Sutherland’s sensational debut recital album, long unavailable on its own, reissued with photographs and rarely seen costume designs for the soprano’s signature roles. When these recordings first appeared, Joan Sutherland was on the brink of a spectacular international career; just behind her was the sensation of her Royal Opera debut in Lucia di Lammermoor, early […]

A groundbreaking Decca album celebrating the glory of both bel canto and the voice of Sutherland in her prime, long unavailable on its own, reissued complete with a booklet introduction from Richard Bonynge. More than a quarter of a century has now passed since Decca remastered ‘The Age of Bel Canto’ among the first releases […]

Newly compiled for the first time, the Decca career of a pre-eminent Mozart conductor, complemented by his recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and Westminster. Peter Maag began his career as a pianist, but turned to conducting with the encouragement of Wilhelm Furtwangler. He made his first Decca recording having lately turned 30, with the Suisse Romande […]

Dame Joan Sutherland’s personal selection of her favourite recordings, with her own liner notes. Tributes from Moffatt Oxenbould and Fiona Janes, previously unpublished photographs, a series of costume designs for her key operatic roles, and illustrations of all the original jackets from which the selection was made. Plus her recipe for Christmas Pudding, all issued […]

A cherishable Mozart soprano of the 1950s and 60s, celebrated with the complete reissue of a Decca recital album, newly remastered. The quality that defined Graziella Sciutti as a singer was lightness – of voice, of bearing and presence on stage. Her vivacious intelligence was no less suited to the Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti roles […]

A famous Decca operatic recital, long unavailable, celebrating the thrilling voice and short-lived career of a soprano who set operatic stages alight in the late 1950s. Anita Cerquetti made only two commercial recordings both for Decca under the baton of Gianandrea Gavazzeni. In 1957, she sang the title role in a complete ‘La Gioconda‘ with […]

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.

The Romanian soprano, Virginia Zeani made only two studio recordings with a major label: these recordings for Decca of coloratura arias conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni, and Puccini arias conducted by Franco Patanè. Generally, she favoured the spontaneity of live recordings. She did not have an agent and was not an active self-promoter which may account […]

There is always a special pleasure in the blending of two fine voices, and composers have usually been happy to provide it during the course of their operas. Characters may join their voices in a unity of feeling, or in extreme disagreement, or in any one of the thousand shades in between. On this CD, […]

Since the beginning of opera, the convention of the duet, in which two characters simultaneously express their feelings, has been one of the staple ploys of musical dramatists. Characters may join their voices in a unity of feeling, or in extreme disagreement, or in any one of the thousand shades in between; though in the […]

Christmas Eve 1974 was a nightmare for the inhabitants of Darwin (in Australia’s Northern Territory) when it was destroyed by a violent cyclone. A Darwin Appeal Fund was launched and a month later, on 25 January 1975, Richard Bonynge conducted a fund-raising concert at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The idea was that of […]

Sylvia Sass was born near Budapest, Hungary, on 12 July 1951 to a very musical family. Her mother was a coloratura soprano and her father was a high school music teacher. She made her stage debut at age fourteen in Adam’s operetta Die Nürnberger Puppe and then commenced study at the celebrated Franz Liszt Academy […]