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Luciano Pavarotti: The First Decade CD Box Set

    Luciano Pavarotti: The First Decade CD Box Set

    Luciano Pavarotti
    $143.82

    This 27 CD survey reviews the totality of Pavarotti's remarkably intense first decade with Decca. Everything the artist recorded for the company from signing his contract until 1973 is here, allowing critics and collectors and opera lovers once more to appreciate his exceptional achievement in that first decade for the Decca label.

    Every single track in the set has been remastered, under the supervision of long-term Decca balance engineer Philip Siney.

    This is the first of three major releases in The Pavarotti Edition in 2014, of which the second is due in mid-2014, focusing on his remarkable middle period when he became an operatic star known as The King of the High Cs. The third, due late in 2014, is entitled The People s Tenor and will reflect the period when his fame extended across the world and transcended the classical genre.

    The set includes an anniversary re-issue in vinyl of the famous May 1964 original first EP, cut by Pavarotti as his first recording for Decca five arias including Che gelida manina from La Bohème, E lucevan le stelle from Tosca and three arias from Rigoletto.

    It also includes a Bonus CD of Arias featuring the newly re-surfaced recording of Che gelida manina from Pavarotti s debut performance of La Bohème on April 29, 1961 at the Teatro Muncipale in Reggio Emilia, before his contract with Decca even commenced in 1963.

    The collection serves to highlight the key partnerships in Pavarotti s early recording career. The Sutherland-Pavarotti-Bonynge relationship was the first to be enshrined on record in Bellini s Beatrice di Tenda (CD 1 2). Their Donizetti recordings La Fille du Régiment (CD 2 3) and L elisir d amore (CD 4 5) still have few rivals.

    Opera was not the sole musical outlet for the Pavarotti of the 1960s and 1970s. He sang in choral works, such as Verdi s Requiem and Rossini s Stabat Mater and as his reputation spread he became a dedicated recitalist. His Verdi and Donizetti Arias (CD 25) contain some of the most perfect, natural, unforced singing of his entire career.

    CDs 1-2
    Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda
    Sutherland • Opthof • Pavarotti • Veasey • Ward
    Ambrosian Opera Chorus • London Symphony Orchestra
    Richard Bonynge

    CDs 3-4
    Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment
    Sutherland • Pavarotti • Sinclair • Bruyère • Malas • Garrett • Coates
    Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
    Richard Bonynge

    CDs 5-6
    Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore
    Sutherland • Pavarotti • Cossa • Malas • Casula
    Ambrosian Opera Chorus • English Chamber Orchestra
    Richard Bonynge

    CDs 7-8
    Verdi: Macbeth
    Fischer-Dieskau • Suliotis • Ghiaurov • Pavarotti • Cassinelli
    Ambrosian Opera Chorus • London Philharmonic Orchestra
    Lamberto Gardelli

    CDs 9-10
    Verdi: Rigoletto
    Milnes • Sutherland • Pavarotti • Talvela • Tourangeau
    Ambrosian Opera Chorus • London Symphony Orchestra
    Richard Bonynge

    CDs 11-12
    Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoo
    Sutherland • Pavarotti • Milnes • Ghiaurov • Davies • Tourangeau • Poli
    Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
    Richard Bonynge

    CDs 13-14
    Puccini: Turandot
    Sutherland • Pavarotti • Caballé • Ghiaurov • Pears
    John Alldis Choir • Wandsworth School Boys' Choir • London Philharmonic Orchestra
    Zubin Mehta

    CDs 15-16
    Puccini: La Bohème
    Pavarotti • Freni • Panerai • Harwood • Ghiaurov • Maffeo
    Schöneberger Sängerknaben • Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin • Berliner Philharmoniker
    Herbert von Karajan

    CDs 17-19
    Bellini: I Puritani
    Sutherland • Pavarotti • Cappuccilli • Ghiaurov • Cazzaniga
    Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden • London Symphony Orchestra
    Richard Bonynge

    CDs 20-21
    Puccini: Madama Butterfly
    Freni • Pavarotti • Ludwig • Kerns
    Wiener Staatsopernchor • Wiener Philharmoniker
    Herbert von Karajan

    CDs 22-23
    Donizetti: La Favorita
    Bacquier • Cossotto • Pavarotti • Ghiaurov • de Palma • Cotrubas
    Orchestra e coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna
    Richard Bonynge

    CD 24
    Verdi: Messa da Requiem
    Sutherland • Horne • Pavarotti • Talvela
    Wiener Staatsopernchor • Wiener Philharmoniker
    Georg Solti

    CD 25
    Verdi & Donizetti: Arias (Original album plus arias from Italian Opera)

    CD 26
    Pavarotti in Concert (Original album plus arias from Italian Opera)

    CD 27
    Bonus Recordings
    Specially-compiled bonus CD includes the five Italian opera arias which started Luciano Pavarotti's exclusive association with Decca in May 1964.

    Plus:
    Rediscovered excerpts of La Bohème (1961)
    Live performances of Bellini and Massenet
    and:
    Excerpts of his first recordings of Un ballo in maschera (with Bruno Bartoletti)