Released to celebrate Dame Kiri Te Kanawa’s 80th birthday, this set features her complete recital recordings for Decca and Philips, filled out with excerpts from the large number of complete recordings of sacred music and opera she made for these labels as well as Deutsche Grammophon. An interpreter of distinction in both Mozart and Richard Strauss, her operatic vocabulary stretched to the verismo of Puccini and Verdi, the great operas of Richard Strauss, and back through Johann Strauss II, as well as a star-studded recording of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera.Accompanied by Jeffrey Tate, Kiri’s warm and full timbre beautifully conveyed the essence of Canteloube’s folk songs, almost suggesting that they were written for her, on two discs of Songs of the Auvergne; and with pianist Roger Vignoles she offers a recital of music from Purcell to Obradors. Taking in three sacred music miscellanies – with the St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and a third offering excerpts from sacred music recordings she made over her career (St. Matthew Passion, Messiah, the Requiems of Fauré and Brahms), this anthology extends to the lighter side of Dame Kiri’s repertoire with collaborators Nelson Riddle and André Previn, and ends with a celebration of Christmas.