed of players who, like him, had worked in Dizzy Gillespie's big band. Two of these individuals – trumpeter Dave Burns and baritone saxophonist Numa "Pee Wee" Moore – show up regularly in the front line of Moody's excellent recording ensembles between 1952 and 1955.

Considered the greatest “opera seria,” Idomeneo was composed when Mozart was just twenty-five and a tour de force for all singers. A 1982 production starring superstar Luciano Pavarotti as Idomeneo, the tortured king of Crete, with Ilena Cotrubas and Frederica von Stade along with Hildegard Behrens providing the mad scenes!

Fly Me to the Moon compiles a pair of tenor saxophonist James Moody's mid-'60s sessions for the Argo label. The 1962 date "Another Bag" vaults Moody far past his bop roots. Another in a series of collaborations with arranger and composer Tom McIntosh, its rich, deep sound is both fiercely cerebral and nakedly emotional. Paired with a superb group including pianist Kenny Barron, trumpeter Paul Serrano, trombonist John Avant, bassist Ernest Outlaw and drummer Marshall Thompson, Moody creates a thoughtful interpretation of the emerging soul-jazz idiom that is both consciously hip yet surprisingly introspective; the music is both angular and accessible, bolstered by a clutch of clever, dynamic McIntosh melodies…