Sony Classical is pleased to offer lovers of great singing another ten complete opera sets from the RCA Victor/BMG, CBS/Sony and Eurodisc catalogues, with 3 titles (Rameau: Les Indes galantes, Ginastera: Bomarzo; Monteverdi: Ritorno d’Ulisse) remastered from the original tapes to sound better than ever. This latest release is especially diverse, embracing four centuries and rarities from two continents along with central works of the Italian and German repertoires. Many of these recordings are appearing on CD for the first time.

In 2015, Sony Classical reissued Die Walküre and Siegfried from the first digital recording of Wagner’s Ring. “It has stood the test of time remarkably well”, observed ClassicsToday.com when the complete set, originally released in 1983, was last reissued. “The Staatskapelle Dresden plays spotlessly for Marek Janowski … An excellent ‘Ring’ experience.” Now the remaining two music dramas from this acclaimed cycle are again available separately. Gramophone in 1997 praised the “marvellously clean, spacious digital recording” and “Janowski’s fast, lyrical, wholly cogent reading [which] has the Dresden Staatskapelle playing with the utmost beauty from start to finish – try the start of Act 3 of Götterdämmerung – and with lean power when that’s called for … Voices and players are in an ideal relationship, which is not to say that such [orchestral] passages as the Rhine Journey and Funeral March want anything in visceral excitement … Matti Salminen is a commanding, often subtle Hagen … The smaller parts, especially Rhinemaidens led by Lucia Popp, are well taken … Das Rheingold is dominated by Siegfried Nimsgern’s vibrant, articulate Alberich, Peter Schreier’s wonderfully vital, strikingly intelligent and articulate Loge and Theo Adam’s experienced Wotan. But Fricka, the Giants and Rhinemaidens are all well cast, and the whole performance grips one’s attention from start to finish.”