!!! Following the highly acclaimed production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The Classical Opera Company presents Artaxerxes, recorded to celebrate the 300th anniversary of composer Thomas Arne.
!!! This is the first complete recording of one of the most important and successful of all English operas, with the lost Finale realised most effectively by Duncan Druce.
!!! Composer Thomas Arne, most famous for composing ?Rule Britannia?, also won fans in Mozart and Haydn with his opera Artaxerxes that remained in the London repertoire almost continuously from its premiere in 1762 until the 1830s.
!!! This stunning, but rarely recorded, opera has many well-known arias including ?The soldier tir'd?, originally made famous by Joan Sutherland and sung here by Elizabeth Watts (?A lyric soprano as ravishing as one could possibly want? IRR).
BBC Music Magazine
"...here it is presented complete and to a consistently high standard."
more >>The Scotsman
"[A] classy, crystal clear recording."
more >>Pizzicato
"...est rendu dans une lecture vivante, avec d'excellents chanteurs..."
more >>The Observer
"Elizabeth Watts and Rebecca Bottone shine under Ian Page's crisp direction."
more >>North London News
"...the singing is both intensely musical and full of acute psychological nuance..."
more >>The Sunday Times
"Christopher Ainslie is outstanding in the title role."
more >>SA-CD.net
"I cannot recommend this too strongly...this is truly a set to banish the wintry gloom!"
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