Massenet: Adieu, notre petite table (from Manon)

A delightful programme of French and Spanish song explores the theme of love found, enjoyed and lost, from the dropped hints of Fauré to the fiery folk passion of Turina, Obradors and de Falla. The gentle charm of Reynaldo Hahn and impassioned fervour of Massenet’s Manon are equally captured by American soprano Ailyn Pérez, who has bewitched audiences on both sides of the Atlantic in opera and song.

“Poème d’un jour” explores the musical traditions of France and Spain through composers including Hahn, Massenet, Faure
, Obradors, Turina and de Falla.

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.

Nino Machaidze is one of today’s fastest rising young opera stars. At only age 25, the Georgian Soprano entered the international opera circuit with a spectacular debut at the 2008 Salzburg Festival replacing Anna Netrebko as Juliette in a new production of Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" alongside tenor superstar Rolando Villazón. Her electric performance was greatly received by both the audience and the press ("A Juliette to Cherish" Opera News; “The discovery of the 2008 Salzburg Festival” Crescendo). In just three short years, Nino Machaidze has followed up her Salzburg debut with leading role debuts at the world's top opera houses, culminating in her New York Metropolitan Opera debut this January, where she received standing ovations.

For her first Sony Classical recording "Romantic Arias" Nino has made a selection of the greatest bel canto and lyric roles. The disc features both arias from her career defining roles, as well as some new additions to her repertoire.

Nino Machaidze is one of today’s fastest rising young opera stars. At only age 25, the Georgian Soprano entered the international opera circuit with a spectacular debut at the 2008 Salzburg Festival replacing Anna Netrebko as Juliette in a new production of Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" alongside tenor superstar Rolando Villazón. Her electric performance was greatly received by both the audience and the press ("A Juliette to Cherish" Opera News; “The discovery of the 2008 Salzburg Festival” Crescendo). In just three short years, Nino Machaidze has followed up her Salzburg debut with leading role debuts at the world's top opera houses, culminating in her New York Metropolitan Opera debut this January, where she received standing ovations.

For her first Sony Classical recording "Romantic Arias" Nino has made a selection of the greatest bel canto and lyric roles. The disc features both arias from her career defining roles, as well as some new additions to her repertoire.

“A true artist” BBC Music Magazine

The Albanian-born soprano Inva Mula will open the Paris Opéra’s 2009-10 season in the title role of Gounod’s rarely heard Mireille, a tragic story of farming folk in 19th-century Provence. Two arias from the work feature on this recital alongside favourite extracts from Faust, Thaïs and Manon, demonstrating Mula’s credentials as one of the best ‘French’ sopranos of today (she is Micaëla in the EMI Classics Carmen conducted by Michel Plasson); her achievements in the Italian repertoire are represented by arias from La Traviata, Rigoletto, La Bohème, La Rondine and Gianni Schicchi.

After her appearance as Violetta at France’s Orange Festival, Andante wrote that: “The soprano … was a revelation: her Violetta was confident, passionate and utterly convincing … a sharply detailed, nuanced portrayal that had real emotional impact ...This dramatic ability, combined with a rare vocal power, lit up the stage”; her Gilda in Barcelona prompted Opera News to judge that: “The delicate Albanian soprano Inva Mula was an almost perfect Gilda. The crystal clarity of her projection and the miraculously sustained soft notes were most effective in Act I. Mula realized a very difficult aspect of Gilda’s character: she managed to show that although Gilda loses her ignorance, she does not lose her innocence. Mula played the progression with great emotional power.”

A recent DVD of La bohème caused the BBC Music Magazine to describe her as a “true artist … Inva Mula sings Mimì with melting sensitivity.” (She is Mimì in Paris in Autumn 2009.) The complete EMI recording of La rondine under Antonio Pappano features Mula in the role of the maid Lisette, but she has sung the principal role of Magda in Toulouse and Paris and in this recital performs the character’s first, glorious aria, “Ch’il bel sogno”

Inva Mula was born in the Albanian capital, Tirana, the daughter of Avni Mula, famous in Albania as a popular singer and composer. She won competitions in Tirana, Bucharest (the internationally renowned George Enescu Competition) and Barcelona and was also a prizewinner at the first Plácido Domingo Operalia competition in Paris in 1993.

In France she has appeared in Bizet’s Carmen and in his rarely heard La Jolie fille de Perth and Ivan IV, BelIini’s I puritani, Puccini’s Turandot, Gounod’s Faust, Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, Lalo’s Le Roi d’Ys and Cherubini's Médée. In Italy -- where she collaborated regularly with Riccardo Muti, notably with the company of La Scala, Milan – her appearances have include La traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Bohème, Manon, Rigoletto, L’elisir d’amore, Don Pasquale, Falstaff and Gianni Schicchi

At the Vienna State Opera she has starred in La Traviata and Les Contes d’Hoffmann and she has also made regular appearances in Germany and Spain; her US dates have included Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago and the New York Metropolitan and La Traviata has also taken her to London, Toronto and Japan.

Mula’s reputation extends beyond the world of opera houses and concert halls: in Luc Besson’s extravagant 1997 science fiction film The Fifth Element she provided the voice for the Diva Plavalaguna – tall, blue-skinned and tentacle-headed, performing part of the Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor and supplying the piping vocalise for ‘The Diva Dance".

2012 is the centenary of Jules Massenet’s death. Several of his operas have received important revivals this year

Unlike most other Massenet albums released this year this 2CD set celebrates equally his orchestral music (now becoming familiar once again in the concert hall after several years of neglect) and his operas.

Although the performances were recorded in the mono era, the majority of vocal extracts stem from a golden period of French music-making (1910s-1930s) and the orchestral recordings have been rated by critics as sonically ahead of their time.

Singers include Edmond Clément, Ninon Vallin, Georges Thill, Emma Luart, Bidu Sayão, Marcel Journet, Fanny Heldy and Cesare Valletti in roles they made famous. Jean Fournet, Albert Wolff, Robert Irving and Sir Thomas Beecham conduct the works for orchestra.

The French soprano Géori Boué was particularly associated with French repertoire.

This collection includes works by Gounod, Massenet, Bizet and Berlioz as well as Italian composers of opera.

Many of the recordings date from 1942-1949.

Containing songs by Schubert, Faure, Ravel, Schumann, Brahms and others, this disc is a wonderful collection of romantic songs sung by one of the best-loved singers of our time. All profits of this CD will go to charity including her own Fundación Victoria de los Àngeles.