The Young Kiri - The Early Recordings 1964-70 / Operatic arias, popular songs & Maori folksongs / Kiri te Kanawa / 2x Audio CD 1990 / Decca

UPC 028943032520

Made in Germany

TOTAL TIME: 67:29 + 70:44 (2 CD'S)

Decca 430325-2

English Summary:

Kiri Te Kanawa was born in New Zealand with European and Maori heritage, and first sang in public when she was six years old, on Gisborne’s radio station.

By the time she was 20 she had won the major vocal prizes available in the South Pacific, and – unusually early for a prima donna in any era – had also started her recording career, and was awarded New Zealand’s first Gold Disc for sales.

In 1965 she moved to London to study at the London Opera Centre. After first appearing in Carmen in New Zealand, and Otello in Britain, the young Te Kanawa was marked for Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, first at Santa Fe, USA, then at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1971.

Her sensational London debut in Figaro gained Kiri Te Kanawa legendary status almost overnight and rapidly moved her into the front rank of international opera. She became one of the most famous sopranos in the world, a familiar figure in leading opera houses - including Covent Garden, the Metropolitan, Chicago Lyric Opera, Paris Opera, Sydney Opera House, Vienna State Opera, La Scala Milan, San Francisco, Munich, and Cologne.

Her operatic repertoire included eighteen leading roles, including Mozart's Fiordiligi, Donna Elvira, Pamina, and Countess Almaviva; Verdi's Violetta, Amelia Boccanegra, and Desdemona; Richard Strauss’s Arabella, The Marschallin, and the ‘Capriccio’ Countess ; Puccini's Tosca, Mimi and Manon Lescaut; Johann Strauss's Rosalinde ; Tchaikovsky's Tatiana ; Bizet's Micaela ; Gounod's Marguerite; and Barber’s Vanessa.

On the concert stage, her natural serenity and vocal beauty have joined with the world’s major orchestral ensembles - Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony and the Boston Symphony under the baton of such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa and Sir Georg Solti.

She has appeared at venues as diverse as Glyndebourne, Tanglewood, Ravinia, the Verona Arena, the Hollywood Bowl, the festivals of Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg, and with full orchestra in the desert outback of Australia.

Dame Kiri’s recordings include sixteen full operas, plus oratorios, song cycles, lieder, and three recordings of all-Maori music. She also joined Nelson Riddle for Blue Skies, an album of American popular songs; entered the popular charts with her recording of a Rugby World Cup theme song The World in Union ; followed by albums of Gershwin, Porter and Kern songs and three classics of the light music stage: My Fair Lady, South Pacific, and Leonard Bernstein's only recording of West Side Story.

Tracklist:

CD 1:

430326-2
1 They call me Mimi 4.43
2 Mimi’s farewell 3.08
3 Musetta’s waltz song 2.23
4 Love and music (‘Vissi d’arte’) 3.08
5 One fine day 4.26
6 Signore, ascolta! 2.05
7 Tu che di gel sei cinta 2.13
8 Una voce poco fa 5.18
9 Jewelsong 3.48
10 Laughing song 3.33
11 Nuns’ Chorus 4.33
12 Ave Maria 2.48
13 The Lord’s prayer 3.23
14 The wedding 2.51
15 Do not go, my love 3.40
16 Love and music (‘Vissi d’arte’) 3.46
17 Softly sighs 7.58
18 The tryst 3.45

NZBC ‘Little Symphony’ Orchestra
St Mary’s Choral Group
Peter Averi, organ
Henry Rudolph Singers
Dunedin Concert Orchestra
Barbara Connelly, piano

CD 2:

430327-2
1 I feel pretty 1.48
2 One hand, one heart 2.28
3 Habanera 3.21
4 My favourite things 1.23
5 Climb ev’ry mountain 2.59
6 Malaguefia 3.01
7 Summertime 2.09
8 Havah Nagilah 2.35
9 Bill 1.58 (
10 Love is a many splendour’d thing 3.09
11 Granada 3.10
12 I believe 3.58
13 On a clear day 2.39
14 A time for us 2.33
15 The shadow of your smile 3.21
16 The impossible dream 2.01
17 When the world was young 3.28
18 This is my song 2.43
19 Yesterday 2.45
20 A day inthe life of a fool 2.55
21 My Lady Greensleeves 2.24
22 Geordie 2.55
23 Soldier, soldier 2.07
24 False love 2.23
25 Hokihokitonu mai(‘Return, beloved’) 2.25
26 Hine e hine (‘Maiden, o maiden’) 2.43

27 Tahineitaru kino ('O what it is to love’) 1.23

Orchestra and chorus conducted by Oswald
Chaesman
Orchestra conducted by Don Richardson
Dorothea Franchi (harp) & ensemble Ripe
Hohepa Mutu (male voice) & ensemble