Favourite opera recital records

[doversoul1]

To all the already mentioned - and all pretty special - recitals, I would add Sabine Devieilhe’s 2017 “Mirages”. A delight, with some of the best singing of parts of the French repertoire one has heard in years.

I thought her début album was very good, too.
Rameau: Le Grand Theatre de l'Amour

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8035571--rameau-le-grand-theatre-de-lamour

Not exactly an aria collection in a usual sense but I find this very good. An interesting ‘concept’ cd and Emőke Baráth is excellent.

La Storia di Orfeo
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor), Emőke Baráth (soprano)
I Barocchisti, Coro della Radiotelevisione svizzera, Diego Fasolis

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8278566--la-storia-di-orfeo

[mikealdren]

A few more of my favourites:

Susan Graham - French operetta arias (deliciously stylish)
Kozena - French arias (ravishingly sung and wonderfully accompanied by Minkowski and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra)
Sumi Jo - Carnaval! (great fun, more French arias, many little known)
Kasarova - Rossini arias and duets (with a young Florez as the junior partner)

I agree with all of these, generally on the lighter side but all excellent.

My absolute favourite is Callas with Serafin in 1954, an amazing mix of Boïto, Catalani, Cilea, Delibes, Giordano, Meyerbeer, Rossini and Verdi, all magnificently characterised.

I'll also add Frederica Von Stade's french arias with John Pritchard and almost anything by Rita Streich.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I very rarely buy such discs. Bleeding chunks are for the remaining Breakfasters and CFM.

I sort-of go along with this - whilst listening to opera "excerpts" and "highlights" LPs when I couldn't afford the complete boxes was a very important part of my education, I don't really like to hear "bitty" recitals of one aria after another (often with rare consideration of key relationships), sung by the same voice. If I ever do feel a need for such a recital, I go for those with a "theme" connecting the selected arias - like Samule Ramey's A Date with the Devil on NAXOS, or Regula Muhlemann's two CDs, the first a selection from Mozart - culminating in the complete Exultate Jubilato, which gives a good "shape" to the programme - and the second a programme of Baroque arias themed around Cleopatra.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Not my favourite, but enjoyable and well done:
Hampson / Ramey. Teldec CD "No tenors allowed". (The title appealed to me).

[Stanfordian]

To all the already mentioned - and all pretty special - recitals, I would add Sabine Devieilhe’s 2017 “Mirages”. A delight, with some of the best singing of parts of the French repertoire one has heard in years.

Thanks for reminding me of Sabine Devieilhe 'Mirages' on Erato. I was banging the drum for this when I reviewed it in early 2018. I've added it to my list.

[pastoralguy]

Thanks for reminding me of Sabine Devieilhe 'Mirages' on Erato. I was banging the drum for this when I reviewed it in early 2018. I've added it to my list.

I came across a copy of that last night as I was sorting out a box of CDs. Outstanding!

[Barbirollians]

Leontyne Price - ‘The Blue Album’ - Arias: Gounod, Meyerbeer, Puccini, Rossini, Bizet - RCA
Anna Moffo - ‘The Beige Album’ - Arias: Verdi, Puccini - RCA
Anna Netrebko - ‘Russian Album’ Arias: Glinka, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky - Deutsche Grammophon
Dmitri Hvorostovsky - ‘Tchaikovsky and Verdi Arias’ - Philips
Roberto Alagna & Angela Gheorghiu – ‘Duets and Arias’ - EMI
Angela Gheorghiu & Roberto Alagna ‘Verdi per due’ - EMI
Angela Gheorghiu - ‘Verdi Heroines’ - Arias: Massenet, Catalani, Bellini , Donizetti, Gounod, Boito, Puccini, Verdi - Decca
Véronique Gens - ‘Visions’ - Arias: Saint-Saëns, Niedermeyer, Halévy, Godard, Février, David, Franck, Massenet, Bizet, Bruneau - Alpha Classics
Magdalena Kožená - ‘Handel – Arias’ - Archiv Produktion
Jonas Kaufmann – ‘L'Opéra’ - Arias: Gounod, Massenet, Thomas, Bizet, Lalo, Offenbach, Meyerbeer, Berlioz - Sony
‘Erwin Schrott - Arias’: Bizet, Boito, Gomes, Gounod, Massenet, Offenbach, Puccini, Sorozabal, Verdi - Sony Classical
Angela Gheorghiu – ‘Homage to Maria Callas - Arias: Puccini, Gounod, Bellini, Leoncavalio, Saint-Saëns, Giordano, Cherubini, Massenet, Cilea, Verdi, Catalani, Bizet - EMI
Renato Scotto and Placido Domingo - ‘Romantic Opera Duets’ - Arias: Massenet, Gounod, Giordano, Mascagni - Sony Classical (originally Columbia Masterworks)
Magdalena Kožená - ‘Love and Longing’ - Dvorak, Ravel, Mahler - Deutsche Grammophon
René Pape - ‘Gods, Kings & Demons’ - Arias: Gounod, Boito, Berlioz, Verdi, Offenbach, Wagner, Anton Rubinstein, Dvorak, Mussorgsky - Deutsche Grammophon
Roberto Alagna - ‘French Opera Arias’ - Arias: Bazin, Massenet, Cherubini, Gounod, Gretry, Halévy, Thomas, Meyerbeer, Berloiz, Berlioz, Gluck, Bizet, Lalo, Mehul, Bruneau, Saint-Saëns - Deutsche Grammophon
Piotr Beczala - ‘The French Collection’ - Arias: Massenet, Berlioz, Verdi, Boieldieu, Donizetti, Gounod, Bizet - Deutsche Grammophon
Renata Scotto - ‘Arias’: Rossini, Bellini, Puccini, Donizetti, Verdi, Boito - EMI
Andreas Scholl - ‘Handel: Ombra mai fu’ - Harmonia Mundi
Sabine Devieilhe - 'Mirages' - Erato
Magdalena Kožená - French Arias' - Deutsche Grammophon
Anna Netrebko - 'Opera Arias' - Deutsche Grammophon

Some crackers there Stan and a few more to explore for me .

[cloughie]

I'm not the greatest lover of singing but I have ALL of Cecilia Bartoli's recital discs. For me, she is the one singer who floats my boat every time!

[Barbirollians]

Nice topic. My favourite is probably Josephine Bartow's finales disc with John Mauceri and Scottish Opera forces, including the final scene of Salome, most of Act III of The Makropulos Affair, Cherubini's Médée and a blistering performance of the original (first) Alfano ending of Turandot, which has been done very occasionally live, but hardly ever on record. That's a wonderful disc (and a very good reason to acquire a recital disc without describing those of us who do so as "remaining breakfasters" –what a silly remark). There are some other good ones that come to mind. I like Kozena's Mozart arias disc with Rattle and the OAE (some very nice decorations), and I'd strongly agree about the Caballé/Mackerras Puccini disc mentioned by Barbirollians in the first post – a lovely record. Another is Christa Ludwig's 1964 recital disc on RCA which ends with a remarkable performance of the Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung (another reason why recital discs shouldn't be dismissed –Ludwig never sang the Götterdämmerung Brünnhilde on stage, but she's certainly worth hearing in it).

Thanks for these recommendations makropoulos.

Both fabulous records . Ludwig breathtakingly beautiful and idiomatic and Barstow pins you back by the ears with dramatic singing of the very first order.