Opera

'... this highly enjoyable disc... displays every aspect of Tomlinson's myriad talents, most notably his ability to make every word tell in creating character and situation.'

BBC Music Magazine

'He is unsurpassed in Wagner, but here he displays his versatility and his exemplary diction in a highly eclectic programme of arias in English.'

Classic FM Magazine

'A must for all Tomlinson fans and for anyone interested in the bass repertory.'
1 Handel's Acis and Galatea
Polyphemus' Recitative & Air
'I rage, I rage..' - 'O ruddier than the cherry.'
2 Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio
Osmin's Song, Act I
'When a maiden takes your fancy'
3 Osmin & Blonde's Act II Duet
'I am going, but take my advice'
with Helen Williams, soprano
4 Pedrillo & Osmin's Duet
'Vivat Bacchus! Long live Bacchus!'
with Barry Banks, tenor (PMF Scholar)
5 Handel's Samson Harapha's Air, Act II
'Honour and arms scorn such a foe'
6 Verdi's Simon Boccanegra
Prologue: Fiesco's Scena & Aria
'A last farewell I bid you' - 'My soul is torn...'
with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
7 Mussorgsky's setting of
Mephistophele's Song of the Flea
from Goethe's 'Faust' 'There lived a king of old.'
8 Borodin's Prince Igor Prince Igor's Aria, Act II
'No rest, no slumber'
9 Galitsky's Aria, Act I
'The Prince has drunk his fill?' - 'The sober life...'
with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
10 Khan Konchak's Aria, Act II 'Igor, listen...'
11 Dargomïzhsky's Russalka Miller's Song, Act I
'Like every maiden in the whole of Russia'
12 Verdi's Ernani Silva's Scena & Cavatina, Act 1
'Can I believe it?' - 'Vain illusion!...'
with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
13 Lehmann's In a Persian Garden
'Myself when young did eagerly frequent...'
14 Sullivan's The Mikado The Mikado's Song, Act II 'A more humane Mikado' with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
15 Offenbach's Geneviève de Brabant Gendarmes' Duet 'We're public guardians bold yet wary'
with Andrew Shore, baritone
16 Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance Policeman's Song, Act II 'When a felon's not engaged in his employment'
with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir

Bonus Track
17 Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Prologue: Boris's prayer 'My soul is sad'
with Chorus of Opera North, Choristers of Leeds Parish Church,
English Northern Philharmonia conducted by Paul Daniel

Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by David Parry

Recorded in Blackheath Halls, London - 15-19 October 1999
Producer - Brian Couzens, Sound engineer - Ralph Couzens, Assistant engineer - Richard Smoker


The Guardian

'The versatility of John Tomlinson is breathtaking, tackling as he does here the widest range of bass arias... One may have expected this singing actor, our greatest Wotan, to be attuned to Verdi and the Russians, but he is just as stylish in Handel, both comic and heroic, as well as in Mozart (a characterful Osmin) and full of fun in Offenbach (the Gendarmes' duet with Andrew Shore).'
CHAN 3044
Great Operatic Arias - John Tomlinson 1