Pavarotti - The Duets

Product Information

The performance for the World Cup closing concert captivated a global audience, and it became the biggest-selling classical record of all time. Pavarotti became even better known throughout the world in 1990 when his rendition of the aria " Nessun dorma" from Giacomo Puccini's Turandot was taken as the theme song of BBC's coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.

His father, Fernando Pavarotti, was a baker and amateur tenor, and his mother, Adele Venturi, worked in a cigar factory. By the early 1970s, Pavarotti’s fame and status as one of the greatest tenors in the world created the demand for the tenor to perform regular concerts and recitals. More evidence that Pavarotti was more than just an opera singer - he could collaborate with maestros of the pop world too and make it work. A nagging, slow melody to begin with soon turns into those incredible soaring highs that we're so used to from this man. Pavarotti's estate has been settled "fairly", a lawyer for Mantovani said in statements after reports of a dispute between her and his three daughters from his first marriage.

O Sole Mio – Favourite Neapolitan Songs 13 songs by Eduardo di Capua: O sole mio Francesco Paolo Tosti: 'A vucchella, Enrico Cannio: O surdato 'nnammurato, it:Salvatore Gambardella: O marenariello, Traditional: Fenesta vascia, Tosti: A Marechiare, Ernesto de Curtis: Torna a Surriento, Gaetano Errico Pennino: Pecchè?

As President of Decca Records Rebecca Allen explains, “These duets are a wonderful reminder of Pavarotti’s humanitarian side. Exclusive to the album are five previously unreleased duets with Barry White, James Brown, Lou Reed, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, and Sting. The orchestra pretended to play for the audience, I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing.

In Decca’s 90th anniversary year the historic label releases Pavarotti: Music From The Motion Picture and Pavarotti: The Greatest Hits continuing his musical legacy and celebrating his extraordinary life. His first appearance as Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 2 June of that year. For the following year, they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming. He was reunited with Mirella Freni for the San Francisco Opera production of La bohème in 1988, also recorded on video. From the beginning of his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy to his final performance of " Nessun dorma" at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Pavarotti was at his best in bel canto operas, pre- Aida Verdi roles, and Puccini works such as La bohème, Tosca, Turandot and Madama Butterfly.