Donizetti: Gemma di Vergy

"Sony Classical is delighted to offer lovers of singing another ten complete recordings from the RCA Red Seal, CBS/Sony Classical and Eurodisc catalogues. The latest instalment of this wide-ranging series not only features some of the greatest voices of the last century but also spotlights once popular works that have been unduly neglected in recent times.

A great coloratura artist, Montserrat Caballé, is heard in another prodigious Donizetti role, Gemma di Vergy, probably the most demanding he ever wrote for the soprano voice. It remained immensely popular in Italy during much of the 19th century. In Caballé s 1976 live recording, never before released on CD, the floated, ethereal tone for which she is renowned was acclaimed by Gramophone, as was the conducting of the ever-resourceful Eve Queler, who with her Opera Orchestra of New York was responsible for reviving numerous undeservedly forgotten masterpieces."