The sole, completed opera by one of the nineteenth-century’s most shrewd librettists, ‘Mefistofele’ has always held a tenuous place on the fringes of the repertoire but its merits were established in the minds and ears of countless record-buyers in the 1960s and 70s by this 1958 Decca recording, the first to be made in stereo […]
This compilation, drawn from the archive of ‘the Opera Company’ – Decca – boasts many of the greatest Verdi recordings ever made and features the greatest highlights of his operatic works. Here you’ll find the stars of the opera performing Overtures, Arias and Choruses from La Traviata, Aida, Luisa Miller, Otello, Nabucco, Rigoletto and Il […]
Verismo at its peak. This fireball of a performance of Mascagni’s opera features Mario Del Monaco in his prime.
Verdi’s mighty operatic Requiem and Fauré’s more demure offering are stablemates in this collection of rare recordings of these masterpieces. Reissues of Paul van Kempen’s recordings on Eloquence have been garnering great critical plaudits and this is the first international release on CD of his recording of the Verdi, made for Philips in 1955 and […]
Although overshadowed by the more celebrated second recording of Otello that Mario del Monaco and Renata Tebaldi made with Karajan (1960), many feel this earlier (1954) recording features both protagonists in fresher voice, and Alberto Erede and his Santa Cecilia forces really pack a punch.
Heralded by a priceless photo of Del Monaco, this classic 1954 recording of ‘Rigoletto’ is restored to the catalogue. Recorded about the same time as Erede’s ‘Otello’ sessions (also with Del Monaco and Protti), Del Monaco gives a powerful rendition of the Duke and Hilda Gueden’s crystalline purity gives Gilda all the innocence and largesse […]
In May 1946, when Milan’s venerable La Scala theatre reopened after World War II, conductor Arturo Toscanini selected Renata Tebaldi then 24, to sing music by Rossini and Verdi for that watershed concert. ‘Ah, la voce d’angelo’ – the voice of an angel – was Toscanini’s reported verdict. In her heyday, she was known as […]
