Great Operatic Arias - Diana Montague 1
CHAN 3010
Saint-Saëns
1 Samson and Delilah Delilah & Samson's Duet 'Softly awakes my heart...' with Bruce Ford, tenor
Gounod
2 Faust
Siebel's Flower Song
Delibes
3 Lakmé
Lakmé & Mallika's duet 'Come, Mallika!...'
with Mary Plazas, soprano (PMF Scholar)
Saint-Saëns
4 Samson and Delilah
Delilah's Recitative & Aria 'Tonight, seeking hither my presence...'
5 Delilah's Aria - 'Fair spring is returning...'
Donizetti
6 La favorite
Leonora's Recitative, Aria & Cabaletta
'Can I believe...' 'O my beloved...'
7 'I submit to heav'nly powers...'
Berlioz
8 The Damnation of Faust
Marguérite's Romance
'The fire of love inside me...'
Gluck
9 Orpheus and Eurydice
Orpheus's Aria -
'What is life to me without thee...'
Rossini
10 Count Ory Trio:
Count, Isolier & Countess 'Night lends her aid..'
11 'With love and tender yearning . . .' with Mary Plazas, soprano (PMF Scholar) & Bruce Ford, tenor
Thomas
12 Mignon
Frédéric's Rondo-Gavotte 'Here am I in her boudoir...'
Offenbach
13 La Périchole
Périchole's Griserie 'I've dined so well, I feel divine...'
14 Périchole's Letter Song - 'Oh my dearest...'
15 Périchole's Aria - 'You don't have looks...'
Thomas
16 Mignon
Mignon's Romance 'Have you heard of the land...'

Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by David Parry

Recorded in Blackheath Halls, London 1-14 September 1997
Producer - Brian Couzens, Sound engineer - Ralph Couzens, Assistant engineer - Peter Newble
Gramophone
Editor's Choice


'I so admire the sincerity and generosity of every item here - no gloss, no hype, just the real thing.'

Classic CD


'Diana Montague's English-language survey of French repertoire has all the elegance, beauty of intonation and phrasing one expects from this fine mezzo... Montague's exquisite caramel creamy tone has a dignity rare in English voices since Ferrier and Baker, comparisons underlined by a richly plaintive delivery of Gluck's 'What is life?' and a searing account of Marguérite's great lament with its long-breathed section from Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust'