This recording brings together twenty of the finest arias for baritone from some of the world’s most popular operas. The earliest are drawn from the three operas that Mozart set to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte. In addition there is Papageno’s aria from The Magic Flute. From Mozart the recital moves to the nineteenth century and another favourite, Figaro’s dazzling aria from The Barber of Seville. The grand opera arias include some of the finest ever written for the baritone voice, taken from the great operas of Verdi. The sole example of French opera is the Toreador’s Song from Bizet’s immortal opera of love and passion, Carmen. Italian operas after Verdi are represented by two arias from Puccini’s Tosca, and the verismo school of opera, exemplified by Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci.