Joan Sutherland, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Luciano Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballe, Nicolai Ghiaurov, The John Alldis Choir, Zubin Mehta – Turandot (1972/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:57:51 minutes | 2,20 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca
Turandot is Puccini’s last opera and contains some of his most enchanting and memorable music. This recording features a stellar cast of singers with London Philharmonic Orchestra, masterfully conducted by Zubin Mehta.
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Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Dominic Cossa, Spiro Malas, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, English Chamber Orchestra, Richard Bonynge – Donizetti: L’Elisir d’Amore (1970/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:20:19 minutes | 2,59 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
“Bonynge leads a team … which not only conveys jollity but which sings and plays as though full opera house applause is to be expected a the end of each number … The ECO playing … has a refinement and stylishness which makes all the difference … Pavarotti has a Gigli -like quality in characterisation and this suits him ideally for the role of the simple, devoted Nemorino … you should readily be won over by the sheer exuberance, vocal as well as dramatic, that Sutherland brings to the role. It is a joy to the ear to have well- loved music treated to extra vocal splendours at both ends of the soprano register.” –Gramophone
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Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Monica Sinclair, Jules Bruyere, Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Richard Bonynge – Donizetti: La fille du regiment (1967/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:46:28 minutes | 2,01 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Even Dame Joan Sutherland has rarely if ever made an opera recording so totally enjoyable and involving as this. With the same cast (including chorus and orchestra) as at Convent Garden, it was recorded in 1966 immediately after a series of live performances in the Royal Opera House, and both the comedy and the pathos come over with an intensity born of communication with live audiences. That impression is now the more vivid on this superb transfer, for with spoken dialogue used in this original French version of the opera the absence of background noise is a special benefit, and the production vividly captures the developments in the story.
Read more![Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge - Bellini: I Puritani (1973/2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/08/29/0002894786598_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge – Bellini: I Puritani (1973/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:54:05 minutes | 3,05 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Pavarotti made only one studio recording of I Puritani. In 1973 he recorded the opera with Richard Bonynge conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and with Joan Sutherland as Elvira.
“Sutherland’s singing here is brighter and fresher than her earlier recording, with the lovely aria ‘Qui la voce’ no longer a wordless melisma…The recording is vivid and atmospheric and one marvels at Bellini’s gorgeous melodies…with Sutherland, Bonynge and all on electrifying form.” –The Penguin Guide
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![Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Josephine Veasey, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge - Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda (1966/2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/08/29/0002894786574_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Josephine Veasey, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge – Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda (1966/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:27:46 minutes | 2,90 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
„Bellini’s penultimate opera – written for La Fenice, Venice, in 1833 – has never enjoyed the popularity of such works as La sonnambula, Norma and I puritani. Listening to this vintage Joan Sutherland recording dating from 1966, it is hard to fathom why. The story is strong and stirring – a sort of cross between Maria Stuarda and La Gioconda – and offers fine roles for the wronged titular heroine, her villainous husband Filippo, her platonic admirer Orombello and his would-be mistress, Agnese del Maino (a Princess Eboli avant la lettre). How odd that Sutherland never managed to persuade Covent Garden to mount it for her, especially with this glorious cast. The Decca set is historic because it offered the legendary Sutherland/Pavarotti collaboration for the first time on disc. Luciano is wonderfully stylish here, elegant and ringing: Nureyev, vocally-speaking, to Sutherland’s Fonteyn. La Stupenda was going through one of her ‘moony’, muddy-diction phases, but the vocalism is quite dazzling. It’s a joy to encounter Josephine Veasey in her only commercially recorded Italian role: velvet-toned, shining, she is Sutherland’s most lustrous mezzo rival in any bel canto recording. More recent recordings include a Rizzoli set – Mariana Nicolescu in the title role – and a brand new one starring Edita Gruberova on the ominously named Nightingale label, which I have not yet heard.“ –Hugh Canning, BBC Music Magazine
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Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, LSO, Richard Bonynge – Verdi: Rigoletto (1971/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:57:53 minutes | 2,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: PrestoClassical | Artwork: Digital booklet | © Decca
For sheer vocal splendor you can’t go wrong with the 1971 Decca recording featuring the virile baritone Sherrill Milnes as Rigoletto, Luciano Pavarotti in radiant voice as a stylish but slightly scene-stealing Duke, and Joan Sutherland as a Gilda who is a little too vocally resplendent to come across as innocent, but is certainly a treat to hear. (more…)
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