Interviews and performances (principally excerpts).

Compact discs.

Program notes (11 p.) in English, German and French included in container.

Conversations recorded between 1995 and 2009.

Spoken in English, sung in Italian, French, German, Russian, and Hungarian.

Disc 1. Introduction (Jon Tolansky)

Angela Gheorghiu, soprano. Madama Butterfly. Un bel dì ; Che tua madre / Puccini ; Carmen. La la la la / Bizet ; Early life and formative years ; La Bohème. Sì, mi chiamano Mimì / Puccini ; Manon. N'est ce plus ma main / Massenet

Mirella Freni, soprano. Aïda. O patria mia / Verdi ; Early life and formative years ; La Bohème. Sono andati? / Puccini ; Otello. Ave Maria / Verdi

Grace Bumbry, mezzo-soprano. Carmen. Les tringles des sistres tintaient / Bizet ; Early life and formative years ; Carmen. Habanera / Bizet ; On singing with Jon Vickers in Carmen ; Carmen. Où va tu? / Bizet

Disc 2. Jon Vickers, tenor. Fidelio. Gott! Welch Dunkel hier! / Beethoven ; Early life and formative years ; Samson et Dalila. Israël! romps ta chaîne / Saint-Saëns ; Studying oratorio and opera ; Otello. Già nella notte densa ; Ah! Mille vite

Si, pel ciel ; Il fazzoletto ; Chi è là? Otello? / Verdi

Nicolai Gedda, tenor. Rigoletto. La donna è mobile / Verdi ; Boris Godunov. O, kak tomitel'no / Mussorgsky ; Early life and formative years ; Le postillon de Lonjumeau. Mes amis, écoutez l'histoire / Adam ; Werther. Lorsque l'enfant ; International singing traditions and schools, and singing Werther ; Traduire

Ah!

Pourquoi me réveiller / Massenet

Giuseppe di Stefano, tenor. Manon. Io son sol / Massenet ; Early life and formative years ; Approach to opera performance ; La bohème. Come va? / Puccini ; More about approach to opera, and singing with Callas ; Un ballo in maschera. Non sai tu che se l'anima mia / Verdi

Disc 3. Roberto Alagna, tenor. La traviata. Libiamo ne' lieti calici / Verdi ; Early life and formative years and influences ; Il trovatore. Ah sì, ben mio

Di quella pira / Verdi ; Carmen. Carmen, je suis las de souffrir! / Bizet

Ruggero Raimondi, bass-baritone. Macbeth. Come dal ciel precipita / Verdi ; Early life and formative years ; Don Carlo. Ella giammai m'amo / Verdi ; Tosca. Già mi struggea l'amor della diva! / Puccini

Sir John Tomlinson, bass. Götterdämmerung. Hoiho! / Wagner ; Early life and formative years ; Hier sitz' ich zur Wacht / Wagner ; Bluebeard's castle. Hajnalban az elsöt leitem

Negyediket éjjel leitem / Bartók

Disc 4. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone. Die schöne Müllerin. Wohin? / Schubert ; Early life and formative years, singing Winterreise ; Winterreise. Gute Nacht / Schubert ; The Lieder of Hugo Wolf ; Der Feuerreiter / Wolf

Antonio Pappano, conductor. Le villi. La tregenda / Puccini ; Early life and formative years ; Requiem. Dies irae ; Rex tremendae / Verdi

Evgeny Kissin, piano. Concerto no. 3 in C, op. 26. Allegro / Prokofiev ; Early life and formative years ; Concerto no. 5 in E flat, op. 73 : Emperor. Allegro / Beethoven

Mstislav Rostropovich, cello, conductor. Suite no. 1 in G, BWV1007. Prelude / J.S. Bach ; Early life and formative years ; Memories of Britten ; Cello suite no. 1, op. 72. Moto perpetuo ; Canto quarto / Britten ; On Shostakovich ; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Interlude ; On writing to Pravda ; Concerto no. 2 in G, op. 126 / Shostakovich.

50999 6 08972 2 0 EMI Classics

6 08972 2 EMI Classics

50999 6 08972 2 0 (50999 6 08973 2 9, 50999 6 08975 2 7, 50999 6 08977 2 5, 50999 6 29373 2 0) EMI Classics

Singers > Interviews.

Singers > Biography.

Operas > Excerpts.

Operas > Stories, plots, etc.

Conductors (Music) > Biography.

Conductors (Music) > Interviews.

Cellists > Biography.

Cellists > Interviews.

Pianists > Biography.

Pianists > Interviews.

Suites (Cello) > Excerpts.

Concertos > Excerpts.

Requiems > Excerpts.