Verdi: Di provenza il mar (from La Traviata) (Germont's aria)

A singer of exceptional intelligence and style, the American Thomas Hampson has developed an operatic career that has taken him from Mozart, Rossini and the French composers of the 19th century to the grand roles of Verdi. In the field of song, he has explored a wide repertoire, ranging in this collection from Schubert, Schumann and Mahler to Grieg, Meyerbeer and the Americans Foster and Griffes.

Leading tenor, Rolando Villazon, has personally selected 34 great Verdi tracks, sung by the great names of the present and past, both to celebrate Verdi at 200 and to inspire a new generation with the composer’s great arias, powerful choruses and popular tunes.

The tracklist is framed by two stirring overtures, it includes famous numbers by all the leading singers on DG and Decca (as well as a couple from EMI), including Roberto Alagna, Carlo Bergonzi, Grace Bumbry, Joseph Calleja, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Luciano Pavorotti, Katia Ricciarelli, Joan Sutherland and BrynTerfel. There are rousing choruses and several extracts from the Requiem too. It’s a splendid 150-minute collection.

The striking cover includes one of Rolando’s inimitable Verdi sketches, and will include a sticker incorporating a photo of the artist. The all-colour booklet has an article by journalist Richard Lawrence which also takes in some quotes from the artist in a recent interview for this release.

Villazón is confident that every excerpt on these discs will make the listener want to hear the complete work. “No other composer creates such an immediate link with the audience. Go to see La traviata: you hear those rhythms, those melodies, that dramatic force, and you are drawn into his world. It doesn’t matter whether you love opera or know nothing about it: it just captures you, it grabs you.” Listening to the numbers from La traviata here, you have to agree.

The privileged position of the baritone-voice in Verdi´s operas was something new at the time and developed into a vocal category of its own: the "Verdi-baritone".

Verdi's baritone-roles can roughly be divided into two categories: the fathers and rulers, who are in moral conflict between the love for their children and moral and/or political duties (Rigoletto, Amonasro, Simon Boccanegra, Nabucco, Jacopo Foscari, Guido di Montfort or father Germont), and youthful men of honour and/or villains, who usually turn out to be the tenor's rival (CarIo in "Forza", Renato, Carlo V, lago. Cote di Luna).

Forming part of Presier’s celebration of the 200th anniversary of Verdi, this collection is a unique and fascinating account of the performances over the years 1904-1950.

Arias from the legendary Sunday concerts from 1966, 1972, 1988 and 1992.

His Papageno was historic and turned Hermann Prey into the most popular opera singer in Germany. This CD contains a collection of hitherto unpublished recordings made during the legendary Sunday Concerts with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester from 1966 to 1992. In a representative series of roles ranging from Bach to musicals, the great baritone shows us all his facets: from the sensitivity of the comic actor to the intense, inmost sincerity of the Lieder performer. At a time when the opera was still an integral part of Germany's media landscape, Hermann Prey made it impressively clear that a broad repertoire and depth of interpretation are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Prey ends this CD with a performance of “They say falling in love is wonderful”, inviting us to fall in love with his art yet again.

Rosvaenge recorded exclusively for Electrola and Schlusnus for Grammophon. They had made just one duet record for Grammophon in 1933. These broadcast recordings are among the finest these two artists ever made, when both were at the height of their careers.