TRACKLISTING
CD 1
Arie amorose
1 Giuseppe Giordani (1753-1798)
Caro mio ben
2 Giulio Caccini (1545-1618)
Amarilli mia bella
3 Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682)
Region sempre addita
4 Domenico Natale Sarri (1679-1744)
Sen corre l’agnelletta
5 Antonio Cesti (1623-1669)
Intorno all’idol mio
6 Antonio Lotti (1667-1740)
Pur dicesti, o bocca bella
7 Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Spesso vibra per suo gioco
8 Antonio Caldara (1670-1736)
Come raggio di sol
9 Alessandro Scarlatti
Già il sole dal Gange
10 Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1745)
Deh più a me non v’ascondete
11 Francesco Durante (1684-1755)
Danza fanciulla gentile
12 Alessandro Scarlatti
Sento nel core
Antonio Caldara
13 Sebben crudele me fai languir
14 Selve amiche
15 Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)
Ogni pena più spietata
16 Giovanni Martini (1741-1816)
Plaisir d’amour
17 Niccoló Piccini (1728-1800)
O notte o dea del mistero
18 Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816)
Ne cor più non mi sento
Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676)
La Calisto
19 Ardo, sospiro e piango
20 Ascender qui ved’io

CD 2
Handel, J S Bach & Purcell
Handel
Lucrezia
1 O numi eterni!
2 Già superbo del mio affanno
3 Ma voi forse nel cielo
4 Il suol che preme
5 Ah! Che ancor nell’abisso
6 Questi la disperata anima
7 A voi, a voi, padre, consorte
8 Già nel seno comincia compir
9 Sento ch’il cor
Rodelinda
10 Pompe vane di morte! – Dove sei, amato bene?
Serse
11 Frondi tenere e belle – Ombra mai fù
Hercules
12 Where shall I fly!
Atalanta
13 Care selve
Joshua
14 O had I Jubal’s lyre
Ariodante
15 Oh! Felice mio core! – Con l’ali di constanza
16 E vivo ancora? – Scherza infida in grembo al drudo
17 Dopo notte
J S Bach
18 Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte seelenlust — Aria
(Cantata BWV 170)
Purcell
Dido and Aeneas
19 But death, alas! … When I am laid in earth …With drooping wings

CD 3
Haydn, Mozart, Schubert & Beethoven
Haydn
1 Arianna a Naxos — Cantata
2 Berenice che fai?
Mozart
La clemenza di Tito
3 Deh se piacer mi vuoi … Chi ciecammente crede
4 Non piu di fiori … Infelice! Qual orrore!
Cosi fan tutte
5 Ah! Scostati! … Smanie implacabili
Schubert
6 Ständchen, D920
7 Lazarus, der Feier der Auferstehung, D689 — So schlummert auf Rosen
Beethoven
8 Ah perfido!, op.65

CD 4
Rameau, Gluck & Berlioz
Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie
1 Cruelle mère des amours
2 Quelle plainte en ces lieux m’appelle?
Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice
3 Che faro senza Euridice
4 Che puro ciel
Gluck: Alceste
5 Divinités du Styx
Berlioz: Cléopâtre
6 C’en est donc fait!
7 Ah! Qu’ils sont loin
8 Méditation: Grands Pharaons
9 Non! … non, de vos demeures funèbres
10 Dieux du Nil
Berlioz: Herminie
11 Recit: Quel trouble te poursuit
12 Air: Ah! Si de la tendrese
13 Recit: Que dis-je?
14 Air: Arrête! Arrête! Cher Tancrède
15 Que Clorinde est heureuse!
16 Air: Venez, venez, terribles armes!
17 Prière: Dieu des chrétiens!
18 Venez, venez, terribles armes!
Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict
19 Non! Que viens-je d’entendre? … Il m’en souvient …Je l’aime donc?

CD 5
Ravel, Chausson, Delage & Britten
Ravel: Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé
1 Soupir
2 Placet futile
3 Surgi de la croupe et du bond
Ravel: Chansons madécasses
4 Nahandove
5 Aoua! Aoua! Méfiez-vous des blancs
6 Il est doux de se coucher durant la chaleur
7 Chausson: Chanson perpétuelle, op.37
Delage: Quatres poèmes hindous
8 Une Belle (Madras)
9 Un sapin isolé (Lahore)
10 Naissance de Bouddha (Bénarès)
11 Si vous penzes à elle (Jeypur)
Britten: The Rape of Lucretia, op.37
12 Lucretia! Lucretia! …
13 Last night Tarquinius ravished me
Britten: Owen Wingrave, op.85
14 Ah, Owen, what shall I do?
Britten: Phaedra, op.93
15 In May, in brilliant Athens
16 Oh Gods of wrath
17 My time’s too short, your highness

Dame Janet Baker, one of Britain's most celebrated mezzo-sopranos, celebrated her 70th birthday on 21 August 2003.

This 5 CD box set is a tribute to her prolific operatic career and her international reputation which still remains strong today.The set is a comprehensive survey of Dame Janet’s work for Decca/Philips with repertory ranging from early Italian songs through to selections from Benjamin Britten. Recordings range from 1961 (with Dido's Lament from the classic recording of Dido and Aeneas with Sir Anthony Lewis) to 1979 with her equally acclaimed recordings of Berlioz: Herminie and Cléopâtre with Sir Colin Davis.

Dame Janet (she was made a DBE in 1976) started her singing studies with Helen Isepp in 1953. Only three years later she won second prize in the Kathleen Ferrier awards and made her professional debut; three years later, in 1959, she sang in the Handel Opera Group's production of Rodelinda. She quickly established herself as a regular of the Glyndebourne Festival and a member of Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group as well as making her mark as a singer of songs and oratorio.

Her career was on an international scale and she became a particular favourite with audiences in the UK and the USA (where she toured every year from 1966 until she retired from the operatic stage in 1982).