Mozart: Deh! vieni alla finestra (from Don Giovanni) (Serenade)

This CD showcases Backhaus’s great virtuosity.

‘Operatic justice’, writes J.B. Steane in his informative and amusing note for this album, ‘is a law unto itself, and the baritone has been prominent among its victims. Unlucky in love, he is seen in the most favourable light as a father-figure and is otherwise all too often the villain of the piece. He may be manly but is rarely heroic. He will have his arias, his moments of glory, yet (uncannily, it must seem to him) their place is rarely at the centre of the opera, or for that matter, part of its last-act climax.’

Beginning with a bracket of Mozart arias, this colourful recital, recorded by Matthias Goerne in 2000, takes us through the terrains of mid- and late-19th century opera – Wagner, Humperdinck, Richard Strauss – to the early 20th-century with the moving ‘Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen’ from Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, to two brief excerpts from Berg’s Wozzeck.

Matthias Goerne both works within the tradition and extends it. Like his predecessors, from Schlusnus to Fischer-Dieskau, he has developed his careers in opera and song side by side, though it is true that his fame and hitherto his work as a recording artist have centred less on opera than on Lieder and oratorio. His operatic recording debut was spotted by Gramophone magazine and described as ‘an impressive appearance’, as Prometheus in the large cast of Braunfels’s Die Vögel.

This world famous singer was Belgian, yet only appeared at La Monnaie on the 20th anniversary of his career. After returning from exile, he took many roles and has worked with some of the greatest conductors. This CD includes works by Wagner, Strauss, Mussorgsky, Verdi, Mozart, Rossini, Debussy, Berlioz and Offenbach. These CDs contain a fragment of history.

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

Uruguayan bass-baritone, Erwin Schrott, joins Decca with a deliciously charismatic, seductive and witty debut album. This album showcases his portrayals of some of opera's most famous roles, and which have wowed both audiences and critics across the world's greatest opera houses. Erwin Schrott has astonished audiences and critics across Europe, the US and south America with his sensuous, dark bass-baritone and onstage magnetism. This album shows off Erwin at his best, singing the wide range of roles that have made him famous. His charismatic portrayals have won him global acclaim, and for the Mozart roles in particular he is now first choice at the world's greatest opera houses, including the Met, La Scala, the Royal Opera House and Vienna's Staatsoper. Schrott's debut disc is the perfect disc to showcase his distinctive, chocolatey voice and his wonderful talents for characterisation. Amongst the arias are his favourite Mozart roles as well as repertoire from the great 19th-century opera composers such as Verdi, Meyerbeer, Berlioz, and Gounod.