Giordano, U: Come un bel dì di maggio (from Andrea Chénier)

The “heroic” tenor René Kollo was born in Berlin in 1937. He arrived at Bayreuth, the Wagner sanctum, in 1969 and, for almost a decade and a half, he would be numbered among its greatest stars. An extensive catalogue of recordings, including many award-winning recordings, shows that Kollo was the most active German tenor of his generation. This wide range of repertoire as well as his frequent television appearances have greatly contributed to his popularity over the years.

The Italian Salvatore Licitra, who tragically died on September 5th 2011 after a motorbike accident, was one of the leading tenors of his generation in the highly sought-after dramatic Italian repertoire. A frequent guest at major opera and concert stages in Europe, the United States and the Far East, he was particularly devoted to Verdi repertoire.

As a tribute to this exceptionally gifted artist we are releasing a selection of his best arias and songs taken from operas from the dramatic Italian oeuvre. Operas by Giuseppi Verdi and Giacomo Puccini feature heavily in the track-listing with each disc opening with a show-stopping famous tenor aria; Nessun Dorma and Celeste Aida respectively.

The 2-CD set ends with five previously unreleased tracks - all well-loved Italian songs recorded with Marco Armiliato and The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sony Classical ORIGINALS offer listeners outstanding enjoyment, authentically recapturing the fascination of legendary recordings from the age of long-playing records and preserving worthwhile releases from two labels with particularly long and distinguished traditions: RCA Red Seal and Columbia Masterworks. These superb recordings by great artists have enjoyed international acclaim ever since they were first released. Showered with critical plaudits, they are part of the 20th century’s cultural legacy. All have been remastered and carefully restored using the latest studio technology in order to reproduce the original interpretations as faithfully as possible. The CD covers are taken over from the original LPs. The original introductions and LP labels are also reproduced in full, making Sony Classical ORIGINALS unique documents in the history of recorded sound.

Featuring original LP cover artwork in full size and reproduction of original labels in mini LP design.

Contains original liner notes in 3 languages (English, French and German) Jewel case packaging with fully coloured booklets.

The Sony Classical Originals bring together for the first time at the Mid Price the greatest recordings from across all of the labels which are part of the Sony Classical umbrella, and are a perfect starting point for any classical collector.

The Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi had a strong sense of style and an exemplary vocal technique. He focused particularly on the operas of Verdi which he sang with noble and elegant phrasing. This CD includes Bergonzi’s first operatic recital of 1957 recorded for Decca in its entirety and excerpts from RAI broadcasts from 1951, as well as 2 bonus tracks.

The world-famous tenor Mario Lanza performs arias by Donizetti, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Flotow and others.

Jonas Kaufmann returns to the Italian verismo tradition to sing arias that define opera’s most passionate and vulnerable leading men.

Kaufmann’s international reputation is soaring as, going from strength to strength, he delivers consistently thrilling performances.

The onyx-dark beauty of his tone and the refinement and unexpected insights of his delivery mark Jonas Kaufmann a poet of tenors.

Timed for release when he makes his anticipated role debut as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at Covent Garden opposite Angela Gheorghiu, this disc includes excerpts from the Cilea work that helped put Caruso on the map.

This album also entices with rarities from Zandonai’s dramatic Giulietta e Romeo and Puccini’s Le Villi.

Supporting Jonas Kaufmann is Italy’s leading symphonic orchestra, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, under its dynamic music director Antonio Pappano. Both maestro and orchestra are utterly at home in this repertoire.

In Poggi’s time, there were an amazing number of talented Italian tenors who were all active in the recording studio. He made numerous complete opera recordings and was well able to stand up to competitors. His singing partners were the crème de la crème of contemporary vocalists.