Philharmonia Orchestra - Nutcracker - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Verdi Un Ballo in Maschera / Luciano Pavarotti, Piero Cappuccilli, Gabriele Lechner, Ludmila Schemtschuk, Magda Nador, Georg Tichy, Franco de Grandis (live, Vienna State Opera, 1986) Luciano Pavarotti's repertoire comprised only a few roles, but his performances and recordings of them wrote and rewrote history. This was the case in 1970 as Nemorino (in L'elisir d'amore) alongside Joan Sutherland and in 1972 as Rodolfo (in La Bohème) under Karajan, with Mirella Freni als Mimí. But while Pavarotti's Riccardo (Gustavo III) in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera in his studio recording of 1983 is given pride of place because of it's surface brilliance (not least thanks to Georg Solti on the podium), in his live TV broadcast of the same role three years later under Claudio Abbado he offers a striking sense of musical and dramatic immediacy. In this recording of that broadcast from the Vienna State Opera, we can hear a performance both highly nuanced and possessed of an immense radiance, from his very first "Amici mei" to his touching death scene. Album Tracks 1. Preludio 2. Posa in Pace 3. Amici Miei 4. Il Cenno Mio 5. Alla Vita Che T'arride 6. Il Primo Giudice 7. Zitti... L'incanto Non Dèssi Turbare - Re Dell'abisso 8. Arrivo Il Primo! 9. Su Fatemi Largo 10. Che V'agita Così? 11. Su, Profetessa - Di' Tu Se Fidele 12. Chi Voi Siate 13. Finisci Il Vaticino 14. Preludio 15. Ecco L'orrido Campo 1. Teco Io Sto 2. Ahimè! S'appressa Aclun! 3. Seguitemi! (Mio Dio!) 4. A Tal Colpa È Nulla Il Pianto 5. Morrò, Ma Prima in Grazia 6. Alzati; la Tuo Figlio... Eri Tu Che Macchiavi Quell'anima 7. Siam Soli. Udite 8. Il Messaggio Entri 9. Forse la Soglia Attinse - Ma Se M'È Forza Perderti 10. Ah! Dessa È LÀ... SÌ, Rivederti, Amelia 11. Ah! Perché Qui! Fuggite 12. Ella È Pura

The Naxos offers A CLASSIC CHRISTMAS FOR YOUR FAMILY, a varied program with selections culled from several holiday titles in their vast catalog.Perennial favorites such as "Jingle Bells," "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," "Deck the Halls," and "Winter Wonderland" share time on this disc with classics by Glazunov ("Winter Variations" from 'The Seasons'), Tchaikovsky ("March," "Dance of the Toy Trumpets," and "Russian Dance" from 'The Nutcracker') and Bizet ("Farandole" from 'L'Arlesienne Suite'). No holiday season would be complete without a "Sleigh Ride" and two takes on this tradition are offered Leroy Anderson's carefree winter jaunt and Sergei Prokofiev's elegant, evocative excursion in the snow.The arrangements are all excellent, making these chestnuts sound fresh, in particular "Angels We Have Heard On High" which interweaves the familiar strains of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 to create a Baroque musical tapestry for the holidays. Album Tracks 1. Merry Christmas Sing-Along 2. Sleigh Ride - Anderson, Leroy 3. Carol of the Bells 4. Winter Variations 5. March of the Toys 6. Good King Wenceslas - Neale, John M 7. Up on the Housetop 8. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Marks, Johnny 9. Jingle Bells - Pierpont, J.S 10. Jolly Old Saint Nicholas 11. Winter Wonderland - Bernard, Felix 12. Sleigh Ride (Troika) 13. The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy 14. O Christmas Tree 15. How Far Is It to Bethlehem? 16. March 17. Dance of the Toy Trumpets 18. Russian Dance 19. Ski Doodle 20. Deck the Halls - Traditional 21. Angels We Have Heard on High - Traditional 22. Farandole