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!

The Romanian soprano, Virginia Zeani made only two studio recordings with a major label: these recordings for Decca of coloratura arias conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni, and Puccini arias conducted by Franco Patanè. Generally, she favoured the spontaneity of live recordings. She did not have an agent and was not an active self-promoter which may account […]