Decca Releases Cecilia Bartoli's Sospiri 11/2

Last year Cecilia Bartoli released Sacrificium which immediately topped charts around the world (#1 debut on Billboard's Classical Chart, platinum in France, Belgium and the Netherlands and gold in Switzerland) and became her fast-selling album ever. This year, Decca pays tribute to the mezzo's art with Sospiri, a 2-CD collection of her most beautiful recordings including two never-before-released tracks. Presented in deluxe packaging, this truly collectible edition will be released on November 2, 2010.

Cecilia Bartoli is loved the world over for vocal fireworks and spectacular coloratura, but she is also adored for her spine-tingling pianissimi and her ability to shape endless, velvety phrases. It is this softer, more sensual side to her singing that Decca celebrates with the release of Sospiri. Bartoli's remarkable technical ability and breath control are put on display to dazzling effect with selections that span from Handel and Vivaldi through Rossini and Bellini to Fauré and Duruflé.

For fans of Cecilia Bartoli there is the added bonus of a new interpretation of Rosina's aria Una voce poco fa from IL Barbiere di Siviglia. This aria of young love has been a calling-card for Bartoli since her professional debut and she infuses this new interpretation with all her knowledge of the baroque and classical tradition on which Rossini's music was founded, her experience of period practice and critical reading of manuscripts together with a playfulness and variety of colors which she has acquired over the years. In addition, Sospiri includes the previously unreleased aria and world-premiere recording of Vinci's Cervo in bosco, one of Farinelli's most often performed arias.

This collection also includes such popular duets as Mozart's Là ci darem la mano with Bryn Terfel and Mascagni's Tutto tace (Cherry duet) with Luciano Pavarotti and also a very original one with Maxim Vengerov: Mendelssohn's Ah, ritorna, an excerpt from the rarely performed concert aria Infelice!

This invaluable collection of arias and songs features one of the world's greatest artists in her most acclaimed and breath-taking recordings. For more than two decades, Cecilia Bartoli has undeniably been one of the leading artists in the field of classical music. Around the world, her new operatic roles, her concert programs and recording projects - in exclusivity with Decca - are anticipated with great eagerness and curiosity. The exceptional amount of 8 million CDs sold worldwide, more than 100 weeks ranking in the international pop charts, numerous Golden Discs, four Grammys® (USA), nine Echos and a Bambi (Germany), two Classical Brit Awards (UK), the Victoire de la musique (France) and many other prestigious awards reflect the immense success of for example Opera proibita and her solo albums dedicated to Vivaldi, Gluck and Salieri and that she is firmly established as today's "bestselling classical artist".

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