Puccini: La Boheme / Nagano, Te Kanawa, Leech, Ambrosian Singers, LSO. Composer: Giacomo Puccini, Performer: Alan Ewing, Richard Leech, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Carlos Chausson, Conductor: Kent Nagano Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, St. Clement Danes Nearly a century after it's premiere in Turin in February 1896 we have a fresh and vibrant new recording of this opera - one of the best known and probably most loved in Puccini's output. Nagano is well able to delineate Puccini's large musical canvas, sweeping the colors of the orchestral scoring and the glorious vocal lines onwards and upwards with an intoxicating, rumbustious swagger. If Te Kanawa had made a recording of this role around the time she sang it at Covent Garden in 1976 (with Pavarotti as Rodolfo) or in the subsequent revival in 1979, it would have made for a fascinating comparison. Amazingly, this is her first recording of Mim� and she has successfully managed to integrate her mature, lustrous sound with the poignant vulnerability and gradually ebbing strength of Mim� to remarkable effect. It is a hauntingly convincing performance. Leech provides an excellent shaping of Rodolfo with a rich, passionate tone. Titus (Marcello) and Gustafson (Musetta) are as finely characterized and vividly sung as one could hope and all the ensemble interplays, especially in Acts III and IV, have a fresh and dynamic intensity.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

PUCCINI: LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST

Classical Music

Fans of Toscanini's 1946 recording of Puccini's La Bohème will be happy to know that its best sounding "official" CD incarnation, released in 1991 via RCA's Toscanini Edition, is back in print, thanks to Arkivmusic.com's on-demand reissue program. Toscanini conducted the opera's 1896 premiere, and this performance conveys all of the edge-of-seat excitement of a first performance. Sure, tempos sometimes are fast to the point of discomfort, yet under Toscanini's watch the music-making is so impassioned, so disciplined, so thoroughly integrated in terms of vocalism, dramatic impact, and orchestral character, and so faithful regarding the composer's intentions that you can't help but respect the outcome.

Numerous passages catch my ear anew: the unwritten yet painstakingly-judged rubato in the middle section of Musetta's waltz, framing Anne McKnight's small but pretty voice; the textural clarity of Act 2's most complex goings on; the hushed, hauntingly sustained character the conductor evokes at the top of Act 3; Nicola Moscona's tender parlando phrasing in his Act 4 aria "Vecchia zimarra"; Francesco Valentino's warm, playful Marcello; and the full-voiced, red-blooded interaction between Jan Peerce and Licia Albanese, the opera's protagonists. And who can't help but smile when Toscanini vocalizes along with them during "O soave fanciulla"? Full libretto and translations plus informative notes by Toscanini biographer Harvey Sachs round out a release that every Bohème lover should know.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Recorded 1952-1956)

Puccini: Turandot (Recorded 1955)

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

Also available on standard DVD

Andrei Serban’s spectacular and thrilling 1984 production of Puccini’s final and grandest opera has long been a classic at the Royal Opera House. First filmed for BBC TV in the 80s, this new recording – of its 15th revival – is in stunning HD and makes this famous production available for the first time on DVD and Bluray. The release will rightfully take its place alongside the outstanding Royal Opera Puccini DVDs of La bohème, Tosca (on EMI) and Il Trittico. American Lise Lindstrom is one of the very few contemporary Turandots who can genuinely sing this “killer” role, and is supported by a touching Liù from Japanese soprano Eri Nakamura and an unashamedly Italianite Calaf from Marco Berti. The young Hungarian conductor Henrik Nánási directs the large orchestra and all-important chorus. Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, September 2013. Giacomo Puccini
TURANDOT
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Turandot – Lise Lindstrom
Calaf – Marco Berti
Liu – Eri Nakamura
Ping – Dionysios Sourbis
Pong – Doug Jones
Pang – David Butt Philip
Altoum – Alasdair Elliott
Timur – Raymond Aceto

Royal Opera House Chorus
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Henrik Nánási, conductor

Andrei Serban, stage director

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, September 2013

Bonus:
- Turandot – an introduction
- Behind the Masks
- Cast gallery

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Korean
Running time: 125 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (Blu-ray)

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

Also available on standard DVD

Giacomo Puccini
LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST

Minnie – Eva-Maria Westbroek
Jack Rance – Lucio Gallo
Dick Johnson – Zoran Todorovich
Nick – Roman Sadnik
Ashby – Diogenes Randes
Sonora – Stephen Gadd
Billy Jackrabbit – Tijl Faveyts
Wowkle – Ellen Rabiner
Jake Wallace – André Morsch
José Castro – Roger Smeets

Netherlands Opera Chorus
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
Carlo Rizzi, conductor

Nikolaus Lehnhoff, stage director

Recorded live at The Amsterdam Music Theater, November and December 2009.

Bonus:
- Cast gallery
- Documentary on Eva-Maria Westbroek

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: LPCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch
Running time: 160 mins
No. of Discs: 1

Review of a prior CD issue of this recording:

Both Scotto and Domingo, and Scotto especially, sing with real conviction and affection, and to have Tito Gobbi, no less, so obviously relishing the preposterous text of his spoken role is a considerable bonus. In all the score's more interesting passages Maazel too makes it clear that this score has as much of accomplishment to it as promise.

– Gramophone

After years of singing Giacomo Puccini's heroes on stage to vast critical and audience acclaim, "the world's greatest tenor"(The Daily Telegraph), Jonas Kaufmann, finally records an album entirely devoted to the world's most-loved opera composer. The 2015 album, Nessun dorma is a selection of Puccini's stupendous tenor arias drawn from his greatest opera's including Tosca, Manon Lescaut, La Boh�me, Madame Butterfly and La fanciulla del West. Spanning the breadth of Puccini's output from the early operas Le Villi and Edgar, the album culminates in the mighty aria "Nessun dorma" from his final opera Turandot. Jonas Kaufmann is joined on this album by Maestro Antonio Pappano, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and soprano Kristine Opolais. Munich-born singer, Jonas Kaufmann, is without a doubt at the absolute top echelon of the operatic world. He is in extreme demand with the world's most influential conductors, selling out opera houses and concert venues months in advance wherever he performs.

MADAMA BUTTERFLY

Puccini: La fanciulla del West

Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Recorded 1962)

Puccini: Tosca, S. 69 (Recorded 1957)