With his Scandinavian looks and fine physique, Ticho Parly (1928–1993) seemed predestined to portray Wagner’s heroes. Like his fellow-Dane, Lauritz Melchior, Parly began his career as a baritone. He pursued his vocal studies initially in Paris and then in Denmark, Italy and Switzerland. To finance his studies he worked for several years in a travel […]
Two of the works on this collection were inspired by literary sources. Tchaikovsky was an assiduous reader and it is not surprising that so many of his works had literary origins. In the case of ‘Francesca da Rimini’, a reading of Dante’s ‘Inferno’ was sufficient to convince him that here was worthy material for a […]
To celebrate America’s bicentennial, the National Symphony of Washington DC commissioned Robert Russell Bennett to write a work and he responded with ‘The Fun and Faith of William Billings’. It appeared on the official souvenir LP recording of the JFK Center for Performing Arts. The LP – and this CD, the first appearance on Decca […]
‘It was altogether shocking how absolutely wonderful his voice sounded … so unique, so individual, so clear and authentic – a voice that could be compared to no other.’ Rolando Villazón ‘What he did – there was no one who came close to him. I don’t think he will ever be surpassed.’ Nicolai Gedda ‘The […]
Born Bernette Epstein in Boston in 1920 of Russian heritage, Yara Bernette’s family moved to Brazil when she was six months old. Her first piano teacher was José Kliass, like Claudio Arrau a pupil of Martin Krause, who in turn had been a pupil of Liszt. Both Arrau and Arthur Rubinstein were supportive of her […]
The version of Mozart’s Requiem most frequently performed today – and heard on this recording – is Süssmayr’s completion. Many have labelled his edition as a rushed, student effort (his own opera, ‘Moses’, was postponed due to his working on the Requiem) while others believe that no new edition or reworking, irrespective of how learned […]
This recording of ‘Die Meistersinger’ was one of the first operas released on LP by Decca in January 1952. Act II was recorded in 1950 and released separately; a year later came Acts I and III. It was also the first complete studio recording of the opera to be released on LP and came early […]
Shakespeare’s plays and their incidental lyrics have always been popular with composers from Thomas Morley to Benjamin Britten. There must be many hundreds of Shakespearean settings, ranging from simple songs to full-length operas. One of the most fruitful periods for such settings was the eighteenth century when there were frequent reveals of the plays themselves […]
Vladimir Ashkenazy recorded three of the Beethoven symphonies for Decca and this coupling of two of the most popular date from the early 1980s. They are grand and expressive readings, at once thrilling and visionary.
Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow) which Richard Strauss composed with his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, received an unenthusiastic premiere in Vienna on 10th October 1919. Hofmannsthal’s complicated and heavily symbolic libretto was cited as one of the problems. However, it is now a standard part of the operatic […]
Both Strauss’s ‘Elektra’ and Stravinsky’s ‘Oedipus Rex’ trace their lineages back to Sophocles, the Greek dramatist who lived in the fourth century BC. Both are stories of the avenging of a royal father’s murder, either by surviving family members (‘Elektra’) or by Fate or the gods themselves (‘Oedipus Rex’). Even from an early age, Georg […]
‘From Melba to Sutherland: Australian Singers on Record’ is the first-ever comprehensive survey of the recordings of Australia’s greatest singers – in a unique, new, 4CD set from Decca, complete with biographies of each of the 80 artists, rare photographs, all contained within a 68-page booklet. Why has there been such an extraordinary procession of […]
