# Bel canto compilations



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Any recommendations for aria/duet compilation of bel canto? I have not really listened to much in this realm. I don't intend to look into a whole bel canto opera yet, per my other post, but I am interested in hearing some highlights.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

you know, I actually thought about this with regards to your other thread - do you have favourite singers? (I know it sounds funny, but bear with me). If you do, do they have bel canto albums out? Singers tend to release bel canto/baroque/whathaveyou albums. I find that just following a singer that you like will really help you get into an opera or a certain repertoire even. It sort of softens the edges that might make it daunting on first listen. Or you listen for their sake and next thing you know, you've warmed up to whatever it is they're singing. So there you go, another non-answer from me


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)




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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

deggial said:


> you know, I actually thought about this with regards to your other thread - do you have favourite singers? (I know it sounds funny, but bear with me). If you do, do they have bel canto albums out? Singers tend to release bel canto/baroque/whathaveyou albums. *I find that just following a singer that you like will really help you get into an opera or a certain repertoire even. It sort of softens the edges that might make it daunting on first listen. Or you listen for their sake and next thing you know, you've warmed up to whatever it is they're singing. So there you go, another non-answer from me *


If that's a non-answer - I've done exactly the same.  First with Carreras then with other singers like Sam Ramey, Sherrill Milnes & Simon Keenlyside.


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## rborganist (Jan 29, 2013)

Look for Joan Sutherland's sampler The Art of the Prima Donna; there's lots of good bel canto (as well as other styles) on there, all beautifully sung. Mira o Norma from Bellini's Norma is a glorious duet, but don't miss Casta Diva, also from Norma which is probably the apotheosis of bel canto. The Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti, and its counterpart in Bellini's I Puritani are also good examples. (There is a reason Sutherland said "I love those loony dames!" Even though the rest of the opera probably doesn't qualify as such, "Caro nome" from Rigoletto should go on such a list as should "Sempre libera" from La Traviata, as should the whole of Il Trovatore. Verdi asked for ornamentation from the mezzo and (if memory serves me) the bass as well, and if "Stride la vampa" isn't a mini-madscene for a mezzo, I don't know what is. If you just want one or two excerpts, listen to Leonora's first act aria "Tacea la notte placida" and the cabaletta which follows and "Stride la vampa." When you are ready to listen to a whole bel canto opera, start with Daughter of the Regiment by Donizetti. Marie's "Salut a France" and Tonio's nine-high C aria "mes amis" certainly require a solid bel canto technique, and everyone is alive and happy at the end.


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