‘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 […]

Certain rhythms seem to flow naturally for certain people. Shakespeare could probably have held a conversation in iambic pentameters and, when it comes to music, you can find many national preferences: the tango for Argentinians, the samba for Brazilians, the polka for Czechs, the mazurka for Poles, the czárdás for Hungarians, and so on. The […]

Gifted with great beauty and a natural stage presence, Hilde Gueden was unfailingly easy on the ear as well as the eye. With her creamy tone and ability to spin the silvery upper-register sonority needed for her Strauss roles, she was a natural successor to Elisabeth Schumann, Lotte Schöne and Adele Kern. Fortunately for posterity, […]

This collection brings together a miscellany of orchestral works. In addition to the symphony, there’s Mozart’s most popular Serenade – ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’ – in a gloriously cushioned performance, plus five overtures. Four of these are lifted from the double-LP set ‘Mozart Opera Festival’ while that for ‘Cosi’ comes from the complete opera set.

These recordings of the voices of Inge Borkh and Ljuba Welitsch are very fine examples of the art of the dramatic soprano from the 1950s and early 1960s. Borkh acquired a considerable reputation as Aida, Tosca, Turandot, and Medea in Cherubini’s opera of the same name, as well as Leonora in Fidelio. On this anthology, […]

Several countries have their light operas: the British their Gilbert and Sullivan, the Spanish their zarzuelas, the French their operettes. All of these display quite tight-knit styles but the operetta tradition of Austria and specifically Vienna, is more diffuse, reflecting the differing styles of folk music found in the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. The world of […]