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This is one of the problem operas of Puccini's maturity, something he began writing while under the spell of Lehar's The Merry Widow that never quite came together as a piece of theater. But the score contains some of Puccini's most congenial music and attractive scoring. An alert, resourceful new p...

Joan Sutherland is not usually considered a Puccini singer, and in fact she sang the role of Turandot only in the recording studio. But for that assignment she had exactly what was needed: a voice that seemed to have no upper limits and a personality that concealed vulnerability under an air of icy ...

This was Joan Sutherland's second recording of Lucia, made with an all-star cast in prime vocal condition, and it is a must for those who believe that bel canto opera should live up to its descriptive title: "beautiful singing." In the 10 years since her first Lucia recording, she had settled more c...

The Irish Tenors are an acquired taste that, it seems, nearly everyone has acquired. On Home for Christmas, John McDermott, Anthony Kearns, and Ronan Tynan create a stirring seasonal follow-up to their extremely popular self-titled debut of Irish standards. On this disc, we get some of the best-love...

This classic performance of Haydn's greatest choral masterpiece was beloved tenor Fritz Wunderlich's last recording. He sings all of the arias, but he died before finishing the recitatives, which are here taken by Werner Krenn. The recording is, in addition, one of Herbert von Karajan's finest, vast...

There's a commercial inevitability to holiday song collections that can tempt music fans to mutter "humbug" under their breath. Yet while this collection (released in conjunction with the Tenors' Christmas Spectacular tour of 2003) is no less market savvy, in the end the trio's earnest, energetic pe...

A recording of Norma is essential for any Maria Callas collection. This intense and musically demanding drama deals with forbidden love, infidelity, conflicting emotions, and death that comes almost as a relief from overwrought passion. It gives Callas golden opportunities for characterization and d...

Forty years after the Clancy Brothers found popularity singing traditional Irish folksongs to an American audience, along comes the Irish Tenors, the trio of John McDermott, Anthony Kearns, and Ronan Tynan. Backed by plenty of coverage on public television, the three tenors perform a soothing and ...

Little can be added to what's been written about this landmark recording, except that Walter Legge's 1953 mono production yields nothing to modern Tosca recordings for vivacity and theatrical impact--especially Maria Callas's. The miraculous Victor de Sabata conjures up a vibrant, inspiring orchestr...

In the short time since they grouped together a few years ago to form their sensationally successful trio, the Irish Tenors have already put out an impressive array of recordings and DVDs, including some bona fide gooseflesh-inducing live concert performances. So, if you still have the enviable plea...