Certain rhythms seem to flow naturally for certain people. Shakespeare could probably have held a conversation in iambic pentameters and, when it comes to music, you can find many national preferences: the tango for Argentinians, the samba for Brazilians, the polka for Czechs, the mazurka for Poles, the czárdás for Hungarians, and so on. The […]

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!

A treasury of some of the greatest Lehar recordings from the Decca catalogue, this CD encompasses the entire LP with Holm, Krenn and Paulik plus Pilar Lorengar singing arias from ‘Eva’ and ‘Gypsy Love’. It’s a model of sugar-encrusted elegance of a bygone era.

Several countries have their light operas: the British their Gilbert and Sullivan, the Spanish their zarzuelas, the French their operettes. All of these display quite tight-knit styles but the operetta tradition of Austria and specifically Vienna, is more diffuse, reflecting the differing styles of folk music found in the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. The world of […]