Antonio Vivaldi wrote hundreds of largely famous instrumental works, and his glorious church music is well known; but it wasn’t until recent decades that his operas – of which he is said to have created more than fifty – were resurrected. Orlando furioso occupies a central and very significant place among Vivaldi’s works. Not only does the whole score of this opera demonstrate its composer’s full, creative maturity, but its outstanding features are also an extraordinary musical beauty, an attractive recitative line and a balance thus created between the various parts of the dramatic and musical whole. This exceptional musical achievement was no doubt partly due to the famous theme of the original story, as well as the literary and dramatic qualities of a fi rst-rate libretto. Pier Luigi Pizzi’s 1979 production of Orlando furioso in Verona marked the beginning of contemporary international interest in Antonio Vivaldi’s operas. Ten years later the same director once more produced this work at the San Francisco Opera, where it was a great success.

The double title of the opera ''Tannhäuser oder der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg'', which had its grand premiere on 19 October 1845 under Wagner''s direction in the Hoftheater in Dresden, is already an indication of how Wagner''s work unites two circles of material whose tradition stems from separate sources. The figure of the minnesinger is an historical fact and his episodes are documented with the ''Tannhäuserlied'' as far back as 1520. In a musical sense, the contrast between diatonicism and chromaticism is symbolic of two different worlds.

This is a scintillating comedy adroitly characterised and full of memorable tunes. Its finesse comes from Mozart, and the libretto works hand-in-glove with the music and admirably demonstrated by this superb recording.

–Gramophone Critic's Choice

Tenor Kristian Benedikt began his career as a lyric tenor in his native Lithuania, but has since blossomed into one of the opera world’s finest dramatic tenors in challenging roles like Otello. His immensely powerful and dark-hued voice enables him to shine in several of Wagner’s “Heldentenor” roles as well; yet he remains a highly versatile singer who also continues to excel in lyric and spinto roles.In this, Kristian’s debut recording, he proves his wide-ranging artistry in a highly varied program of mostly well-known arias by composers including Verdi, Puccini, Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Tchaikovsky and Wagner (among others). He also treats us to a rarely-heard novelty: an aria from his countryman Vytautas Klova’s Pilėnai—an opera that is practically unknown beyond Lithuania.Kristian is beautifully supported by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the Lithuanian National Opera Chorus under the deft baton of conductor Modestas Pitrenas.

Based on Victor Hugo’s passionate play about Mary Tudor, Maria regina d’Inghilterra was one of Pacini’s most successful operas. Written in 1843, the vocal portrait of the central character is among the composer’s best creations. Joy, tears, outrage and forgiveness are all contained in the vivid vocal characterisation that was Pacini’s hallmark.

Georg Philipp Telemann - cpo friends have long known - is always good for surprises. He was a diligent and also important opera composer who wrote about 35 operas for the Hamburg Opera between 1721 and 1733, of which unfortunately only nine have survived. These are, without exception, important contributions to German opera history; recent performances have all proved their viability and power, but above all the originality, the music-dramatic sense and the always attractive melody of Telemann revealed.

Giorgio Strehler was one of Europe’s most celebrated theatre directors. In his Piccolo Teatro in Milan he created outstanding interpretations of Bertolt Brecht and William Shakespeare. As an opera director he worked at all the major international opera houses, most notably the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, where he was responsible for productions of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra (1971), Macbeth (1975) and in 1980 for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. This legendary production of Mozart’s masterpiece is now available as a 2006 recording, featuring the wonderful Diana Damrau as Susanna and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Figaro.

Early music specialists are still working through the wealth of Handel operas that began coming more to light in the late 20th century. Flavio, Rè di Longobardi remains one of his more obscure works. Its musical variety and richness make it a piece that deserves more attention and this excellent recording in Chandos' series of Baroque operas featuring Christian Curnyn and Early Opera Company makes a strong case for it. The plot, like that of many of Handel's operas, is convoluted to the point of being indecipherable, but each of the characters is carefully drawn. These singers invest each one with an incisive dramatic distinctiveness, and their voices are different enough that here is never in doubt as to which characters are singing. Curnyn leads a superb cast in an elegant performance.

DG's 20-bit transfer reveals more tape hiss than before, while the orchestral image is better focused, with more definition at the bottom end. Some have likened Herbert von Karajan's "chamber-music approach" to Wagner's Ring cycle in terms of his scaling down or deconstructing the heroic roles. This approach has less to do with dynamics per se than it does with von Karajan's masterful balancing of voices and instruments. He achieves revelations of horizontal clarity, allowing no contrapuntal strand to emerge with an unwanted accent or a miscalibrated dynamic…

Richard Wagner, the most controversial figure the arts have ever seen, whose music can move and overwhelm like no other, continues to divide the spirits even today. The year 2013, when we celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth, is inevitably going to be devoted to the man and his work.
The Complete Wagner Operas offers the best of Deutsche Grammophon, two operas each from Decca and the BBC and EMIs Rienzi.

La finta giardiniera was a resounding success: after the first performance 1774 in Rome, the opera was translated into several languages and staged in many other European cities and inspired Mozart to write an opera of the same title. This world premiere recording by the ensemble l'arte del mondo shows the exceptional skills of this little-known composer. The Spanish Catalan soprano Nuria Rial is famous for her shining, crystal clear and beautiful voice and is one of the best baroque voices for baroque arias. She was described as "a silvery sounding voice, as clear as a bell." (Opernglas) The orchestra l'arte del mondo is rooted in the Early Music tradition, but also plays on modern instruments with the same passion, performing repertoire that goes up to the Romantic period. Since it was founded, the ensemble has been invited to appear at many major festivals and concert series such as the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, the Bonn Beethoven Festival, the Schwetzingen Festival and the Sanssouci Music Festival in Potsdam.

American star tenor Michael Fabiano presents a spectacular set of scenes taken from late Donizetti and middle Verdi operas, revealing the strong ties between these two composers. The album documents a paradigmatic shift in Italian opera, from the beautiful lines and crispness of belcanto to a richer, more dramatic musical universe. The historical line stretches from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Poliuto and Maria di Rohan to mature Verdi operas such as Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera and Don Carlos. In many cases, Fabiano has selected original, rarely-heard versions, including the thunderous ‘Qual sangue sparsi’ from the original St. Petersburg edition of La forza del destino.

Ce CD précieux rassemble des extraits du texte d'Athalie dits par Lambert Wilson et des extraits de la musique de scène de cette pièce de théatre écrite pour les demoiselles de Saint Cyr de Madame de Maintenon. Musique composée par Jean Baptiste Moreau. Je ne suis, a priori, par un afficionado du ton sec hautain, snob de Lambert Wilson.Le ton est-il l'homme ? Là n'est point, ici, l'essentiel.

Niccolò Jommelli was an innovative superstar among composers in his day, and is now recognized as a precursor of the new Viennese Classical taste in music. With its intense story of love, life and death, Il Vologeso sets one of the most powerful libretti written for the European opera stage. This critically acclaimed production is considered to be its first staged performance for over two centuries, and the highly successful opera directors Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito have revived a Baroque gem with their exciting, present-day staging.