Aida
Ernani
Falstaff

The Sunday Times

'Shore's account of the title role has become as well loved as that of the late Geraint Evans. Indeed the set makes a special case for a truly English Falstaff.'

The Guardian

'Thanks to Peter Moores, one major area of recording neglected by the record companies has at last been opened up: opera in English... The latest... a scintillating account of Verdi's Falstaff based on the ENO production, with Paul Daniel conducting... a set competitive with the finest versions in Italian.'

Opera News

'I can think of no singer who gives me greater pleasure than Andrew Shore. His star turn on two recent releases of Chandos Opera in English series - the title role in Don Pasquale and Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love - are so delectable, so round in character, so bursting with humanity, that they have set the bar for all future recordings. Now the baritone has added Falstaff to his gallery of recorded roles, and once again he has gotten to the core of the work - the comedy, the pathos, the wisdom - and given us a portrayal of the fat knight to savor.'
Gramophone
'Plowright's incisive and vocally resonant portrayal (as Amneris) is as good a reason as any for acquiring this set.'

BBC Music Magazine
‘... a vivid cast.'
Gramophone

'The recording is outstandingly good; no-one who wants a spirited rendering in English of Verdi's first international success need hesitate for a moment.'
Falstaff
BBC Music Magazine

Pick of the Month

‘The first English-language recording of Verdi's swansong is the equal of many great Italian accounts.'
Opera Now
'... tip-top playing from the London Philharmonic Orchestra.'
Opera News
'This set stands up to all challenges with a cast of accomplished Verdians'
La traviata
Otello

Iago's Aria
'Take it: take the path to your ruin'
- 'Yes, I believe in God who has created me'
Great Operatic Arias - Gerald Finley
Classic FM

'... I was unprepared for how vivid this new release sounds... This is a very fine performance, and in the case of its star something more than that.'
Masked Ball
International Record Review
'Ballo is Verdi’s most romantic opera, and David Parry conducts the London Philharmonic with a good deal of ardour... one of the best of all the Opera in English series.'
Rigoletto

Opera

'This is one of the most welcome additions to the series, not least because it reminds us once again what an accomplished conductor of Verdi Elder is... Altogether this is a classic ENO cast.'
BBC Music Magazine
‘This is an electrifying performance...'

Gramophone
'Plowright sounds wonderfully well...'
Otello
Nabucco
Don Carlos
Posa & Don Carlos' Duet
Posa's death scene
Falstaff - Ford's Monologue
Macbeth's Scena and Aria
'Treachery!'
La traviata
Germont & Violetta's Duet
New York Times
'The soliloquy in which Rigoletto compares himself to Sparafucile seems newly meaningful as sung by the affecting baritone John Rawnsley in James Fenton's translation.'
Rigoletto
Great Operatic Arias - Sir Thomas Allen 2
International Record Review
'a voice of beauty... a highly enjoyable CD.'
Nabucco
Chorus of Hebrew Slaves Zaccaria's Prophecy with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Great Operatic Arias - John Tomlinson 1
BBC Music Magazine
‘John Tomlinson is one of the finest singing artists on the opera scene today...'

Scena, Cavatina & Arias from
Simon Boccanegra & Ernani
Great Operatic Arias - Sir Thomas Allen 1
Gramophone
'Bruce Ford is a well-trained singer, gifted with a voice of fine quality, skilled in florid work...'
Falstaff Act III
Fenton - 'From these true lovers' lips'
Nabucco, I Lombardi, Ernani, Luisa Miller, Rigoletto, Il trovatore,
La traviata,
The Sicilian Vespers,
A Masked Ball,
The Force of Destiny,
Otello & Falstaff
Great Operatic Arias - Bruce Ford 1
Falstaff translated

David Pountney

'Amanda Holden (translator) has managed to create an opera that is a huge pleasure to listen to; the listener is given instant access to this witty and profoundly human celebration of folly without ever having the jarring sense of compromise that a clumsy translation provokes. There is rhyme, colour, diversity of language and especially of insult that is an essential part of the work's tinta.

How marvellous to have such a compelling answer to all those language snobs who maintain that a work like this 'can't be translated'!'
Recitatives, Arias & Duets from
Aida, Il trovatore, Attila, Otello, &
The Girl of the Golden West
with Sharon Sweet, Janice Watson, Marc Le Brocq,
Alan Opie,
Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Recitatives, Arias & Duets from
Luisa Miller
The Lombards at the First Crusade
The Force of Destiny
A Masked Ball

with Susan Bullock
Verdi - A Celebration
Great Operatic Arias - Dennis O'Neill 2
Great Operatic Arias - Dennis O'Neill 1
Great Operatic Arias - Alistair Miles
Great Operatic Arias - Alan Opie
Great Operatic Arias - Andrew Shore
Arias, Duets, Trios from
Attila, Ernani, Il trovatore, The Two Foscari
with Clive Bayley & Peter Wedd (PMF Scholars), Dennis O'Neill, Peter Rose, Susan Patterson, Helen Williams, Julian Gavin & Paul Hodges
Opera Now ‘CD Choice'
‘... a marvellous souvenir of a fine singer at his best.'

Falstaff
Honour Monologue
'Hey, Page boy!'
Il trovatore
American Record Guide
'He's dramatically persuasive.'
Luisa Miller
Miller's Scena and Aria
'Stop!' You shall listen' - 'I was right to be suspicious'
with Brindley Sherratt, bass
Gramophone
'Alan Opie giving his best performance to date reveals every facet of the troubled king's character.'
Classic fm
'... this stunning account of Verdi's masterpiece.'
19 June 2013
Don Carlos
Alan Opie

'I’ve had people come up to me even in non-English speaking countries and ask me after the performance to sign the booklet from an Opera in English recording.'
Great Operatic Arias - Jennifer Larmore
Classic FM magazine

‘The central relationships are full of passion, the conducting is full-blooded and the huge auto-da-fé scene feels terrifyingly spectacular.‘
Don Carlos
Princess Eboli's aria
'O hated gift'

Il trovatore
Azucena's canzone
'Fierce flames are raging.'