Art of the Prima Donna

amuletts — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:37:19 +0000

“[T]his album exhilarates me… Joan Sutherland takes sixteen tests in Advanced Vocalism, and sails through them with startling freedom, scattering grupetti and volate as she goes.”
– High Fidelity

First released by Decca in 1960 as a two LP set, “The Art of the Prima Donna” created a sensation among critics and opera fans, brought soprano Joan Sutherland and international following, and became one of the best-selling opera recordings of all time. The young Sutherland took on some of the most difficult coloratura soprano arias and demonstrated an astonishing level of ease, assurance, and control, recording this formidable program in a mere two days, with many arias done in a single take. Alto is pleased to make this landmark recording available at a super-value price.

Renata Tebaldi Sings Puccini and Verdi Favourites

amuletts — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:37:19 +0000

Essential arias sung by a legendary soprano at the peak of her interpretive powers

“In all the major Puccini parts, and most of the Verdian, she recorded in the studio for Decca, that gratifying centrality of voice and interpretation that makes her still beloved by many admirers can be heard. Security, broad phrasing, exciting tone were of the essence in her art. She was undoubtedly a grande dame of the lyric theatre in a way now inexorably of the past. So much the worse for the present.”
– Alan Blyth, The Guardian (obituary for Tebaldi), 20 December 2004

Renata Tebaldi was one of the supreme sopranos of the recording era whose voice was captured in all of its glory at the dawn of the LP era. Alto brings together essential arias by Puccini and Verdi taken from Tebaldi’s great Decca recordings — legendary sessions that partnered her with such luminaries as Carlo Bergonzi, Herbert von Karajan, and Mario del Monaco.

Giuseppe Verdi

1 La Forza del Destino – Son giunti… Madrre pietosa vergine 6:22
2 La Forza del Destino – Pace, pace, mio Dio 5:52
3 Aida – Ritorna vincitor 7:13
4 Aida – O patria mia 5:21
5 Il Trovatore – D’amor sull’ali rosee 3:36

Giacomo Puccini

6 Manon Lescaut – In quelle trine morbide 1:55
7 Manon Lescaut – Sola, perduta, abbandonata 4:08
8 La Bohème – Si, mi chiamano Mimi 5:30
9 La Bohème – Donde lieta usci 3:28
10 Turandot – Signore ascolta 2:39
11 Turandot – Tu che di gel sei cinta 2:55
12 Madama Butterfly – Un bel di vedremo 4:49
13 Madama Butterfly – Che tua madre 4:55
14 Madama Butterfly – Con onor muore…Tu,tu? Piccolo iddio 5:12
15 Tosca – Vissi’d’arte 3:16

Francesco Molinari-Pradelli – Alto CD

Art of the Prima Donna

Renata Tebaldi Sings Puccini and Verdi Favourites