Exciting new addition to Melba’s ongoing Richard Bonynge Collection
Contains rare Italian, French and English opera arias and, all receiving world premiere recordings from the Richard Bonynge Archive: an eclectic mix of composers, from late 18th Century English masters such as J C Bach, Boyce and Thomas Arne via Cimarosa and Mayr to little known songsmiths such as Crescentini, Pietro Generali and Stephen Storace
Songs are all from the 18th and 19th centuries, but the main unifying principle is that all of them have – at one point or another – been discarded or forgotten
The glorious Sieglinde in the Melba Ring Cycle, leading Australian soprano Deborah Reidel is in magnificent vocal form. At times she sounds uncannily like Joan Sutherland in her timbre, but has a strength and richness all her own
Booklet has a wealth of information, complete song texts & translations of all arias