Angela Gheorghiu ROMANIAN SONGS

 

ROMANIAN SONGS

 

Angela Gheorghiu / Alexandra Dariescu PLAISIR D'AMOUR

Angela Gheorghiu returns to Decca to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her legendary La Traviata with Sir Georg Solti.

This is a 23-track album featuring rare and classic songs never before recorded by Gheorghiu. She is the winner of five Gramophone Awards, twice recipient of Female Artist of the Year from the Classic Brits and in 2018 she received the 'Victoire d'Honneur' award in France.

Accompanied by her compatriot Alexandra Dariescu, the recital opens with Romanian songs and includes such classics as Apres un reve, Tosti's ideale, Strauss' Morgen and the Chopin Tristesse.

Joseph Calleja / Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana / Ramón Tebar VERDI

Joseph Calleja, one of the world’s leading tenors, returns with his new album, Verdi. The album sees Calleja explore the light and dark in Verdi’s heroic tenor roles and features guest appearances from soprano Angela Gheorghiu and baritone Vittorio Vitelli.

Verdi has a special place in Calleja’s heart, having made his debut as Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth when he was just 19. Verdi is his first new album in six years with his last solo album Amore having been released in 2013 along with his recording of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. This latest album marks a significant step into the Verdi repertoire for Calleja as he tackles new roles that he has yet to play on stage.

Among the arias on the new album are “Di quella pira” and “Ah! Si, ben mio…” from Il Trovatore, “Già nella notte densa” from Otello, and “Celeste Aida” from the opening scene of Verdi’s Egyptian opera. Each of the roles on this album celebrate the tenore robusto as the voice-type of an operatic hero and showcase Calleja’s powerful voice.

Calleja’s new album also reflects his flourishing live career. He is a regular performer at the world’s leading opera houses and will be performing in London for a month in the new year to sing Puccini’s Tosca at the Royal Opera House (January 15 – February 7) before heading to Berlin, Monte Carlo and Munich.

Born in Malta in 1978, Joseph Calleja began singing at the age of 16, first in his church choir and then in formal training with Maltese tenor Paul Asciak. One of his native land’s biggest celebrities, Calleja was selected to serve as Malta’s first cultural ambassador in 2012 and earlier this year he was named a brand ambassador for Air Malta. Calleja recently teamed up with Malta’s Bank of Valletta to form the BOV Joseph Calleja Foundation which will serve to help children and families in need. Calleja is also the recipient of the 2014 International Opera Awards’ Readers’ Award.

Angela Gheorghiu ETERNAMENTE

For Eternamente, her first studio recording in six years, soprano Angela Gheorghiu focuses on Italian composers of the generation that followed Verdi and predominantly on repertoire she has not sung before – including some fascinating rarities. Joining her for duets from Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Giordano’s Andrea Chénier is another star of today’s opera stage, tenor Joseph Calleja.

Eternamente is described as a collection of verismo – the term used generically for Italian opera of the immediate post-Verdi era. No matter when they were composed, and no matter what their subject matter, all these operas demand great passion and commitment from their performers – and they get it from Angela Gheorghiu. “It is like my soul, it is something different, it is not the voice,” she explained in an interview with Opera magazine. “The voice is also there, it has to be there, and it has had to be prepared – but at that moment of the performance, there is more. The response is never a conscious exaggeration – it is a natural expression. I am never pretending. It is just how I am at that moment.” The character and impact of her voice was summarised thus in Gramophone: “With her smooth and dark-toned soprano, a voice at once powerfully firm and vulnerable, Gheorghiu stands out from an entire generation of talented singers. Her sound is convincingly Italianate in the great tradition; her voice, once heard, is never forgotten.”