Unofficial Live Recordings on Commercial CDs
Before streaming music became the norm, a number of companies (mostly from Italy and other European countries) issued CDs of live performances by Sills. These were not sanctioned or licensed but were usually issued based on the shorter copyright laws in those countries. They usually had good-to-great sound and represented many of Sills’ best performances. These were made with commercial grade CDs, booklets and cases, and were sold in CD stores. They are now all out-of-print but often can be found on Amazon, eBay, and other online CD sellers, as well as in second-hand CD stores. Below are the known CD sets issued in this manner (there are online-only companies that sell digital downloads and/or on-demand CDs of these same performances, which will be listed in a separate menu choice).
Bellini:
I Puritani – January 18, 1972 – Philadelphia Lyric Opera, Academy of Music
Legato Classics LCD 176-2
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Donizetti:
La Fille du Régiment – Feb. 13, 1970 – American Opera Society, Carnegie Hall
Legato Classics LCD-238 (2 CDs) issued 1998 (note: transferred from private LPs, not original tape, resulting in some clicks and pops on the recording)
Opera D’Oro OPD-1275 issued 2000 (performance year is incorrect on the back cover)
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Lucia di Lammermoor – November 3, 1970 – Philadelphia Lyric Opera, Academy of Music
Giuseppe Di Stefano Records GDS 21040 issued 1991
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Lucia di Lammermoor – June 25, 1972 – Buenos Aires, Teatro Colòn
Arkadia CDMP 474.2 issued 1994
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Lucia di Lammermoor – July 4, 1972 – Buenos Aires, Teatro Colòn
West Hill Radio Archives WHRA-6013 issued 2003
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Lucia di Lammermoor – November 17, 1972 – San Francisco Opera
Golden Melodram GM 5.0072
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Lucia di Lammermoor – August 28, 1974 – New York City Opera, State Theater
On Stage! OS4721
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Lucia di Lammermoor – January 15, 1977 – Metropolitan Opera, New York City
Myto 022.262 issued 2002
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Roberto Devereux – October 24, 1970 – New York City Opera, State Theater
Melodram CDM 270107 issued 1993
Giuseppe Di Stefano Records GDS 21029 issued 1990
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Massenet:
Manon – February 20, 1969 – New York City Opera, State Theater
IMC (Italian Music Company) CDI 205008 issued 1995
Melodram MEL 27058
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Meyerbeer:
Les Huguenots – May 14, 1969 – American Opera Society, Carnegie Hall, New York City
Voce Della Luna VL2016-2
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Rimsky-Korsakov:
Le Coq D’Or – November 9, 1971 – New York City Opera, State Theater
Gala GL 100.740 issued 2003
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Rossini:
L’assedio di Corinto (The Siege of Corinth)
Legato Classics LCD 135-2
Opera D’Oro OPD 1271 issued 2001
Opera D’Oro Grand Tier OPD 7065 issued 2008
Opera D’Oro OPD 1134 issued 1998
NOTE: Opera D’oro first issued this performance as catalog number 1134, in 1997, with the covers shown below, incorrectly identifying the conductor as Carlo Franci.
Notes Opera PGP 21002 issued 1992
Arkadia CDHP 573.2
NOTE: This Arkadia issue mis-dates the recorded performance as April 11, 1969, which was the production’s opening night. All CD versions of this recording are the same RAI radio broadcast of April 14, 1969, the second night of the run.
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Verdi:
La Traviata – January 17, 1970 – Naples, Italy, Teatro San Carlo
Melodram MEL 27063 issued 1989
Opera D’Oro OPD-1263 issued 2000
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Aria Compilations:
Beverly Sills – Opera Arias: Concerts in Paris 1971, Cologne 1968
Arkadia GI 804.1 issued 1994
NOTE: The Paris concert took place on Januay22, 1971 at the Salle Peyel. The Cologne (Köln) concert was not a live broadcast but a recording in the studios of the Cologne Radio Orchestra held over two days (April 9 & 10, 1967). Sills recorded eight arias altogether, to be broadcast at a later date. The Arkadia CD includes only five of the eight. The incorrect date of “May 1968” for the “performance” is likely the date of the delayed broadcast (or possibly even a repeat of an earlier broadcast soon after the recording sessions).
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Beverly Sills: Sillsiana (arias from concerts and fully stage performances between 1966 and 1976)
Gala GL 100.576 (2 CDs) issued 2000
NOTE: The final selection on CD 2 is the delightful and hilarious parody, “Sillsiana,” a six-minute jumble of aria and song snippets created for Sills by Roland Gagnon. It was sung on a program at Hunter College on Oct. 3, 1970, as benefit for the International Piano Library, which had suffered a devastating fire. It also included four of the five arias from the 1967 Cologne recording sessions which are on the Arkadia compliation disc above.