‘This is the only Das Lied you’ll ever need, and the recorded sound is of demonstration quality’ says ClassicsToday.com on this fabulous recording of Mahler’s symphony/song cycle set to German translations of Chinese poems for mezzo, tenor and a massive orchestra. A 10 (performance)/10 (recording) rating is what it enjoys … as it should!

This is one of the most ennobling performances of ‘Lohengrin’ and the stellar cast is led by one of the most famous of all Wagnerian heldentenors, James King. The CD provides nearly 74 minutes of music from this masterpiece, including both the Act I and Act III preludes and the famous ‘Bridal Chorus’.

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 […]

Looking back at ‘Tristan und Isolde’ twenty years after its composition, Wagner told his wife Cosima: ‘My model was Romeo and Juliet – nothing but duets!’ He was invoking Bellini’s opera,’I Capuleti e i Montecchi’ which he had conducted many times as a young man. Indeed, there had been much in the Italian master’s legacy that […]