The selections from Opera 2012 are drawn from Decca's huge archive of recordings spanning over 50 years. The majority of the singers were active in 2012, but there is a healthy sampling of performances that date as far back as the 1950s. There's also a handful of artists who had fairly recently emerged as international stars in 2012, including soprano Mojca Erdmann, mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca, and tenor Joseph Calleja. The selections trend toward the soothing or the poignant, although there are exceptions, such as the ...
Read More
The selections from Opera 2012 are drawn from Decca's huge archive of recordings spanning over 50 years. The majority of the singers were active in 2012, but there is a healthy sampling of performances that date as far back as the 1950s. There's also a handful of artists who had fairly recently emerged as international stars in 2012, including soprano Mojca Erdmann, mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca, and tenor Joseph Calleja. The selections trend toward the soothing or the poignant, although there are exceptions, such as the fiery "Di quella pira" from Il Trovatore and "Ride of the Valkyries" from Die Walküre. Most of the selections are solos, but there are several small ensembles as well as an assortment of choruses. By far, the majority of the pieces come from works from the standard repertoire of the Romantic and post-Romantic eras, although the Classical period is represented by Mozart, and the Baroque by Purcell, along with some rarities by Handel and Vivaldi. With such an extensive resource of...
Read Less