Decca, the opera company, has always invested infinite energy and enormous care on its productions, marrying the greatest casts, experienced opera orchestras and great conductors with its unrivalled technical skill and superb sound. Decca Classics is proud to present three of its iconic opera recordings in deluxe hardback editions with libretti in original language plus English, French and German translations, 2CDs + 1 Blu-ray audio disc: Puccini’s La Bohème, Verdi’s Rigoletto, and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

Deluxe hard-back editions with original covers. Each edition includes libretto, and synopsis both with English, German and French translations, original essay, and rare images.

Presented on 2CDs + High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray disc containing the complete opera in 24-Bit audio.

Remastered in ultra-high quality 96kHz/24-bit audio at Abbey Road Studios in 2014 under the supervision of long-term Decca balance engineer Philip Siney.

“Decca has assembled a singing cast to match and even outshine those on previous versions. But of course the contributor who most clearly distinguishes this set from any competitor is the conductor… even while making his extra demands on technique, Karajan considers the voice very closely. Luciano Pavarotti… gives what is probably his finest performance… Of Freni’s Mimì little needs to be said… amazing. The Decca recording helps, for with spaciousness the keynote and the voices kept in the right perspective, never too close, the gradations of dynamic are beautifully caught. When it comes to a recommendation, this new Karajan set must now clearly take first place.”  - Gramophone, 1973

“Karajan understood every last detail in the score, and knew that the inner drama of the opera is played out in the orchestra in Puccini's deft manipulation of his themes and the masterly orchestration … [Mirella Freni as Mimi] is magnificent - her Act III farewell duet with Rodolfo would make stones weep. It helps that Pavarotti's Rodolfo is arguably one of his finest recordings - ardent and accurate and in character too as the headstrong student engulfed by love. Has anyone recorded a more tender 'Che gelida manina' in the past 40 years?” - BBC Music Magazine, 2010

Cast:
- Rodolfo: Luciano Pavarotti
- Mimi: Mirella Freni
- Marcello: Rolando Panerai
- Musetta: Elizabeth Harwood
- Colline: Nicolai Ghiaurov
- Schaunard: Gianni Maffeo