Puccini: O mio babbino caro (from Gianni Schicchi) (Lauretta's aria)

Nino Machaidze’s new recording for Sony Classical, “Arias & Scenes”, looks further ahead to the new roles she will sing in the future. Machaidze is joined by Orchestre national de France and their resident Maestro Daniele Gatti.

French repertoire has become a major part of Machaidze’s career and is represented in this recital with arias by Massenet, Bizet and Ambroise Thomas. Machaidze debuted the role of Thaïs last year alongside Plácido Domingo in the lead role of Athanaël in Seville. She will debut at the Vienna State Opera this June in the role of Juliette with Plácido Domingo conducting and Piotr Beczala as Roméo.

Since her momentous breakthrough replacing Anna Netrebko as Juliette alongside Rolando Villazon’s Roméo in Salzburg’s 2008 production of Roméo et Juliette (Gounod), Nino’s career has taken off.

In an astonishingly short amount of time she debuted at many of the world’s major opera houses, in the lead heroine-roles alongside some of the greatest singers of our time, including Plácido Domingo (Thaïs) , Vittorio Grigolo (Roméo et Juliette at both La Scala and LA Opera) and Juan-Diego Flórez (I Puritani) among others.

Mirella Freni was one of Herbert von Karajan’s favourite singers; indeed, he is known to have commented that if he could have any voice in the world, it would be hers. Combining a stunning voice with heartfelt acting, Freni is equally at home in the lighter roles, such as Mozart’s Susanna and Zerlina, as in the weightier roles of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and Tosca. This collection brings together arias from throughout Freni’s illustrious career.

The Art of Renée Fleming brings together 18 defining tracks spanning Renée’s finest Decca recordings, including favorite arias by Puccini, Handel and Gershwin and duets with Bryn Terfel and Plácido Domingo. Four special bonus tracks reflect Renée’s prominence beyond classical repertoire with two Broadway classics, Amazing Grace - which she memorably sang at the site of the World Trade Centre and a brand new version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

4-track 45rpm 7" EP (black vinyl)

Packaged using the established mid-50s HMV bag design together with the legendary ‘celebrity red’ classical label, this limited edition Record Store Day UK exclusive is the first commercial Maria Callas 45rpm vinyl EP released by EMI since the mid 1960s, and the very first such release on this format from Angela Gheorghiu, ever.

The great diva of the last century joins the great diva of this century to record Bizet's Habanera in a special duet version. Callas recorded the Habanera twice, in 1961 and 1964. The earlier version was selected because it didn’t involve a choir, making the possibility of isolating the singer’s voice easier. The orchestral accompaniment was painstakingly stripped away using Cedar Retouch Technology – ‘like audio Photoshop’ explains recording engineer Jonathan Allen, who masterminded the project – leaving just Callas’s voice. The players of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (all wearing headphones with a click-track to give the tempo) then recorded a new accompaniment. Remarkably there were no problems of pitch, but there were difficulties with speed: Allen found that Callas’s recording changed tempi between edits, and the modern orchestra had to match it. Gheorghiu then performed to this accompaniment and finally the two singers were spliced in, sometimes in unison and sometimes apart. ‘We needed to create the illusion that Angela and Maria were in the same acoustic space,’ says Allen. ‘If it comes across as over-processed, it won’t work. Angela’s voice is incredibly rich in overtones, probably more so than Callas’s, so we had to reduce some of her sound – without degrading it – to match.’

The lyric soprano Aleksandra Kurzak is one of the most exciting young singers on the international stage - thrilling press and public alike with her performances in Europe and the US. "Gioia", her debut on Decca, is the eagerly anticipated proof of her excellence. This debut is capturing the current state of Aleksandra's voice by contrasting lyric and coloratura arias, focusing on roles which she has performed on stage. The album features much-loved Puccini arias from La Bohème and Gianni Schicchi, bel canto showpieces from I Puritani and Lucia di Lammermoor and the taxing First Act aria from La traviata "Sempre libera" which showcases both her effortless agility and the full, warm intensity of a Verdi lyric soprano.

“A rising-star soprano with flashing eyes and cover-girl looks” (The Observer).

Cheryl Barker first broke the hearts of audiences worldwide as Mimì in Baz Luhrman’s imaginative production of La bohème. In Puccini ≡ Passion the radiant Australian soprano delivers beguiling performances in a panoply of Puccini’s heroines in favourite arias, accompanied by the State Orchestra of Victoria under the baton of Richard Bonynge.

Opera expert Rodney Milnes comments in the booklet: “Puccini famously liked to write about "little women", but he gave them "big" music, which is one thing that makes Cheryl Barker so ideal an interpreter of his soprano roles ... her lyric soprano, with an indefinably sweet vibrancy built in to the tone, adds immeasurably to her appeal. With that vibrancy comes a sense of vulnerability, which helps her bring the characters alive in both vocal and dramatic terms ... This most welcome disc allows her to present an overview of Puccini's women from the very beginning.”

Issued for the first time on SACD, this disc is for all lovers of Puccini, encompassing his most popular soprano arias from Manon Lescaut, Tosca, La bohème and Madama Butterfly, one of Barker’s favourite roles, as well as arias from Le Villi, Edgar, La rondine, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicci and Turandot. Barker ends with two little known treasures, the folksong-like ‘E l’uccellino’, and ‘Sole e amore’, an 1888 song whose melody Puccini later re-used in La bohème. And in a departure from his usual repertoire Richard Bonynge brings fresh imagination and sparkle to Puccini’s masterful orchestral palette.

Cheryl Barker’s most recent CD, also for Melba and released in 2011, was Pure Diva (MR301129), a very personal tribute to her teacher and fellow Australian soprano, the great Dame Joan Hammond.