Donizetti - Rossini - Verdi: Rarities

In 1967 and 1969, en route to becoming the leading soprano of the 1970s, Montserrat Caballé recorded a trio of "rarity" discs for RCA, each concentrating on a single composer--Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi--and focused on relatively little-known scenes and arias from similarly obscure operas. Thanks in part to Caballé's stage performances and recordings, the bel canto revival has rescued many of those works from the shadows, but they have not been better sung than by the great Spanish soprano, possessor of perhaps the most beautiful soprano voice of the 20th century. She's at her best here, singing with the fire that sometimes seemed to elude her, flaunting her ravishing pianissimos, and never breaking a sweat or taking an untoward breath as she tosses off difficult coloratura passages with ease. The Rossini set dips into five operas and the "Inflammatus" from his Stabat mater. Donizetti is represented by four operas, but entire scenes are offered, putting the arias in proper conte