Puccini

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's magnificent soprano breathes a fresh spirit into operatic favorites by Mozart, Puccini and Wagner in this collection of arias and other songs. Per Piate, Ben Mio, O Mio Bambino Caro and Vissi D'Arte are joined by Gustav Holst's In the Bleak Midwinter and the pop classic "The Windmills of Your Mind," among others. A diverse and exciting collection from one of the finest voices of our age.

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.

Angela Gheorghiu leads a magnificent cast in Franco Zeffirelli’s iconic production of Puccini’s La Bohème – filmed live at the Metropolitan Opera in Hi-Definition. This grand, sumptuous production of Puccini’s timeless masterpiece is brought to you on DVD by EMI Classics, continuing its collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera and its hugely successful Metropolitan Opera : Live in High-Definition series.

This attractive and lively production of Puccini's Wild West opera makes the best imaginable case for it, especially the exuberant Barbara Daniels in the title role; while Domingo is at his peak, in 1992, as the nice bandit Dick Johnson. (BBC Music Magazine)

Maria Guleghina impresses strongly. To my mind she is Puccini’s ideal ‘tart with a heart for gold’. She has control and sensitivity and she acts everybody off the stage. She’s coy (but with just a hint of being street-wise) in Act I, outrageously flighty and avaricious in Act II, and, at last, contrite in Act IV. Just watch her as she taunts Geronte di Ravoir (a far too gentlemanly Luigi Roni) in Act II and the way she disports herself on the floor of the stage to seduce Des Grieux back to her charms.

Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna star in the 2009 Metropolitan Opera production of Puccini’s 'La Rondine'. This new production, directed by Nicholas Joël, was the company’s first staging in 70 years. This elegant romance is the least-known work of the mature Giacomo Puccini. The story concerns a kept woman who defies convention to chase a dream of romantic love with an earnest, if naïve, young man. This Met Opera production features the dynamic soprano Angela Gheorghiu and Frenchborn tenor Roberto Alagna performing the roles of Magda and Ruggero, it blooms into its rightful place in the glorious Puccini canon. 'La Rondine' was commissioned by Vienna’s Carltheater in 1913. Due to the impending outbreak of World War I, premiered in 1917, at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo with Gilda Dalla Rizza and Tito Schipa.

Alessandro Corbelli takes the title role in Annabel Arden’s whirlwind production of Puccini’s compact opera, in which the scheming Gianni Schicchi retrieves for himself the spoils of a disinherited family to pave the way for his daughter to marry her love. As performed at Glyndebourne, Gianni Schicci is here combined in a double bill with Rachmaninov's dark setting of Alexander Pushkin's 'little tragedy'. The Miserly Knight, also directed by Annabel Arden and featuring an outstanding performance from Sergei Leiferkus in the role written for the great Russian bass Fyodor Chaliapin.

Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly – the composer’s selfproclaimed favourite work and certainly one of the most beloved operas in the repertoire – is brought to life at the world-famous Arena di Verona. This opulent production, directed by respected film and opera director Franco Zeffirelli, is sung by a cast of excellent singers. Fiorenza Cedolins is a sought after Butterfly singer and her Pinkerton is performed by the renowned tenor Marcello Giordani. The celebrated operatic baritone Juan Pons gives the principled United States consul Sharpless. The performance is lead by long-established Arena di Verona conductor Daniel Oren with all the splendour that a Puccini opera demands. The sum of all this is a gloriously sung musical experience.

This famous production of Manon Lescaut from The Royal Opera, recorded in 1983, features two of the biggest stars in opera, Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa, in their vocal prime. Placido Domingo’s performance of Des Grieux is considered to be unsurpassed. Conductor Guiseppe Sinopoli made his British operatic debut with this production. Puccini’s first masterpiece was rapturously received on its first night. It has his hallmark sensuality and also a youthful freshness, its untamed outpouring of melody just as passionate as his more famous operas, La Boheme, Tosca and Madame Butterfly. The role of Des Grieux is one of the most taxing in the tenor repertoire and Domingo’s passionate portrayal is one of his greatest achievements.