FREE UK SHIPPING OVER £30!

Verdi - Opera Highlights | EMI 4167332

Verdi - Opera Highlights

Label: EMI

Cat No: 4167332

Barcode: 5099941673324

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Opera

Release Date: 14th January 2013

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

About

This is one of several special EMI Classics releases marking the bicentenary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi in 2013.

The operas of Verdi today are performed in opera houses all over the world and his status as one of the greatest opera composers of all time has never been higher. Some of his music has become absorbed into popular culture from being used in TV adverts and film soundtracks, as well as being performed by the most famous singers of the day in concerts and on records.

This special two-disc collection brings together over two hours of highlights from Verdi’s most celebrated operas, including Rigoletto, La traviata, Aida, Falstaff and more.

Pieces from the same opera are grouped together, beginning with the famous drinking song from La traviata: ‘Libiamo’, followed by other popular favourites from La traviata, Rigoletto and Il trovatore, among them being the swaggering ‘La donna è mobile’ and the powerful Anvil Chorus.

The first CD concludes with extracts from two earlier operas: Nabucco, from which comes the poignant Chorus of Hebrew Slaves, and Macbeth, which provides one of Verdi’s most impressive soprano scenas in which the scheming Lady Macbeth calls on the powers of evil to assist her in murdering King Duncan.

The second CD opens with well-known arias and choruses from Verdi’s later operas, including Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlo and Aida. The programme ends with extracts from Verdi’s final two operas, both Shakespearian settings: the powerful drama Otello and the sunny comedy Falstaff.

Performers include the sopranos Martina Arroyo, Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, Leontyne Price, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Renata Scotto and Beverly Sills; the tenors Carlo Bergonzi, Franco Bonisolli, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Alfredo Kraus and Jon Vickers; the mezzo-sopranos Fiorenza Cossotto, Elena Obraztsova and Shirley Verrett, and the baritones Piero Cappuccilli, Peter Glossop and Sherrill Milnes, under famous conductors including Carlo Maria Giulini, Herbert von Karajan and Riccardo Muti.

Contents:
CD 1
- La traviata
1. Libiamo ne’lieti calici (Act I)
2. È strano!...Ah, fors’è lui...Follie! Follie!...Sempre libera (Act I)
3. Parigi, o cara (Act III) Renata Scotto soprano • Alfredo Kraus tenor
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Philharmonia Orchestra / Riccardo Muti
P 1982

- Rigoletto
4. Gualtier Maldè...Caro nome (Act I)
5. Cortigianni, vil razza dannata (Act II)
6. La donna è mobile (Act III)
7. Un dì, si ben rammentomi...Bella figlia dell’amore (Act III)
Beverly Sills (soprano) • Alfredo Kraus (tenor) • Sherrill Milnes (baritone) • Mignon Dunn (mezzo-soprano) • Dennis O’Neill (tenor) • John Rawnsley (baritone) • Malcolm King (bass)
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Philharmonia Orchestra / Julius Rudel
P 1979/1996

- Il trovatore
8. Vedi! le fosche notturne (Act II)
9. Il balen del suo sorriso (Act II)
10. Ah sì, ben mio (Act III)
11. Di quella pira (Act III)
12. D’amor sull’ali rosee (Act IV)
13. Ai nostri monti (Act IV)
Leontyne Price (soprano) • Franco Bonisolli (tenor) • Elena Obraztsova (mezzo-soprano) • Piero Cappuccilli • Horst Nitsche (bass)
Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Berliner Philharmoniker / Herbert von Karajan
P 1978/1986

- Nabucco
14. Va pensiero, sull'ali dorata (Act III)
Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Milano / Riccardo Muti
P 1992

- Macbeth
15. Nel dì della vittoria...Vieni! t’affretta! (Act I)
16. Al cader della sera...Or tutti sorgete (Act I)
17. O figli miei!...Ah, la paterna mano (Act IV)
Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo-soprano) • José Carreras (tenor) • Leslie Fyson (tenor)
New Philharmonia Orchestra / Riccardo Muti
P 1976/1999

CD 2
- Un ballo in maschera
1. Di’ tu se fedele (Act I)
2. Ecco l’orrido campo...Ma dall’arido stelo divulsa (Act II)
Martina Arroyo (soprano) • Plácido Domingo (tenor)
Royal Opera Chorus
New Philharmonia Orchestra / Riccardo Muti
P 1975/1997

- La forza del destino

3. La vita è inferno...O tu che in seno agli angeli (Act III)
4. Rataplan, rataplan della gloria (Act III)
5. Pace, pace, mio Dio! (Act IV)
Martina Arroya (soprano) • Carlo Bergonzi (tenor) • Biancamaria Casoni (mezzo-soprano)
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Lamberto Gardelli
P 1970/1993

- Don Carlo
6. Dio, che nell’alma infondere (Act II)
7. Ah! più non vedrò la Regina!...O don fatale! (Act IV)
8. O Carlo, ascolta...Io morrò (Act IV)
Shirley Verrett (mezzo-soprano) • Plácido Domingo (tenor) • Sherrill Milnes (baritone) • Simon Estes (bass)
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Carlo Maria Giulini
P 1971/2000

- Aida
9. Se quel guerrier io fossi!...Celeste Aida (Act I)
10. Ritorna vincitor! (Act I)
11. O terra, addio (Act IV)
Montserrat Caballé (soprano) • Plácido Domingo (tenor) • Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo-soprano)
Royal Opera Chorus
New Philharmonia Orchestra / Riccardo Muti
P 1974/2001

- Otello
12. Era la notte, Cassio dormia... Sì, per ciel marmoreo giuro! (Act II)
13. Ave Maria (Act IV)
Mirella Freni (soprano) • Jon Vickers (tenor) • Peter Glossop (baritone)
Berliner Philharmoniker / Herbert von Karajan
P 1974/1988

- Falstaff
14. L’onore! Ladri!...Io stesso. sì, io, io (Act I)
15. Del tuo barbero diagnostico (Act I)
Tito Gobbi (baritone) • Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano), Anna Moffo (soprano) • Nan Merriman (mezzo-soprano), Fedora Barbieri (mezzo-soprano) • Luigi Alva (tenor), Renato Ercolani (tenor), Tomaso Spataro (tenor) • Rolando Panerai (baritone) • Nicola Zaccaria (bass)
Philharmonia Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan
P 1999

Error on this page? Let us know here

Need more information on this product? Click here