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Puccini: Turandot
RecommendedSondra Radvanovsky (Turandot), Jonas Kaufmann (Calaf), Ermonela Jaho (Liù), Michele Pertusi (Timur), Michael Spyres (Altoum), Mattia Olivieri (Ping), Gregory Bonfatti (Pang), Siyabonga Maqungo (Pong), Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
It is the attention Pappano pays to crafting the contrasts between passages of intense sensuality and of mechanistic brutality, casting new light on a familiar score in the process, which really... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2023, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recording of the Week, 10th March 2023
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Opera, April 2023, Disc of the Month
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Record Review, 18th March 2023, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2023, Recording of the Month
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Female Singer of the Year (Jaho/Radvanovsky)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Male Singer of the Year (Kaufmann/Spyres)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Conductor of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2023, Finalist - Opera
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International Opera Awards, 2023, Nominated - Recording (Complete Opera)
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International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Winner - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2023
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Sunday Times, 10 Best Classical Albums of 2023
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2024, Shortlisted - Opera
2 CDs
$29.50Downloads
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Purcell: King Arthur
RecommendedAnna Dennis, Mhairi Lawson, Rowan Pierce, Carolyn Sampson (sopranos), Jeremy Budd (high tenor), James Way (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone)
Gabrieli Players, Paul McCreesh
Choruses are more vibrant, dance rhythms more percussive and solos more delicate than in any previous recording. Above all, McCreesh and his artists make us hear Purcell’s genius for word-setting…But... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2019, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Opera, February 2020, Disc of the Month
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Winner - Opera
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Recording of the Year
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Shortlisted - Opera
2 CDs
$23.00Downloads
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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... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 4th September 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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Grammy Awards, 64th Awards (2022), Nominee - Best Opera Recording
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Britten: Peter Grimes
RecommendedStuart Skelton (Grimes), Erin Wall (Ellen), Roderick Williams (Balstrode), Susan Bickley (Auntie), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs Sedley), Robert Murray (Bob Boles), James Gilchrist (Horace Adams), Marcus Farnsworth (Ned Keene)
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
The best feature of this new Grimes is the orchestral playing, similar in tempo and character to Britten’s own recording. Where Edward Gardner really scores is the Bergen Philharmonic’s precision,... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Recording of the Month
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Presto Editor's Choice, September 2020
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Opera, November 2020, Disc of the Month
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Winner - Opera
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Recording of the Year
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Rossini: Semiramide
RecommendedAlbina Shagimuratova (Semiramide), Daniela Barcellona (Arsace), Mirco Palazzi (Assur), Barry Banks (Idreno), Gianluca Buratto (Oroe), Susana Gaspar (Azema), David Butt Philip (Mitrane), James Platt (L’ombra di Nino)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment & Opera Rara Chorus, Sir Mark Elder
Semiramide has more than its share of grandness, and in the trumpet-crowned procession as the Queen of Babylon prepares to announce her choice of king you can't help but hear a pre-echo of Verdi's... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 7th September 2018
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2018, Recording of the Month
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Record Review, 6th October 2018, Recording of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2018, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2018
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The Times Records of the Year, 2018
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Opera, January 2019, Disc of the Month
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The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year, 2018
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2019, Finalist - Opera
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International Opera Awards, 2019, Winner - Complete Opera Recording
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2019, Winner - Opera (19th century)
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Gramophone Awards, 2019, Finalist - Opera
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Winner - Opera
4 CDs
$61.00Downloads
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Handel: Agrippina
RecommendedJoyce DiDonato (Agrippina), Elsa Benoit (Poppea), Luca Pisaroni (Claudio), Franco Fagioli (Nerone), Jakub Józef Orliński (Ottone), Andrea Mastroni (Pallante), Carlo Vistoli (Narciso), Biagio Pizzuti (Lesbo), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Giunone)
Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
This Agrippina jostles for top place among the opera’s complete recordings. Joyce DiDonato is matchless in the title role, most other cast members likewise outstrip their rivals and their vocal... — More…
Awards:
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Record Review, 11th January 2020, Record of the Week
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Presto Recording of the Week, 31st January 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2020, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2020, Opera Choice
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Female Singer of the Year (DiDonato)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Conductor of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Winner - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Opera
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Grammy Awards, 63rd Awards (2021), Nominee - Best Opera Recording
3 CDs
$31.25Downloads
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Purcell: The Fairy Queen, 1692
RecommendedCarolyn Sampson (soprano), Anna Dennis (soprano), Mhairi Lawson (soprano), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone), Roderick Williams (baritone), Gabrieli, Paul McCreesh
McCreesh’s production rises to the occasion: original voicing, unorthodox continuo, project-specific trumpet design and rediscovered string techniques bring out qualities missing from earlier... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 10th April 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2020, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2020, Opera Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Opera
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Building a Library, February 2023, Recommended Recording
2 CDs
$23.00Downloads
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Puccini: Madama Butterfly
RecommendedAngela Gheorghiu (Butterfly), Jonas Kaufmann (Pinkerton), Enkelejda Shkosa (Suzuki), Fabio Capitanucci (Sharpless), Gregory Bonfatti (Goro) & Raymond Aceto (Bonzo)
Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
In many respects Gheorghiu's singing reminds me of Callas's: in Act I they both adopt a 'little girl' voice, and in Act II they both sound more mature… so that by the tragic climax they present... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd March 2009
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Gramophone Awards, 2009, Winner - Opera
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Opera, April 2009, Recording of the Month
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Building A Library, March 2024, Recommended Recording
2 CDs
$19.75Downloads
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Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
RecommendedJulien Behr (Pelléas), Vannina Santoni (Mélisande), Alexandre Duhamel (Golaud), Marie-Ange Todorovitch (Geneviève), Jean Teitgen (Arkel), Hadrien Joubert (Yniold)
Les Siècles, Chœur de l'Opéra de Lille François-Xavier Roth
It’s like listening in black and white rather than colour. The music’s generally soft-toned orchestral landscape is both vivid and beautifully shaded...sensitively played and paced under Roth’s... — More…
Awards:
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Opera, April 2022, Disc of the Month
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Presto Recording of the Week, 11th March 2022
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Finalist - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Winner - Opera
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The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year, 2022
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2022
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2023, Nominated - Opera
3 CDs
$27.25Downloads
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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... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd February 2024
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2024, Recording of the Month
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