This selection includes a commentary on and analysis of this work,
written by Thomson Smillie and performed by David Timson.

The Paris of love and art. A poet, a painter, a musician and a philosopher living hand to mouth in a freezing garret. Christmas cheer and a heart won by the girl next door. The tragedies of love and poverty. Puccini’s best-loved opera is touching, comic, realistic and romantic, true for any time in which deep bonds can flower in the face of adversity. Experience the power of Puccini's sublime score in this new concert performance by Irish National Opera, featuring celebrated Irish sopranos Celine Byrne and Anna Devin, in the roles of Mimì and Musetta.

Classical Music

Also available on Blu-ray

Royal Opera productions present three of Giacomo Puccini’s greatest operas. John Copley’s iconic La bohème brings the Paris of the 1830s to life in vivid detail; Jonathan Kent’s atmospheric and naturalistic Tosca evokes the turbulence of Rome in 1800; and Andrei Serban’s visually stunning Turandot is a glorious tribute to Puccini’s last and grandest creation. Featuring a host of international opera stars, this collection is brimming with the drama and sumptuous music that have made Puccini one of the world’s most popular opera composers. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true Surround Sound. ‘‘Lise Lindstrom is pretty much the ideal Ice Princess.’’ (BBC Music Magazine - Turandot) ‘‘Andris Nelsons conducts a well-paced performance.’’ (Gramophone - La bohème)

PUCCINI
(3-DVD Box Set)
LA BOHÈME

Rodolfo - Teodor Ilincai
Mimì - Hibla Gerzmava
Marcello - Gabriele Viviani
Musetta - Inna Dukach
Colline - Kostas Smoriginas
Schaunard - Jacques Imbrailo
Benoît - Jeremy White
Alcindoro - Donald Maxwell

Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Renato Balsadonna)
Andris Nelsons, conductor

John Copley, stage director

TOSCA

Floria Tosca - Angela Gheorghiu
Mario Cavaradossi - Jonas Kaufmann
Baron Scarpia - Bryn Terfel
Cesare Angelotti - Lukas Jakobski
Sacristan - Jeremy White
Spoletta - Hubert Francis
Sciarrone - Zhengzhong Zhou
Shepherd Boy - William Payne
Gaoler - John Morrissey

Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Renato Balsadonna)
Antonio Pappano, conductor
Jonathan Kent, stage director

TURANDOT

Princess Turandot - Lise Lindstrom
The Unknown Prince / Calaf - Marco Berti
Liù - Eri Nakamura
Timur - Raymond Aceto
Ping - Dionysios Sourbis
Pang - David Butt Philip
Pong - Doug Jones
Emperor Altoum - Alasdair Elliott
Mandarin - Michel de Souza

Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Renato Balsadonna)
Henrik Nánási, conductor

Andrei Serban, stage director

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, December 2009 (La Bohème), 2013 (Tosca) and September 2013 (Turandot)

Bonus:
- Interviews with John Copley and Andris Nelsons (La Bohème)
- Cast gallery (La Bohème and Turandot)
- Introductions presented by Antonio Pappano (Tosca and Turandot)
- Documentary: Behind the Masks (Turandot)

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LCPM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian (La Bohème) / + Japanese (Tosca) / + Korean (Turandot)
Running time: 6 hrs 6 mins (opera) + 20 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 3 (DVD 9)

Also available on Blu-ray

This production is new staging of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Il Tabarro is one of the three one-act operas that compose Giacomo Puccini’s Il Trittico. Michele is married to young Giorgetta and shares with her a life full of hardships on a barge over the river Seine. She is in love with Luigi, a young longshoreman hired by her husband during the loading of the barge. When Michele overhears his wife giving a rendezvous to Luigi by night, he waits for the man and attacks him, forces him to admit he is his wife's lover and finally strangles him. Then he hides the body under his cloak, (il tabarro) and when Giorgetta, in mortal fear, comes on deck and asks Michele if he does not wish her to come and rest near him under his cloak, her wronged husband throws it open and Giorgetta discovers in horror her dead lover’s body rolling at her feet. The element of Didier Gold’s Houppelande that most attracted Puccini was the opportunity to represent, in music, a river, which is what acts as a backdrop in this plot and determines its pace. The importance of this atmosphere is enormous, because it is linked to the mise en scene more tightly than usual. The action entirely takes place on a barge over the Seine in Paris, which is placed in the centre of the scene. The music describing the river uses a cyclic repetition of ostinato patterns, representing the monotonous flowing of the water, as inexorable as destiny and as regular as the flow of time. The pulse of the river cyclically marks, in the first part of Tabarro, the life of this world of vanquished: longshoremen and boatmen. But even when it disappears, the musical identity between drama and location does not cease to exist.

Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca is one of the most dramatic thrillers in the history of opera. In the revived, legendary historic staging of Margarethe Wallmann, Piotr Beczala (“one of the extraordinary singers of our time”, Der Standard) celebrated his acclaimed role debut as Cavaradossi and is “overwhelming” (Wiener Zeitung). At his side is Karine Babajanyan as Primadonna Floria Tosca, making her house debut at the Vienna State Opera and Carlos Álvarez, whose “Scarpia is an ambassador of evil like no other.” (Wiener Zeitung) - a performance of unique and lasting quality!

This two-disc set documents the revival of Peter Gelb's inaugural production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, telecast in Times Square and in the plaza at Lincoln Center to the delight of thousands when it was brand new in 2006. It is exquisitely designed by Michael Levine and directed by the late film auteur Anthony Minghella. Since the director's death, his widow and the show's choreographer, Carolyn Choa, has been responsible for the stunning, evocative action. This performance was filmed in high-definition in March 2009.

Highly stylized and in bold, brilliant colors, our first visual is of a young Japanese woman approaching from the rear or the stage, trailing twenty-foot-long red scarves from her kimono; a sloping mirror rises from the rear of the stage multiplying the image and turning it into a kaleidoscopic event. Figures in black wearing veils — a repeated image throughout — circle her and wrap her in fabric. Only then does Puccini's music begin. The entire experience is practically tactile, and the rest of the production follows suit. Han Feng's costumes constantly surprise and please and Peter Mumford's lighting, making the most of the mirror that appears and disappears throughout, adds to the all-consuming physical enchantment. Butterfly enters wearing white against a sky of brilliant blue; her love duet with Pinkerton takes place amidst dozens of white lanterns and their reflections; later, curtains of flower petals fall from the sky. The stage is almost invariably empty of props; color and action take their place and we can focus on the singers. Minghella has minimized the singers' actions as well; there is no over-emoting. The sad story is allowed to speak for itself.

But Minghella's true coup-de-théâtre begins in the second act, when Butterfly, in her confrontation with Sharpless, shows him the child she has borne Pinkerton. The boy is played by a Bunraku puppet, operated by three veiled men in black. Yes, it startles and amuses at first, but as the opera continues we grow accustomed to it. The puppet is so effortlessly manipulated that even if our disbelief is never truly suspended, we are captivated by how real he seems and how touchingly Butterfly relates to him — and him to her. Look carefully at the face and you'll realize that it is emotionless; take a longer view and you'll feel that he's real. In the interlude before the last scene, a puppet Butterfly and male dancer enact the couple's upcoming tragic meeting. It is performed while the actual cast sits perfectly still; the effect is enchanting and troubling at once.

Patricia Racette's Butterfly is magnificent. Her full-bodied voice is imbued with a warm vibrato and her phrasing is natural and sharply musical. But just as crucially, she listens and reacts like a young girl and her movements are economical; her face registers her inner feelings — a remarkable portrayal. Marcello Giordani sings and plays Pinkerton with handsome tone and intelligence; his early swagger is offset by the realization of what he's done in the final scene. Dwayne Croft's Sharpless is sympathetic and Maria Zifchak's Suzuki is grandly sung and well-acted: her silent reaction to Cio-Cio-San's conversion to Christianity speaks volumes. Patrick Summers leads with intensity and great understanding.

Both sound and picture are splendid, as is Gary Halvorson's direction for the screen.

– Robert Levine, Listen [Spring 2011]

"In every dimension Ms. Racette’s effort was exceptional; hers is a performance not to be missed." – The New York Times

"Anthony Minghella’s sumptuous production of Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini’s heartbreaking tale of love and betrayal, offers viewers a rare visual treat...Minghella, who died unexpectedly in March 2008, marks his debut in opera with the re-staging of Madama Butterfly – this is also the first time in 20 years that a new production has opened at the Met. The New York Times described it as “a gorgeous cinematic spectacle.”...Madama Butterfly, conducted by Patrick Summers, features costumes by Han Feng, with sets by Michael Levine, lighting by Peter Mumford, choreography by Carolyn Choa, and puppetry by the Blind Summit Theater." – PBS.org

Patricia Racette as Cio-Cio-San, Marcello Giordani as American Navy Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton, Maria Zifchak as Suzuki and Dwayne Croft as Sharpless. Patrick Summers conducts the Metropolitan Opera and Chorus.

Region 0 - All Regions

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

This production is new staging of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Il Tabarro is one of the three one-act operas that compose Giacomo Puccini’s Il Trittico. Michele is married to young Giorgetta and shares with her a life full of hardships on a barge over the river Seine. She is in love with Luigi, a young longshoreman hired by her husband during the loading of the barge. When Michele overhears his wife giving a rendezvous to Luigi by night, he waits for the man and attacks him, forces him to admit he is his wife's lover and finally strangles him. Then he hides the body under his cloak, (il tabarro) and when Giorgetta, in mortal fear, comes on deck and asks Michele if he does not wish her to come and rest near him under his cloak, her wronged husband throws it open and Giorgetta discovers in horror her dead lover’s body rolling at her feet. The element of Didier Gold’s Houppelande that most attracted Puccini was the opportunity to represent, in music, a river, which is what acts as a backdrop in this plot and determines its pace. The importance of this atmosphere is enormous, because it is linked to the mise en scene more tightly than usual. The action entirely takes place on a barge over the Seine in Paris, which is placed in the centre of the scene. The music describing the river uses a cyclic repetition of ostinato patterns, representing the monotonous flowing of the water, as inexorable as destiny and as regular as the flow of time. The pulse of the river cyclically marks, in the first part of Tabarro, the life of this world of vanquished: longshoremen and boatmen. But even when it disappears, the musical identity between drama and location does not cease to exist.

Listen to the Naxos Podcast to learn more about this release

Through Puccini represents the late-Romantic apex of the Italian operatic tradition, his songs are much less well known and, in their pared simplicity and emotional restraint, could hardly be more different from his stage works. The nineteen complete songs for soprano (two in duet with a mezzo) and piano cover themes typical of lyric poetry including life, death, personal resolution, love, nature, home and religious faith. There are also rare salon pieces and examples of Puccini's secular juvenilia, written between 1875 and 1880.

Also available on Blu-ray

Giacomo Puccini wrote what was supposed to be his last opera at a time where, riddled with disease and old age as he was, he felt like his own turmoil was reflected in the outside world: itself staggering, unsteady, overwhelmed and smashed by the chaos of European diplomacy. In spite of these obstacles, he persevered and worked until the very end of his life on this opera that he left unfinished but that proved to be a “way out” for him in many ways. Drawn from an ancient Persian epic from the 13th century, Turandot was indeed an excuse to escape into a new dramatic universe, one made of unexpected sounds and symbols. Here, in a world removed both geographically and chronologically from his own reality, he gave into the seductive powers of exoticism and eroticism, just as his own heroin Princess Turandot abandons herself to the mysteries of love and forgiveness. After twenty years of absence, Puccini’s Turandot was revived on the stage of the Teatro Real in a new production by American stage director Robert Wilson. One of the most important theatre and visual artist of our times, the director who gave life to Philip Glass’s Einstein of the Beach and who reinvented Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande hadn’t worked on a Puccini opera in twenty-five years, since his ground-breaking Madama Butterfly commissioned by the Paris Opera in 1993. This new encounter between his powerful visual universe and Puccini’s evocative music was bound to be an outstanding event. Carried out by a brilliant cast of singers, dominated by Irene Theorin as Turandot, Gregory Kunde as Calaf and Yolanda Auyanet as Liù, this magnificent production is conducted by the Teatro Real’s associate musical director Nicola Luisotti - and has been met with universal acclaim.

Also available on Blu-ray

Premiered in 1900 with huge success, Puccini’s “melodramma” Tosca is a political thriller with a heart-breaking love story. With his gripping opening scene, stage director Michael Sturminger sets the tone for a cinematic, richly detailed Tosca which is set in the Mafiosi world of modern day Rome and which is “the perfect thriller … reminiscent of Scorsese’s ‘Goodfellas’” (Kleine Zeitung), a “film noir” (FAZ). In this production soprano Anja Harteros is “a phenomenal Tosca!” (Kurier), “unparalleled in the world” (Der Standard) and Aleksandrs Antonenko is “a Cavaradossi of superlatives” (Kieler Nachrichten). The Staatskapelle Dresden under Christian Thielemann „show again that he is not only a master of German repertoire but also strikes the right note in Italian repertoire.“ (Focus)

This performance is also available on RCA Victor Red Seal 6160.

Lawrence Foster conducts Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West (1910), together with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Cluj-Napoca and a cast of seasoned Puccini singers, including Melody Moore (Minnie), Marius Vlad (Dick Johnson) and Lester Lynch (Jack Rance). Puccini’s “Spaghetti Western” is not only an exploration of the New World, with the delightfully charismatic saloon owner Minnie running the show, but equally of new music; a pioneering work full of harmonic innovation and state-of-the-art orchestration effects. The depth of the orchestration, as well as of the various ensemble scenes that are characteristic of the opera, fully comes to life in this studio recording. Lawrence Foster has a vast PENTATONE discography, including operettas and operas such as Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (2018) and Der Zigeunerbaron (2016), as well as Verdi’s Otello (2017). The latter album features Melody Moore and Lester Lynch, who have also starred in recordings of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Puccini’s Il Tabarro (both 2020). Marius Vlad and the Transylvania State Philharmonic and Choir, Cluj Navoca make their PENTATONE debut.

After having recorded La Fanciulla del West, conductor Lawrence Foster now expands his Puccini discography on PENTATONE with Madama Butterfly, together with the Coro & Orquestra Gulbenkian, as well as Elisabeth Kulman (Suzuki), Stefano Secco (Pinkerton), Lester Lynch (Sharpless) and Melody Moore (Cio-Cio-San) in the title role. Despite its disastrous premiere, Madama Butterfly has become one of Puccini’s most successful and popular operas. While the Japanese ambience often captures the attention, the original dramatic conception and exceptional symphonic qualities of the work are often overlooked. Lawrence Foster’s interpretation brings out the symphonic character of the opera, while Melody Moore’s charismatic interpretation of the title role fully realizes the work’s tragic and dramatic potential. Lawrence Foster has a vast PENTATONE discography, including operettas and operas such as Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (2018) and Der Zigeunerbaron (2016), as well as Verdi’s Otello (2017) and Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West (2020). The latter album features Melody Moore and Lester Lynch, who have also starred in recordings of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Puccini’s Il Tabarro (both 2020), whereas Elisabeth Kulman starred in Die Fledermaus. The Coro & Orquestra Gulbenkian have a substantial PENTATONE discography together with Lawrence Foster, while Stefano Secco makes his PENTATONE debut.

After their acclaimed Cavalleria rusticana recording, Marek Janowski and the Dresdner Philharmonie now present Puccini’s Il Tabarro. Puccini composed this piece as the first panel of his Trittico (1918), a novel work combining three one-act operas, and also containing Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi. The explosive story about illicit love and revenge on the banks of the Seine recalls the Verismo of Mascagni’s Cavalleria. Beneath the Verismo surface, however, Il Tabarro is a highly modern piece, full of Impressionist harmonies, allusions to Stravinsky and dramatically significant self-borrowings. In this recording, Janowski and the orchestra particularly showcase the symphonic quality of Puccini’s music. They are supported by an outstanding cast of soloists, including Melody Moore as Giorgetta, Brian Jagde as Luigi and Lester Lynch as Michele, as well as the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir. Marek Janowski is one of the most celebrated conductors of our times, and enjoys a vast PENTATONE discography including a recent recording of Weber’s Der Freischütz (2019) with the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir. This is the second PENTATONE release of the Dresdner Philharmonie with Janowski, after Cavalleria rusticana (2020), which also featured the same three main soloists. Melody Moore and Lester Lynch both have participated in several PENTATONE recordings, including Verdi’s Otello (2017).