Posts tagged as "richard-bonygne"

The Age of Bel Canto

February 17, 2022

A groundbreaking Decca album celebrating the glory of both bel canto and the voice of Sutherland in her prime, long unavailable on its own, reissued complete with a booklet introduction from Richard Bonynge. More than a quarter of a century has now passed since Decca remastered ‘The Age of Bel Canto’ among the first releases […]

Romantic French Arias

February 17, 2022

One of Dame Joan Sutherland’s own favourite recordings, long unavailable on its own, reissued with additional material recorded at the Geneva sessions, with rarely seen photographs and a new booklet introduction. In her introduction to this reissue of Sutherland’s 1969 recording of Romantic French Arias, Fiona Janes notes that the album was made just shy […]

Opera Gala

November 4, 2020

From Adam to Zandonai, from 1954 to 1996, 20 CDs made up of no less than 28 Decca opera recordings, most of them recorded as highlights albums, many long unavailable, newly remastered and all featuring the greatest singers of their age. In bygone years, before 24/7 streaming, recorded music was less readily available than it […]

Graziella Sciutti – A Portrait

April 18, 2019

A cherishable Mozart soprano of the 1950s and 60s, celebrated with the complete reissue of a Decca recital album, newly remastered. The quality that defined Graziella Sciutti as a singer was lightness – of voice, of bearing and presence on stage. Her vivacious intelligence was no less suited to the Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti roles […]

From Melba to Sutherland: Australian Singers on Record

October 18, 2016

‘From Melba to Sutherland: Australian Singers on Record’ is the first-ever comprehensive survey of the recordings of Australia’s greatest singers – in a unique, new, 4CD set from Decca, complete with biographies of each of the 80 artists, rare photographs, all contained within a 68-page booklet. Why has there been such an extraordinary procession of […]

Aromatherapy Vol.8

August 18, 2016

Aromatherapy, the quiet moments of classical music. And the seventh volume is a collection of music inspired by the countryside. This album takes a tour of many and varied landscapes beginning with the English countryside as seen through the eyes of Vaughan Williams, coupled with the Vienna Woods, in Johann Strauss II’s popular waltz, France’s […]

Aromatherapy – Vol. 7: Reflections in the Water

May 25, 2016

Aromatherapy, the quiet moments of classical music. And the seventh volume, Reflections in the Water, is the ultimate tranquility! Water is a force of nature that inspired composers to some of their most languid compositions, from the Baroque (Handel’s Water Music written for a royal party held on a barge) to Impressionistic (the aqueous ripples and shimmer […]

Joan Sutherland sings Noel Coward

April 29, 2016

Re-released to mark the centenary of Noel Coward’s birth, this has for long been a ‘cult’ Coward album the world over. Its special significance to Australia, besides the obvious participation of Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge, is its inclusion of other Australian singers in some of the ensemble pieces, among them Margreta Elkins and Morag […]

Puccini Favourites

April 29, 2016

Besides Verdi, Puccini was the other great nineteenth-century Italian opera composer. This anthology brings together favourite arias and ensemble pieces from his operas. All the most famous are represented – ‘Bohème, Butterfly, Tosca, Gianni Schicchi…’ And of course the performers are the greatest operatic stars you can think of having all on a single CD!

Bel Canto Arias

April 29, 2016

Recorded in her 59th year, this was one of Sutherland’s last studio recordings. The notes are by Richard Bonynge, the indefatigable mind behind the research of much of this repertoire.

J. Strauss II: Graduation Ball; Le Beau Danube

April 29, 2016

Famous for his waltzes and polkas, the popularity of Johann Strauss has endured, not just compositions he wrote himself but music arranged by others. Strangely enough, for one of the greatest composers of dance music, he never composed a ballet. This album couples two such arrangements, both for the ballet. Antal Doráti’s arrangement, entitled ‘Graduation […]