A hymn to a sublime contralto: the complete Philips recordings of Aafje Heynis, remastered and compiled together, with original jackets, for the first time. Aafje Heynis grew up as a church singer, and her faith and modesty radiate from her performances, which began to capture the ears of Dutch audiences after the war. A momentous […]

A quarter-century of postwar Bayreuth recordings, made live at the Festspielhaus by Decca, DG and Philips: this is an absorbing history in sound of Wagner interpretation featuring several albums of timeless authority. This survey of Wagner’s mature operas, excluding the Ring, takes the listener from Parsifal in 1951 under Hans Knappertsbusch, through to Die Meistersinger […]

Bayreuth is the holy grail for Wagner lovers and this outstanding disc captures great choral moments from Wagner’s operas over a period of nearly 30 years with key ‘big’ moments from seven operas, from the Sawallisch ‘Tannhäuser’ (1962) to Peter Schneider’s ‘Lohengrin’ (1990). The choruses are among the glories of Wagner’s stage works. They are central, not […]

Among the many Heldentenoren spoken of in glowing terms, perhaps none has been so unfairly neglected as Jess Thomas. Full-throated and resplendent, not a hint of strain, an amazing array of colours in the voice (from sotto voce to overpowering), he possessed an artistry that was not only a thrill in the theatre but that […]