Dame Janet Baker: The Great EMI Recordings

After having established her reputation for all time by singing 'The Angel' in Elgar's Dream of Gerontius with Sir John Barbirolli in 1964, Dame Janet Baker became the mezzo-soprano of choice for numerous conductors, bringing to each performance her incisive musicality, clear diction and natural warmth of tone that endeared her to audiences all over the world. Her range was enormous - from Monteverdi through to 20th century composers, particularly Britten.

EMI is fortunate that it was able to capture so much of her unimpeachable artistic legacy and, although many classic recordings have been available on CD before, nearly 25% of the collection is new to this medium including her Monteverdi and Scarlatti with Leppard, two concerts of duets with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and many of her recordings of English and French songs. Indeed this collection is a fitting tribute to a remarkable talent who will shortly celebrate her 80th birthday.