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Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball), is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The opera's first production was at the Teatro Apollo, Rome, 17 February 1859. The libretto is a romantic version of the assassination of Gustav III of Sweden—even though again the censorship barred the murder of a king and so made nonsense of the story, its setting transported from 18th-century Stockholm to Puritan Boston, a hundred years earlier. Un ballo in maschera show the enrichment of Verdi’s power as an interpreter of human character and as a master of orchestral colour. ~ answers.com This recording dates back to 1956 and is the last studio recording that Callas made with di Stefano (their relationships were getting worse and they didn't collaborate again until 1973!!). Although they were not in very good terms, this fact does not appear at all in this recording. Their love duet in the second act is magnificently sung both artistically and dramatically. Callas is in quite in good voice here and sings the role of Amelia with conviction. We really sympathize with her in her pleadings to see for the last time her son and in her agony about the proximent death of the Count. But most of all we admire Gobbi interpretation of Renato. He is a wonderful actor. At first, he is nice, good, cares a lot about his friend's life and all these can be heard. But, when he discovers his wife with his best friend, jealousy bursts in him and fury overtakes him. His voice becomes menacing full of anger. But in the end, when he learns the whole truth, his voice is filled with remorse and pity. WOW! So, this recording is higly recommended. We have 3 wonderful voices and 2 more than wonderful actors. ~ amazon.com

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Belgian singer and songwriter, Jacques Brel created and performed a catalog of literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that brought him a large, devoted following in France. His songs, frequently sharply satirical and often implicitly religious, became hugely popular in Europe. His audience extended internationally, making him a major influence on English-speaking writers and performers including Leonard Cohen and David Bowie, while translations of his songs were recorded by a wide range of performers from the Kingston Trio to Frank Sinatra. ~ allmusic.com

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Heifetz was known for his flawless technical style. He was even accused of sounding formal and mechanical, which also reflected his austere personality. But the fierce virtuoso never faltered, even into his 70s, and ended up recording more than 80 albums in his lifetime. ~ jaschaheifetz.com Isaac Stern said "Heifetz represents a standard of polished execution unrivalled in my memory...." The great violin teacher Carl Flesch said "There has never been any violinist who has come closer to absolute perfection. Heifetz will no doubt hold the office of the high priest in our profession for many years to come." ~ adventuresinmusic.biz

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Furtwängler had a unique conducting technique. He saw symphonic music as creations of nature that could only be realised subjectively into sound. This is why composers such as Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner were so central to Furtwängler's repertoire, because he identified them as great forces of nature. He disliked Toscanini's approach to the German repertoire. He walked out of a Toscanini concert once, calling him "a mere time-beater!". Furtwängler did not have a strong beat, as can be seen in video recordings [1] that show him making awkward, gawky movements like a medium in a trance. He wished that the sense of time be established by the players in themselves, as in chamber music. Furtwängler would then show the orchestra when he wished to use rubato. His gestures bear seemingly little relationship to the rhythms of the music, while his physical motions were described as "like a puppet on a string" by one orchestra member [2]. Furtwängler would generally hold his baton hand closer to his body and his left would be outstretched giving the expression of the phrase to the orchestra. On occasion he would violently shake his baton hand when he would get into conducting fits onstage. In the video above Furtwängler can be seen conducting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on April 19th, 1942 in celebration of Hitler's birthday. In the symphony's coda, Furtwängler can be seen having tremendous fits as he leads the orchestra through the chorus's final cries of "Götterfunken, Götterfunken!". Despite, or perhaps because of, this unorthodox style, musicians were mesmerised by his leadership. His best performances are characterized by deep, bass-driven sonorities, soaring lyricism, and wrenching extremes of emotion co-existing with logical cogency. Neville Cardus wrote in the Manchester Guardian in 1954 of Furtwängler's conducting style: "He did not regard the printed notes of the score as a final statement, but rather as so many symbols of an imaginative conception, ever changing and always to be felt and realised subjectively...Not since Nikisch, of whom he was a disciple, has a greater personal interpreter of orchestral and opera music than Furtwängler been heard." ~ Wikipedia

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Artur Schnabel (1882 – 1951) is an austrian pianist and teacher whose performances and recordings made him a legend in his own time and a model of scholarly musicianship to all later pianists. He was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding anything resembling pure technical bravura. He is considered a world-class pianist of the 20th century, whose vitality, profundity and spirituality in playing works by core German composers, especially the Viennese classics of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, were praised. He was also renowned for his playing of works by Brahms and Schumann. ~ Wikipedia

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Gaetano Donizetti's most famous and celebrated work, Lucia di Lammermoor, is a dramma tragico (tragic opera) in three acts, based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor which features a tragic heroine, Lucy Ashton, who loves the master of Ravenswood but is compelled by her parents to marry the laird (lord) of Bucklaw. Lucy goes insane, stabs her husband on their wedding night, and dies.

Since its premiere in 1835, Lucia di Lammermoor has been a favorite of audiences and performers and has a secure spot in the core repertoire. Its sextet and the heroine’s mad scene are among the most popular moments in opera. Lucia became Donizetti's most famous opera, and one of the high points of the bel canto tradition, reaching a stature similar to Bellini's Norma.

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This 1976 recording is one of the most famous Lucia’s performance with Carreras is at his absolute peak - this is the most impassioned, vocally splendid Edgardo ever recorded. His last act aria, sometimes an anti-climax in other performances, is a real show-stopper here. A must have recording for Carreras fans, or anyone interested in stylish bel canto tenor singing. Caballe is in generally fine voice, but this role is not quite right for her somehow. The mad scene is taken up a whole tone, and performed "a scritto" with no interpolated high notes. The result is interesting - the higher keys evoking the very icy sound of madness, perhaps. Some of the high C's should have been sung more pianissimo - the forte singing (surprising for Caballe) can sound forced at times. Caballe offers here a thoroughly compelling portrayal of the tragic and disturbed heroine, realizing some emotional nuances one does not hear in some of the other recordings. Ramey is in early powerful voice and is one of the sets biggest strengths. A must have for Carreras fans, in spite of the unusual interpretation by Caballe. ~ amazon.com

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If one had to single out just one figure whose contribution to 20th century music has been inestimable, it must surely be Pierre Boulez. Not only by his own ground breaking compositional output but also by his pioneering programming of 20th century music in concerts globally as a conductor of many of the worlds greatest orchestras. ~ Malcolm Ball Boulez's strongest achievement (…) is his masterpiece Le marteau sans maître (The Hammer without a Master) for ensemble and voice, from 1953 to 1957, a "keystone of 20th-century music" and one of the few works of advanced music from the 1950s to remain in the repertoire. Le marteau was a surprising and revolutionary synthesis of many different streams in modern music, as well as seeming to encompass the sound worlds of modern jazz, the Balinese Gamelan, traditional African musics, and traditional Japanese musics. Fluent and expressive, even sensuous, in a way that Boulez's earlier serial works had not been, it was hailed by diverse musicians, including Igor Stravinsky. ~ Wikipedia French composer, organist and writer. Messiaen was one of the most original composers of the century and had a strong influence on the next generation of composers. The music of Olivier Messiaen stands out for the depth of spirituality that lies behind it. He was a highly original composer whose style embraced a markedly wide range of influences and reflects his own unique synthesis of these ideas. ~ essentialsofmusic.com

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Mozart's unfinished Requiem has long been shrouded in mystery. Mozart undertook the commission for an Austrian nobleman, little knowing that he was to write a requiem for himself. Inevitably, the secrecy surrounding the anonymous commission, the circumstances of Mozart's death, the unfinished state of the work, and its completion under the direction of Mozart's widow, Constanze, have precipitated two centuries of romantic speculation and scholarly controversy. ~ Christoph Wolff

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Here a comparative audition is proposed.

The first proposed version is Leonard Bernstein’s 1988 performing with Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, known for radical liberties with the tempos.
Bernstein romanticizes this work... he slows it down and he conducts it in a way that feels more like 19th century romanticism rather than the classically, square approach of the 18th century. Maybe Mozart would have appreciated this rendition because he was a creative thinker!

The second version is Georg Solti 1991 performing with Wiener Philarmoniker for the 200th commemoration of Mozart’s death.
Solti is in top form here conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in a very powerful and fiery performance of this most famous of requiems. While some conductors take the Kyrie pretty slow, Solti kicks it in high gear and keeps it moving. The soloists are all magnificent especially Cole and Pape. The Dies Irae and the Confutatis are more powerful here than we have ever heard them before. The chorus is very fine and sings with power and a lovely round sound. The Lacrymosa and Domine Jesu are incredibly beautiful.

The third version is Claudio Abbado and Berliner Philarmoniker performance in Salzburg Dom
in memoriam of Herbert von Karajan.
Abbado leads a superb performance of the Mozart Requiem, and among the soloists especially Bryn Terfel shines. Abbado solemn and technically excellent performance gives a very sensitive, yet dynamic, forceful and very memorable interpretation.
If we are into comparative listening, this is a version we should not miss.

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Violinist Fritz Kreisler was one of the most beloved and best known of early recording era musicians. His burnished tone and patrician phrasing were quintessentially Viennese, and the warmth of his playing won him devoted followers wherever he appeared. So great was his fame and the affection in which he was held that he survived a blaze of controversy when he revealed in 1935 that many of the short pieces he had performed as transcriptions of such composers as Couperin, Vivaldi, and Pugnani were, in fact, his own work. While the critics fumed, the public expressed little concern and continued to pack his concert appearances. ~ allmusic.com

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L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love), an Italian comic opera (opera buffa), was written by Gaetano Donizetti in just two weeks. Premiered in Milan in 1832, it was immediately a tremendous success. Its amusing and witty plot describing relationships of a loving couple and beautiful, melodious and light music make L’elisir d’amore one of the most frequently performed 19th-century Italian operas.~ novayaopera.ru L'elisir is a good-natured story in which the peasant Nemorino attempts to win the heart of his love, Adina, through the injestion of a farcical magic elixir (in fact merely Bordeaux wine). The phony "medicine man," Dr. Dulcamara, and the superlatively stuffy army sergeant, Belcore (who is Nemorino's rival for Adina's love), fill out the roster. ~ answers.com

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Donizetti was, for nearly a decade after 1835, the leading composer of Italian opera. His work represents a transitional stage in operatic development between Rossini and Verdi

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Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts. In the tradition of opera buffa, Donizetti harkens back to the stock characters of the commedia dell'arte. Pasquale is recognizable as the blustery Pantalone, Ernesto as the lovesick Pierrot, Malatesta as the scheming Scapino, and Norina as a wily Columbina. ~ Wikipedia This recording is a superb performance of a jewel of an opera. Riccardo Muti's tempos are fast, very fast, and from the overture onwards, the opera sprints along in a wonderful way. There is a sense of joy in this performance that is largely absent in most performances (recorded or live) of this delightful operatic comedy. Muti keeps a very tight rein on his singers: although this is a bel canto opera (where elaborate vocal decorations and interpolated top notes are the norm), Muti does not permit his singers to indulge in any sort of vocal embellishments whatsoever. Mirella Freni is a great Norina, a full lyric voice with good coloratura, and a delicious characterization; this recording is one of her best. Gosta Winbergh's Ernesto is no less impressive, the role could have been written for him. His lyric tenor is truly a beautiful and finely tuned instrument, and he exemplifies what bel canto singing is all about. Sesto Bruscantini is an endearing and vocally fluent Don Pasquale, and Leo Nucci is a convincing Dr. Malatesta. Both of them add a great sense of fun to the procedings. If one is looking for a recording of "Don Pasquale", this one would certainly qualify for the caliber of the performance as well as for the sheer standard of the singing. ~amazon.com

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Franco Corelli (8 April 1921 – 29 October 2003) was an Italian tenor active in opera from 1951 to 1976. Associated in particular with the big spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated internationally for his handsome stage presence and thrilling upper register. With a rich and ringing dramatic tenor voice and movie-star good looks, Corelli won a wide public following, despite complaints from some critics about what they perceived as self-indulgence of phrasing and expression. He left many recordings of solo arias and complete operas. These reveal the splendour of Corelli's voice in its prime during the late 1950s and 1960s. Many admirers prefer recordings of his live performances, finding Corelli's singing in front of an audience far more exciting than his studio performances. Fortunately, many of these are available. Wikipedia This EMI collection, The Very Best of Franco Corelli, concentrates its focus on recordings Corelli made in the 1960s during the height of his popularity. As these selections are "bleeding chunks" drawn from recordings of complete operas such as Pagliacci, Rigoletto, Tosca, and others, this is kind of an odd sampling of Corelli. All Music Guide

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The tenor Jussi Björling (1911-1960) is for sure one of this centuries best opera singers. His musicality, voice and singing technique is perhaps, altogether, unbeated. His repertoire was wide but he gained most appreciation as a lyric tenor, singing the classic italian opera. He truly is a belcanto singer. geocities He reached immense acclaim during his career and undoubtedly came to represent to many a music lover the voice of the century. With a smooth yet full-bodied timbre and an extraordinary evenness of tone, Jussi Björling possessed one of the most distinct tenor voices in history, topped by a ringing top B flat and a particularity for the melancholy. Jussi Björling came to be the only and unique non-Latin tenor that could rival the Italian dominance in the tenor heritage and he appeared while such grand and famed tenors as Martinelli, Schipa, Gigli and Lauri-Volpi were still present and active. grandi-tenori

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Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquess of Salobreña (21 February 1893–2 June 1987) was a Spanish classical guitarist born in Linares, Jaén, Spain. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures of the classical guitar in the beginning and mid 20th century. Segovia's main musical aesthetic preferences were music of the late 19th and early 20th century especially in the Spanish romantic and nationalist style - a style different from flamenco. Many works of this style were written especially for him and formed part of his core repertoire, e.g. the guitar works of Federico Moreno Torroba (1891-1982). Ultimately, Segovia's legacy does not lie in the recordings that he left, or in his controversial performances of some works (e.g. baroque), or in his often controversial behaviour towards others (masterclasses, etc.), or in the claims of his self-promotion... Instead it lies in the memory of the deeply personal way in which he performed during live recitals - communicating, sharing and connecting with his listeners in a very personal and unique way. Wikipedia

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