Puccini: Manon Lescaut

Giacomo Puccini (Composer), James Levine (Conductor), Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (Orchestra), Mirella Freni (Performer), Luciano Pavarotti (Performer), Dwayne Croft (Performer), Ramon Vargas (Performer), Cecilia Bartoli (Performer), Giuseppe Taddei (Performer), Metropolitan Opera Chorus (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Dwayne Croft, Ramon Vargas, Cecilia Bartoli, et al.
• Orchestra: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
• Conductor: James Levine
• Composer: Giacomo Puccini
• Audio CD (September 14, 1993)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00000418G
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,526 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #17 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > U to Z > Vargas, Ramon
  • #19 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Bartoli, Cecilia
  • #22 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > A to B > Bartoli, Cecilia > All Works Featuring Bartoli

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars magnificently powerful, October 18, 2001

By 

Mr JB (Karlskrona Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Audio CD)

Here we have one of those (rather rare) recordings with a whole cast of stars managing to make a performance just as magnificent as one would expect.

James Levine conducts a white hot and blood red performance that still is warm in the more quite and poetic parts, caught in exceptionally clear and vivid sound by the engineers. And his singers definately has the skill to follow him. Both main caracters are far too old to be able to make a believable stageperformance, but you hear little of that fact on this record. Freni's voice is still as great as in many of her much older recordings: both warm, tender and powerful when so called for. Her last aria sola, perduta... shows no signs of wear in the voice. Her des Grieux in Pavarotti is, if possible, even better. I've not always been very fond of him, but this is truely great - he has a almost vulgar power combined with passionate and very thought through singing that perfectly matches des Grieux's caracter. And the mix of Freni and Pavarotti, under the support of Levine, is stunning. I havn't ever heard such a magnificently heartbreaking last act (the desert scene).

All the other singers catch up with them - Dwayne Croft superbly so as Lescaut, with a firm and full tone. Having Taddei, Bartoli and Vargas in minor roles is pure luxury. The choir and orchestra of the Met also are splendidly good.

This version also is believable, though recorded in a studio, probably because both conductor and lead singers have done it many times before on stage. This recording is a pure puccinian drama caught at its best. There really are no weak part in the whole production, which definately is the case in almost all rivalling versions. Although I love Jussi Björling's des Grieux (on RCA), possibly even more than Pavarotti's, this recording has both better sound and better over all qualities.

Don't hesitate - Highly recommended!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Levine's best recording, June 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Audio CD)

This is by far Levine's best recording, and probably the best overall recording of Manon Lescaut. Levine manages to match sense and sensibility, and the singers are just perfecly casted. Mirella Freni (despite her age) is still the greatest soprano of our time, and Pavarotti sings the way everybody wants him to sing, although some too open vowels sound a little kitsch. Listen closely to Bartoli's wonderful "cameo" and Taddei's clumsy Geronte.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two great Puccini singers caught too late, February 24, 2007

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Audio CD)

A lot of wind is blowing thorugh the reviews here. Dissecting every detail of this Manon Lescaut seems like overkill, and calling it "magnificent" or "Levine's best recording, ever" sounds fatuous. Decca made this recording in 1993 for the sake of their greatest star and cash cow. There's no doubt that he was masterful in their Madama Butterfly and La Boheme under Karajan, and despite advancing years one hears how good his Des Grieux could have been in his prime. But the voice is frayed, and the tenor's earlier ability to offer nuance has become sadly coarsened.

As for Freni, who gave a great interpretation of Manon for Sinopoli on DG, she was successful in doing remakes of Tosca and Butterfly that depended on artistry to disguise vocal wear and tear. She's moderately successful here, too, although being a seductress, Manon should sound as fresh and gleaming as possible. Levine, his orchestra, and Decca's engineering are all first-rate.

In the end, this set can't be called anything less than accomplished, but it captures two great Puccini singers too far past their prime.