Verdi auf Deutsch - Verdi Sung in German

"Historically, in the 1950s and 60s, it was very common on the Opera stages and in recording studios to sing Italian Operas in German. The Verdi: Sung in German recordings produced by EMI Electrola between 1953 and 1973 are still just as legendary today with stars such as Nicolai Gedda, Rudolf Schock, Brigitte Fassbaender, Josef Metternich, and Gottlob Frick. For the first time, these recordings are available in a 10 CD-Box creating a unique chapter of German recording-history. Verdi: Sung in German is a wonderful set of performances featuring Verdi s stellar works. This 10-CD Box shows the true talents of one of the most prolific composers in the history of classical music. Verdi: Sung in German includes many of Verdi s most famous operas as Rigoletto, Ein Maskenball, Aida and Der Troubadour. The 10th disc in this set entitled Single Shots is a collection works from operas like Aroldo, DieMacht des Schicksals, Don Carlos and La Traviata. This set features some of the most talented voices in classical opera such as Erika Köth, Marcel Cordes, Rudolf Schock and Alfred Germont (this blogger: someone mistook Violetta's lover for a singer). These pieces capture the essence of Verdi s amazing talent as a composer." - Amazon

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: EMI - Verdi auf Deutsch (165 tracks, total time: 10 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. See my previous 90-hour playlist for the Complete Verdi.

Guest Post: EMI & Virgin Classics Germany

The staff at EMI & Virgin Classics Germany compiled a Spotify playlist that features highlights from their recent releases, music for special occasions, and seasonal choices. The current version include Four Last Songs and some Best of Massenet, for the recent anniversaries of Hermann Hesse and Massenet. Subscribe and get the latest updates from the home of Maria Callas, Philippe Jaroussky and Sir Simon Rattle. Here's a note from the label.

Spotify has become more and more important recently. It is great for fans of any kind of music to be able to listen to full tracks of any artist of your choice this easily, but one of the most interesting things about Spotify might be the playlists. They are a great way to discover music, to learn about releases you wouldn't have noticed if they weren't featured on a playlist.. or to simply enjoy music without having to chose the tracks yourself.

We decided to create a playlist that gets updated frequently - we want our subscribers to become experts of classical music without much effort. Brand new albums by the EMI & Virgin Classics artists will be on our playlist as well as matching music to important anniversaries and events. To keep the updates coming even when there are no special events, we will also have seasonal changes - from classical music for your summer holiday to tracks that are best on cold winter nights.

Here's the Spotify playlist: EMI & Virgin Classics Germany (27 tracks, total time: 2 hours) Also check out my previous EMI/Virgin playlists, including the Greatest Recordings/Artists of the 20th Century, Icon, British/American Composer series and more.

EMI 20th Century Classics on Spotify

This series features recordings of both popular and rare 20th Century works. All are 2CD releases, with the repertoire taken from both the EMI and Virgin Classics catalogues. It offers a wonderful introduction to the more accessible classical music from the last century, and also covers the some of the most famous avant-gardists.

EMI listed 44 titles in their official site, but thanks to Mark Whitehead, I found more than 60 titles on Spotify. Composers features in this series include: Bartók (3 volumes), Berg, Britten, Debussy, Delius, Dukas, Dutilleux, Elgar, Enescu, Falla, Glazunov, Hartmann (2 volumes), Henze, Hindemith (2 volumes), Holst, Honegger, Ibert, Janácek, Khachaturian, Kodaly, Korngold, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Messiaen, Milhaud, Nielsen (2 volumes), Orff, Pärt, Penderecki, Poulenc, Prokofiev (2 volumes), Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Respighi, Rodrigo, Roussel, Satie, Schoenberg, Schreker, Scriabin, Shostakovich (2 volumes), Sibelius, Stockhausen, Stravinsky, Suk, Szymanowski, Tavener, Tcherepnin, Tippett, Villa-Lobos, Walton, Weill, R.V. Williams, Xenakis, Zemlinsky (2 volumes).

Here's the Spotify playlist: EMI: 20th Century Classics (1785 tracks, total time: 152 hours) Ctrl (CMD)+G to browse in album view. Albums are sorted by composer names, as listed above.

Hello America

To celebrate Spotify's entrance into the biggest music market in the world, today let's listen to EMI's American Classics.

Here's the Spotify playlist: EMI: American Classics (612 tracks, total time 1 day) It may work better in Album view. Check out this Presto page for discography and introduction to this series,  and my previous post for the even more comprehensive Naxos American Classics.

EMI Great Recordings of the Century on Spotify

"EMI's Great Recordings Of The Century series is true to its title -- 200 of the greatest recordings of the twentieth century. It is an astonishing array of artists, capturing many of the definitive versions of the greatest orchestral, opera, chamber music and vocal works, recorded in what many believe was the golden age of classical recording which brought distinguished artists together with EMI's renowned classical recording producers to create music history." - ArkivMusic

Here's the Spotify playlist: EMI: Great Recordings of the Century (201 albums, 4838 tracks) Albums are arranged alphabetically by composer names, except for the Caruso 1902-04 recording which is at the beginning, because it's by various composers, and also the oldest recording in this series. This playlist works better in Album view. Also check out EMI's official page and Amazon for discography and reviews, some of the opera librettos with English translations can be found at EMI's mini site for their Historical series.

Note: Playlists at this size are meant to be references, use the filter bar (Ctrl+F) to find an excellent recording of a composition, or works of a particular composer. Don't try play it from end to end, that would take more than one week of non-stop listening.

EMI Great Artists of the Century on Spotify

"The mid-price series Great Artists of the Century celebrates the art and artistry of a roster of the most distinguished musicians of the 20th century and of the first decade of the 21st century.  Each release in Great Artists of the Century focuses on one eminent musician.

The CD offers a programme of important EMI recordings chosen to demonstrate the qualities and achievements of the featured artist, and major works in notable performances taken from EMI's vast and unique catalogue of great recordings.

The lavish packaging of Great Artists of the Century includes a striking cover photograph plus a facsimile of the artist's signature and new accounts of the artists' lives and assessments of their achievements by leading writers. The superb recordings have been transferred and, where appropriate, newly remastered from the original source materials (78s and tapes) by EMI's renowned team of engineers at Abbey Road Studios." - from EMI's mini site for this series.

Here's the Spotify playlist: EMI: Great Artists of the Century (603 tracks, total time: 2 days). Albums are arranged alphabetically by composer names. This playlist works better in Album view. Also check out this Amazon page for discography and reviews.

EMI British Composers Series on Spotify

From Presto Classical: "A series celebrating the numerous recordings of British composers which EMI have made over the years. From the very early recordings of Elgar conducting his own works, through a whole host of other composer-conductors to the more recent recordings of Nicholas Maw and Peter Maxwell Davies, this series celebrates all that is good about EMI's commitment to British music."

From EMI's official page: "Celebrating the past, shaping the future: British Composers looks back to Parry and Stanford, majors on Elgar and Vaughan Williams, and embraces Birtwistle, Davies, Goehr, Maw, Roxanna Panufnik and Turnage."

Here's the Spotify playlist: EMI: British Composers (67 albums, 1299 tracks, total time: 4 days) I put three compilations, English Anthems, Miniatures and String Music at the beginning, and arranged other discs alphabetically. Press Ctrl (CMD on Macs) + G to browse in album view. Also check out this UK Amazon page for more details and customer reviews.

A Spotfiy Index For EMI's Icon Series

All 36 gorgeous box-sets in one Spotify playlist. I put one track per set into the playlist so that you can browse the whole series at ease, or listen to this playlist as a sampler. Check out the official site for detailed information.

Here's the Spotify playlist: EMI: Icon (36 tracks, total time: 2 hours) Press Ctrl + G to browse in album view.

P.S. If you have the slightest interest in this year's laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, Liu Xiaobo, please read this great article. I wish Mr. Liu regain his freedom asap, and I hope one day, people in this country will all know his name and his propositions, till no one could ever imprison them again.

Great Conductors of the 20th Century

Check out the official site for detailed information, and Classical Notes for an exquisite survey of this wonderful series.

Here's the Spotify playlist: EMI: Great Conductors of the 20th Century (516 tracks, total time: 2 days) Press Ctrl + G to browse in album view.