Gioacchino Antonio Rossini

A star is born! The Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva is the vocal revelation that everyone is talking about. Still only 21, a protégée of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the winner of several major awards, Lezhneva makes her solo recital debut with a programme of arias by Rossini, a composer of whom is particularly fond. She is accompanied by the Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by its new artistic director Marc Minkowski.

In 2007 Julia Lezhneva won the prestigious Elena Obraztsova International Competition for Young Opera Singers in St Petersburg, for which the judges included Teresa Berganza, Christa Ludwig and Eva Marton. She has sung opposite Juan Diego Flórez at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and made her UK debut, aged 19, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko, also performing Rossini. Her London debut, introduced by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, came at the 2010 Classical Brit Awards singing Elena’s Final Rondo from Rossini’s La Donna del Lago in the Royal Albert Hall.

In October 2010 she confirmed her status as one of the world’s most exciting talents by winning the First International Opera Competition held at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris. Her performance in the recent Naïve recording of Vivaldi’s opera Ottone in Villa, conducted by Giovanni Antonini, has been praised to the skies by the international press. Her debut solo concerts at the 2010 Salzburg Festival with the Mozarteum Orchestra and Marc Minkowski likewise achieved extraordinary success. Minkowski has followed the young singer’s career closely; it was he who invited her in 2009 to take part in Bach’s B minor Mass, her first recording, and in summer 2011 she will sing the part of Fiordiligi under his baton in a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Salzburg. Despite her youth, Julia Lezhneva has a huge and extremely varied repertoire, ranging from the Baroque and bel canto styles to Romantic and contemporary music.

Thomas Trotter, described by BBC Music magazine as ‘one of the greatest living organists’, in a virtuoso display of the full range of power and colour of the Royal Albert Hall organ – one of the world’s greatest concert hall organs.

A programme of popular organ works and transcriptions right from the heart of the Victorian concert hall tradition, ideally suited to the organ in the home of the Proms.

Over 70 minutes of dazzling musicianship, breathtaking virtuosity and sheer entertainment!

When Joan Sutherland died, many music critics commented on the quality of her voice in her early performances. The concert performances recorded here gave her the opportunity to deliver glorious singing without too many distractions. She was also able to collaborate with artists who she would not encounter in the opera house, such as Dennis Brain, heard here.

Recording Country: Italy

Recording Location: 5-7 & 9-12 August 1954 / Teatro alla Scalla, Milano

Mix Date: 12 Aug 1954

Producer: Walter Legge. Engineer: Robert Beckett

Digitally remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Simon Gibson

Source matrix nos.: XBX 168-171 (Columbia 33CX 1215/6) and (with cuts restored: HMV ALP 3892/6: RLS 747)

Recorded in association with E.A. Teatro alla Scala, Milano

“The ‘sudden’ impact of this artist’s singing is so spontaneous, so dead right, we just dispense with all the analytical microscopy, sit back and delight in the forceful combination of a sunlit Mediterranean voice quality blended with a Central European musical and dramatic intelligence that only a truly charismatic tenor can provide. Amongst his amazing achievements he certainly proved that Mozart could be done with directness and clarity without sacrificing any of the interpretive sophistication that composer demanded, and he showed a whole generation that Richard Strauss did not present insurmountable vocal challenges to tenors who know what they’re doing.” Joseph Calleja

Fritz Wunderlich, Germany's greatest tenor in the 20th century - and one of the greatest tenors of all time - would have celebrated his 80th birthday on 26th September 2010. We commemorate the occasion with an exceptional album of Magic Moments - arias and scenes, almost all first-time releases, taken from live performances at the Vienna State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera, recorded between 1963 and 1966, the year of Wunderlich's death.

The music is by Mozart (The Magic Flute, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Don Giovanni), Rossini (The Barber of Seville - sung in German!) and Richard Strauss (Capriccio, Der Rosenkavalier, Daphne, Die schweigsame Frau) - full details above.

The live quality of the recordings - meticulously remastered by our engineers at the Emil Berliner Studios - gives an extra frisson to Wunderlich's calling-card, the Portrait Aria from Magic Flute (Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön), to the high jinks of The Barber, and the Italian Tenor's Aria from Rosenkavalier.

Also present on the recording: the great Anneliese Rothenberger, who died just recently (Pamina) and Lucia Popp in Strauss's Capriccio

Conductors include Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, Josef Krips and Georges Prêtre. Many of the performances are the from the premières of the productions in question.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915–2006) is universally acknowledged to be one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Blessed with a voice of exquisite beauty, as well as a striking physical presence, she shone brightly in opera, excelled in the concert hall and brought a unique artistry to the recital platform. She was signed exclusively to EMI in 1946 by the recording producer Walter Legge, with whom she formed a dedicated artistic and personal relationship, and together they produced a stream of magnificent recordings over almost 30 years. In addition to the tonal qualities of her voice, Schwarzkopf was renowned for her unrivalled communicative ability, which the vocal critic John Steane described as 'almost making the voice visible'. Thus she could translate her charismatic stage presence into purely vocal terms through the medium of recording, and still convey all the dramatic meaning of her songs and operatic characters to listeners who could hear but not see her. This rare quality is evident in all the recordings in this unique collection, which covers a lifetime of work and reveals the development of her art.

The first CD begins with recordings of works by Bach, Handel and Mozart that are among the earliest that Schwarzkopf made for EMI. They show her voice at its freshest and also exhibit her fine legato and appreciable technique in Baroque music.

CD 2 begins with the famous collaboration between Schwarzkopf and the eminent pianist Walter Gieseking in a collection of simple but refined songs by Mozart that reveal great beauty of tone, evenness of line and sincerity of expression in the singing, as well as sensitive accompaniment from Gieseking. These are followed by four of Mozart’s concert arias with orchestra, in which the conductor is the highly regarded George Szell.

At the beginning of her career, Schwarzkopf sang mainly lighter roles and in CD 3 we have a collection of Mozart arias that demonstrate this part of her repertoire in the arias of Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), but also a number of lyric roles that she never sang on stage, including Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro). This disc also gives us the chance to compare Schwarzkopf’s totally different characterisation of the three principal female roles in Don Giovanni (Elvira, Anna and Zerlina) and Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna, Cherubino and the Countess).

CD 4 brings us back to the field of Lieder and includes another collaboration with a famous pianist, this time Edwin Fischer, in a highly acclaimed recital of Schubert Lieder, as well as more Schubert songs with her two regular accompanists, Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons.

In CD 5 we encounter the widely varied programmes of songs by a wide-ranging selection of composers – from Mendelssohn and Schumann, through Liszt and Brahms, to Mahler and Medtner and many more in between – that would often be a feature of Schwarzkopf’s recitals. To each of these songs she brings her own individuality and stamps them with her personal qualities of beautiful singing and vivid interpretation.

The next disc is devoted entirely to the songs of Hugo Wolf, a composer whom Legge had championed since the beginning of the 1930s. Guided by Legge, Schwarzkopf became a peerless interpreter of Wolf's compositions. This live recording is of a legendary concert in Salzburg on 12 August 1953 marking the 50th anniversary of Hugo Wolf’s death. The piano accompanist is the great conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler.

CD 7 brings us to Richard Strauss, a composer of whose works Schwarzkopf was a matchless performer. It begins with Schwarzkopf’s 1953 recording of Strauss’s valedictory Vier letzte Lieder, followed by the closing scene from Capriccio, an opera that Schwarzkopf performed a number of times on stage, and ends with scenes from Arabella, which Schwarzkopf sang only in the recording studio.

CD 8 stays with Richard Strauss. It starts with a long extract from the first act of Der Rosenkavalier beginning with the aging Marschallin contemplating the passing of the years in a famous monologue and then going to the end of the act in an extended duet with her young lover, the handsome Octavian. This is followed by the glorious trio from the end of the third act, one of Strauss’s most beautiful compositions for the female voice. Then come 12 of Strauss’s wonderful songs for soprano with orchestra, all conducted in supreme Straussian style by George Szell.

In CD 9 we turn to the lighter side of Schwarzkopf’s repertoire with extracts from a whole range of delightful Viennese operettas, beginning with two of Johann Strauss II’s favourite works: Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron. Then come several extracts from Schwarzkopf’s second complete recording of Die lustige Witwe by Franz Lehár, and finally the complete recital of operetta arias that was always one of Schwarzkopf’s must popular albums.

The final CD in the set starts with some of Schwarzkopf’s earliest operatic recordings, when she was singing Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier rather than the Marschallin, and a very youthful-sounding Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel. Then come a varied assortment of operatic arias that recall some of the roles that Schwarzkopf sang in the early part of her career, and the disc concludes with four items from the memorable concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in February 1967, when Schwarzkopf joined with her two distinguished colleagues Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau and Victoria de los Angeles to pay homage to that doyen of accompanists, Gerald Moore.

The German baritone Hermann Prey was born in Berlin in 1929. In a career that spanned some 48 years, he became one of the most popular singers of his time and formed a great bond with his audiences through his unaffected and natural style of singing and his personal charm and acting ability. His repertoire was extremely wide and encompassed all the classic German Lieder, as well as a whole range of operatic roles from the lively Figaro of both Mozart and Rossini to more serious baritone parts in Verdi and Wagner, although it is in the lighter roles that he is most affectionately remembered. He enjoyed great success in the world’s major opera houses including Vienna, Bayreuth, Salzburg, Munich, Milan and New York, and also appeared frequently on German TV and in opera films. He died in 1998.

CD 1 begins with two groups of Lieder by Schubert to words by Schiller and Goethe, followed by a selection of 12 Deutsche Volkslieder by Brahms, while CD 2 contains a complete performance of Schubert’s great song cycle Winterreise. CD 3 is devoted to Schumann, including Dichterliebe and songs with words by Kerner, and CD 4 opens with Schumann’s Liederkreis before going on to a collection of songs by Weber.

CD 5 presents six songs by Beethoven, starting with the popular ‘Adelaide’, and these are followed by a group of songs by Liszt, concluding with his setting of Three Sonnets by Petrarch. CD 6 begins with a group of songs by various composers all to words by Goethe that were recorded in 1974 but issued for the first time in 1998 as a tribute to Prey at the time of his death. These are followed by a very attractive selection of German Folk and Wayfarer songs that show Prey in lighter mood.

In CD7 we have a group of ten descriptive ballads by Loewe including his setting of Goethe’s ‘Erlkönig’ and the traditional Scottish poem ‘Tom der Reimer’ (Tom the

Rhymer). This CD ends with a magnificent performance of Bach’s Cantata Ich habe genug with the Orchestra of the Leipzig Gewandhaus conducted by Kurt Thomas that illustrates Prey ‘s talent for German liturgical music and oratorio.

With CD 8 we move to opera in a wide range of repertoire from Baroque and Classical works by Keiser, Gluck and Mozart to the Romantic music of Wagner and Humperdinck. All the arias from French and Italian operas are sung in German, as was the practice in German opera houses at the time these recordings were made.

CD 9 brings us to some more modern operatic items by Leoncavallo Richard Strauss and Korngold and then two powerful arias by Tchaikovsky, after which the mood lifts with extracts from the operettas Gasparone by Millöcker and Boccaccio by Suppé. Finally we have four romantic songs from American musicals that Prey sings in fine idiomatic style. On this CD we also hear Prey’s frequent partner in both opera and operetta, the much loved soprano Anneliese Rothenberger, in several duets.

The final CD begins with arias from a number of German so-called ‘Spielopern’ by Kreutzer, Nessler and Lortzing before concluding in high spirits with items from operettas by those two masters of the genre, Johann Strauss II and Carl Millöcker.

Joyce DiDonato celebrates the rich dramatic variety of the mezzo-soprano voice in this collection of arias for different characters – of both sexes – from a single opera, or from different operatic treatments of the same story.

Joyce DiDonato’s capacity for characterisation is as astounding as the range and flexibility of her voice. As her Virgin Classics recitals of Handel and Rossini have proven, she can charm and touch as a good girl, seduce and seethe as a bad girl, and slip believably into the trousers of a hero. As Opera News said of the Rossini disc, ‘Colbran, The Muse’: “With her sure sense of line and colour, DiDonato takes possession of the repertory, mining every musical and vocal gesture to inhabit each character confidently … Her theatrical sense is magnificent. Musically and dramatically, the disc is perfection.”

This new collection showcases DiDonato’s multi-faceted art – and the wealth of opportunities open to a mezzo-soprano – by presenting her as different characters, both male and female, from the same opera or from different musical treatments of the same story.

As DiDonato explains: “This recital celebrates the vast and fabulous world of the mezzo-soprano. Aside from the obvious Toscas or Cio-Cio Sans, I've never regretted the length of my vocal cords!

I have the privilege and unmitigated joy of playing boys and young men, as well as girls and grown women … It’s an exploration of the human palette of emotions.

“I wanted to find a way to show this duality on disc, while highlighting some of the composers I'm most passionate about, such as Mozart, Bellini, Berlioz, Rossini, and Massenet. In exploring this idea, the possibility became clear for telling different sides of some of the most familiar tales which have served as inspiration for operatic legends: Cinderella, Faust, Romeo and Juliet … I've always thought of myself as a storyteller, and with this particular disc, I can showcase that side of me as never before. I'm ready to play!”

The programme features several roles that DiDonato has sung on stage – such as Rossini’s Cenerentola (it was the character’s gentle, then exuberant ‘Nacqui all’affanno’ that launched her international career at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition, and subsequently at La Scala), Bellini’s Romeo and Mozart’s Cherubino. The ‘flip sides’ of those characters are roles that have not featured in her repertoire: the Prince from Massenet’s Cendrillon (a lavish treatment of the Cinderella story more likely to bring DiDonato in the title role – as at Santa Fe in 2006 and, in 2011, at Covent Garden); the Nurse from Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette, and both Chérubin (from Massenet’s ‘sequel’ to Le nozze di Figaro) and Susanna. The Figaro connection continues with an excerpt from Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina, of course, later becomes Countess Almaviva), while other operas on the programme, from the Renaissance to late Romanticism, include La clemenza di Tito (Sesto and Vitellia), Faust, La Damnation de Faust, Mefistofele, Orphée et Eurydice, Orfeo and Orphée aux Enfers.

Accompanying Joyce DiDonato in this tour de force is the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Lyon under the company’s Principal Conductor Kazushi Ono, another artist who successfully embraces an extraordinary diversity of musical idioms.

As John von Rhein wrote in Gramophone: “In complete control vocally, Joyce DiDonato is … consumed by the character. She embodies whomever she’s playing and whatever emotional situation she is evoking.”