Puccini - Turandot / Ricciarelli · Domingo · Hendricks · Raimondi · Wiener Phil. · Karajan

Giacomo Puccini (Artist), Herbert von Karajan (Artist), Plácido Domingo (Artist), Katia Ricciarelli (Artist), Wiener Philharmoniker (Artist), Wiener Sängerknaben (Artist), Chor der Wiener Staatsoper (Artist), Barbara Hendricks (Artist), Piero di Parma, Gottfried Hornik Ruggero Raimondi (Artist), Heinz Zednik, Siegmund Nimsgern Francisco Araiza (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001G9X
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,621 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Is it possible to have a great Turandot recording without a great Turandot? This recording almost convinces you that's the case. Whatever one makes of this fairy tale about a Chinese princess who beheads failed suitors, the score is among Puccini's most sophisticated and forward looking, and never has that been more apparent in Herbert von Karajan's interpretation. The opera unfolds in a magical blanket of orchestral sound (sumptuously rendered by Deutsche Grammophon's engineers), full of details even the most seasoned Turandot admirers might've missed. Plácido Domingo as Calef and Barbara Hendricks as Liu are ideal casting. But Karajan's tendency to cast light voices got the best of him: lyric soprano Katia Ricciarelli isn't commanding enough on any level to be considered adequate in the title role. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different but very effective and highly underrated Turandot, April 20, 2000

By 

bert1761 (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Puccini - Turandot / Ricciarelli · Domingo · Hendricks · Raimondi · Wiener Phil. · Karajan (Audio CD)

Much has been said about Karajan's "inappropriate" casting choices in this and other operas. While I agree that Katia Ricciarelli did not have a voice big enough to meet some of the technical demands of this role, and it probably was not in her best interests to sing it, I do think that her technical "deficiencies" caused her to bring something to the part that no one previously had. I find that her vocal fallibilities increase the drama of the opera by adding to a characterization of an essentially frightened, vulnerable woman hiding behind the "ice princess" veneer, which makes the ending of the opera all the more effective and moving.

I also think that Karajan's renown as a conductor of Germanic and Eastern European composers has obscured the fact that he is arguably one of the greatest conductors of Puccini's operas. His "Boheme" and "Butterfly" with Freni and Pavarotti and his "Tosca" with Leontyne Price are among the greatest performances of these operas. While he often uses tempi that are slower than those typically heard, he uses them both to great dramatic effect and to bring out otherwise possibly hidden textures in the orchestral writing. His expansive conducting of the finale to Act I builds the tension and drama to a fever pitch and makes the ultimate ringing of the gong a supremely thrilling moment.

Add to these things a performance by Barbara Hendricks that is the most gorgeous and sensuous rendering of Liu's music ever and you have a terrifically satisfying opera-listening experience. I think that, on the whole, it is the most effective performance of this opera on disc.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A spellbinding performance, but you have to be patient with Ricciarelli, July 24, 2006

By 

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

This review is from: Puccini - Turandot / Ricciarelli · Domingo · Hendricks · Raimondi · Wiener Phil. · Karajan (Audio CD)

Another reviewer echos some favorable critics who thought that Katia Ricciarelli's struggle (valiant, painful, ultimately a failure) with the role of Turandot added to her character's vulnerability. I'm sympathetic. Some days I can listen around her, other days I can't. What draws anyone in is Karajan's one-of-a-kind orchestral tapestry, which gives the lushest possible treatment to Puccini's score. As Calaf, Domingo is in great voice, and the supporting roles of Timur (Ruggiero Raimondi) and Liu (Barbara Hendricks) rise to his level.

The orchestral part of Turandot isn't played all that well on other recordings, except for the Mehta set on Decca, and Karajan has no trouble outdoing them all by an order of magnitude. His tendency toward over refining the sonority works to the music's advantage for once, and the sheer power and impact of the playing reinforces Puccini's notion of massed populations and imperial grandeur.

What this means is that all the thrills come when Ricciarelli is offstage and all the spills when she isn't. The Amazon reviewer is wrong to call hers a lyric soprano--she was dramatic enough for Aida and Tosca. It just happens that Turandot is especially grueling, even for a good Italian dramatic soprano--the role lies so high and exposed that there's not a moment to rest or a style that can fake its way through.

Also, I wouldn't blame the faulty casting entirely on Karajan's penchant for light voices. In 1981 there was a fearful shortage of singers who could manage Tosca, Aida, and Verdi's two Leonoras. What to do without a Tebaldi, Price, Callas, Milanov, or Nilsson? Desperate opera houses and recording companies turned to "inappropriate" voices like Freni, Scotto and Ricciarelli. In many cases they turned in superb portrayals despite their vocal difficulties. However, even in a famine year Turandot was too big a stretch. If anything, the situation has grown worse ever since.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not so bad, September 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Puccini - Turandot / Ricciarelli · Domingo · Hendricks · Raimondi · Wiener Phil. · Karajan (Audio CD)

Just a word on Katia Ricchiarelli: She may be too light for the last big "quel grido" in "In questa reggia" but the rest of the aria, and all of Turandot's parts, I found wonderful. Katia's voice is somehow so icily thin just along the top of your hearing and the she pitches it up into evilness takes MY breath away. It has a ethereal ringing to it which really makes you beleive that Turandot is "in heaven, high above mortals." I gave this 4 stars because the only other turandot I have to compare it to is Eva Marton's, which wasn't, in my opinion as good. I personally find Turandot's transformation into a loving woman very unresolvable considering what she's like in the first act-after "In questia reggia" the whole opera kind of falls apart for me...