Nicolai Gedda

A careful blend of recitative, arioso and set piece, Euryanthe was Carl Maria von Weber's second opera, first performed in 1823 (two years after the premiere of Der Freischütz) and based on an early 13th-century French romance with a libret

First performed in 1917 in Munich (conducted by Bruno Walter), Pfitzner's opera on the great 16th-century composer Palestrina became popular with those in German musical society who had become hostile to the direction which Schoenberg and B

Another outstanding recording from the golden era at EMI. Made in 1952, and produced by Walter Legge, it was the first of two that featured Boris Christoff in the title role. The second version, though fine and in stereo (conducted by André

Idomeneo, Re di Creta ("Idomeneus, King of Crete"), written when Mozart was 24, was already his seventh opera. Although not nearly so well known today as several later works, it contains some fine music and has one of the richest orchestral

"Including a 56-page booklet with historic photos; a complete French libretto with new, original English translation; and an essay on the performance by Robert Levine, this 1969 Rome recording is illuminated by the ravishing Swedish-Russian