Compilation: Beverly Sills - Excerpts from Aida, Faust, Puritani, Lucia, Hoffmann, Hippolyte et Aricie and Manon.
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There was no real impetus to put this compilation together (i.e. significant birthdays or anniversaries debuts), simply a desire to reacquaint myself with a soprano whom in recent years I have begun to overlook. It is not hard to see why one might be tempted to overlook Sills. Her voice did not have the kind of glamor or beauty of some of her colleagues. However, to sit down and invest yourself in one of her recordings, is to be taken on a unique journey that only a handful of singing actors were capable of doing. There is often an understated simplicity in her accounting that nonetheless could resonate deep in ones soul particularly in operas like Manon. That is certainly not to say that she didn't know how to own the stage and when the music required fireworks, she could charm even the most hardhearted with her breathtaking coloratura and gleaming high notes. I am doubly delighted to be able to both share this compilation with you all, as well as to have had the opportunity to pledge my own love and devotion once again to one of the greatest American singers in the history of opera. The compilation includes some incredibly rare excerpts from Aida, Faust, Puritani, Lucia di Lammermoor, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Hippolyte et Aricie and Manon.
With Nicolai Gedda, Luciano Pavarotti & Norman Treigle
OD 10773-1