Wagner: Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein 'Prize Song' (from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) (Preislied)

2013 sees a series of Wagner reissues on Eloquence from complete operas and highlights to Wagner singer portraits and even an audiobook!

This is a 50-year retrospective (1950 – 2000) of great Wagner singing on Decca and Deutsche Grammophon featuring twelve extracts from eight operas (including all four operas of the Ring cycle) with nine great singers. Wagner’s knowledge of heroes derived from two sources: the myths of ancient Greece, and the sagas and poetry of northern Europe. In both traditions, heroes possess god-like attributes which set them apart from non-heroic mortals and reinforce the view that they are superhuman. They often have gods as parents or grandparents. But Wagner humanizes his heroes, most notably Siegmund (sung inimitably by Jon Vickers in the legendary Decca recording of Die Walküre with Erich Leinsdorf), and the naïve Siegfried (with Wolfgang Windgassen singing both the Siegfried and Götterdämmerung Siegfrieds). Other great heldentenors represented on this collection include James King and James McCracken. Celebrated bass-baritones are also represented here: Paul Schöffler (singing Wotan’s Farewell from a rare 1950 recording), Ernst Haefliger (as the Dutchman) and most recently, Matthias Goerne (Wolfram). The insightful notes are provided by Wagner scholar Peter Bassett and a photo gallery of the singers is also included.

Klaus Florian Vogt is Bayreuth´s leading tenor – he has a unique voice, perfect technique and last but not least the perfect look for a leading man in the works of Wagner.

He had a triumphant breakthrough success as "Lohengrin" at the world famous Bayreuth Wagner festival in the Summer of 2011. Major media acclaimed his singing as "the third wonder of Bayreuth" and the "...best Lohengrin ever".

Klaus Florian Vogt sings in all major opera houses of the world. In 2012, he will star in new productions in Tokyo (Lohengrin), Munich (Valkyrie) and Barcelona (Florentine Tragedy). He will also feature in roles at Bayreuth.

Helden ("Heroes") is Vogt´s first album for Sony Classical, where he is exclusively signed, and is his first recital recording. The CD shows major pieces linked with him, of course Wagner and the famous "Grahlserzählung" in Lohengrin, but there are also beautiful arias by Weber, Flotow, Korngold and Lortzing – and last not least also by Mozart.

The greatest opera stars in the world - together in one 2-CD set.

A unique collection of all the great genuine opera stars appearing on the world's stages today.

A galaxy of great names performing opera's best-loved arias and classic melodies.

CD 1 ("The Divos") features celebrated performances from Roberto Alagna, Juan Diego Flórez, Jonas Kaufmann, Plácido Domingo, Bryn Terfel, José Carreras, Josef Calleja and Erwin Schrott

CD 2 ("The Divas") features outstanding recordings by Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Angela Gheorghiu, Montserrat Caballé, Nicole Cabell, Olga Borodina, and Kiri te Kanawa

A fabulous showcase of today's top vocal talent

2 CDs for the price of one

Among the many Heldentenors are spoken of in glowing terms, perhaps none has been so unfairly neglected as Jess Thomas. Full-throated and resplendent, not a hint of strain, an amazing array of colours in the voice (from sotto voce to overpowering), he possessed an artistry that was not only a thrill in the theatre but that was beautifully caught in the recording studio – except, his studio recordings are few and far between. The only recital record of note was a showcase of Wagner arias he made with the Berlin Philharmonic (no less) and Walter Born in 1963. This recital appears in its entirety, for the first time internationally on CD, topped and tailed by scenes from Siegfried with Herbert von Karajan and the closing scene from Lohengrin, recorded ‘live’ in Bayreuth with Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Born in 1927 in Hot Springs, South Dakota in the US, Thomas studied psychology at the University of Nebraska, worked for four years as a psychological adviser at a high school, and then embarked on postgraduate studies at Stanford University, California. The professor of singing there, Otto Schulmann, had worked before the war as a répétiteur for Karajan in Ulm; he heard Thomas and encouraged him to pursue a singing career. After studying intensively with Schulmann for three years and making his début in 1957 at San Francisco in the baritone role of Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier, Thomas, like most gifted American singing graduates at the time, gravitated to Germany, the home of his preferred repertoire and a country with many opera houses. He spent three years at the Karlsruhe Opera, where his first role was Lohengrin. His breakthrough in larger houses came when the opera producer Wieland Wagner, the composer’s grandson, cast him both in Parsifal at Bayreuth under Hans Knappertsbusch – with whom Thomas would enjoy some of his most memorable musical experiences – and as Radames in Berlin, under Karl Böhm. Thomas was both linguistically and musically more attracted to the greater depth, as he saw it, of Wagner’s works: ‘Wagner revolutionised the entire world of opera and not only with respect to the music, but above all in the fusion of music and drama’. He began to learn heavier Wagnerian roles such as Tannhäuser, Tristan and Siegfried.

Karajan chose him as his Siegfried in his studio recording of the Ring, he recorded Lohengrin with Kempe and Hans Sachs with Keilberth.

With insightful notes by Alan Newcombe, this release is a fascinating portrait of one of the greatest Wagner voices of any era.

The best-loved and most popular works by Richard Wagner, performed by the world’s leading artists, in an accessible format at budget price.

Albert Da Costa had a very impressive voice but made very few recordings, so never achieved the level of recognition of his contemporaries. These recordings are from his early career and will be coveted by collectors.