The renowned orchestra conductor Herbert von Karajan, who headed up the world famous Berlin Philharmonic between 1956 and 1989, is filmed conducting a 1982 performance of Verdi's wonderful FALSTAFF. Filmed at Salzburg's Salzburger Osterfestspiele, the performance features strong performances from stars Giuseppe Taddei, Janet Perry, and Christa Ludwig.

Don Giovanni’s special amalgam of dark drama and sparkling comedy is captured with startling immediacy by Carlo Maria Giulini. The Viennese baritone Eberhard Wächter faces a particularly formidable pair of noble ladies: Donna Anna in the form of Joan Sutherland (in one of her rare recordings for a label other than Decca) and the Donna Elvira of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Chenier was the role with which Del Monaco changed singing by introducing a technique taught by Arturo Melocchi, based on singing with the larynx kept low, at the bottom of the neck. It gave Del Monaco a powerful, brassy, thick, muscular, penetrating sound.
In March 1949 Del Monaco sang Chenier at La Scala. His performances excited the public and marked a changing of the guard. Gigli sang his final Scala performances in 1947, as Chenier. His object and that of the tenors he influenced was, above all, to caress you. Del Monaco's was to excite you.

This opera semiseria is late Donizetti, composed a good ten years after the popular L’elisir d’amore, a work whose charm it emulates, though its score is less consistently inspired. A huge success at its 1842 premiere in Vienna, Linda never completely disappeared from the international repertoire, and ought to be seriously considered by British opera houses. Serafin conducts a great performance, with a first-rate all-Italian cast of Fifties favourites.

A dream cast for a wonderful opera. Renata Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi, whose partnership in the EMI recording of Madama Butterfly made it the version of choice, can be seen as well as heard in Donizetti's delicious opera buffa. The cast is filled out with superb singing actors, including Carlo Cava, Giuseppe Taddei and others. A major discovery and a feast for opera fans.