Great Operatic Arias, Vol. 4

Internationally acclaimed bass Alastair Miles performs a sensational selection of operatic arias, recorded in English for the first time.

This disc offers an interesting and varied collection of works including ‘The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’ from Verdi’s Nabucco, so popular among Italians that it was once a candidate for the national anthem.

As with all opera in English recordings this disc is available at mid-price.

This recording is part of Chandos’ ground-breaking Opera in English series made in association with the Peter Moores Foundation. This series forms the most comprehensive collection of Opera in English recordings ever undertaken by a record company and is a major addition to the catalogue.

It is true and sad to say that the bass does not have the popular appeal of the higher male voices. Where the tenor is associated with youth and love, and the baritone with love, nobility or at least with bonhomie, bass gets all the heavy parts. Whether in Italian, German, French, Russian or English opera, if the basses aren’t villains they tend to be fathers, gods, kings or priests: figures of authority with whom an audience is unlikely to identify.

And yet, as this recital by Alastair Miles demonstrates, arias and duets written for the bass voice can be as glorious as any of the more obvious showstoppers. All the pieces are from the nineteenth-century Italian repertoire, featuring the kind of voice that the Italians call basso cantate (‘singing bass’), of which the most notable recent exponents have been Ezio Pinza between the two wars and, in our own day, Ruggiero Raimondi and Samuel Ramey.

Internationally acclaimed bass Alastair Miles performs a sensational selection of operatic arias, recorded in English for the first time.

This disc offers an interesting and varied collection of works including ‘The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’ from Verdi’s Nabucco, so popular among Italians that it was once a candidate for the national anthem.

As with all opera in English recordings this disc is available at mid-price.

This recording is part of Chandos’ ground-breaking Opera in English series made in association with the Peter Moores Foundation. This series forms the most comprehensive collection of Opera in English recordings ever undertaken by a record company and is a major addition to the catalogue.

It is true and sad to say that the bass does not have the popular appeal of the higher male voices. Where the tenor is associated with youth and love, and the baritone with love, nobility or at least with bonhomie, bass gets all the heavy parts. Whether in Italian, German, French, Russian or English opera, if the basses aren’t villains they tend to be fathers, gods, kings or priests: figures of authority with whom an audience is unlikely to identify.

And yet, as this recital by Alastair Miles demonstrates, arias and duets written for the bass voice can be as glorious as any of the more obvious showstoppers. All the pieces are from the nineteenth-century Italian repertoire, featuring the kind of voice that the Italians call basso cantate (‘singing bass’), of which the most notable recent exponents have been Ezio Pinza between the two wars and, in our own day, Ruggiero Raimondi and Samuel Ramey.

Internationally acclaimed bass Alastair Miles performs a sensational selection of operatic arias, recorded in English for the first time.

This disc offers an interesting and varied collection of works including ‘The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’ from Verdi’s Nabucco, so popular among Italians that it was once a candidate for the national anthem.

As with all opera in English recordings this disc is available at mid-price.

This recording is part of Chandos’ ground-breaking Opera in English series made in association with the Peter Moores Foundation. This series forms the most comprehensive collection of Opera in English recordings ever undertaken by a record company and is a major addition to the catalogue.

It is true and sad to say that the bass does not have the popular appeal of the higher male voices. Where the tenor is associated with youth and love, and the baritone with love, nobility or at least with bonhomie, bass gets all the heavy parts. Whether in Italian, German, French, Russian or English opera, if the basses aren’t villains they tend to be fathers, gods, kings or priests: figures of authority with whom an audience is unlikely to identify.

And yet, as this recital by Alastair Miles demonstrates, arias and duets written for the bass voice can be as glorious as any of the more obvious showstoppers. All the pieces are from the nineteenth-century Italian repertoire, featuring the kind of voice that the Italians call basso cantate (‘singing bass’), of which the most notable recent exponents have been Ezio Pinza between the two wars and, in our own day, Ruggiero Raimondi and Samuel Ramey.

Internationally acclaimed bass Alastair Miles performs a sensational selection of operatic arias, recorded in English for the first time.

This disc offers an interesting and varied collection of works including ‘The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’ from Verdi’s Nabucco, so popular among Italians that it was once a candidate for the national anthem.

As with all opera in English recordings this disc is available at mid-price.

This recording is part of Chandos’ ground-breaking Opera in English series made in association with the Peter Moores Foundation. This series forms the most comprehensive collection of Opera in English recordings ever undertaken by a record company and is a major addition to the catalogue.

It is true and sad to say that the bass does not have the popular appeal of the higher male voices. Where the tenor is associated with youth and love, and the baritone with love, nobility or at least with bonhomie, bass gets all the heavy parts. Whether in Italian, German, French, Russian or English opera, if the basses aren’t villains they tend to be fathers, gods, kings or priests: figures of authority with whom an audience is unlikely to identify.

And yet, as this recital by Alastair Miles demonstrates, arias and duets written for the bass voice can be as glorious as any of the more obvious showstoppers. All the pieces are from the nineteenth-century Italian repertoire, featuring the kind of voice that the Italians call basso cantate (‘singing bass’), of which the most notable recent exponents have been Ezio Pinza between the two wars and, in our own day, Ruggiero Raimondi and Samuel Ramey.

‘This is the best that I’ve heard yet in Chandos’ series of Opera in English… Alastair Miles is superb…’

Fanfare on CHAN 3008 (La bohème)

‘Alastair Miles’s Méphistophélès seems a mild-mannered type with reserves of authority and a magnificent voice. Vocally he is very impressive indeed, the fine texture of his voice showing up to great advantage, his production admirably firm and even, his style unfailingly musical.’

Gramophone on CHAN 3014(3) (Faust)

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Great Operatic Arias, Vol. 4 - Alastair Miles

Philharmonia Orchestra

David Parry

Alastair Miles

The Colosseum, Watford

Brian Couzens

Ralph Couzens

Richard Smoker

Vocal & Song

Great Operatic Arias, Vol. 4 - Alastair Miles

GIUSEPPE VERDI

Chorus of Hebrew Slaves & Zaccaria's Prophecy from Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar)

GIOACHINO ROSSINI

Polidoro's Cavatina from Zelmira

Mahomet II's Aria from Mahomet

Prayer: Quartet from Moses in Egypt

GIUSEPPE VERDI

Scena and Walter and Wurm's Duet from Luisa Miller

Scena, Pagano's Aria and Chorus from The Lombards at the First Crusade

CARLOS GOMES

The Duke of Arcos's Recitative and Aria from Salvator Rosa

VINCENZO BELLINI

Chorus of Druids and Oroveso's Aria from Norma

GIOACHINO ROSSINI

Invocation and Quintet from Moses in Egypt

GIUSEPPE VERDI

Procida's Recitative and Aria from The Sicilian Vespers

VINCENZO BELLINI

Giorgio and Riccardo's Duet from The Puritans