This handsome boxed set comes with unexpected Kiwi connections.
With NZ Opera's Carmen playing in Auckland, you may well appreciate a bonus DVD of the opera, nestling among the eight CDs that make up The Art of Grace Bumbry. The American mezzo gives an electrifying performance as Bizet's heroine, by turns fiery, sultry and sassy, yet always illuminated by a sense of inner strength and dignity.
Theatrically, it's a curiosity from 1967, directed as well as conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Casting is first-rate with Jon Vickers as Don Jose and Mirella Freni as Micaela but some sensibilities may twitch at the original spoken dialogue being replaced by recitatives.
Bumbry visited New Zealand in 2005 to judge the Lexus Song Quest, the competition that catapulted winner Madeleine Pierard into a successful operatic career. Back then, she was proud of her youthful performances in Handel's Israel in Egypt and Judas Maccabeus, and Handelians will be grateful that this new set includes the 1957/58 recordings of these complete oratorios.
A generous selection of operatic arias, including a sampling from Gounod's rarely heard Sapho, reaches its peak with Verdi, hinting at what triumphs lay ahead for her in roles such as Azucena and Lady Macbeth.
