Anna Netrebko, Lisette Oropesa, Juan Diego Flórez & Sondra Radvanovsky Lead New CD/DVD Releases
By Francisco SalazarWelcome back as we explore the latest CD and DVD releases from around the opera world.
This week the Teatro alla Scala releases two major productions from two different seasons featuring some of the biggest stars.
Lucia di Lammermoor
C Major Entertainment releases Donizetti’s masterpiece from spring 2023. Recorded at the Teatro alla Scala, the opera features Lisette Oropesa, Juan Diego Flórez, Boris Pinkhasovich, and Michele Pertusi. Riccardo Chailly conducts the new production by Yannis Kokkos.
La Forza del Destino
Recorded in 2024, C Major Entertainment releases the Teatro alla Scala’s “La forza del destino” directed by Leo Muscato. The performance recorded on Dec. 7 stars Anna Netrebko, Brian Jagde, and Ludovic Tézier. Riccardo Chailly conducts.
OperaWire raved about the production and said, Netrebko showcased “beautiful floating high notes and enviable fiato.”
Barcarolle
Vocalist Marie-Claire Giraud has released “Barcarolle,” a luminous new single that reimagines one of opera’s most beloved arias as a living, breathing jazz performance. She is joined for the duet by Sondra Radvanovsky.
In a statement Giraud said, “Originally the celebrated duet from Jacques Offenbach’s opera The Tale of Hoffmann, Barcarolle is built around one of music’s most intoxicating lines: “Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour, souris à nos ivresses”, Beautiful night, oh night of love, smile at our intoxication. It is a song about Hoffman’s eternal quest for love, and Marie-Claire has carried it with her for a lifetime. Sondra Radvanovsky is one of the most profoundly moving opera artists on the planet, and she is singing this duet with me.”
Radvanovsky added, “Singing the Barcarolle with Marie-Claire was pure joy. To hear a duet I’ve loved my whole life reborn alongside a live jazz band, opera and jazz meeting as if they’d always belonged together, was unforgettable. That fearlessness is her gift, and I’m honored she asked me to sing it with her.”
Halway There
Albany records releases Emily Martin’s album which presents a soulful collection of songs for voice and piano, some even tailor-made for Martin’s soprano — but frankly, all of them seem to be. Each song receives its first recording in this release, with the title track making its world premiere.
Carmina Burana
PENTATONE releases the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jader Bignamini’s new recording of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” The new live recording captures features soprano Chen Reiss, countertenor Reginald Mobley, and baritone Andrzej Filończyk alongside the Detroit-based vocal ensemble Audivi and the Detroit Opera Youth Chorus, with expanded forces including two pianos, celesta, and a prominent percussion section.
In a statement Bignamini said, “Recording ‘Carmina Burana’ with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a live concert setting was an unforgettable experience. The power of the music, combined with the artistry of the DSO and the strength of human voices, created something truly extraordinary in the hall. Performing this work with two choruses and three outstanding vocal soloists gave the piece an immense scale – grand, dramatic, and deeply emotional.”
Christopher Tyler Nickel’s Stabat Mater and Magnificat
Avie Releases Christopher Tyler Nickel’s new album featuring soprano Catherine Redding, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Clyde Mitchell and the Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra.
Filled with the Light
Navona Records releases a new album by soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine celebrating composers and poets whose artistic lives intersect with New England — its mountains, orchards, and literary imagination. Joined by pianist Martha Fischer and cellist Karl Knapp, Guarrine explores works with a shared reverence for nature and language.
Musorgsky: Songs and Romances
Exortus Records re-releases “Musorgsky: Songs and Romances,” marking the tenth anniversary of its original release. Thew album includes soprano Katherine Broderick and pianist Sergey Rybin.
Through the Centuries – Songs of Madeleine Dring
Kitty Whately and Julius Drake present an album of songs by Madeleine Dring, a composer born in 1923 to a theatrical family. Dring made her career in the theater, earning a reputation for being able to create catchy numbers at short notice.
Turandot
Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballé, Luciano Pavarotti, Sabin Markov, Nicolai Ghiaurov star in a remastering of Puccini’s final opera. Recorded at Kingsway Hall in London in 1972, the recording was praised by critics and music-lovers in equal measure on its first release. It is also part of Decca’s Pavarotti-Puccini reissues, marking 100 years since the composer’s death.
Donizetti Song Project
Opera Rara releases the eighth and final volume of its Donizetti Song Project, featuring 14 songs performed by bass-baritone Nicola Alaimo and the charity’s Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi. Volume 8 is the second album with Alaimo and Rizzi following the release of Volume 2, featuring 26 songs for baritone, in October 2024.
Roots & Rivers
The nationally recognized chamber choir Santa Fe Desert Chorale led by Artistic Director Joshua Habermann will release Roots & Rivers on Navona Records.The album presents commissioned works by Reena Esmail, Jocelyn Hagen, Kile Smith, and Shawn Okpebholo, and a special arrangement of Shawn Kirchner’s “Sweet Rivers.”
La costanza trionfante degl’amori e de gl’odii
I Barocchisti under Diego Fasolis record a Vivadi work with Romina Basso and Ann Hallenberg, in a production by RSI Radiotelevisione Svizzera. The landmark project is released by Da Vinci Classics.
Wishing Tree
For their 11th album on Hyperion, award-winning vocal outfit The Gesualdo Six explore a more secular repertoire than on previous albums—recording for the first time repertoire they’ve been touring live since their founding in 2015. The program takes in Renaissance works that celebrate nature and love, as well as contemporary settings of verses by Christina Rossetti and Kathleen Jamie. Many pieces cast light on childhood, conjuring moments of innocence, and interwoven throughout are re-imaginings of traditional British and Irish folk songs, continuing a long tradition of developing and reshaping existing material.
Dark Imagining
Bright Shiny Things releases “Dark Imagining,” the third album from New York composer Jeff Myers. Featuring soprano Rachel Schutz and pianist Andrea Christie, the album weaves together vocal works that explore concepts of beauty, darkness, and transformation, withsong cycles on texts of Poe and Baudelaire.
My Brother’s Keeper
New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) releases a new album, “My Brother’s Keeper,” on NYFOS Records. Co-produced by baritone Justin Austin along with pianist and Artistic Director Steven Blier, the recording brings together six of today’s leading Black male vocalists in a resounding collection of works celebrating the commitment of Black men in support of one another. Tenors Joshua Blue and Chaz’men Williams-Ali; baritones Will Liverman, Joseph Parrish, and Jorell Williams; and bass-baritone Alan Williams are featured alongside Blier on piano
The Book of Never
The Crossing, conducted by Donald Nally, delivers a meditation on memory, exile, and the written word by composer Aaron Helgeson. “The Book of Never” is inspired by the 1000-year-old Novgorod Codex, a desperate attempt of one monk to preserve the culture of an ex-communicated community being strangled by authoritarian rulers.
