Category: Recordings

The lyricism characteristic of the instrumental music of Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) is at the core of his songs, and the two collections found on this recording represent his vocal music well.

The 100th anniversary of his birth inevitably produces a flood of releases from the catalog of conductor Herbert von Karajan.

Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) is, perhaps known best for his opera The Bartered Bride (1863, rev. 1870), a touchstone of comic opera fused with eastern-European nationalism and, as much as that work has much to offer, his other efforts deserve attention.

Premiered in 1938 in Zurich, Mathis der Maler was then the most recent of Paul Hindemithís provocative operas.

The festal days of Christmas, New Yearís, St. Stephen and St. Thomas Becket are rich in musical celebration, and this recording from the Orlando Consort brings together a wide range of organa, motets, chansons, and carols to remind us of that fact.

Dynamic now offers most of its product in CD and DVD formats, the latter in High Definition, no less.

With these three CDs of highlights from three Verdi operas – Nabucco, Il Trovatore, and Aida ó Classics for Pleasure gives a snapshot of the arc of his career.

The opera world, always ravenous for talented, charismatic tenors, felt desperate hunger pains last summer, when Rolando VillazÛn canceled dates with an explanation that a health crisis necessitated a sabbatical from singing.

With a composer as widely beloved as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for an opera to be all but forgotten suggests the work has problems beyond redemption.

For the opera of average length, a decent highlights disc can feature as much as half the score.