Opera Highlights Composer Music : Puccini: La Bohème (highlights)

Puccini: La Bohème (highlights)

£8.85

  1. Non sono in vena! - Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  2. Che gelida manina - Luciano Pavarotti, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  3. Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì - Mirella Freni, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  4. O soave fanciulla - Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni, Rolando Panerai, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  5. La commedia è stupenda!...Quando m en vo - Michel Sénéchal, Gianni Maffeo, Elizabeth Harwood, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni, Rolando Panerai, Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  6. O mia vita!...Donde lieta uscì - Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Rolando Panerai, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  7. Dunque: è proprio finita!...Addio, dolce svegliare - Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni, Elizabeth Harwood, Rolando Panerai, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  8. In un Coupe?....O Mimi, tu piu non torni - Luciano Pavarotti, Rolando Panerai, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  9. Vecchia zimarra, senti - Nicolai Ghiaurov, Gianni Maffeo, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  10. Sono andati - Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
  11. Oh Dio! Mimì! - Gianni Maffeo, Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Elizabeth Harwood, Rolando Panerai, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan

Excellent. - The previous reviwer says pretty much all that needs to be said. The singers are at the absolute top of their form, Pavarotti before he became a sad parody. This just works. The full version is still around and is better, but if you just want the highlights, this is the one to go for.

Daft story fabulous music, superb singing. - The story? You want to know the story - this is opera! Here goes: impoverished student meets TB suffering girl with cold hands and candle problem in Parisian attic. As they scrabble in the dark trying to find a match (the candle having blown out you see) their hands touch and they fall in love (as you do), in a scene splendidly copied by Wallace & Gromit s A Close Shave. They shack up together and are destined never to part.But soon the boy realises he is too poor to look after a consumptive girl so dumps her for her own good, and proceeding to live it up with his mates attempts to forget his misery. The fates re-acquaint them but by now she is terminally ill and eventually dies in his arms coughing perfectly in tune to the last.So what about the music? This must be one of Puccini s best opera scores shamelessly tugging at the heart strings as the melodies from act one are repeated in Mimi s death throes.Pavarotti is at his powerful silken best here, seeming so effortless as he reels in the big notes. Mirella Freni gives as good as she gets as coughalot Mimi. The singing throughout is excellent - but I guess really shines through in the great favourites of act 1: Che Gelida Manina and the spine-tingling duet O Soave Fanciulla. While Karajan conducts the Berlin Philharmonic with suitable aplomb and vigour, Rolando Panerai and Elizabeth Harwood provide an excellent support to the two big names, especially Panerai in the duet In Un Coupe?Excellent stuff, classic Puccini, classic opera.




Puccini: La Bohème (highlights)