A delectable – and ever popular – collection of sacred songs sung by four of the most famous female singers of our time. Includes the Bach/Gounod ‘Ave Maria’ and the Schubert ‘Ave Maria’, favourite soprano arias from Bach’s sacred works and inspiring movements from the sacred works of Bruckner, Stradella and Dvorak.

One of Fricsay’s last recordings, this sublime ‘Figaro’ is once more restored to the catalogue. It boasts a Who’s Who of great Mozarteans from the late-1950s/early 1960s, including Irmgard Seefried, Maria Stader and Hertha Töpper with the magnificent Fischer-Dieskau in incomparable form as the Count Almaviva. The extensive booklet notes include a synopsis, notes on […]

This is a 50-year retrospective (1950–2000) of great Wagner singing on Decca and Deutsche Grammophon featuring twelve extracts from eight operas (including all four operas of the ‘Ring’ cycle) with nine great singers. Wagner’s knowledge of heroes derived from two sources: the myths of ancient Greece and the sagas and poetry of northern Europe. In both […]

‘If I were condemned to hear only one voice for the remainder of my life I think it might well be hers. If I wanted to be charmed, to laugh or cry I would find her the perfect companion. In her singing … we hear someone whose every utterance bespeaks natural sincerity and truthful feeling’ […]

In 1948, the young Hungarian conductor, Ferenc Fricsay (1914–1963) who had studied with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, was invited to Berlin to become chief conductor of the RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) Symphonie Orchester and chief conductor of the Städtische Oper (today, the Deutsche Oper Berlin). The RIAS Symphonie Orchester changed its name […]