Verdi Requiem

… Arax Mansourian's recordings of medieval Armenian chants are an important part of the treasure vault of Armenian music. In the 1990's, during a liturgical festival, she toured 14 cities in France with an all male Armenian choir. French Armenian artist Garzou said …….“Arax Mansourian was divine in Yekmalian's liturgy. As if she wasn't a singer but virgin Mary herself, so impressive and powerful was her singing…”

A prize student of music theorist Simon Sechter and a good friend of Beethoven and Schubert, German composer Franz Lachner was appointed Royal Court Conductor in Munich in 1836 where he directed the Court Theater, the Court Church, and the Court Concert Hall for with pride, dedication, and professionalism for the next 33 years. However, the death of his patron Maximilian II and the ascension of Ludwig II, avid patron of Richard Wagner, effectively ended Lachner's career. Though he lived another 23 years, Lachner's music was rarely if ever performed.

A remarkable 1954 RAI production starring a young Franco Corelli and the incomparable Tito Gobbi, with Mafalda Micheluzzi as Nedda and Lino Puglisi as Silvio. Orchestra and Chorus of Radiotelevisione Italiana under the direction of Alfredo Simonetto. DVD also includes Corelli in arias from Carmen, Aida, Il Trovatore, Cavalleria Rusticana, and the Verdi Requiem.

The Great Classics series from Naxos is the perfect introduction to myriad genres of classical music. Comprising both complete and compiled selections from the greatest works in the repertoire, the boxes are bursting with wonderful pieces of music, both recognizable and unfamiliar. The boxes take the listener on a thrilling tour of some of the worlds most dramatic musical media, encompassing music from six centuries and featuring sensational performers. All boxes come with a fascinating booklet with detailed information on the genre itself, chronological placement of each work, and a comprehensive study of the music. A fitting celebration of 25 years of superb music from Naxos, the worlds favourite classical label.

An inspiring, authoritative, chronological overview of one of the defining label-orchestra relationships, documenting 100 years of recording between two giants in music, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Deutsche Grammophon, from 1913 to 2013.

Osip Kozlovsky (1757-1831) was Polish but made his home in St Petersburg at the time of Catherine the Great. His Mass is credited as being the first Latin Requiem composed in Russia. Kozlovsky wrote his large-scale Mass in memory of Stanislas Poniatowski, King of Poland. The Mass is far too large and impractical to be suitable for actual liturgical use. It is hard to believe that it was written in 1798 because it is every bit the equal of Verdi's masterpiece in dramatic intensity: vide the sensational use of a crashing gong in the Dies irae. This performance, with all-Russian forces, is thrilling: it gave me goose bumps!

This is a recording of rarely heard choral works by Verdi, performed by all-Italian forces – the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatre Regio in Turin, with the soloists Barbara Frittoli and Francesco Meli, under the conductor Gianandrea Noseda, an exclusive Chandos artist – for totally idiomatic results.

This magnificent recording of Aida, made in Rome, rises to all the musical and dramatic challenges presented by Verdi’s richly-coloured Egyptian epic. Antonio Pappano, once again proving his mastery of Italian opera, moves between sumptuous grandeur and touching intimacy. The responses of the Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia are both immediate and vibrant, while the singers – Anja Harteros, Jonas Kaufmann, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Ludovic Tézier and Erwin Schrott – do justice to every facet of their roles.