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.
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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:
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Record Review, 23rd March 2019, Record of the Week
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Opera
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Special offer. Handel: Saul
Christopher Purves (Saul), Sarah Connolly (David), Robert Murray (Jonathan), Elizabeth Atherton (Merab), Joélle Harvey (Michal), Mark Dobell (High Priest), Jeremy Budd (Witch of Endor) & Stuart Young (Ghost of Samuel)
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
the choruses are always beautifully contoured, as is the incisive playing of The Sixteen's house band. Christopher Purves and Sarah Connolly all but steal the show: Purves's splenetic Saul is... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2012, Disc of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2013, Finalist - Baroque Vocal
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Special offer. George Benjamin: Written on Skin
Recommendedand Duet for piano and orchestra
Christopher Purves (The Protector), Barbara Hannigan (Agnès), Bejun Mehta (First Angel/Boy), Victoria Simmonds (Second Angel/Marie), Allan Clayton (Third Angel/John), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, George Benjamin
[Purves] expresses a brooding pride and menace that makes your skin crawl. [Hannigan] makes an electrifying transformation from doe-like submissiveness to sexual predator, and the powerfully... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 2013, Finalist - Contemporary
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2014, Premiere Award
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Special offer. Handel: Alcina
Anja Harteros (Alcina), Vesselina Kasarova (Ruggiero), Deborah York (Oberto), Sonia Prina (Bradamante), Veronica Cangemi (Morgana), John Mark Ainsley (Oronte), Christopher Purves (Melisso)
Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Ivor Bolton
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Special offer. Benjamin, G: Written on Skin
RecommendedChristopher Purves (Protector), Barbara Hannigan (Agnès), Bejun Mehta (First Angel/Boy), Victoria Simmonds (Second Angel/Marie) & Allan Clayton (Third Angel/John)
Royal Opera Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, George Benjamin (conductor) & Katie Mitchell (director)
This is an outstanding release in every way...Benjamin's extraordinary music is breathtaking in its lightly worn compositional virtuosity...The cast is sensational...Hannigan deserves all the... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
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Gramophone Awards, 2014, Winner - Contemporary
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Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2014, Winner - Musique contemporaine
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Special offer. Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
Sung in English (translation by Jeremy Sams)
Christopher Purves (Figaro), Rebecca Evans (Susanna), Yvonne Kenny (Countess), William Dazeley (Count), Diana Montague (Cherubino)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, David Parry
a useful, straightforward reading —
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Special offer. Beethoven: Fidelio, Op. 72
Christine Brewer (Leonore), Richard Margison (Florestan), Robert Lloyd (Rocco), Rebecca Evans (Marzellina), Peter Wedd (Jaquino), Pavlo Hunka (Don Pizarro), Christopher Purves (Don Fernando/Second Prisoner); Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, David Parry
outstandingly vivid recording, among the finest ever to come from Chandos...[Brewer is] at once heroic but intensely human and warm, brilliant in the demanding 'Abscheulicher'. She is well matched... —
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Special offer. Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
Karen Cargill (Marguerite), John Irvin (Faust), Christopher Purves (Méphistophélès), Jonathan Lemalu (Brander), London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, London Symphony Chorus, Edward Gardner
this performance by the London Philharmonic under its principal conductor offers consistently high orchestral standards and focused participation from the assembled choirs, who show skill in... —
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Special offer. Britten: Peter Grimes
John Graham-Hall (Peter Grimes), Susan Gritton (Ellen Orford), Christopher Purves (Balstrode), Felicity Palmer (Auntie), Ida Falk Winland (First Niece), Simona Mihai (Second Niece), Peter Hoare (Bob Boles), Daniel Okulitch (Swallow), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs. Sedley), Christopher Gillett (Rev. Horace...
[Grimes is] no tough fisherman but a seedy inadequate cringing from the local teenagers, and suggesting all too contemporary abuse problems. John Graham-Hall evokes his contorted inner life... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2013, DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
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Special offer. Glass, P: The Perfect American
Christopher Purves (Walt Disney), David Pittsinger (Roy), Donald Kaasch (Dantine), Janis Kelly (Hazel George), Marie McLaughlin (Lillian Disney), Sarah Tynan (Sharon), Nazan Fikret (Diane) & Rosie Lomas (Lucy / Josh)
The Improbable Skills Ensemble & Orchestra and chorus of the Teatro...
Purves fully engages with the lead role, injecting energy into a score that (perhaps unusually for a style based on such propulsive repetition) often lacks momentum. —
