Lara, Augustin: Granada

On the evening of July 7, 1990, an `impossible dream' came true: the three greatest tenors of the day joined forces with an orchestra of 200 musicians against a backdrop of the majestic scenery of ancient Rome.

In the famous Baths of Caracalla in Rome, on a brilliant starlit night with a full moon rising, Placido Domingo, José Carreras, and Luciano Pavarotti, together with Maestro Zubin Mehta, presented an evening of arias, songs and medleys which was unique in musical history.

For the 6,000 fortunate people who crowded into Caracalla that evening, it was an experience never to be forgotten. This recording is a document of that special performance, recorded live on the occasion, as a souvenir for music-lovers everywhere.

The original 1990 digital multi-track recording has been newly re-mastered, maintaining the recorded sound in the digital domain throughout the mixing, editing and CD transfer stages, giving an increased fidelity and presence to this unique recording.

Plácido Domingo has been synonymous with the world of opera for nearly fifty years. In a career that has seen him perform 3,500 times, taking on more than 130 major tenor roles, encompassing music from Handel and Gluck to Menotti, Tan Dun and Daniel Catán, Domingo’s career has been unparalleled.

On 23 January 2011 Domingo celebrates his 70th birthday. To celebrate, we are planning a raft of releases, both new and old, with many incredible recordings drawn from his amazingly rich DG and Decca catalogue.

In chronological order, a fascinating 3-CD set celebrating four decades of Deutsche Grammophon and Decca recordings.

Two CDs dedicated to Opera - One CD of Latin American music, Viennese operetta, zarzuela, pop repertoire and religious music.

Limited, PRESTIGE edition.

152-page colour hardcover book.

Previously unreleased and rare tracks - Giordano's "Amor ti vieta" from his first recording (1968) and an unreleased aria from a Decca Don Carlo recording with Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic from 1975.

Complete full-colour discography.

A new essay by critic Harvey Sachs.

This collection of recordings by the famous Italian tenor Franco Corelli includes four songs which have been released on CD for the first time. The other arias included are from a wide range of famous operas such as Turandot, Tosca, Aida, Rigoletto, Carmen, Norma and Madame Butterfly.

Franco Corelli began his stage career in Italy in 1951. With his powerful voice, charismatic stage presence and film-star good looks he soon became one of the 20th century’s outstanding operatic superstars.

He first came to prominence when he sang opposite Maria Callas at La Scala, Milan, in a production of La vestale in 1954. He subsequently partnered Callas at La Scala in Fedora and Poliuto and later appeared with her at the end of her stage career in Norma in Paris in 1964 and Tosca in New York in 1965.

Corelli made a spectacular debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, in January 1961 in Verdi’s Il trovatore. He quickly became the Met’s leading tenor and performed there every season until 1974.

He recorded extensively for EMI throughout the 1960s, when he made a number of complete operas as well as several albums of operatic arias and songs.

This 4 CD set brings together the best of Corelli’s EMI recordings. From his operatic catalogue come a substantial number of arias, as well as duets with Birgit Nilsson, Mirella Freni, Antonietta Stella and Gabriella Tucci.

The operatic composers whose works are included in the set are Bellini, Donizetti, Catalani, Ponchielli, Cilea, Massenet, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Puccini, Giordano, Mascagni and Leoncavallo, and some of the operas represented are Turandot, I puritani, Norma, Un ballo in maschera, Il trovatore, La forza del destino, Aida, Roméo et Juliette, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci.

In addition to the operatic material, there are a large number of songs, including popular Neapolitan titles such as ‘Core ’ngrato’, ‘Torna a Surriento’ and ‘’O sole mio’, plus other items like ‘Granada’, Schubert’s Ave Maria and the Ingemisco from Verdi’s Requiem.

This album also includes a song recorded in Milan in 1961: ‘Si tu m’amais’ by Luigi Denza, that has never been issued either on LP or on CD since its initial release only in Italy in 1962 on a 45 rpm single.