No conductor working in the recording studios in the 1960s and beyond did more than Richard Bonynge to recover the sound of the 19th-century ballet, especially in its home of the Paris Opéra-Comique. A central figure in that culture was Adolphe Adam who supplied vaudevilles, ballets, pastiches and comic operas over the course of three […]
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.
A real rarity of the ballet world, this marvellous score, ‘rediscovered’ by Sir Frederick Ashton, was one of Decca’s most glorious recordings of ballet music by that pioneer of this genre, Richard Bonynge.
Charles Mackerras’s warm and voluble Elgar recordings bring one of the most stirring ‘Enigmas’ on record, a reflective yet resolute Cello Concerto and a disc of pieces of music inspired by childhood. A very young Bryn Terfel is a highlight on the ‘Starlight Express’ songs.
‘Rodelinda’ stems from a period of great creativity in Handel’s life, 1724-25, following quickly on ‘Giulio Cesare and Tamerlano’ although it met with only moderate success. One of its first revivals was via the German Handel Society in the 1920s and then the Handel Opera Society revived it again, with a cast including Joan Sutherland, during […]
