Customer Reviews

Manon / Beverly Sills, Gedda, Souzay, Bacquier; Rudel

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Jules Massenet's Manon contains some of the most touching and beautiful melodies in all of opera. And Beverly Sills and Nicolai Gedda make these melodies seem all the more beautiful. Sills is exceptional as Manon- a role she has performed all over the world. When we are first introduced to Manon, Sills' lovely lyric voice perfectly portrays Manon as the sheltered, innocent, yet inquisitive girl that she is. Later on the more experienced Manon is also convincingly sung by Sills. Nicolai Gedda may not have been a young man when this recording was made (1970) but he certainly wasn't too long in the tooth. No matter his age he sounds absoutely like the young, passionate lover Des Grieux. The other cast members also bring out the most in their characters, including Gabriel Bacquier as Le Comte des Grieux and Gerard Souzay as Lescaut.

Beverly Sill's vocal talents were full of variety. She was just at home in the Italian bel canto operas of Donizetti as she was in the French operas (she sang as the three heroines of Offenbach's Tales Of Hoffman and in the other Massenet opera Thais). Jules Massenet composed fine French operas at a time when the "grand opera" style was diminishing in popularity. He even composed a successful "grand opera" himself, despite the already antiquated form when he composed "Le Cid". French opera is made up of beautiful melodies, romantic duets, elegant arias, dramatic ensembles and choruses, and a melodramatic plot. "Manon" (pronounced ma- no) is based on the novel by Andre Prevost, generally regarded as the first French novel. Manon deals with a flaky, seductive and materialistic young woman who falls for a handsome but dangerous man only to marry another for the sake of money. Eventually, she is reunited with her old and true love and dies in his arms. The melodrama is enhanced by fine music of many subtle tones- romance without being too buttery (and if it is too sentimental so what ? It's opera!) and the waltz-like, festive atmosphere of Paris, especially the glittering casinos are gorgeously expressed. Manon and Des Grieux join the ranks of the great opera lovers- at times this even resonates with touches of Verdi's La Traviata (another opera which Beverly Sills successfully mastered).

Back to Beverly Sills. Beverly's Manon is considered her finest hour, second only to her towering portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in "Roberto Devereaux" which landed her a cover in Time Magazine in 1971. Manon was a role Beverly Sills flourished in with easy grace and great singing prowess. The role calls for lyric soprano, some coloratura and a lot of romantic dramatic styling. She sings French so easily and without flaw that one would think Beverly is not American but a native French lady. According to Sills, Manon was one of those operas she dedicated herself to singing with gusto. She recalls having to cook for her family and then singing Manon, stating it was the longest day of her life. She loved the theatre and found a great vehicle for expression through opera. Beverly made opera accessible to everyone, even those who would'nt be caught dead in an opera house. She made opera seem fun and very American, despite the continuing prejudice that opera is high-class foreign entertainment. Beverly's French diction is superb. It is rhythmic, flowing and highly musical. Her voice far exceeds that of Joan Sutherland and in acting ability she matches the drama diva Maria Callas. Beverly Sills will always be America's greatest soprano. Now in her seventies, she works for the Metropolitan Opera as chairman. When Manon was first released on LP in the 80's, fans of Beverly were buying the LP's and even bootlegs with as much enthusiasm and fervor as raving fans of The Grateful Dead. America embraces opera and its as American baseball and Church. Opera is now a household name. And all thanks to the first class human being Beverly Sills.

Some singers, it seems, are born to sing together. Beverly Sills and Nicolai Gedda are amongst them. Their voices blend together beautifully and they are on the same artistic wave-lenght. Sill s silvery soprano is ideal for Manon. She paints a complete portrait, from girlish awe to manipulative seductress, and her superd technique allows her to shine in the more showy passages. Gedda, as des Grieux, is elegant, refined, and quite smitten by his Manon. Their first act duet - Nous vivrons tous les deux a Paris - is delightful and revealing of their character, her frivolity, his idealism. They get excellent support from Gerard Souzay and Gabriel Bacquier. The comprimarios, important in this opera, are also very well done. Chorus and orchestra are excellent and Julius Rudel s conducting lively. My only little complaint about this brilliant set is the boomy sound.

Some don't like Beverly Sills' voice, but this recording shows how beautiful her voice could be and how insightful her acting always was. Excellent supporting cast with a slightly older Gedda still in good voice. If you buy only one recording of Manon, buy this one.... by far the very best recording(and soprano!)ever.

I'm surprised this opera is not performed in the US more -- it's fabulous. This recording is the best -- clear and lush -- all the singers are wonderful and the instrumentals and chorals just make you want to 'conduct' and sing along with vigor. Even people who don't like opera will love this.

To the opera lover and the connoisseur, French opera provides a contrast to the often showy, meaty, grandiose style of Italian opera. If opera were food in a meal, Italian opera would be the main course, but French lyric opera would be dessert. In the nineteenth century, opera was not only entertainment for the wealthy elite, it was also popular with the common folk. It was an escape from the daily, boring humdrum of life. It was like watching movies in our present day. People would flock to the opera to immerse themselves in great stories, comic stories, romances and drama, all of which was sung and orchestrated to beautiful music. Jules Massenet was aware of the popularity of French lyricism. He was a contemporary of the noted French composers Charles Gounod (Faust, Romeo and Juliet) and Georges Bizet (Carmen). Although he could produce grand operas in the manner of Giacomo Meyerbeer, he could also impress audiences with beautiful, romantic operas that were tinged with historic romance.

In the case of his opera, Manon, Massenet took the story from what is considered the first French novel by Abbe Provost. It is about a flirtatious, shallow, materialistic young woman from Paris, who falls in love with a millionaire who ultimately costs her life. Manon's character should be varied, a naive, innocent, bubbly young girl in the first acts, a superficial, faithless, seductive girl, but by the end of the opera, we realize how she has matured and changed through a solid relationship based on true love. The Chevalier Des Grieux, her romantic interest, is a man with many enemies, and a man who fulfills Manon's dreams. The opera is chalk full of romantic melodies, lyricism that resembles French bel canto, at variance with lush and festive, waltz-like music that comes from the boulevards of Paris. Deeper in subject and meaning than the operettas of Jacques Offenbach, Massenet's Manon is an opera to collect along with Carmen.

Portraying Manon on this recording is the greatest interpretor of the role, the remarkable Beverly Sills. This recording, where she is paired with tenor Nicolai Gedda, was originally an LP. For years, the pirated record was distributed among fans like Grateful Dead concert tapes. Beverly Sills was fond of French opera, and the operas of Jules Massenet (she also sang in his opera Thais), and she flourishes with great vocal beauty and mastership of the dramatic role. For Beverly, French operas were the easiest to master. We truly get a showcase for her talents. At her side is tenor Nicolai Gedda, whose own career has spanned many years and many roles, among them Hoffman, Alfredo from La Traviata and Lensky from Tchaikovsky's opera, Eugene Onegin. The sheer artistry of this recording is perfect. At the hands of conductor Julius Rudel and the New Philharmonia Orchestra, with superb chorus by the Ambrosia Opera Chorus, this is a great credit to French opera.

This studio recording of Jules Massenet's Manon is undoubtedly the ultimate studio recording. The sound quality is excellent, the singers deliver a beautiful as well as dramatic performance and the musis score leaps with life under the baton of Maestro Julius Rudel. This recording is now out of stock but you can get it on Z-shops. I'm quite sure there is a misprint for the price, since I doubt that 120 dollars is the price. If it is the price for the album, that has got to mean the album is truly incredible and worth buying. This recording was made in the late 1970's and originally an LP. Beverly Sills was by this time a singer whose retirement from the opera scene was forthcoming - she retired in 1982 to work as administrator for the New York City Opera and for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Don't be put off by her age. She is still doing a terrific job here. Manon may be difficult to sing for most sopranos today but for Beverly Sills, the French repertoire in opera was always the easiest to sing.

Everything that marked Beverly Sill's talents in French opera are here-the richness of her voice, the legato and incredible control of breath to sing the smooth vocal lines, the stratospheric coloratura high notes. For Manon, Beverly Sills won a Grammy Award. When an opera singer wins a Grammy, that's an indication of how truly talented her performance really is. Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda sings the romantic lead in this one. As Des Grieux, he is tender yet masculine, his voice is the epitome of lyric tenor de grazie vocal manner. Other than Gedda, Placido Domingo possesses this great singing style. Nicolai Gedda has been paired with Beverly Sills before - namely in Verdi's La Traviata in another 70's recording availble on EMI label as well as the Opera Dog Library book-cd series. Baritone Bacquier is in top form, singing with his usual dark lower register a la Samuel Ramey. Bacquier has been famous for his baritone vocals in opera performances and recordings that feature Joan Sutherland, including Offenbach's Tales Of Hoffman. It is quite evident that Bacquier mastered the French baritone voice. At best, this recording boasts of singers who can really deliver the true essence of French lyric opera, which was Jules Massenet's specialty. I recommend this cd to the lover of French opera, and of course if you're a fan of Beverly Sills or Nicolai Gedda. Prior to this recording, Beverly Sills had sung the role of Manon numerous times on stage in live performances. She sang with Placido Domingo (as Des Grieux) in the New York City Opera and she also sang the role at Wolf Trap. There is a video of this performance circulating somewhere around but it's very hard to find.

Jules Massenet based the libretto on a French novel by Abbe Prevost. The heroine Manon is a materialistic, ambitious, glittering lady of leisure who charms the gallant Des Grieux but discards him when a better offer of financial security comes along. The setting is Paris in the 18th century. And from the lack of insecurity in the city's mood it's quite clear it's set in the care-free days before the Revolution when the aristocracy was free to gamble in parlors, dance in ballrooms and take lovers even among the lower classes. The decadence of this time is captured perfectly in Massenet's music. Des Grieux, crushed by Manon's abandon, decides to take up the mantle and become a priest. But Manon enters his life once again and he is still madly in love with her. And this time, Manon has fallen for him. But this opera and not just any opera, romantic, tragic opera so you can only guess how it turns out. That's right. She dies in his arms in much the same vein as Verdi's La Traviata. A great recording. Great singers. Great music.

Jules Massenet was the eminent French composer of such hits as Le Cid and Thais. His melodies are flowing, resonant and his operas full of drama and passion. In the late 19th century, his operas alone were the most recognizable and most popular among French theater goers. Manon, taken from the book by French author Andre Prevoust, is the story of a young French girl, Manon Lescaut, a Gigi parody almost, who is supposed to be taken into a convent. But she falls madly in love with the decadent and cosmopolitan Des Grieux, whose lifestyle gets him into trouble. Manon is seduced by another man who promises her fortune and Des Grieux retires to be a priest. But eventually, Manon and her love reunite, only, as is expected of a tragic opera, to die in his arms. The arias are very well developed and the music bubbling with French style romanticism. Beverly Sills, the greatest soprano of the twentieth century, is at home in this role. She sings perfectly in French, and her Manon is innocent and seductive and ultimately tragic. Nicolai Gedda is a decent tenor, although not the best, but his French diction and song is wonderful and in paar with Sill's elegant Manon, a very great combination. Julius Rudel conducts a superb score. A must have for Beverly Sills fans (it was for this role that she won an Edison Award) and for fans of French opera. The greatest French opera, is, of course, Bizet's Carmen, secondly would be Gounod' Faust, third, Offenbach's Tales Of Hoffman and lastly Manon.

this Manon is quite faithful to the french style in which it is written, and for me, to hear the french sang well, which in french opera is nearly never done, was another treat. Sills is wonderful with her portrail of Manon, and she sings the music that was written, with all the high lying notes Massenet wrote. Perhaps to some that isn't a big thing, but with him the difficult parts are usually what he wrote first, with specific singers in mind. The simpler versions were written only when proper singer were not to be found. Sills sings all the notes, even the most high one, that Massenet intended. Her reading is very much the subtle way the french wrote opera, with great importance on diction. Gedda is good too, but a little long in the tooth, however, even that said, he shines so much better than so many newer singers in the role. He also understands the french style.

For those who love the de Los Angelis performance ( and it is very wonderful too, and very sympathetic ), this one should not be compared to it. That recording does not use all of Massenet's music, nor his original versions of the various pieces. The recording is not faithful to the French style either. Still it is wonderful.

I find one need not love the one and hate the other. They are both wonderful, but Sills adds a dimension that is missing in most recordings of this work.

If you love Massenet, and I must say I do, then buy this recording. It is well worth the money, and will truly help you see why this work is so special to so many.

Pity about Sills, she tries hard, but she is far from being a great Manon. Pity also about Gedda and Bacquier, they deserved a better soprano. For all its good qualities, this set is far, very far indeed from the superb Victoria de los Angeles recording with Pierre Monteux conducting.