Posts tagged as "joan-sutherland"

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 […]

Auber: Orchestral and Theatre works

August 10, 2017

Compiled from several Decca recordings made between 1964 and 1988, this portrait of Auber was created at Richard Bonynge’s specific request and supervised by him. Most substantial of these recordings is the ballet version which Auber made from his opera ‘Marco Spada’: 65 minutes of scintillating dance music, in the adaptation made by Richard Bonynge […]

Handel Arias

July 14, 2017

A newly compiled anthology of Decca recordings on Eloquence, surveys the healthy state of Handel singing in England in the 1960s, before this music became the preserve of musicians and singers within the period-instrument movement. This generous (145-minute) collection is based around a pair of newly re-mastered recital albums made by the contralto, Bernadette Greevy […]

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 […]

Thomas: Hamlet

September 30, 2016

Thomas’s opera Hamlet contains one of the most famous of all ‘mad scenes’ for the soprano, something of which Joan Sutherland made a speciality. In 1983, she recorded the opera in what was to be one of her final recordings of complete operas. The set is adorned with Michael Stennett’s beautiful portrait of Sutherland as […]

Verdi: Rigoletto (highlights)

May 25, 2016

The 1961 recording of Rigoletto is the first of two in which Joan Sutherland sang the role of Gilda. Although the later cast – conducted by Richard Bonynge – was starrier with Pavarotti taking the role of the Duke, this earlier version is still favoured by Sutherland aficionados. ‘Sutherland is extraordinary’ wrote an Amazon customer. […]

Mozart: Don Giovanni (highlights)

May 25, 2016

This is one of the most successful and stylish of Don Giovanni recordings. Having sung Donna Anna in her early (Giulini) recording, Sutherland here is, if anything, even more spine-tingling in this role. Bonynge and the English Chamber Orchestra, together with the Ambrosian Singers, really deliver the goods and the rest of the stellar cast […]

The Best of Verdi

April 29, 2016

This compilation, drawn from the archive of ‘the Opera Company’ – Decca – boasts many of the greatest Verdi recordings ever made and features the greatest highlights of his operatic works. Here you’ll find the stars of the opera performing Overtures, Arias and Choruses from La Traviata, Aida, Luisa Miller, Otello, Nabucco, Rigoletto and Il […]

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!

Léhar: The Merry Widow (highlights)

April 29, 2016

Although Sutherland and Bonynge gave many memorable performances of ‘The Merry Widow’ on stage, they never recorded it completely. However, this recording – sung in English – offers a choice collection of the opera’s ‘greatest hits’, including ‘Vilja’, the famous waltz and some of the big scenes in the operetta.

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.