Offenbach: Scintille, diamant (from Les Contes d'Hoffmann)

Born in 1911, the French baritone Michel Dens had a long and successful career.

His early career was in the world of opera but he later sang in many operettas.

This collection includes arias which he perfomed at an event given in his honour in Marseilles in 1986.

On his second release for Sony Classical, Erwin Schrott transfers many of his stage triumphs to an album of arias. For the most part Schrott has devoted this new CD to classics from the French and Italian bass-baritone repertoire, complementing them with compositions by Verdi and Massenet that are not often heard.

The singer also gives due place to his love of music by Spanish and Latin American composers: namely the Spanish composer Pablo Sorozabal, and the Brazilian composer Carlos Gomes.

This world famous singer was Belgian, yet only appeared at La Monnaie on the 20th anniversary of his career. After returning from exile, he took many roles and has worked with some of the greatest conductors. This CD includes works by Wagner, Strauss, Mussorgsky, Verdi, Mozart, Rossini, Debussy, Berlioz and Offenbach. These CDs contain a fragment of history.

Rene Pape’s solo debut for DG gives an overview of the roles that have made his career plus a few rarities.. Accompanied by the Dresden Staatskapelle under Sebastian Weigle, Pape performs his signature piece: King Mark’s monologue from Tristan und Isolde, as well as arias from Gounod’s Faust (the role of Méphistophélès), Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and wonderful arias of the rarely performed Demon (Rubinstein) among others. “René Pape is an artist who thrills his audiences with charisma, intelligence and a one-in-a-million voice.” (Opera News)

The operatic roles on this album have to a large extend been performed by Pape to the highest critical acclaim in the world’s major opera houses, from the Metropolitan Opera to the Berlin Staatsoper.

As Pape’s first solo recording and his DG solo debut, this album is long overdue and is eagerly awaited not only by the music press but also by the singer’s international fan base.

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.

The Stockholm Opera was one of the leading European houses at the middle of the last century, partly due to the fact that so many great Sw. singers stayed at home. One of them, Hugo Hasslo, possessed a beautiful tenor-baritone voice. He even tried Cavaradossi once, but wisely kept to his baritone roles, in Verdi, Mozart, Donizetti and Rossini. After his retirement in the 60s he became a beloved and successful voice teacher.