Here we have two budget reissues of the late, great Birgit Nilsson. The solo CD offers recordings made during her prime, a steely Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, powerful, secure singing in the other works. She is fearless on those high notes, and this Salome finale, from a Met Gala in 1972, is superior to her 1961 Solti Vienna recording. The two excerpts from Oberon are taken from the complete 1970 recording of Weber's odd "opera," in which she is joined by a stellar cast including Plácido Domingo and Julia Hamari, with spoken interludes performed by actors. No libretto is supplied, but we do have a brief synopsis of the plot track-by-track, in three languages, Sonic quality is superb on all of these recordings.

Naxos continues to amaze with the quality of most of its releases. Here we have a sterling performance of a delightful Zarzuela, Il Caserío by Jesús Guridi, a lyric comedy in three acts. It's about life in an imaginary Basque village with love songs, romanzas, dances, marches and the predictable happy ending. The chorus plays a major part in the proceedings. The entire cast is excellent, and a particular plus is sound quality. Recorded August 2001 in Jesús Guridi Conservatory, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álva, Spain, it was produced by Peter Newble with engineer Andrew Lang. A detailed synopsis accompanies the disk. There was a time, many years ago, when those interested in this repertory would have to rely in imported expensive crackly LPs. Here is this wonderful idiomatic performance, magnificently recorded, on a single disk, and at budget price!

Tenor Joseph Calleja's voice is distinctive with a rapid vibrato not to everyone's taste. His agile voice is perfect for light Italian roles, and his control of diminuendo is extraordinary. An earlier CD was reviewed about two years ago on this site (REVIEW). Most of the repertory on his new CD is well-suited to his gifts, and Decca has gone all-out in providing sopranos Anna Netrebko and Tatiana Lisnic in music from La Sonnambula and Manon. Carlo Rizzi and the ASMF give appropriate support, and the recorded sound is superb. Full texts with English translations are in the booklet.

Two delightful CDs of lighter fare are performed by two of today's leading younger tenors. Juan Diego Flórez' CD is called Sentimiento Latino, 15 Latin-American songs including some lesser-known, all beautifully sung by the popular lyric tenor. His Granada doesn't challenge Fritz Wunderlich's astounding recording in German recorded more than 40 years ago. These vivid arrangements (some by the tenor) accent native percussion instruments and have been vividly recorded in brilliant stereo sound. There's no mention of circumstances of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra being involved in these recordings, but the conductor, Michael Harth-Bedoya, conducted Florez' 1995 recording of Soler's Il Tutore Burlato. Complete texts are provided.

Roberto Alagna has had great affection for the voice and artistry of Luis Mariano, a tenor who was a favorite in France during the 1950's. Alagna doesn't try to copy Mariano's singing, just his general style, and he seems to have a terrific time doing so including on several occasions falsetto notes, not heard often today sung by leading tenors. Numerous production credits are given, although some are impossible to read because of a background that matches the text. There are no texts. The sole debit on both of these tenor issues is that the playing time is quite skimpy: 55:08 & 52:05.

Preiser has disks devoted to two major baritones of last century. Russian Alexei Ivanov (1904-1982) sang in many smaller Russian opera houses before being called to the Bolshoi in 1938 where he remained until 1967 singing a wide variety of roles. During his prime he made many complete opera recordings many of which are also available on Preiser, including Shaporin's The Decembrists, of which he sang the premiere. After years of teaching, Ivanov died February 17, 1982. American baritone Leonard Warren was invited to join the Metropolitan Opera after appearing on their audition program. When he began he knew only 5 arias and excerpts from Rigoletto.His Met debut was as Paolo in Simon Boccanegra in 1939, and he sang 610 performances with the company, 359 of them in Verdi operas. Warren made the Met his home, and he died there on stage March 4, 1960 during a performance of La forza del destino, a tragic end to a remarkable career. This is Preiser's fourth CD devoted to Leonard Warren in which he can be heard in RCA recordings mostly made in 1955, as well as live performances of excerpts from Ernani and La Gioconda, recorded in 1955 and 1947. As usual with Preiser, transfers are superb.

R.E.B. (June 2006)