January highlights from EMI and Virgin Classics

Spotlight release

Poesie: Strauss Lieder Diana Damrau Virgin Classics presents a treat for lovers of the soprano voice, Richard Strauss’ songs and his magnificent writing for orchestra. Favourites such as Ständchen, Wiegenlied, Allerseelen, Cäcilie and Zueignung feature alongside more rarely heard numbers, and six tracks recorded under studio conditions complement sixteen songs captured in concert with the Münchner Philharmoniker and conductor Christian Thielemann.

Also new this month

Handel: Cleopatra Arias Natalie Dessay Anticipating her role debut as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Paris Opéra in early 2011, Dessay performs a selection of the Egyptian Queen’s arias with the periodinstrument orchestra Le Concert d’Astrée under Emanuelle Haïm.

Viva Domingo! Plácido Domingo EMI Classics celebrates Domingo Year - 70th birthday, 50 years on the stage, 20th anniversary of his Covent Garden debut - with a 4CD portrait, packaged in a luxurious, lavishly illustrated 58-page full-colour book. Also released is a 2CD set The Very Best of Plácido Domingo.

“ Above all else there’s Domingo: courageous, still eloquent, an artist in a million.”

The Times

The Great EMI Recordings Wilhelm Furtwängler EMI Classics celebrates the 125th birthday of the great conductor with three releases – a 20CD box which comprises a mix of live and studio recordings, a 3CD set The Legend and a repackaging of his historic recording of Wagner’s great opera Der Ring des Nibelungen.

20th Century Classics Elgar The popular series presents ten new titles covering the music of Stravinsky, Tcherepnin, Sibelius, Scriabin, Satie, Prokofiev, Elgar, Debussy, Lutoslawski and Berg, each presented as a 2CD set.

“Diana Damrau is the most thrilling high soprano of our day.” The Observer

“Probably the only soprano today who could alternate the parts of the Queen of the Night and Pamino to equal acclaim.” The Daily Telegraph

Essential Series Tchaikovsky Five new titles – Puccini, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Violin and Vivaldi – join this popular series of 2-CD budget price sets featuring best-loved works drawn from the EMI Classics and Virgin Classics catalogues, performed by the world’s leading artists.

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