Mozart: Ah, qual gelido orror...Il padre adorato (from Idomeneo)

DVD+CD

Recorded live in concert in Barcelona, this DVD features Pavarotti performing in front of an international audience held spellbound as his dazzling, excitingly powerful voice fills the auditorium. The set also includes a bonus CD of 20 unforgettable live performances celebrating over 25 years of Pavarotti’s legendary career.

This DVD+CD set provides an opportunity to see and hear one of the greatest tenors the world has ever known. The concert covers a wide range of musical offerings, from very well-known works to lesser-known arias and sonnets. Viewers are introduced to Pavarotti through behind-the-scenes interviews and outtakes from the original concert recording that give rare insight into the planning and hard work that go into the creation of such a production.

The English tenor Jeremy Ovenden has established himself as being among the best Mozart tenors of his generation (notably in the role of Don Ottavio) and has become a familiar figure on the stages of the world's opera houses and concert halls and at major festivals. He is joined for this, his first solo recording, by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and conductor Jonathan Cohen in a fascinating musical journey through the Italian arias of Mozart, from Lucio Silla (composed when he was just 16) through to his final Italian opera La Clemenza di Tito.

Born in Modena, a small town in northern Italy, Luciano Pavarotti (1935–2007) was the son of a baker and amateur tenor. He grew up surrounded by his father’s recordings of the day’s leading opera singers - including Giuseppe Di Stefano, Jan Kiepura, and Enrico Caruso - and he went on to become one of the most popular vocalists of all time. This collection features favourite arias from classic operas, including L’elisir d’amore, I Pagliacci, Luisa Miller, Don Giovanni, and Martha.

The highly-rated early music ensemble Boston Baroque and its conductor Martin Pearlman join forces with the talented American singer and true male soprano Michael Maniaci, in a recording of arias that Mozart originally composed for the castrato voice. The disc contains arias from Idomeneo, Lucio Silla, and La Clemenza di Tito, as well as the beloved motet Exsultate, jubilate. The recording also includes two brilliant orchestral pieces, the overtures to Idomeneo and Clemenza.

The first permanent Baroque orchestra established in North America, Boston Baroque is widely regarded as one of the world’s premier period-instrument bands. The ensemble's performances and recordings of the Baroque and Classical repertoire have been hailed by audiences and critics in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia for their freshness, virtuosity, and exuberant appeal. Although Maniaci’s voice is natural, his stunning performances give Boston Baroque the opportunity to add yet another “original” instrument, the male soprano voice, to their performing forces. A voice type that was enormously popular in opera and religious music in the 17th century but completely disappeared over a century ago, the male castrato’s true chest voice – unlike falsetto singers – was in the soprano or alto range, yet extremely powerful due to the male lung capacity. Up until now, all we have really known of this voice are the verbal descriptions of contemporary listeners and a single, scratchy recording made late in the life of the last castrato performer.

Featuring 100 historic recordings on 12 CDs (including beloved arias such as Nessun Dorma), the set also includes excerpts from oratorios and art songs.

As a bonus, Pavarotti’s magnificent 1989 live performance in Barcelona is captured on DVD with terrific sound and picture.