Summer Opera - up to 40% off selected titles
We're delighted to offer a more affordable way to begin or continue your opera journey, with up to 40% off selected titles on CD, SACD, Vinyl, DVD and Blu-ray, until 12th August. Please note, downloads are not included in this offer.
-
Special offer. Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen, Sinfonietta
RecommendedLucy Crowe (Vixen), Gerald Finley (Forester), Sophia Burgos (Fox), Jan Martiník (Badger/Parson), Peter Hoare (Mosquito/Rooster/Schoolmaster), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (Harašta)
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
If this Vixen is good, the Sinfonietta is outstanding – arguably the best on disc, though you need to experience the work in a concert hall with the nine trumpets blazing. They’re supremely... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 4th September 2020
-
Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Editor's Choice
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
-
Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
-
The Times Records of the Year, 2020
-
Grammy Awards, 64th Awards (2022), Nominee - Best Opera Recording
-
-
Special offer. Janáček: Katya Kabanova
RecommendedAmanda Majeski (Katya), Katarina Dalayman (Kabanicha), Simon O'Neill (Boris), Andrew Staples (Tichon), Magdalena Kozená (Varvara), Ladislav Elgr (Kudrjas), Pavlo Hunka (Dikój)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
Rattle and his recording engineers have produced a Katya that sound s magnificent both in its attention to musical detail and in those sudden orchestral climaxes that seem to sweep nature itself... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd February 2024
-
Gramophone Magazine, March 2024, Recording of the Month
-
Gramophone Awards, 2024 Shortlist, Shortlisted - Opera
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Opera
-
Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2024
-
-
Special offer. Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri, Op. 50
RecommendedSally Matthews (Peri), Mark Padmore (narrator), Kate Royal (soprano), Bernarda Fink (alto), Andrew Staples (tenor), Florian Boesch (bass), Soloists from Guildhall School (Quartet)
London Symphony Orchestra & London Symphony Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
Vivid detail and clear choral textures come over quite stunningly on both formats, but the Blu-ray has the edge...Sally Matthews doesn't quite catch the ethereal quality Gardiner's Barbara Bonney... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 9th October 2015
-
BBC Music Magazine, January 2016, Choral & Song Choice
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2015
Purchase product
2 SACDs + Blu-ray Audio
Original price ($13.75) Reduced price $11.00Downloads
Audio formats guide -
-
Special offer. Berlioz: La damnation de Faust
Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano), Bryan Hymel (tenor), Christopher Purves (baritone), Gábor Bretz (bass)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Guildhall School Singers, Tiffin Children's Chorus, Tiffin Girls' Choir, Tiffin Boys' Choir, Sir Simon Rattle
The work and its style – especially the virtuosity and panache required – have clearly remained in the orchestra’s collective memory…Overall it’s a tightly organised and carefully paced achievement... —
Awards:
-
Record Review, 23rd March 2019, Record of the Week
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Opera
-
-
Special offer. Janáček: Jenůfa
RecommendedAgneta Eichenholz (Jenůfa), Katarina Karnéus (Kostelnička), Aleš Briscein (Laca), Nicky Spence (Števa), Jan Martiník (Starek, the Foreman/Mayor), Carole Wilson (Grandmother Buryjovka)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
It’s the conflicted characters that we ‘hear’ in this Jenůfa: Laca who cuts the eponymous heroine’s face and the Deaconess Kostelnička who murders her stepdaughter’s illegitimate infant to protect... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd May 2025
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2026, Nominated - Opera
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
-
-
Special offer. Wagner: Das Rheingold
Michael Volle (Wotan), Tomasz Konieczny (Alberich), Burkhard Ulrich (Loge), Elisabeth Kulman (Fricka), Herwig Pecoraro (Mime), Peter Rose (Fasolt), Eric Halfvarson (Fafner), Annette Dasch (Freia), Janina Baechle (Erda), Christian van Horn (Donner), Benjamin Bruns (Froh), Mirella Hagen (Woglinde),...
His conducting is fast, as Wagner preferred and intensely dynamic but he avoids Boulez's glibness, illuminating the drama of the moment in a mercurial, almost Solti-like fashion...he seems to... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, October 2015, Editor's Choice
-
Gramophone Awards, 2016, Shortlisted - Opera
-
-
Special offer. Mozart: Idomeneo
RecommendedAndrew Staples (Idomeneo), Magdalena Kožená (Idamante), Sabine Devieilhe (Ilia), Elsa Dreisig (Elettra), Linard Vrielink (Arbace), Allan Clayton (High Priest of Neptune), Tareq Nazmi (Voice of the Oracle)
Symphonieorchester und Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sir Simon Rattle
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle's energetic and sensitive direction mirror the Mannheimers' dynamism and virtuosity...[Staples] brings fine diction and expressivity... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2025, Editor's Choice
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2026, Nominated - Opera
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
-
-
Special offer. Wagner: Siegfried
Simon O'Neill (Siegfried), Michael Volle (Der Wanderer), Peter Hoare (Mime), Anja Kampe (Brünnhilde), Franz-Josef Selig (Fafner), Gerhild Romberger (Erda), Danae Kontora (Waldvogel), Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sir Simon Rattle
Rattle shows a keen awareness of orchestral colour and brings an impressive dynamism to the music. His tendency is to be quite speedy – and there is certainly virtue in such an approach. —
Awards:
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Nominated - Opera
-
Opus Klassik Awards, 2024, Nominated - Orchestra of the Year
-
-
Special offer. Bernstein: Wonderful Town
RecommendedDanielle de Niese (Eileen), Alysha Umphress (Ruth), Nathan Gunn (Bob Baker), Duncan Rock (Wreck), David Butt Philip (Lonigan), Ashley Riches (Guide/First Editor/Frank)
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
Rattle obviously adores the score and in broad terms he certainly enters into its spirit…but there’s just a slight touch of restrain about the whole enterprise; it’s all a bit too tasteful…The... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 14th September 2018
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2018
-
-
Special offer. Wagner: Die Walküre
Stuart Skelton (Siegmund), Eric Halfvarson (Hunding), James Rutherford (Wotan), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Sieglinde), Iréne Theorin (Brünnhilde), Elisabeth Kulman (Fricka), Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sir Simon Rattle
The orchestral playing is predictably excellent—the woodwind solos always have character, and the low brass have an ability to add menace and bite without overpowering the orchestra—but Rattle... —
Awards:
-
Record Review, 18th April 2020, Record of the Week
-
