Notes and Editorial Reviews
Pappano conducts with ever-fresh imagination, bringing out not just subtle emotions alongside high passion, but also the fun of the piece. This is a version to stand alongside the classics of the past.
[C]onducted with ever-fresh imagination, bringing out not just subtle emotions alongside high passion, but also the fun of the piece... [T]he exchanges when Mimi arrives have the most moving intimacy...with the singers given full expressive freedom within a purposeful frame... [T]his is a version to stand alongside the classics of the past.
-- The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs & DVDs [2003/4 edition]
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From the opening bars,
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Pappano and the Philharmonia sweep us right into this passionate, tender and invigorating performance, creating a stunning piece of ensemble opera in the studio.
This Bohème has a truly impressive cast list. Ramey as Colline underplays his vibrant bass sound in ‘Vecchia zimarra, senti’, which somewhat reduces the impact of the aria, but his phrasing is superb. Hampson delivers a strongly characterised, intense Marcello whose exchanges with Alagna at the openings of Acts I and IV and with Vaduva in Act III are beautifully crafted. His scenes with Swenson’s Musetta are appropriately fiery. Swenson gives every phrase of Musetta’s music the essential flirtatious menace of a woman on the make. This is bold characterisation allied to glorious, golden sound. Vaduva’s Mimì grows more poignant and effective with each act. Her radiant tone and sense of pace provide an exquisite ‘Donde lieta’ and the Act I duet with Alagna simply soars.
-- Elise McDougall, BBC Music Magazine
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Works on This Recording
1.
La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini
Performer:
Simon Keenlyside (Baritone),
Roberto Alagna (Tenor),
Thomas Hampson (Baritone),
Leontina Vaduva (Soprano),
Samuel Ramey (Bass),
Enrico Fissore (Baritone),
Philip Sheffield (Tenor),
Paul Parfitt (Baritone),
Jeffrey Carl (Baritone),
Kathryn Turpin (Mezzo Soprano),
Daniel Hoadley (Tenor),
Richard Fallas (Bass),
Juliet Oppenheimer (),
Ruth Ann Swenson (Soprano)
Conductor:
Antonio Pappano
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra,
London Oratory Junior Choir,
London Voices
Period: Romantic
Written: 1896; Italy
Language: Italian
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