Janet Baker - A Celebration (Box Set)

Dame Janet Baker is an artist who enjoyed seldom-matched success in the concert and recital halls as well as in the opera house - not to mention on disc. She could confidently traverse the entire territory between the well-thumbed volumes of arie antiche through the inexhaustible repertoires of German lieder, the French mélodie and English song, all of them addressed with extraordinary interpretative completeness. This 21-CD limited edition collects together all the great British mezzo-soprano's Philips, L'Oiseau-Lyre, Argo, Hyperion and Deutsche Grammophon recitals, as well as significant excerpts from Bach, Handel and Mozart operas and oratorios. Appearing for the first time, complete, are three Philips recordings made with Raymond Leppard - a Handel recital framed around the composer's cantata La Lucrezia (1972), Haydn heroines Berenice and Arianna, coupled with music by Mozart (1973), and a Beethoven/Schubert recital (1976). The collection also includes three recital discs she recorded for Hyperion of music by Schubert, Mahler and Fauré.

CD1 Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (Patricia Clarke, Eilen Poulter, Raimund Herincx, Monica Sinlair, English Chamber Orchestra, Anthony Lewis / 1961)
CD2 “Arie amorose” – Italian Songs & Arias by Giulio Caccini, Alessandro Stradella, Domenico Sarro, Antonio Cesti, Antonio Lotti, Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Caldara, Giovanni Bononcini, Franceso Durante, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Niccolo Piccinni, Giovanni Paisiello (Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner / 1978); Francesco Cavalli: 3 Scenes from La Calisto (Giovanni Faustini, James Bowman, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Raymond Leppard / 1971); Jean-Philippe Rameau: 2 Arias from Hippolyte et Aricie (English Chamber Orchestra, Anthony Lewis / 1965)
CD3 Georg Friedrich Händel: Kantate “La Lucrezia”; Arias from Ariodante, Atalanta, Hercules, Joshua, Rodelinda, Serse (English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard / 1973)
CD4 Johann Sebastian Bach: Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 (Excerpts / Karl Richter); Messe in B minor BWV 232 (Excerpts / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner); George Frideric Handel: Judas Maccabaeus (Excerpts / Charles Mackerras)
CD5 Johann Sebastian Bach: Kantaten BWV 159 “Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem” & BWV 170 “Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust” (John Shirley-Quirk, Robert Tear, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner / 1966); Kantate BWV 102 “Herr, deine Augen sehen mach dem Glauben” (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Peter Pears, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten / 1965)
CD6 Antonio Vivaldi: Gloria in D major RV 589; Francesco Durante: Magnificat in B flat major (King’s College Choir Cambridge, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, David Willcocks / 1966)
CD7 George Frideric Handel: Ariodante (Excerpts / Raymond Leppard); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito (Excerpts / Colin Davis); Cosi fan tutte (Excerpts / Colin Davis)
CD8 Joseph Haydn: Scena di Berenice; Arianna a Naxos; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Cosi fan tutte (Excerpts); Abendempfindung; Das Veilchen (Raymond Leppard, Dirigent & Piano)
CD9 Christoph Willibald Gluck: Arias from Alceste, Armide, Iphigenie en Aulide, Iphigenie en Tauride, La Rencontre imprévue, Orfeo ed Euridice, Paride ed Elena (English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard / 1975)
CD10 Ludwig van Beethoven: Ah perfido”; No, non turarti; Egmont (Excerpts); Franz Schubert: Arias from Alfonso and Estrella, Lazarus, Rosamunde; Ständchen “Zögernd leise” (Raymond Leppard, Dirigent & Piano)
CD11 Franz Schubert (Duette): Hermann und Thusnelda D. 322; Antigone und Oedip D. 542; Cronnan D. 282; Singübungen D. 619; Selma und Selmar D. 286b; Licht und Liebe D. 352; Hektors Abschied D. 312; Mignon und der Harfner D. 877 No. 4; Szenen von Goethes Faust D. 126 (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, RIAS Kammerchor, Gerald Moore / 1972)
CD12 Franz Schubert (Vokalquartette): Der Tanz D. 826; Des Tages Weihe D. 763; Hymne an den Unendlichen D. 232; An die Sonne D. 439; Begräbnislied D. 168; Gott im Ungewitter D. 985; Gott der Weltschöpfer D. 986; Die Geselligkeit D. 609; Gebet D. 815 (Elly Ameling, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore / 1973)
CD13 Franz Schubert (Schiller- & Goethe-Lieder): Der Jüngling am Bache D. 30; Thekla D. 73; Nähe des Geliebten D. 162; Meeres Stille D. 216; Amalia D. 195; Die Erwartung D. 159; Wandrers Nachtlied I D. 224; Der Fischer D. 225; Erster Verlust D. 226; Wonne der Wehmut D. 260; An den Mond D. 296; Das Geheimnis D. 250; Lied D. 284; Der Flüchtling D. 402; An den Frühling D. 587; Der Alpenjäher D. 588; Der Pilgrim D. 794; Sehnsucht D. 636 (Graham Johnson / 1987)
CD14 Gustav Mahler: Lieder und Gesänge from Jugendzeit (Geoffrey Parsons / 1983)
CD15 Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink / 1975)
CD16 Hector Berlioz: La Mort de Cleopatre; Herminie; Scenes Nos. 5 & 6 from L’Enfance du Christ (Excerpts); Non! Que viens-je d’entendre from Beatrice et Benedict (Pierre-Ange Vieillard, Thomas Allen, John Alldis Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis / 1979)
CD17 Gabriel Fauré: Le Papillon et la fleur op. 1 No. 1; Chanson du pecheur op. 4 No. 1; Reve d’amour op. 5 No. 2; Melodies op. 7 No. 1-3; Aubade op. 6 No. 1; Toujours op. 21 No. 2; Les Berceaux op. 23 No. 1; Le Secret op. 23 No. 3; Aurore op. 39 No. 1; Les Roses d’Ispahan op. 39 No. 4; En Priere; Les Presents op. 46 No. 1; La Chanson d’Eve op. 95; Spleen op. 51 No. 3; Green op. 58 No. 3; En Sourdine op. 58 No. 2; Mandoline op. 58 No. 1(Geoffrey Parsons / 1988)
CD18 Maurice Ravel: 3 Poemes de Stephane Mallarmé; 3 Chansons madecasses; Ernest Chausson: Chanson perpetuelle op. 37; Maurice Charles Delage: 4 Poemes hindous (Melos Ensemble / 1966)
CD19 Gustav Holst: Savitri op. 25; Benjamin Britten: Cantata op. 93 “Phaedra”; Lucretia, Lucretia & Last Night Tarquinius from The Rape of Lucretia op. 37; ah, Owen, what shall we do from Owen Wingrave op. 85; Werner Egk: La Tentation de Saint Antoine (Robert Tear, Purcell Singers, John Shirley-Quirk, Benjamin Luxon, Koeckert Quartet, English Chamber Orchestra, Imogen Holst / 1961 / 1965)
CD20 Michael Tippett: A Child of our Time (Jessye Norman, John Shirley-Quirk, BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis / 1975)
CD21 Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (in the version by Imogen Holst & Benjamin Britten / Robert Tear, Felicity Palmer, Felicity Lott, Peter Pears, Norma Burrowes, London Opera Chorus, Aldeburgh Festival Strings, Steuart Bedford / 1975)