CD review

Sony’s label Masterworks Broadway has issued a 2-CD set, “Essential Sondheim,” in honor of Stephen Sondheim’s 86th birthday.

The new album “Love Duets” (on Warner Classics) is not one of those combinations put together by a record company. The two American singers, soprano Ailyn Pérez and tenor Stephen Costello, are in fact married.

Jarmila Novotná (1907–1994) was an opera star for 30 years, but she may be best known today for her non-singing roles in two Hollywood films.

Often when multiple operas are based on the same source, one survives and another is forgotten.