Teresa Berganza

An anthology of Manuel de Falla's masterpieces, in which he invented modern Spanish music and revived songs, rhythms and dances out of an Andalusia both legendary yet still alive. A tribute to some legendary performers, approaching their centenaries, such as Clara Haskil, Igor Markevitch and Ernest Ansermet, who made these pieces immortal or taught their intricacies to artists such as Teresa Berganza… Incunabula !

Recorded 1960-1961

Carlo Maria Giulini (1914–2005) was without question, along with fellow Italians Arturo Toscanini, Victor de Sabata and Guido Cantelli, one of the greatest conductors of his generation. His opera performances at Covent Garden were landmarks for the Company, notably Verdi's Don Carlos, Falstaff, Il trovatore and La Traviata.

This 1960 performance of Rossini's sparkling Il barbiere di Siviglia features a stellar cast consisting of a youthful Teresa Berganza as Rosina and Luigi Alva as The Count, who had been asked by Giulini immediately after his 1955 debut at La Scala, Milan, to sing the Count in a legendary La Scala production headed by Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi. This was his Covent Garden debut. The baritone Rolando Panerai as Figaro had been a stalwart of La Scala since 1951, while Fernando Corena as Dr Bartolo was making his Covent Garden debut but was already a major international figure. He had sung regularly at the Metropolitan Opera since 1954.

The critic of The Times said of Berganza’s Rosina, ‘She is young, vivacious and Spanish. What more can anyone ask of Rosina?’ Equally excellent was his report on Alva’s Count, which he described as being ‘acted with gusto and resource and without a rough note in his voice’. The result was once again brilliant: ‘…this too was an ideal characterisation in music’. Panerai’s Figaro was notable for ‘a fine voice of ample power and easy delivery, versatile in inflection and infectious in comedy’. Corena was also felt to be in ‘commanding voice’, and Vinco’s singing was ‘sardonic enough for anything’.

This is a very rare recording which has never appeared commercially before.

This magnificent collection features the some of the greatest opera stars of all time:

Cecilia Bartoli, Anna Netrebko, Bryn Terfel, Renée Fleming, Andrea Bocelli Luciano Pavarotti, Dame Joan Sutherland, Plácido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and José Carreras.

With a carefully chosen selection of perennially popular arias, duets and choruses, this enchanting collection creates the perfect introduction to opera.

With 40 tracks and over 2½ hours of music this collection is outstanding value for money.

Includes Pavarotti’s classic recording of the most popular opera aria of all, Puccini’s ‘Nessun dorma’.

Teresa Berganza is undoubtedly one of the greatest Spanish singers of the 20th century. She enchanted audiences in opera houses around the world. Throughout her career, she would give recitals of songs, especially the songs of her homeland. This recital includes songs by Haydn, Fauré, Respighi, Braga and Rossini.

Following the enormous success of the album OPERA 2009, EMI Classics is releasing OPERA 2010. Great voices of today and legendary singers of the past, from the EMI and Virgin Classics catalogue: the home of opera.

With 40 tracks, and over 2½ hours of operatic arias and duets, this double album features the best and most popular names in opera from the catalogues of both Virgin Classics and EMI Classics, ranging from the newest arrivals on the operatic scene, as well as many present day superstars, to iconic legends. This is an unmissable collection of the best in opera that will have a wide appeal.

Present day superstars include Angela Gheorghiu, Natalie Dessay, Sarah Brightman, Barbara Hendricks, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman, Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Rolando Villazón, Roberto Alagna and Bryn Terfel.

Rising new artists are strongly represented by Joyce DiDonato, Diana Damrau, Elina Garanca, Vivica Genaux, Véronique Gens, Patrizia Ciofi, Philippe Jaroussky, Jonas Kaufmann, David Daniels, Max Emanuel Cencic and Laurent Naouri.

The programme also contains tracks by some of the world’s greatest singers of the past such as Victoria de los Angeles, Teresa Berganza, Mirella Freni, Lucia Popp and Franco Corelli as well as the legendary Luciano Pavarotti and the unique Maria Callas.

All the most popular operatic composers are represented, from Baroque masters like Vivaldi, Rameau and Handel, through Gluck and Mozart to Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni, Cilea and Gershwin, as well as French favourites Gounod, Massenet and Offenbach.

"Massenet's Don Quichotte marks the ripe maturity of his art…Van Dam has sung beautifully throughout…Berganza as Dulcinée has the appropriate maturity of tone…while chorus and orchestra both do good work under an able conductor." Gramophone

Three new releases in the new mid-price opera packaging. Verdi's Attila with Riccardo Muti and 2 Massenet operas, Werther and Don Quichotte with idiomatic cast and orchestras under the direction of Michel Plasson.

Each opera appears in a multipack with separate booklet of 16 pages. New introduction in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Original booklet material with extensive notes and complete libretto with translations is on a separate bonus disc (CDROM).