Great Operatic Arias - Christine Brewer
CHAN 3127
Wagner
1 Tannhäuser Elizabeth's Greeting - 'Great hall of song'
Mozart
2 Don Giovanni Donna Anna's Vengeance Aria 'Don Ottavio, I'm dying' - 'He threatened my honour' with Barry Banks tenor
Gluck
3 Alceste Alceste's Aria - 'Almighty gods of death!'
Weber
4 Oberon Reiza's Recitative & Aria 'Ocean! Thou mighty monster' - 'Still I see thy billows flashing'
Sullivan
5 The Golden Legend Elsie's Song 'The night is calm and cloudless' with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Weber
6 Euryanthe Euryanthe & Eglantine’s Recitative & Duet 'Ah, what have I done?' - 'Fading is the star that guides me'
with Janice Watson soprano
Kalman
7 Countess Maritza Ensemble & Maritza's Entrance 'Gypsy airs and joyful phrases' - 'Where is love's kingdom?'
with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Rodgers
8 Carousel 'You'll never walk alone'
with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Lehar
9 Giuditta Giuditta's Aria - 'Why ever should it be' with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Rossini
10 Stabat Mater 'Blessed virgin, may the flame of love' with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Beethoven
11 Concert Aria 'Ah perfido!' 'Ah! Treachery and falsehood!' - 'Ah, my love, how can you leave me'
Merrill
12 Carnival Lili's song - 'I came on two buses and a train'

Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by David Parry

Recorded in Blackheath Halls, London - 7, 9 & 10 March 2005
Producer - Brian Couzens, Sound engineer - Jonathan Cooper, Assistant engineer - Michael Common
The Sunday Telegraph

‘She has the expansive heroic quality required for Elizabeth’s Greeting from Tannhäuser and Donna Anna’s Vengeance aria, and is marvellous in two Weber arias and in Gluck’s Divinités du Styx. Few sopranos today give us ‘The night is calm’ from Sullivan’s The Golden Legend and how tenderly Miss Brewer transforms herself here from Wagnerian soprano to the English tradition. No surprise then that she makes something special of 'You'll never walk alone' and is enchanting in Lehár and Kálmánand magnificent in Beethoven's 'Ah perfido!'. Some singer.'
Opera Now

'Christine Brewer's success in Fidelio led to the rapid commissioning of this solo disc, also with David Parry and the Philharmonia. The music chosen leaves no room for monotony as it ranges from Wagner to Gluck, Sullivan to Rodgers, Rossini to Lehár, and the recital ends with Bob Merrill's 'Mira' - can you imagine that? But it seems to work as a totality... She achieves a great sense of intimacy, passing to elation in Rodger's superb 'You'll never walk alone.'