Giuseppe Verdi

Montserrat Caballé, Samuel Ramey, Ileana Cotrubas, René Kollo, Eva Marton, and Ruggero Raimondi were amongst the many opera stars from all over the world who came together at the great Arena in Verona on 8th August 1988 to support José Carreras and the establishment of his foundation to fight leukaemia. The much-loved tenor had recently recovered from this life threatening illness and the recordings included in this special two-CD set are the aural documents of this memorable gala.

Although Placido Domingo was unable to take part that evening, he too supported his friend, providing a recording of a song by zarzuela composer Jacinto Guerrero at Carreras’s disposal for the concert in aid of foundation and this album. The discs include highlights from La Bohème, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Manon Lescaut, La Giaconda, Otello, La Traviata and many other operas.

August 8th, 1988 was a great evening for José Carreras. It went on until after two o’clock in the morning, but the packed audience in the Arena in Verona did not want to go yet. They held aloft signs and banners on which they hailed the singer, who had returned to life, with heartfelt words in many languages. He was the last to perform after the greats of opera had sung for him throughout the evening. For the first time since his convalescence Carreras again stood in front of an orchestra. His strength was only sufficient for a single song - Lara’s Granada - with which his voice could outshine the waves of the instruments.

This 10-CD set features the great American baritone Leonard Warren in performances of operas by the composer with whom he was mostly associated, Giuseppe Verdi. Warren, who tragically died on stage during a performance of La Forza del Destino, was a stalwart at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.

The memory of the baritone Leonard Warren (1911-1960) will remain linked not only with several of the most dazzling performances in the history of the New York Metropolitan Opera, but also with one of its most tragic events. On March 4th 1960 Warren collapsed and died on stage from a stroke during a performance of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny). Renata Tebaldi was supposed to celebrate her return to the Met, and with her on stage were Warren and Richard Tucker, stars of the company. But while singing his great aria Morir! tremenda cosa (“O death! what dread thing”) his heart failed.

He had joined America’s most famous opera house in 1938 and until his death had sung there in 610 performances, 359 of which were operas by Verdi, no fewer than 89 being Rigoletto.

Herbert von Karajan is considered to be one of the greatest ever conductors of the music of Giuseppe Verdi. This 8-CD set contains his recordings from the 1950s of three of Verdi’s operas, Aida, Il Trovatore and Falstaff, alongside a classic account of the composer’s Requiem Mass, recorded at the 1958 Salzburg Festival.

The Verdi performances gathered together in this box set date from the 1950s and were made in Salzburg, Milan, Vienna and London. The conductor is the great Herbert von Karajan, a musician who many recognise as one of the best ever interpreters of the composer’s work. They include an acclaimed version of the celebrated Requiem Mass, for which Karajan had a particular affinity, as well as complete recordings of three of Verdi’s signature operas, Aida, Il Trovatore and Falstaff. The singers that he assembled are some of the greatest opera stars of their time, such as Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Carlo Bergonzi, Tito Gobbi, and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

This collection features conductor Robert Shaw, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Robert Shaw Festival Singers performing sacred choral classics from some of the albums they recorded for Telarc between 1979 and 1993.

In consistently excellent sound, Shaw’s unrivalled mastery of this repertoire shines through in every selection on the disc, from the final pages of the "Prologue in Heaven" from Boito’s Mefistofele, to the towering conclusion of Mahler's Symphony No. 8.

Gabriel Bacquier has already, in his lifetime, entered the hallowed halls of great French singers. An incomparable actor, endowed with exceptional vocal means and an unbelievably rich timbre, he carried the art of interpretation to the highest level. For the first time on CD, Decca have issued a collection highlighting this baritone’s remarkable career.

Gino Marinuzzi’s recordings are very much in demand, not least because of their rarity. The only one known to a wider audience is his complete recording in 1941 of La forza del destino, which is considered a milestone among recordings of that opera. A tribute of one of Italy's most important conductors of the past.