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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Barbara Hendricks: Debussy Melodies & J. Tourel tribute
Debussy: | Ariettes Oubliées (6) Fêtes galantes - Set 1 Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire Trois chansons de Bilitis | Dvorak: | Gypsy Melodies (7), Op. 55 (B104) | Liszt: | O quand je dors (Hugo), S282 Comment, disaient-ils (Hugo), S276 Mignons Lied (Kennst du das Land), S275 Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh (Wandrers Nachtlied II), S.306 | Rachmaninov: | In the silence of the secret night, Op. 4 No. 3 How fair this spot, Op. 21 No. 7 Sing not, O lovely one (Ne poi, krasavitsa, pri mne), Op. 4 No. 4 Le joueur de flute, Op. 38, No. 4 Spring torrents, Op. 14 No.11 | Rossini: | La regata veneziana |
Barbara Hendricks' voice — particularly suited to Mozart, Debussy, Fauré, and the lighter roles of Puccini and Richard Strauss — has a warm, crystalline quality that has kept her in demand on stage and in recording studios. Her performances have embraced everything from contemporary music to popular standards, including songs of Duke Ellington and several world premieres. She has been careful with her choices of repertoire, avoiding roles that would overextend her essentially lyric instrument. Aside from music, she is deeply committed to humanitarian work, with a particular concern for refugees and those in war or poverty zones. She sang a concert in Sarajevo in 1993 while the city was being shelled, in which she had to wear a bulletproof vest and helmet. Hendricks has appeared on nearly 80 recordings spread over a variety of major labels. Her first of many recordings for EMI was in the small part of the Celestial Voice in Don Carlo in 1978. For nearly twenty years her solo recordings have been made exclusively for EMI Classics. “This pair of discs shows the impressive range of Hendricks's repertoire” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Rossini - Soirées musicales
Rossini, having composed no fewer than forty operas between the ages of nineteen and thirty-seven, wrote none in the next forty years. However these years were not barren of music. Rossini’s Soirées Musicales and Péchés de vieillesse or ‘Sins of old age’ were the musical fruits of salon evenings held weekly in his Parisian home. Elegant, witty, charming and often delicately ironic, these songs for various voices are the perfect exemplar of ‘salon music’, and of the unmistakable late style of a composer who had already become a legend in his lifetime. They are recorded here by three of the greatest singers of today: Stella Doufexis, who has appeared regularly in the Hyperion Schubert and Schumann songs editions; the wonderful Swedish soprano Miah Persson; and the American tenor and Rossini specialist Bruce Ford, all accompanied with characteristic brilliance and style by Roger Vignoles. “With Roger Vignoles making much of Rossini's modest-looking piano parts, the three singers give virtually unalloyed pleasure. Bruce Ford, a seasoned Rossini stylist, excels in the melancholy La partenza and L'esule. Miah Persson is witty without archness in the infantile nonsense of La Chanson du bébé, while mezzo Stella Doufexis makes a spirited, sensuous Angelina ...as she gees on her gondolier lover in the delightful mini-song cycle La regata veneziana.” The Telegraph, 14th June 2008 “It is hard for any disc of Rossini’s Paris salon songs not to speed by in a wink of delight. And it’s impossible with Miah Persson’s bright soprano and the sensitive accompaniments of Roger Vignoles. The tenor Bruce Ford, so practised at trifles, isn’t far behind in glory. The mezzo Stella Doufexis occasionally thinks she’s singing opera, but the moments pass and we’re back with Rossini – never more charming than in the childish Chanson du bébé.” The Times, 30th May 2008 **** “Doufexis is an attractive interpreter, duetting gorgeously with Persson in La Regata Veneziana, while Ford is sly and agile in La Danza. At the keyboard, Vignoles revels in the high jinks. Sheer delight.” Sunday Times, 3rd August 2008 **** “The real start of the record is a pianist Roger Vignoles. Rossini's writing for the piano is highly idiosyncratic. It requires a first-rate technique, a sure sense of style and an ability to bring off with insouciance all manner of hair's breadth effects.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008 “This is a classic case of 'spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar', as well as further evidence of Hyperion's uncharacteristically uncertain touch with Rossini. Having taken the trouble to engage three distinguished singers to record the Soirées musicales, they have drawn the line at employing a fourth, the bass required for the final duet 'Li marinari'. The disc cannot therefore be the 'library' recording of Les soirées we currently need. After the 11 numbers from Soiréesmusicales, we are given a further nine songs plucked somewhat randomly from the later Péchés de vieillesse.
That said, there is much to enjoy on the record. The ordering and voice allocation of Lessoirées is open to variation. The eight solo songs are generally sung by a soprano or a mezzo, 'La danza' by the tenor. Here the tenor has three of the songs. In 'La danza' memories of singers from Caruso to Pavarotti are perhaps a shade too insistent. Elsewhere in Les soirées, Bruce Ford shows every sign of shifting from opera to chanson with skill and imagination; the duet 'Les amants de Séville' from Péchés in which he partners mezzo Stella Doufexis is one of the disc's highlights. The two women barely put a foot wrong, though Miah Persson's Alpine shepherdess is preferable to her somewhat overindulged bébé. The real star of the record is pianist Roger Vignoles. Rossini's writing for the piano is highly idiosyncratic. It requires a firstrate technique, a sure sense of style and an ability to bring off with insouciance all manner of hair's-breadth effects. Vignoles has the measure of all this and more.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “There isn't a low point on the entire disc. Roger Vignoles plays with all his characteristic intelligence and subtlety. Miah Persson is enchanting in the opening La Promessa...Bruce Ford is technically brilliant and dramatically engaging in the drinking song, L'orgia, and smoothly leads the mood from light to darkness with L'esule, the first of the Péchés De Vieillesse.” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 24th June 2008 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | A Journey Through Venice
'A mesmerising performance by DiDonato, who flaunts spectacular technique’ (The Times) “The sparks fly from the opening set, Rossini's La regata veneziana… as DiDonato seizes upon the songs' operatic impulses. There's a frenzied urgency in the second song, "Anzoleta co passa la regata", for example, that conveys the intense excitement of the race and the passionate palpitations of the woman watching her lover speed towards victory. Throughout, Julius Drake's affectionate, finely shaded playing is an absolute delight.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2006 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli in Tokyo (1973)
| | | This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched. |
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| |  | Mediterranean Melodies
Lydia Caruana (soprano), Paul Gulda (piano) | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Souvenirs de Venise
“This fizzing, multilingual Venetian 'Souvenir' slips down as gratefully as Prosecco on a hot day. Hahn's Venezia is a delicious epilogue.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2006 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Cecilia Bartoli - A PortraitIncludes A Portrait of Cecilia Bartoli, Recording at La Fenice, Cecilia’s early years, The Rossini tradition, The performance of Mozart, A singing lesson & Looking to the future
| | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
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| |  | Renata Tebaldi & Louis Quilico: Concerto Italiano
CBC Orchestra, Ernesto Barbini In 1965, Renata Tebaldi made her sole appearance on Canadian Television in an evening of music by Puccini and Rossini. This telecast is highlighted by by the finale of Act II of Tosca. Tebaldi, at her vocal and dramatic peak, gives a searing account of the title role, tearing into the drama with an intensity exceeding many of her stage performances. Quilico, in resplendent vocal form, is every bit her match. The scene is typical of the CBC's production values of the period, with superb sets, atmospheric lighting, and keen direction. A novelty is Rossini's song cycle La Regata Veneziana sung by Miss Tebaldi. The work has always been a favorite of the soprano and has been recorded by her with piano accompaniment. This is the first time that the cycle will be available by Tebaldi with orchestral accompaniment. | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Jennifer Larmore: In Performance!Live 2001
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| |  | Renata Tebaldi: A Portrait
Renata Tebaldi’s numerous appearances on television made her unique among her contemporaries. Four complete operatic performances as well as televised concerts and guest appearances on major variety programs in the U.S. and abroad have made their way to home video. The soprano’s glowing physical presence made her a natural for the TV cameras while the sumptuousness of her voice asserted itself through even the flimsiest of television speakers. Tebaldi made three appearances on the Bell Telephone Hour between 1959 and 1967. As collected here, the six arias demonstrate the soprano at the height of her powers in five of her greatest roles. (Though Tebaldi never performed Cavalleria Rusticana on stage, she did make a stunning studio recording of the opera.) The two Butterfly arias from 1959, radiantly sung, are amongst Tebaldi’s first TV appearances, taken from a program that also holds the distinction of being one of the earliest extant color telecasts. By 1967, Tebaldi was clearly comfortable in the spinto-dramatic repertoire with an awesome use of the chest register in the Cavalleria and Gioconda arias. This collection will delight the myriad fans of one of this century’s most beloved divas. | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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Gramophone Magazine
