Mozart: Vedro mentr'io sospiro (from Le nozze di Figaro) (Count's aria)

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.

From the outset of his career, bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo has been the pre-eminent Mozart man in his Fach. For his all-Italian Mozart album under Gianandrea Noseda, he delivers numbers famous and rare that brim with vocal distinction and interpretive panache.

D’Arcangelo’s awesome Don Giovanni (“Champagne Aria”) and uproarious Leporello (“Catalogue Aria”) establish his wide emotional range. Excerpts of his much anticipated Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, which goes public in Paris in 2011 (followed by Vienna and L.A.), and his notable Figaro highlight other facets of D’Arcangelo’s command as a Mozartian.

With its unusually prominent writing for the double bass, the concert aria, “Per questa bella mano”, is a composition out of the ordinary; it shows that in addition to being a master of character creation, D’Arcangelo is a master of pure singing.

“Ildebrando D’Arcangelo is a complete knock-out as Leporello − charming, funny, sexy. What a difference a native Italian speaker makes in the role”, says The Independent

The nine large-scale Concert Arias for Baritone and Orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart date for the most part from the composer’s last creative period.

The biggest stars seize centre stage to sing the greatest scenes and arias of opera’s heroes and villains. This is a compilation of the calibre which only Decca and DG can offer. With 147 minutes of music, it offers remarkable value too.

2 CDs for the price of 1.

For his Naxos début recording, the internationally acclaimed Georgian baritone Lado Ataneli has selected operatic arias by Bizet, Donizetti, Leoncavallo, Verdi, Massenet, Mozart and Rossini, which showcase what the Los Angeles Times hailed as “one of the healthiest, roundest, most mellifluous voices on the planet”.

A sought-after interpreter of verismo rôles, Lado Ataneli has worked with conductors including Riccardo Muti, James Conlon and James Levine, sharing the stage with Plácido Domingo and other leading singers.

He closes his recital with an aria by Dimitri Arakishvili, one of the founders of modern Georgian music.