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This disc is essential for Jussi Bjoerling fans--doesn't that include almost everyone?--and for anyone who wants a distinctive sampling from recorded opera's most eloquent age. Best are Bjoerling's duets with baritone Robert Merrill--especially the classic "Au fond du temple saint" from The Pear...

A Hymn for the World / Bartoli, Bocelli, Chung...

The Ultimate Divas Album...

After Audra McDonald's audacious recording debut with Way Back to Paradise, a collection of newly composed, highly sophisticated theater music, this new disc dominated by Harold Arlen standards would seem to be a retrenchment. On closer inspection, not so. Anybody who would risk comparisons with Bar...

The Classic Christmas Album...

Carousel may have been one of Rodgers & Hammerstein's least popular shows at the time, but it's now considered one of the duo's most compelling offerings, and there are plenty of good recordings to choose from. Nicholas Hytner's much-praised production originated in London (with a cast album availab...

In the beginning, Cecilia Bartoli seemed to do one thing better than anybody, i.e., Rossini arias, which would not guarantee a long career even for a singer of her ebullience. This live performance from the Teatro Olympico in Vincenza, Italy, shows how much she's expanded, both linguistically and mu...

Roberto Alagna & Angela Gheorghiu - Duets & Arias...

Beethoven: Fidelio...

This isn't an oratorio in the Handelian sense, but a series of cantatas for various days from Christmas to Epiphany. Bach's music is loaded with treats: an echo aria for soprano and oboe; a "pastoral" sinfonia; bravura arias for tenor with flute and bass with trumpet; a giddy soprano-bass duet; a...