Richard Wagner

(1813-83)

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Wagner: Das Rheingold

Wagner: Das Rheingold

Recorded 1958


George London, Kirsten Flagstad, Claire Watson, Waldemar Kmentt, Eberhard Wächter, Set Svanholm, Paul Kuen, Jean Madeira, Gustav Neidlinger, Walter Kreppel, Kurt Böhme, Oda Balsborg, Hetty Plümacher & Ira Malaniuk

Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti

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Decca - Originals - 4780382

(CD - 2 discs)

£16.49 (£14.03 ex. VAT)

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Dame Janet Baker

Dame Janet Baker


Bach, J S:

Cantata BWV82 'Ich habe genug'

Arias and recits from "Christmas oratorio"

St John Passion, BWV 245 (excerpts)

Berlioz:

Les Nuits D'été, Op. 7

Brahms:

Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53

Chausson:

Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19

Elgar:

Sea Pictures, Op. 37

Softly and gently, dearly-ransomed soul (from The Dream of Gerontius)

Handel:

Messiah: He was despised

Selected Italian cantatas

Nos. 1 & 13

Liszt:

Lieder

Mahler:

Kindertotenlieder

Rückert-Lieder

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

Urlicht (from Symphony No. 2)

Ravel:

Shéhérazade

Schubert:

Selected Lieder

Schumann:

Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42

Strauss, R:

Liebeshymnus, Op. 32 No. 3

Das Rosenband, Op. 36 No. 1

Ruhe, meine Seele!, Op. 27 No. 1

Wagner:

5 Wesendonk Lieder

Der Engel / Stehe still / Im Treibhaus / Schmerzen / Traume

and works by Dowland, Campion, Purcell, Boyce, Monro & Ame


Dame Janet Baker

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EMI Icons - 2080872

(CD - 5 discs)

£19.99 (£17.01 ex. VAT)

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Wagner - The Great Operas from the Bayreuth Festival

Wagner - The Great Operas from the Bayreuth Festival

Containing the classic Nilsson/Windgassen/ Böhm complete Ring Cycle and legendary Tristan und Isolde, Sawallisch's famous Tannhäuser, Lohengrin and Der Fliegende Hollander + the Levine Parsifal and Varviso Meistersinger..


Wagner:

Das Rheingold

Theo Adam, Annelies Burmeister, Wolfgang Windgassen, Erwin Wohlfahrt, Gustav Neidlinger, Anja Silja, Hermin Esser, Gerd Nienstedt, Vera Soukupová, Martti Talvela, Kurt Böhme, Dorothea Siebert, Helga Dernesch, Ruth Hesse

Karl Böhm

Die Walküre

James King, Leonie Rysanek, Birgit Nilsson, Theo Adam, Annelies Burmeister, Gerd Nienstedt, Daniza Mastilovic, Liane Synek, Helga Dernesch, Gertraud Hopf, Sona Cervená, Annelies Burmeister, Elisabeth Schärtel, Sieglinde Wagner

Karl Böhm

Siegfried

Wolfgang Windgassen, Theo Adam, Birgit Nilsson, Erwin Wohlfahrt, Gustav Neidlinger, Vera Soukupová, Martti Talvela, Erika Köth

Karl Böhm

Tannhäuser

Wolfgang Windgassen, Eberhard Wächter, Gerhard Stolze, Franz Crass, Georg Paskuda, Gerd Nienstedt, Anja Silja, Grace Bumbry, Else-Margrete Gardelli

Wolfgang Sawallisch

Götterdämmerung

Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Josef Greindl, Gustav Neidlinger, Thomas Stewart, Ludmila Dvoráková, Martha Mödl, Dorothea Siebert, Helga Dernesch, Sieglinde Wagner, Marga Höffgen, Annelies Burmeister, Anja Silja

Karl Böhm

Der fliegende Holländer

Franz Crass, Anja Silja, Fritz Uhl, Josef Greindl

Wolfgang Sawallisch

Tristan und Isolde

Wolfgang Windgassen, Birgit Nilsson, Christa Ludwig, Martti Talvela, Eberhard Waechter, Claude Heater, Erwin Wohlfahrt, Gerd Nienstedt, Peter Schreier

Karl Böhm

Lohengrin

Jess Thomas, Anja Silja, Astrid Varnay, Ramon Vinay, Franz Crass, Tom Krause

Wolfgang Sawallisch

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Karl Ridderbusch, Jean Cox, Hannelore Bode, Hans Sotin, Klaus Hirte, Frieder Stricker, Anna Reynolds, Gerd Nienstedt, Heribert Steinbach

Silvio Varviso

Parsifal

Peter Hofmann, Waltraud Meier, Hans Sotin, Simon Estes, Franz Mazura, Matti Salminen

James Levine


Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele

Speical Limited Edition while stocks last only

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Decca - 4780279

(CD - 33 discs)

£58.99 (£50.20 ex. VAT)

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Vladimir Jurowski - Live from the Royal Festival Hall

Vladimir Jurowski - Live from the Royal Festival Hall


Berg:

Drei Orchesterstücke, Op. 6

Mahler:

Das klagende Lied

1880 original version

Wagner:

Parsifal: Prelude to Act 1


Marisol Montalvo, Hedwig Fassbender, Michael Hendrick & Anthony Michaels-Moore

London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, Vladimir Jurowski

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London, 19 September 2007

“Pulling off such a programme demands absolute conviction in the moment of performance, and this concert had it in spades. If this is a sign of things to come, the Jurowski/LPO partnership will set a standard by which all other London orchestras are judged.” The Financial Times

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DVD Video

Region: 0

Format: NTSC

Big DVD Sale

Ideale Audience International - 3056808

(DVD Video - 2 discs)

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Special: £16.86 (£14.35 ex. VAT)

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Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Directed for Stage by Wolfgang Wagner. Recorded live at the Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, 21–30


Robert Holl, Peter Seiffert, Emily Magee & Andreas Schmidt

Chor & Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Daniel Barenboim

Staged and directed by Richard Wagner’s grandson Wolfgang Wagner at the Bayreuther Festspiele in 1999, this production of Wagner’s only comic opera features an all-star cast and the Bayreuther Festspiele chorus and orchestra under the direction of Daniel Barenboim

Wolfgang Wagner’s timeless staging of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is “exhilaratingly conducted” (Gramophone) by Daniel Barenboim. Alongside him is Robert Holl as a Sachs of “innate wisdom” and Peter Seiffert’s “glorious Walther” (Classics Today)

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DVD Video

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Format: NTSC

Big DVD Sale

EuroArts - 2072358

(DVD Video - 2 discs)

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Juha Uusitalo - The Wagner Album

Juha Uusitalo - The Wagner Album


Wagner:

Der fliegende Holländer - Overture

Die Frist ist um (Holländer)

Nein, Lasst ihn unenthüllt (Parsifal)

Wehvolles Erbe, dem ich verfallen! (Parsifal)

Ja,Wehe! Wehe! Weh über mich! (Parsifal)

Wie Todesahnung Dämmrung – O du, mein holder Abendstern

Dir Unweisen ruf´ ich´s ins Ohr (Siegfried)

Die Walküre: 'Leb wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind!'


Juha Uusitalo (baritone)

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam

Bass-baritone Juha Uusistalo was born to sing Wagner.Amazingly this is his début recital album and features the powerful Finnish newcomer in the best-loved arias for male voice from Wagner's operas.

"…with a huge yet cultivated sound and truck-loads of charisma (he is) set to conquer the opera world," The Financial Times

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Ondine - ODE11212

(CD)

£12.99 (£11.06 ex. VAT)

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Christine Brewer

Christine Brewer


 

A City called Heaven

Negro Spiritual

Britten:

Cabaret Songs

Carter, J:

Cantata

Merrill:

Mira

Strauss, R:

Ich liebe dich Op. 37 No. 2

Wagner:

Wesendonck-Lieder

Wolf, H:

Mignon I - Heiß mich nicht reden

Mignon II – Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt

Mignon III - So lasst mich scheinen

Kennst du das Land


Christine Brewer (soprano) & Roger Vignoles (piano)

Opening concert of the 2007/8 Wigmore Hall season Notes on the encore by Christine: ‘A City Called Heaven’ negro spiritual I grew up in a family of singers, many of whom sang gospel music. My brothers and I quite often joined our mother in the church to sing gospel music and spirituals. This music has always been an important part of my life, so I try to include spirituals in my programs whenever I can. I find in the spirituals that no matter what the obstacles are, there is a deep underlying sense of hope and joy. This is what draws me to such music and gives me such joy to sing. ‘Ich liebe dich’ Richard Strauss: This is one of the many Strauss lieder that I have sung for years, and that Roger and I have performed and recorded. This song also exudes such utter joy that it's difficult not to just want to burst out in laughter at the end of it. It has one of the most exuberant postludes of any of Strauss' songs, and I love it! ‘Mira’ Bob Merrill: I started performing Mira about 20 years ago when I did little recitals and concerts around St. Louis. This song spoke to me right away, because it is about a girl who is missing her hometown where everyone knows her name. I grew up in a town of 500 and now live in a town of about 3,500, so I truly know what it is like to walk down the street and know most of the townspeople. There is a comfort in that for me, and I miss it when I am travelling around the world. I think I sang this song as an encore the very first time that I sang at the Wigmore Hall. It became one of Bill Lyne's favourites and he asked me to sing it at his farewell concert. So it has become a standard for me at the Wigmore, and one that always makes me think of home and all those folks there as well as my friends here in London when I sing it!

“For all the power and musical intelligence she brings to Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder and Wolf's Mignon songs, the second half signals a complete change of mood in the Britten and John Carter's spiritual- based Cantata. This is singing of rare charm and versatility, at both ends of a vast emotional spectrum.” The Observer, 22nd June 2008

“It felt like the first day back at school. Familiar faces. Familiar surroundings. How was your holiday? And the Wigmore Hall couldn’t have chosen a more welcoming artiste to launch the autumn term than the American soprano Christine Brewer. Already in town for jury duty on the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition, she gave on Saturday a recital of radiant passion and power … generous sound, long phrases effortlessly controlled, subtle gradations of tone … The music’s emotional volatility was admirably caught. Clamour capsized into sorrow; voice and piano kept questioning and shading each other. Vignoles’s subtle gifts proved vital here … In the four Britten-Auden cabaret songs Brewer was at her unbuttoned best. After cabaret came spirituals, packaged by the American John Carter into a baroque-tinged cantata. Vignoles’s elaborate fingerwork never interfered with Brewer’s exultant glow. What could be next? Just the bouquet of flowers and the encores – a spiritual, full-throttle Strauss, a simple sweet song from the musical Carnival. Brewer sent us home feeling warmed, cared for and replete” The Times Concert Review

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Wigmore Hall Live - WHLIVE0022

(CD)

£8.49 (£7.23 ex. VAT)

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Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen


Das Rheingold

Hans Hotter · Otakar Krauss · Erich Witte · Kurt Böhme

Die Walküre

Birgit Nilsson · Hans Hotter · Sylvia Fisher · Ramón Vinay

Siegfried

Wolfgang Windgassen · Hans Hotter · Peter Klein · Birgit Nilsson

Götterdämmerung

Birgit Nilsson · Wolfgang Windgassen · Kurt Böhme · Hermann Uhde

Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Rudolf Kempe

Wagner’s complete Ring cycle under Rudolf Kempe, recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1957 is being released shortly by Testament. The cast is headed by a galaxy of top class singers at the peak of their powers, including Hans Hotter (Wotan/Wanderer), Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde), Wolfgang Windgassen (Siegfried), Ramón Vinay (Siegmund) and Sylvia Fisher (Sieglinde). The supporting singers are equally distinguished and include Otakar Kraus (Alberich), Georgine von Milinkovic? (Fricka), Kurt Böhme (Hagen), Hermann Uhde (Gunther) and Joan Sutherland (Woglinde). The annual Ring cycle at Covent Garden in the late 1950s was highly regarded by audiences and critics alike for presenting the leading Wagnerian singers of the day in outstanding performances, most of which at that time were conducted by the much admired Rudolf Kempe. The transfers are being made using high quality source material from Lord Harewood’s collection.

“Testament is unduly coy about the provenance of this 1957 live recording — it’s clearly not a BBC broadcast, or it would be credited, and if it is in-house, why isn’t the ROH issuing it on its own label? — but it is a timely reminder that Covent Garden was a great Wagner house even before Georg Solti raised the ante as musical director. This cast is a mixture of international Wagnerians and Covent Garden residents, with the Wotan (Hotter), Siegfried (Windgassen) and Siegmund (Vinay) common to the 1955 Bayreuth set. The glory here is Birgit Nilsson’s gleaming Brünnhilde, already 39 years old, but sounding youthful, touching and tireless. The set is a reminder of the strengths of the company at this period, with Joan Sutherland leading the Rhinemaidens.” Sunday Times, 29th June 2008 ***

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Testament - SBT131426

(CD - 13 discs)

£71.49 (£60.84 ex. VAT)

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Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen


Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bernard Haitink

“Like it, hate it but you cannot ignore it!” is a statement that can certainly be applied to Wagner’s tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung”. It contains four operas, took him thirty years to write (with a gap of about eleven years in the middle) and all performances last at least fourteen hours with the longest act longer than many full operas. Such statistics have been used to support Wagner as a serious composer who gave us so much and to his detractors as self-aggrandisement or worse!If one believes the truth that all grand art can be interpreted differently and inspire cultured debate then “The Ring” undoubtedly qualifies for that epithet.Richard Wagner started writing the book of prose, entitled “Siegfried’s Death” in which the heroine Brunnhilde would take the body of Siegfried back to Walhalla, much of what is now the final opera Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods).He then worked the story backwards to show how Siegfried lived his life and then to explain how Siegfried came to be he wrote what we now know as Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) centred around Brunnhilde and how she disobeyed the head of the Gods and her father, Wotan, and became a mortal. Finally he took the story back to the beginning before Alberich, the dwarf or Nibelung of the title, steals the gold from the Rhinemaidens and fashions a ring through whose power he plans to rule the world,Productions have treated it as a great adventure story with the perpetual battle of “The love of Power against the power of Love”, a political allegory based, it seems, at any time in the history of the world it seems with the major players wearing as many personae as the directors who have produced the opera. As often is the case the best production is in one’s imagination as there dwarves, giants, humans, dragons, magic helmets and rings can truly come alive. Wagner helps us in this respect as he carefully selects and blends certain tunes or motives which represent an animate or inanimate object, an emotion or feeling. So when these are sounded the listener has this signpost which informs him, for example, which character is around or being talked about or even what a character is thinking even though he may be saying something else.To do justice to such an enterprise much hard work needs to be expended with the involvement of a huge cast including singers in all vocal ranges with prodigious powers of expression, a chorus of great strength and a superb orchestra all under the guidance of a conductor who must be fully experienced in the ways of the theatre and music. Backing them up, a first rate technical and musical team of producers and engineers to create the ambience that is demanded by the score. EMI Classics were fortunate to secure all of these in this recording.

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EMI - 5194792

(CD - 14 discs)

£50.99 (£43.40 ex. VAT)

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String Quartets By Opera Composers

String Quartets By Opera Composers


Humperdinck:

String Quartet in C Major

Puccini:

Crisantemi

Respighi:

Il tramonto

Verdi:

String Quartet in E minor

Wagner:

Albumblatt


Ruth Ziesak (soprano)

Leipziger Streichquartett

“What could be a more seductive five minutes that Puccini’s Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums), a lovely crystellisation of his idiom…….Verdi’s four-movement E minor quartet is substantial, original and unforgettable.” Sunday Times, 4th May 2008

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MDG - MDG3071495

(CD)

£12.99 (£11.06 ex. VAT)

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