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. Of contemporary composers with whom she worked, undoubtedly the most important relationship was with Benjamin Britten who created numerous roles for her. In 1970 she was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). More honours followed – Dame Commander (DBE) in 1976 and member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 1993. Dame Janet’s command of language was legion. “She was, in all the languages she sang, one of the most thrilling and electrifying of word-singers, one whose command of vowels and consonants most illuminated what word-singing can be and why it matters,” wrote Max Loppert. To celebrate this milestone, 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. Tracklist: REPERTOIRE CD 1 PURCELL Dido and Aeneas [1961] Anthony Lewis CD 2 ARIE AMOROSE (Italian Songs & Arias, arr. & ed. Simon Preston) Neville Marriner CAVALLI La Calisto (excerpts) Raymond Leppard RAMEAU Hippolyte et Aricie (excerpts) Anthony Lewis CD 3 HANDEL La Lucrezia; Arias from Ariodante · Atalanta · Hercules · Joshua · Rodelinda · Serse Raymond Leppard FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA CD 4 J.S. BACH St Matthew Passion BWV 244 (excerpts) Karl Richter Mass in B minor BWV 232 (excerpts) ASMF / Neville Marriner HANDEL Judas Maccabaeus (excerpts) Charles Mackerras NEW COMPILATION CD 5 J.S. BACH Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem BWV 159 Vergnügte Ruh’, beliebte Seelenlust BWV 170 ASMF / Neville Marriner Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben BWV 102 ECO / Benjamin Britten CD 6 VIVALDI Gloria in D RV 589 DURANTE Magnificat a4 in B flat David Willcocks CD 7 HANDEL Ariodante (excerpts) Raymond Leppard MOZART La clemenza di Tito (excerpts); Così fan tutte (excerpts) Colin Davis NEW COMPILATION CD 8 HAYDN Scena di Berenice; Arianna a Naxos MOZART Così fan tutte (excerpts); Abendempfindung; Das Veilchen Raymond Leppard (conductor, fortepiano) FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA CD 9 GLUCK Arias from Alceste · Armide · Iphigénie en Aulide · Iphigénie en Tauride · La Rencontre imprévue · Orfeo ed Euridice · Paride ed Elena Raymond Leppard CD 10 BEETHOVEN Ah perfido!; No, non turbarti; Egmont (excerpts) SCHUBERT Arias from Alfonso und Estrella, Lazarus, Rosamunde; Ständchen (“Zögernd leise”) Raymond Leppard (conductor, piano) FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA CD 11 SCHUBERT Duets Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore CD 12 SCHUBERT Vocal Quartets Elly Ameling, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore CD 13 SCHUBERT Settings of Schiller & Goethe Graham Johnson FIRST RELEASE ON DECCA (ORIGINAL RELEASE ON HYPERION) CD 14 MAHLER Songs of Youth Geoffrey Parsons FIRST RELEASE ON DECCA (ORIGINAL RELEASE ON HYPERION) CD 15 MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde Bernard Haitink CD 16 BERLIOZ Cléopâtre; Herminie; L’Enfance du Christ (excerpts); Béatrice et Bénédict (excerpt) Colin Davis NEW COMPILATION CD 17 FAURÉ Mélodies, including La Chanson d’Ève Geoffrey Parsons FIRST RELEASE ON DECCA (ORIGINAL RELEASE ON HYPERION) CD 18 RAVEL 3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé; Chansons madécasses CHAUSSON Chanson perpétuelle DELAGE 4 Poèmes hindous Melos Ensemble of London / Bernard Keeffe CD 19 HOLST Sāvitri Imogen Holst BRITTEN Phaedra Steuart Bedford BRITTEN The Rape of Lucretia (excerpts); Owen Wingrave (excerpt) Benjamin Britten EGK La Tentation de Saint Antoine Werner Egk NEW COMPILATION CD 20 TIPPETT A Child of our Time Colin Davis CD 21 PURCELL Dido and Aeneas [1977] Steuart Bedford
