Category: Recordings

Manon Lescaut was Pucciniís first big success, and his first contribution to the repertory. Yet itís popularity has always lagged behind that of the composerís following three mega-hits La Boheme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, as well as some later successes such as Turandot and even Gianni Schicchi.

If Rossini could set a laundry list to music, then Ewa Podle? is one of the few candidates available to sing it. In this CD, recorded live at the Polish Radio Hall in Wroclaw (Wratislavia), during the thirty third International Festival Wratislavia Cantans Music and Fine Arts, the Polish contralto gives ample proof of her status as one of the great singers of her generation.

Naxos is perhaps the only significant major label regularly releasing complete opera sets. A few have won widespread praise, and certainly the prices, at super-budget level, make them attractive to both first-time buyers and those whose collections scarcely justify an additional set.

Beethoven Shines Thru the Mix

In the best of all possible worlds this recording of arias and show tunes would have been done in the original languages, the language of composition, with the vocal sounds intended by Gluck, Mozart, Weber, Wagner and others who defined great singing.

Here we have another part of John Eliot Gardinerís remarkable Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, undertaken to performóand record liveóall of Bachís surviving church cantatas at many different churches in a single year.

Piotr Anderszewski is a talented young pianist, who makes Szymanowskiís music come alive in his recent recording of three of the composerís major pieces.

ìDas Wunder Karajanî ñ ìthe miracle of Karajanî ñ is a phrase associated with the conductor since he was thirty years old, and that phrase holds true in his recorded legacy. In addition to recent DVD releases, EMI has issued a series of CDs in its ìThe Karajan Collection,î which preserves many fine studio recordings.

The rich legacy of Herbert von Karajan includes a number of recordings with various orchestras around the world, and among them is the Philharmonia Orchestra, which is documented in the CD entitled Philharmonia Promenade Concert. As Richard Osborne recounts in the notes that accompany this release, Herbert von Karajan made a number of recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra between 1948 and 1960.

In a richly Bohemian folk-style, the Czech poet Karel JaromÌr Erben produced a collection of enchanted poetry that inspired AntonÌn Dvo?·k to compose his expressive array of hauntingly dark tone poems. Ultimately, the main character of each poem suffers a tragic consequence for their transgressions, ranging from the thoughtless utterances of a frustrated mother, to disobeying a parent, to murder.

In recent years orchestras like the London Symphony have begun to release their own CDs, in lieu of pursing contracts recording firms. While the implications of this are best left to another discussion, it is significant to see that Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra now has its own label, and among its recordings is a fine live performance of Anton Brucknerís Symphony no. 8 in C minor, led by its conductor laureate, Bernard Haitink. This recording is actually made from performances given on 18 and 20 February 2005, and preserves an outstanding recent interpretation of this enduring work by Bruckner.