Essential Verdi

Verdi: Libiamo, ne' lieti calici (from La Traviata) È strano! è strano!...Ah! fors è lui (from La traviata) Sempre libera (from La Traviata) Noi siamo zingarelle (from La Traviata) Di Madride noi siam mattadori (from La Traviata) Teneste la promessa...Addio, del passato (from La Traviata) Caro nome (from Rigoletto) La donna è mobile (from Rigoletto) Un di, se ben rammentomi... Bella figlia dell'amore (from Rigoletto) Tacea la notte (from Il Trovatore) Anvil Chorus (from Il Trovatore) Ah sì ben mio (from Il trovatore) Di quella pira (from Il trovatore) Surta è la notte...Ernani! Ernani, involami (from Ernani) Nel dì della vittoria … Ambizioso spirto … Vieni t'affretta! … Or tutti sorgete (Lady Macbeth) Patria oppressa (from Macbeth) O figli … Ah, la paterna mano (from Macbeth) Va, pensiero (from Nabucco) Di' tu se fedele (from Un ballo in maschera) Ecco l'orrido campo … Ma dall'arido stelo divulsa (from Un ballo in maschera) Al suon del tamburo (from La Forza del Destino) Rataplan, rataplan, della gloria (from La forza del destino) Pace, pace mio Dio! (from La forza del destino) Se quel guerrier io fossi!…Celeste Aida (from Aida) Ritorna vincitor! (from Aida) Gloria all'Egitto (from Aida) O terra, addio (from Aida) Dies Irae (from Requiem) Ingemisco (from Requiem) Fuoco di gioia (from Otello) Dio, che nell'alma infondere (from Don Carlo) Spuntato ecco il di d'esultanza (from Don Carlo) O don fatale (from Don Carlo)

The operas of Verdi today form the mainstay of the repertoire of opera houses all over the world. Some of his music has become absorbed into popular culture from being used in TV adverts and film soundtracks, as well as being performed by the most famous classical singers of the day in concerts and on records. Pieces from the same opera are grouped together, beginning with the famous drinking song from La traviata: ‘Libiamo’, followed by other popular favourites from La traviata, Rigoletto and Il trovatore, among them being the swaggering ‘La donna è mobile’ and the powerful Anvil Chorus. The first CD concludes with extracts from two earlier operas: Ernani and Macbeth, the latter providing one of Verdi’s most impressive soprano scenas in which the scheming Lady Macbeth calls on the powers of evil to assist her in murdering King Duncan. The second CD opens with the heartfelt chorus: ‘Va, pensiero’ from Nabucco, sung by the Hebrews in exile longing for their homeland. Then come more well-known arias and choruses from Verdi’s later operas like Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino and Aida. After extracts from his moving Requiem Mass, we hear the Fire Chorus from another of Verdi’s Shakespearian settings: Otello and the programme ends with three items from what some now consider to be Verdi’s finest work, the historical drama Don Carlo.

Price: $15.98