This week there is a special release from the Metropolitan Opera as well as two complete opera releases you will not want to miss. Here is a look!

Crepuscolo

BR-Klassik recorded a concert from Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich. The recital includes 27 songs spanning three decades of the composer’s career, including three complete song cycles as well as a selection of individual songs.

Tenor Timothy Fallon is joined by pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz for his second BIS Records release.

A Concert for Ukraine 

The Metropolitan Opera, Decca Classics, and Deutsche Grammophon present “A Concert for Ukraine,” an album recorded live at the Met on March 14, 2022. The album features the company’s complete special concert expressing solidarity with the people of Ukraine. The proceeds from the album will support relief efforts in the country.

In a statement, the Met’s General Manager Peter Gelb said, “This album captures a uniquely memorable performance by the Metropolitan Opera and its stars, and demonstrates the power of art to deliver a clear message to the forces of darkness that would destroy a nation. I hope this concert brings a measure of comfort and moral support to the suffering people of Ukraine, and that it reminds the world that we stand with them.”

The concert features Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Vladyslav Buialskyi and Lise Davidsen. The program includes Valentin Silvestrov’s “Prayer for Ukraine;” Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Op. 11; and “Va, pensiero” from Verdi’s “Nabucco.” There is also Strauss’ Four Last Songs and the final selection of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, featuring soprano Elza van den Heever, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, tenor Piotr Beczała, and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green.

The Passenger 

Naxos releases Mieczysław Weinberg’s emotionally wrenching opera written in 1968. Nadja Loschky’s production for Graz stars mezzo-soprano Dshamilja Kaiser, soprano Nadja Stefanoff, tenor Will Hartmann and baritone Markus Butter. Roland Kluttig leads the Grazer Philharmoniker and the Chor der Oper Graz.

Falstaff

German director Sven-Eric Bechtolf staged and John Eliot Gardiner conducted “Falstaff” in Florence in November 2021. Dynamic releases the opera starring baritone Nicola Alaimo, soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Caterina Piva, mezzo-soprano Sara Mingardo, baritone Simone Piazzola, soprano Francesca Boncompagni and tenor Matthew Swensen.