Georg Friedrich Händel: Rinaldo (Nuova Era)

Rinaldo is an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, now a part of the standard operatic repertoire. It is a heroic story of battle and love set in the time of the First Crusade (1096–1099).

Artists
Rinaldo (Christian knight): Marilyn Horne
Goffredo (Christian Crusade leader): Ernesto Palacio
Almirena (Daughter of Goffredo, loves Rinaldo): Cecilia Gasdia
Argante (Saracen King of Jerusalem): Natale de Carolis
Armida (Argante’s sorceress mistress): Christine Weidinger
Mago Cristiano (Christian magician!): Carlo Colombara

Conductor: John Fisher / Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia

Key Facts:
Length: 130 min.
Nº of discs: 2
Label: Nuova Era

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Giuseppe Verdi: I Masnadieri (Bayer)

Artists
Massimiliano: Carlo Colombara
Carlo: Mario Malagnini
Francesco: Renato Bruson
Amalia: Martile Rowland
Arminio: Thierry Migliorini
Moser: Mikhail Lanskoy
Rolla: Thierry Migliorini
Conductor: Wolfgang Gönnenwein


Key Facts:
Number of Discs: 2
Recording date: 8 March 1995

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REVIEWS

“A good, young Italian bass, Carlo Colombara, brought some vocal refinement to the smaller role of the brothers' father”.
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph

Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème (EMI)

Artists:

Giuseppe Sabbatini: Rodolfo
Daniela Dessì: Mimi
Carlo Colombara: Colline
Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti


Key Facts:
Length: 110 min.
Number of Discs: 2
Label: EMI Gemini
Recording date: 10 March 2005

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REVIEWS

“Tanto Alfonso Antoniozzi como Carlo Colombara son unos espléndidos ‘Schaunard’ y ‘Colline’”.
Enrique Sacau, Mundo Clásico

Giacomo Puccini: Turandot (RCA)

The video version of this unique September 1998 production reveals much of the merit of staging Puccini's last opera--a tale of an icy Chinese princess ultimately overcome by love--in an historically suitable setting, a courtyard surrounded by ancient halls, palaces, and gardens in Beijing. There's actually little tangible effect of the setting on the sound of the recording, which stands on the considerable merits of its soloists and conductor Zubin Mehta's apparent glory in the opera's majesty.

Artists:

Giovanna Casolla: La principessa Turandot
Carlo Colombara: Timur
Sergei Larin: Calaf
Barbara Frittoli: Liu
José Fardilha: Ping
Francesco Piccoli: Pang
Carlo Allemano: Pong
Vittorio Vitelli: Un mandarino

Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Conductor: Zubin Mehta

PRICE

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REVIEWS
“Carlo Colombara, the Timur, is a good basso”.
James Miller, Andante

Gaetano Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Opus Arte)

Donizetti's great tragedy is his undisputed masterpiece of melancholic romanticism, with the doomed love between Lucia and Edgardo retold from Sir Walter Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermoor. The 1992 production heightens the story’s powerful libretto with its dramatic visual design and first class musical performances.

Artists:
Renato Bruson: Enrico Ashton
Mariella Devia: Lucia
Vincenzo La Scola: Sir. Edgardo
Marco Berti: Lord Arturo Bucklaw
Carlo Colombara: Raimondo Bidebent
Floriana Sovilla: Alisa
Ernesto Gavazzi: Normann

Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala
Conductor: Stefano Ranzani
Stage Director: Pier' Alli

Key Facts:
Running time: 143 min.

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REVIEWS

“Carlo Colombara is a tower of ecclesiastical strength as the sympathetic yet ‘politically correct’ Raimondo”
Music Web International

Gaetano Donizetti: La Favorita (RCA)

Artists:

Ramón Vargas: Fernand
Carlo Colombara Balthazar
Abbie Furmansky: Inès
Vesselina Kasarova: Léonor de Guzmán
Anthony Michaels-Moore: Alphonse XI
Francesco Piccoli: Don Gaspar

Bavarian Radio Chorus
Munich Radio Orchestra/Marcello Viotti

Key Facts:
Label: RCA
Length: 150 min.
Number of CD: 2
Recording date: September 26, 2000
Recorded Live at the Philharmonie am Gasteig, Munich

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REVIEWS
“Carlo Colombara is solid as Balthazar”
Arkiv Music

“Carlo Colombara offers solid vocal underpinning”
Joel Kasow, Andante

“The singing here is splendid, with Carlo Colombara continuing to impress with both his rich bass voice and fine sense for drama”
Robert Cummings, Classical Net

“Bass Carlo Colombara is a suitably morose and disapproving Balthazar”
Robert Levine, Classic Today

Giuseppe Verdi: Il Trovatore (Decca)

Artists:

Andrea Bocelli: Manrico
Veronica Villaroel: Leonora
Elena Zaremba: Azucena
Carlo Guelfi: Il conte di Luna
Carlo Colombara: Ferrando
Maria Gracia Calderone: Ines
Salvatore Bonaffini: Ruiz
Salvatore Todaro: Un vecchio zingaro

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania
Conductor: Steven Mercurio

Key Facts:
Length: 139 min.
Nº of discs: 2
Label: Decca

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REVIEWS

“Carlo Colombara sings Ferrando's music with energy and round tone”
Robert Levine, Classic Today

“Carlo Colombara acquit himself admirably in his part. [He] has an imposing, dark voice and does all right until he, like other Ferrandos, can’t quite handle the final few pages of the scene, which Verdi, unfortunately, has marked “Allegro assai agitato”.
James Miller, FANFARE

“Carlo Colombara [Ferrando] is one of the most interesting basses. He starts the opera as to the manner born, few better on disc”
Gramophone

“Auch Carlo Colombara weiß als Ferrando, vor allem stimmlich zu überzeugen. Sein voluminöser Bass erklingt durchdringend über dem Orchester, auch wenn es gelegentliche Abstimmungsprobleme zwischen Sänger und Orchester zu bemerken gibt”.
Klassik.com

Gioacchino Rossini: Stabat Mater (Naxos)

Artists:

Carlo Colombara
Patrizia Pace
Gloria Scalchi
Antonino Siragusa

Conductor: Pier Giorgio Morandi
Hungarian State Opera Orchestra
Hungarian State Opera Chorus

Key Facts:
Label: Naxos
Recording date: September, 1999
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REVIEWS

“The soloists are fine, with Antonio Siragusa relishing the 'Cujus animam', Patrizia Pace and Gloria Scalchi...blending pretty well in the 'Quis est homo', and Carlo Colombara coming into his own in the bass 'Pro pecatis'”
Peter Branscombe, Hi-Fi News

“High points of the performance include an epic rendering of the 'Pro peccatis' by the bass Carlo Colombara (he even attempts the trill, something avoided by most basses post-Plancon) and a predictably exciting account of the `Inflammatus'.”
Gramophone

Giuseppe Verdi: Jérusalem (TDK)

Artists:

Ivan Momirov: Gaston
Veronica Villarroel: Hélène
Federica Bragaglia: Isaure
Alain Fondary: Le Comte de Toulouse
Carlo Colombara: Roger
Carlo di Cristoforo: Adhémar de Monteuil

Coro e Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice
Conductor: Michel Plasson
Stage director: Piergiorgio Gay

Key Facts:
Length: 166 min.
Label: TDK
Recording date: November, 2000

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REVIEWS
“Carlo Colombara reléve le défi d’un personnage déchiré, qui par détermination décuple ses efforts pour retrouver l’humanité que sa jalousie première, avait écartée… Pour les solistes, notre enthousiasme s’émousse, sauf pour le Roger de Carlo Colombara dont la tenue de rôle au fur et à mesure du spectacle se bonifie de scène en scène”.
ClassicNews.com

“The most convincing singer is bass Carlo Colombara as the real murderer, Roger”
Review Focus

“The older generation does better, with Carlo Colombara vigorous and committed as the near-brother-killer-turned-hermit Roger”
BBC Music Magazine

“As the guilt-ridden Roger, the most interesting character in Jerusalem, Carlo Colomban sings with his customary authority”.
Gramophone

Giuseppe Verdi: The Very Best of Verdi (Naxos)

Tracklist
La forza del destino
Overture (Hungarian State Opera Orchestra/Morandi)
Pace, pace, mio dio (Gauci; Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra/Rahbari)
Solenne in quest’ora (Aragall; Tumagian; Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Rahbari)

Nabucco
Va, pensiero (Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Dohnanyi)

Ernani
Surte e la notte…Ernani, involami (Mescheriakova; Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Halasz)

Macbeth
Patria oppressa! (Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Dohnanyi)

Luisa Miller
Quando le sere al placido (Giordani; Catania Teatro Massimo Bellini Orchestra/Mercurio)

Rigoletto
Questa o quella; La donna e mobile; Pari siamo!; Cortigiani, vil razza dannata; Gualtier Malde … Caro nome (Ramiro; Tumagian; Ferrarini; Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Rahbari)

Il Trovatore
Vedi, le fosche notturne; Il balen; Ah! Si, ben mio; Di quella pira; D’amor sull’ali rosee vane (Servile; Frusoni; Longhi; Budapest Festival Chorus, Hungarian State Opera Orchestra/Humburg)

Un ballo in maschera
Di tu se fedele (Harper; Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Halasz)

Messa da Requiem
Dies irae; Tuba mirum; Ingemisco (Filipova; Scalchi; Hernandez; Carlo Colombara; Hungarian State Opera Chorus, Hungarian State Opera Orchestra/Morandi)

La Traviata
Libiamo, ne’lieti calici; Sempre libera; Lunge da lei per me; Di Provenza il mar (Krause; Ramiro; Tichy; Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Rahbari)

Don Carlo
E lui! Desso l’Infante! … Dio, che nell’alma infondere (Aragall; Tumagian; Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Rahbari)

Aida
Se quell guerrier io fossi! … Celeste Aida; Ritorna vincitor … I sacri nomi di padre; Gloria all’Egitto; Grand March; Ballet Music (Dragoni; Johannson; Ireland National Symphony Orchestra/Saccani)

Otello
Fuoco di gioia (Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Dohnanyi)
Mia madre aveva una povera ancella …Piangea cantando … Ave Maria (Gauci; Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra/Rahbari)

Falstaff
Ehi paggio! … L’onore! Ladri (Trimarchi; Hungarian State Opera Orchestra/Humburg)

Artists:
Conductors: Oliver Dohnanyi, Michael Halasz, Will Humburg, Steven Mercurio, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Alexander Rahbari, Ricco Saccani.
Orchestras: Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra; Catania Teatro Massimo Bellini Orchestra; Hungarian State Opera Orchestra; Ireland National Symphony Orchestra; Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra

Artists: Jaume Aragall, Carlo Colombara, Maria Dragoni, Alida Ferrarini, Elena Filipova, Maurizio Frusoni, Miriam Gauci, Marcello Giordani, Thomas Harper, Cesar Hernandez, Kristjan Johannson, Monika Krause, Daniela Longhi, Marina Mescheriakova, Yordy Ramiro, Gloria Scalchi, Roberto Servile, Georg Tichy, Domenico Trimarchi, Eduard Tumagian, Marian Vach.

Key Facts:
Label: NAXOS
Duration: 77:44 + 76:40
You can buy it here

REVIEWS
“Impressive, steady and sonorous is, on the other hand, Carlo Colombara, whose Tuba mirum from Requiem (CD2 tr.2) recalls Ezio Pinza”.
Göran Forsling, Music Web