Turandot

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.

Riccardo Muti takes time out here to present some of the lesser known, rarely heard orchestral scores of his fellow countrymen, and a superbly played, enjoyable concert it is too. Proceedings commence with a fine and spirited performance of Alfredo Casella's divertimento Paganiniana—not a great piece by any means but a work possessing plenty of charm and humour nevertheless; the outer movements are a bit of a romp (very opera buffa) and must have been as much fun to write as they clearly are for the La Scala Philharmonic to play.

Riccardo Muti takes time out here to present some of the lesser known, rarely heard orchestral scores of his fellow countrymen, and a superbly played, enjoyable concert it is too. Proceedings commence with a fine and spirited performance of Alfredo Casella's divertimento Paganiniana—not a great piece by any means but a work possessing plenty of charm and humour nevertheless; the outer movements are a bit of a romp (very opera buffa) and must have been as much fun to write as they clearly are for the La Scala Philharmonic to play.

This recording of Turandot, Puccini’s spectacular final opera marks a number of important firsts. Before the recording sessions in Rome in March 2022, Sir Antonio Pappano had never conducted Turandot; neither Sondra Radvanovsky, who takes soaring title role, nor Jonas Kaufmann as Turandot’s suitor, Calaf – who sings ‘Nessun dorma’ – had previously performed the opera. It is also the first studio recording of Turandot to include the entire, crucial final scene as completed after Puccini’s death in 1925 by Franco Alfano.

Erato brings you an album now available for digital formats featuring Busoni's 'Arlecchino' and Puccini's 'Turandot'. Despite Busoni's short opera being overshadowed by Puccini's masterpiece, Kent Nagano give a splendid rendition of the two works and showcases their musical qualities with a stellar opera vocal cast; Susanne Mentzer, Philippe Huttenlocher and more!