Puccini: Manon Lescaut / Olivero, Tucker, Sardinero

Giacomo Puccini (Composer, Conductor, Performer), Magda Olivero (Performer), Richard Tucker (Performer), Magda Olivero (Artist), Richard Tucker (Artist), Vicente Sardinero (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Giacomo Puccini, Magda Olivero, Richard Tucker
• Conductor: Giacomo Puccini
• Composer: Giacomo Puccini
• Audio CD (June 15, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Opera D'oro
• ASIN: B00000JC9T
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #473,815 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lesson: how to act with the voice, September 11, 2000

By 

Julian Grant (London, Beijing, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Puccini: Manon Lescaut / Olivero, Tucker, Sardinero (Audio CD)

This Opera d'oro release is worth having. The recording quality is congested and at times a little too forward, but it's worth hearing for the two leads: Olivero and Tucker. Yes, they're both past their prime, Tucker a little more obviously so, but he gives a performance with bags of passion and he and Olivero really strike sparks. If you have never heard Magda Olivero, remedy this immediately. No one (not even that Greek lady - what's her name??) has such a range of colour in her voice, or such command of verbal pointing. That she was over 60 when she sang this live performance, and in the opening scene has perhaps not quite the light timbre for an ingenue teenager on her way to a convent, is beside the point; her artistry wins out, and she is devastating in the last act aria 'Sola ,perduta, abbandonata'. She made almost no studio recordings, so a lot of live ones are floating around, let's hope Opera d'oro issue her in her signature verismo repertory: Alfano's 'Risurezzione, 'Adriana Lecouvreur' and Zandonai's 'Francesca da Rimini'.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing recording + Facts about Callas, February 27, 2004

By 

Emma de Soleil "I moved to the UK for another... (On a holiday In Ibiza, then back to the UK for studies) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Puccini: Manon Lescaut / Olivero, Tucker, Sardinero (Audio CD)

I wonder if the person claiming those things on Olivero&Callas truly heard both of them live. Because whoever saw Callas live was mesmerized by her restraint and her natural acting, no melodrama at all. Callas once said "Drama! Not Melodrama!" And that she performed on stage. If anyone is the queen of verismo, this art of melodrama it is OLIVERO who sobs, sighs and sometimes makes very naturalistic noises you'll NEVER hear from Callas. But Olivero is AMAZING in anything verismo and this Manon with Richard Tucker is sublime.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great voices for Manon, August 8, 2000

By 

Gustavo Demarco (Buenos Aires) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Puccini: Manon Lescaut / Olivero, Tucker, Sardinero (Audio CD)

Magda Olivero had an exceptionally long carreer as a singer, and this live recording of Manon Lescaut corresponds to the latest period. Although her singing is full of grandeur, she does not sound 'young' as Manon (by the time of this recording, she was an excellent Fedora). However, her interpretation of Manon on records was necessary, and here she is accompanied by a tenor who was also at the end of an outstanding carreer: Richard Tucker. The vocal problems are more evident in his case, but he still sounds great. Vicente Sardinero is correct as Lescaut, and the orchestra sounds well under Veltri's conduction, but the real show is the couple Olivero-Tucker. The poor quality of sound is a mere circumstance in view of the exceptional voices gathered together in this 'historical' recording. It is a pity it was not recorded fifteen years before!...