Domingo

In 1994, the same Metropolitan Opera put two contrasting pieces of the verismo puzzle side by side—the belated verismo of Puccini’s Il Tabarro and the classic verismo of Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, which had reached the stage some twenty-six years earlier.

In an astonishingly long career, including 40 seasons with the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Domingo said that he can not see himself retiring the way many star singers do: by announcing a farewell tour and going from company to company, city to city, accepting tributes and taking his leave. "Rather," he said, "I think it will be one evening, after a performance, to say, 'That's it.' "

Domingo, Sutherland, Bacquier and Tourangeau star in this lively and very French recording of "Hoffmann". Richard Bonynge, the conductor, follows what he considered at the time to be the most "Offenbach-ish" version of the opera, one in which a little new music is added, other music is cleaned up, other music left alone and the recitatives cut out all together. The cast is entirely French except for Domingo and Sutherland, so it is a delightful experience to hear Frenchies speak French in true Opera-Comique style.
- By "bellavoce"-

"The Three Tenors were Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and José Carreras, arguably the three most popular male vocalists in contemporary opera. With each the subject of considerable success and acclaim as a solo performer, their occasional collaborations as the Three Tenors were guaranteed media events, selling out stadiums and even reaching the upper rungs of the pop charts with their albums and live concert videos."

Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

This gripping and visually stunning film has been universally hailed as one of the most satisfying of all versions of opera on celluloid. Director Gianfranco de Bosio has given an extraordinary dimension of realism to this story of love, deception and murder by shooting it all in the original Roman location. Using diverse cinematic tricks and imaginative camerawork, this opera film is much more a visual interpretation of Puccini’s music than a theatre piece filmed in original settings.

This is an auspicious beginning to what one hopes will be a series of recordings of French opera made with the forces of the Bastille under Chung. Without doubt this is the most subtly and expertly conducted performance of this work to appear on CD, excellent as others have been in this respect, and also the best played and sung. Chung's achievement is to have welded the elements of pagan ruthlessness, erotic stimulation and Wagnerian harmony that comprise Saint-Saens's masterpiece into a convincing whole.