George Frideric Handel

Young Norwegian mezzo-soprano Tuva Semmingsen displays both vocal agility and a wide-ranging emotional range in a disc of arias from Handel.

The disc unveils a portrait of Handel: his emergence in the early Italian-styled Amadigi, reaching maturity in the ‘English operatic’, and arriving finally in the perennial melodic grace of Theodora.

These works interspersed with instrumental works by Handel’s Italian contemporaries. Corelli and Geminiani, played by Norwegian period band Barokksolistene.

Acis and Galatea, variously described as a pastoral, a ‘little opera’ and a masque, is one of Handel’s most popular works. It is a delectable succession of pastoral airs, love-lorn lyrics, and sprightly or mourning choruses, spiced by the pungent and unforgettable interjection of the one-eyed giant Polyphemus, who destroys the idyll of the shepherd Acis and the nymph Galatea. Handel had first turned to the subject in a cantata written in Naples in 1708. His English work, formally a masque, went through several stages until this two-act version of 1739, written principally by John Gay and graced by Handel’s exquisite music.

An 82-CD box set of Karajan’s complete Deutsche Grammophon recordings from 1959 to 1970 (excluding opera) with original cover art, lavish, richly-documented 200-page book in English, German, and French with newly-commissioned articles. With extra Karajan showcard portrait and memorabilia from the archives.

No conductor before (and few since) had made the lacerating impact that Karajan and his Berliner Philharmoniker made on the entire recording business in the 1960s, with brilliant playing, audacious programming and a schedule that saw 82 albums in just a decade

Limited Edition

Featuring 100 historic recordings on 12 CDs (including beloved arias such as Nessun Dorma), the set also includes excerpts from oratorios and art songs.

As a bonus, Pavarotti’s magnificent 1989 live performance in Barcelona is captured on DVD with terrific sound and picture.

Appropriately, the Welsh harpist and composer John Thomas was born on St. David’s Day in 1826. In later life, he was invested with the title of Pencerdd Gwalia (Chief Musician of Wales) and became harpist to Queen Victoria. His works are performed by the Welsh mezzo-soprano Rachel Ann Morgan and Edward Witsenburg, the doyen of Dutch harpists.

The baroque woman was confined to a strictly domestic role. She was either saintly (mother of Christ and the subject of religious allegory as in Handel’s Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno), a diva, a queen (Poppea, Cleopatra) or the inevitable victim in classical tragedies like Semiramis, Berenice, Rodelinda and Agrippina.

'Ladies sing Baroque' is shaped as a nod to those ladies who have enchanted jazz, but composed of music from two centuries earlier: hymns to emotion, the tunes that disturb for eternity! Monteverdi's invention of opera, Vivaldi's music for the Pieta, Pergolesi and Bach bring the drama and emotion found in temples and churches. Highlights include the final duet from 'L'Incorronazione di Poppea' and Bach's sublime 'Erbarme dich' whilst two Canadians with strong characters, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Karina Gauvin, successfully evoke the legendary association of Marilyn Horne and Montserrat Caballé.

7 December 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Kirsten Flagstad. Born in Hamar, Norway, on 12 July 1895 Flagstad made her debut in Oslo in 1912 in D’Albert’s Tiefland.

Here for the first time on CD is Glyndebourne’s acclaimed 1996 production of Handel’s oratorio Theodora. Although Theodora is a story of a virtuous woman and sexual persecution, this has not proved to be an obstacle to its enduring success, the subject a deeply touching one, resonating from the age of antiquity to the present day.

The recording is the debut on the Glyndebourne label for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, one of Glyndebourne’s two resident orchestras.

This audio release, in no way detracting from the extraordinary Peter Sellar’s production, allows the focus to be on the soloists, conductor and orchestra. This recording confirms Lorraine Hunt as a true Handelian, capturing the spirit of Irene as few others could. In counter-tenor David Daniels as Didymus, there is a breadth of range drawing the listener away from the oft strained and forced falsetto sound.

From the outset Dawn Upshaw is a heartfelt Theodora culminating magnificently in her final duet with Daniels ‘Thither let our hearts aspire…’ the delivery, sensitivity and ensemble nothing short of numbing. There is no better choice of debut release from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on the Glyndebourne label, William Christie’s musical approach one of transcendence, making the most of this wonderful music.

Great opera performances are often fleeting moments in time but since 1960, every note of every Glyndebourne Festival performance has been recorded. ‘Eaves-dropping’ on these live performances allows some of the most seminal opera performances of the last fifty years to be enjoyed by all.