Conducted by Edward Gardner, the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra) plays Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead, Op. 29, a symphonic poem inspired by Arnold Böcklin’s painting, Isle of the Dead, which the composer saw in a black-and-white reproduction in Paris in…
Misa Criolla is the most famous work of the Argentine composer, pianist, and music director Ariel Ramírez (4 September 1921 – 18 February 2010). The Misa, a mass for tenor, chorus, and orchestra, is based on folk genres such as…
The legendary Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti sings “Mattinata” (English: Morning) by Ruggero Leoncavallo (from the Central Park Concert, in June 1993, more than 500,000 listeners gathered for his free performance on the Great Lawn of New York’s Central Park, while…
Brazilian classical guitarist Paulo Martelli plays Koyunbaba, the Italian guitarist and composer Carlo Domeniconi’s most well-known 1985 piece. Koyunbaba is a small village in the Bodrum district of Muğla, Turkey. The name “koyunbaba” is Turkish and literally translates as “sheep-father”…
Conducted by Leopold Stokowski, one of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, Stokowski’s Philadelphia Orchestra performs the second movement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068, commonly known as “Air on…
The great German lyric tenor Fritz Wunderlich sings Granada, a song written in 1932 by Mexican composer Agustín Lara, in German. It was the fashion during Wunderlich’s career for German theaters to perform operas in the local rather than the…
This Julian Bream concert was recorded in 1978. First transmitted on BBC 2 on 01 February 1978, The English classical guitarist plays pieces from Johann Sebastian Bach, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Isaac Albéniz, and Benjamin Britten at the All Saints chapel of…
The American tenor and Hollywood star of Italian origin, Mario Lanza sings “Una furtiva lagrima” (English: A furtive tear), a romanza from act 2, scene 8 of the Italian opera L’elisir d’amore by Gaetano Donizetti. There are two videos in the…
Accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim performs Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Spanish: Noches en los jardines de España), G. 49 by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla. Conductor: Plácido Domingo.
The legendary Italian dramatic tenor who earned worldwide acclaim for his powerful voice, Mario Del Monaco (27 July 1915 – 16 October 1982) sings “Vesti La Giubba” (English: put on your costume), a famous tenor aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s 1892…
One of the leading operatic tenors of the 20th century, Jussi Björling sings Till Havs (English: at sea). It is originally a poem by the Finnish-Swedish poet Jonathan Reuter, with the opening words “Smokey and the ocean’s healthy wind”. In…
Accompanied by the Danmarks Radio SymfoniOrkestret (Denmark Radio Symphony Orchestra), the Spanish classical guitarist Pepe Romero performs Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”, a composition for classical guitar and orchestra. Conductor: Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Recording date: March 21, 2013.