These live recordings of Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and CosÏ fan tutte are a fine tribute to celebrate 40 years of La Petite Bande. They have released an Anniversary Series to mark the oustanding achievement of this highly regarded Belgium-based ensemble.

Giovanni went on to become a big star in London writing Italian operas but he and his younger brother came from Bologna, known for its famous cellist-composers Vitali, Jacchini and Domenico Gabrieli. These mostly early pieces for cello or gamba demonstrate their aptitude for these instruments while the aria Impar was one of the standard audition pieces of every aspiring soprano during the early 1700s.

Jonas Kaufmann returns to the Italian verismo tradition to sing arias that define opera's most passionate and vulnerable leading men. Kaufmann's international reputation is soaring as, going from strength to strength, he delivers consistently thrilling performances. The onyx-dark beauty of his tone and the refinement and unexpected insights of his delivery mark Jonas Kaufmann a poet of tenors. Timed to coincide with his role debut as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at Covent Garden opposite Angela Gheorghiu, this disc includes excerpts from the Cilea work that helped put Caruso on the map. This album also entices with rarities from Zandonai's dramatic Giulietta e Romeo and Puccini's Le Villi. Supporting Jonas Kaufmann is Italy's leading symphonic orchestra, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, under its dynamic music director Antonio Pappano. Both maestro and orchestra are utterly at home in this repertoire.

The works of Cipriano de Rore (1515/16 – 1565) remained extremely popular until well after his death. Several of his madrigals later appeared in dozens of ornamented versions and continued to do so until the beginning of the 17th century; this was an extraordinary success for the time.