Turandot

Giacomo Puccini - Turandot
Rome Opera Orchestra & Chorus / Leinsdorf
2xSACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 4,62 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 2,31 GB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: RCA Red Seal "Living Stereo" # Living Stereo 82876-82624-2 | Country/Year: US 2006
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Opera

"This Grammy winner, one of the most successful versions of Puccini's final opera, offers Nilsson's first recording of the title character, and Bjoerling's last operatic portrayal on disc, including a heroic, for-the-ages "Nessun dorma". The extraordinary orchestration, befitting a story set in ancient China, benefits from the new DSD remastering."

This 2015 version of Puccini's Turandot has been cannily marketed and has sold well. The marketers had ideal material to work with. Those coming to the opera from the crossover pop recordings of tenor Andrea Bocelli probably needed little more motivation to purchase the album than his name on the cover: he can turn out a crowd even in places where opera is very rare, such as Indonesia.

Turandot, Puccini's last opera, contains some of the most glorious music that he composed. And this performance does complete justice to the music. It is as close to a perfect performance that is possible. Dame Joan Sutherland, who never performed the role on stage, is as cold as ice as the man-hating princess until Calaf wins her heart. At that moment she transforms into a warm hearted lover.

Popularity seems to rest as much on chance as on merit, for it is difficult to understand why the Turandot Suite has never become a popular repertory piece. It has all the qualities of melodic appeal (its fifth movement quotes Greensleeves), resourceful invention and brilliant orchestral colour that should ensure its popularity. The two Studies, the Sarabande and Cortège, written in preparation for his opera, Doktor Faust, remain the composer’s masterpiece, highly searching and imaginative music that can claim to be profound, as, indeed, can the Berceuse élégiaque. Both performances and recording are very good, and this disc serves as an admirable and inexpensive introduction to a fascinating and underrated master.

In this new and much-anticipated complete opera recording from superstar Andrea Bocelli, the tenor assembles a fine cast to explore Puccini's last opera. Taking the lead role of Calaf – the unknown prince - Bocelli's powerful tenor tells a compelling story of riddles answered, triumph secured, honor displayed, and love deeply felt.