Customer Reviews

Thomas: Mignon

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Opera lovers who buy this 3 CD set will receive very good value indeed. There's three and a quarter hours of delight. Arias for the four or five principal characters in the opera are frequently heard in extract; here they can be heard in context. There's a lullaby, a styrienne, a polonaise and - of course - Mignon's "Connais-tu le pays?". Thomas, the composer, somehow managed to express homesickness much more successfully in this aria than Schubert, Hugo Wolf, or any other composer who attempted settings of Goethe's text.

Opera lovers are unlikely nowadays to see a production mounted of this once popular opera. I saw it once only in Vienna when I was nineteen. I remember being enchanted by its melody and rhythm driven score. I remember the suspense created when the soprano attempted her five minute "Je suis Titania". Would she get through? Could she provide genuine trills? Would she finish her final cadenza in tune? I remember also thinking that it was a difficult opera to stage (Mignon is rescued from a fire).

No such thoughts need spoil your enjoyment of these CDs. All members of the starry, international cast are in fine voice, Almeida draws every nuance and colourful detail from the score, and the warm, comfortable acoustic makes for easy listening.

The crazy SONY people kept this important recording in their archives for over 2 decades. I just don't know what's wrong with them, (they still are hidding Donizetti's Gemma di Vergy with Caballe recorded live in NY in 1976. Surely one of Caballe's best recordings). As for Mignon it's a lucky charm of an opera. This recording is excellent, with Horne in spectacular voice as the heroine, but it is perhaps that great and underrated tenor Alain Vanzo who steals the honours. He gives an exquisite performance. Von Stade is also there. Don't miss it!

Mignon is a beautiful opera that inexplicably -- and, in my opinion, unjustly -- lies outside the standard repertory. This wonderful recording appeared on LPs several years ago and now is availble on CD. If you like melodious romantic operas you will almost certainly like Mignon. And it is unlikely that you will ever encounter a better performance.

This recording, the only complete Mignon is without a doubt, the finest available. Marilyn Horne as Mignon is the astonishing Horne, as she always is. Ruth Welting is always supreme, and in this recording, one of a handful of Welting's recordings available, her voice is magnificent. The high reaches of her range are smooth and effortless. The recording is Ruth's legacy to the opera world, and we will forever miss her beautiful coloratura voice. Vanzo is magnificent as are Zaccaria and von Stade. The recording is a must have for anyone's collection.