Great Opera Recordings
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Special offer. Bellini: I Puritani
RecommendedMaria Callas, Aurora Cattelani, Carlo Forti, Angelo Mercuriali, Rolando Panerai, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, Giuseppe di Stefano
Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, Tullio Serafin
Awards:
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Building a Library, January 2005, Budget Choice
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Verdi: Rigoletto
RecommendedRobert Merrill (Rigoletto), Roberta Peters (Gilda), Jussi Björling (Il Duca), Anna Maria Rota (Maddalena), Giorgio Tozzi (Sparafucile)
Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Jonel Perlea
[On the original release in 1956] under Perlea, the orchestral playing is firm and dramatic, well balanced with the voice. The music is well paced. Björling’s tone is a constant pleasure. He... —
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
RecommendedMaria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Raffaele Arié, Valiano Natali, Anna Maria Canali, Gino Sarri
Chorus and Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin
Today, for a very modest price, all lovers of bel canto operas and their performance on record can listen and make their own judgement on what was, without doubt, a seminal recording of the... —
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Building a Library, October 2008, First Choice
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Building A Library, May 2025, Recommended Recording
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Special offer. Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
RecommendedKirsten Flagstad, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Eilidh McNab, Arda Mandikian, Sheila Rex, Anna Pollak, Thomas Hemsley & David Lloyd
The Mermaid Singers and Orchestra, Geraint Jones
[On the original release in January 1953] At last we have a really satisfactory recording of Dido. —
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Building a Library, November 2019, Also Recommended
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Special offer. Puccini: La Bohème
Jussi Björling, Victoria de los Angeles, Robert Merrill, Lucine Amara & Giorgio Tozzi
RCA Victor Chorus and Orchestra (Thomas Martin) & The Columbus Boychoir (Herbert Huffman), Sir Thomas Beecham
One of the great classics of recording, expertly restored. Victoria de los Angeles and Jussi Björling are an incomparable pair, and Beecham's conducting is, as ever, inimitable. —
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2 CDs
Original price ($21.50) Reduced price $17.20 -
Special offer. Verdi: Il Trovatore
Jussi Bjorling (Manrico), Zinka Milanov (Leonora), Leonard Warren (Il Conte di Luna), Fedora Barbieri (Azucena), Nicola Moscona (Ferrando), Margaret Roggero (Ines), Paul Franke (Ruiz), George Cehanovsky (Un vecchio zingaro), Nathaniel Sprinzena (Un messo)
RCA Victor Orchestra, Robert Shaw Chorale,...
among the very finest recorded versions. The transfers by Mark Obert-Thorn bring out the full beauty and character of all four principals very vividly...Bjorling is, as ever, superb in his heroic... —
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Special offer. Verdi: Rigoletto
Leonard Warren, Erna Berger, Jan Peerce, Nan Merriman
RCA Victor Orchestra, Robert Shaw Chorale, Renato Cellini
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Special offer. Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Yelena Dimitrievna Kruglikova (Tatyana), Panteleimon Nortsov (Eugene Onegin), Elizaveta Antonova (Olga), Ivan Kozlovsky (Lensky), Lyudmila G. Rudintskaya (Larina), Vera Makarova-Sevcenko (Filipyevna), Maxim Mikhailov (Zaretzky), Anatoli Mineev (Captain)
Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and Chorus,...
the first complete recording ever made, and it is remarkable not just for the idiomatic warmth of the conducting...but for the fine singing of the principals, with not a Slavic wobbler among... —
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Special offer. Mozart: Così fan tutte, K588
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Nan Merriman, Lisa Otto, Léopold Simoneau, Rolando Panerai & Sesto Bruscantini
Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
Schwarzkopf is in splendid voice as the sentimental Fiordiligi, Merriman equally good as the practical Dorabella, and Otto is a good Despina and very amusing in her assumed voices —
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Special offer. Verdi: Un ballo in maschera
RecommendedGiuseppe di Stefano (Riccardo), Tito Gobbi (Renato), Maria Callas (Amelia), Fedora Barbieri (Ulrica), Eugenia Ratti (Oscar), Silvio Maionica (Samuele), Nicola Zaccaria (Tom), Ezio Giordano (Silvano)
Orhcestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala, Antonino Votto
Gobbi's chocolate-smooth tones almost steal the show, but Callas gives a touching Amelia, and di Stefano is dashing and irresponsible. There is a strong cast and theatrical conducting from... —
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Building a Library, October 2013, Recommendation available on single CD
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