With Volker Reinhold (violin) and Ralph Zedler (pianist)
MDG 903 1819 6 (1 CD)
Reviewer’s evaluation: These arrangements based on various operas were composed by the late Spanish virtuoso violinist Pablo de Saraste. He didn’t always include melodies taken from arias, choruses, or overtures in the order in which they appear in the opera, as he wasn’t interested in the work’s dramaturgy, but in the melodic character of its “components” (my quotation marks). Not surprisingly, Saraste’s Fantasies demand virtuosic skills from the violinist performing them. This is another recording that won’t necessarily appeal to opera lovers, but the material is performed by outstanding artists.