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

4 out of 5 stars 29 customer reviews

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Audio CD, Box set, September 12, 1988
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  • Puccini - Turandot / Ricciarelli · Domingo · Hendricks · Raimondi · Wiener Phil. · Karajan
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Product Details

  • Performer: Giacomo Puccini, Herbert von Karajan, Plácido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, Wiener Philharmoniker, et al.
  • Audio CD (September 12, 1988)
  • SPARS Code: DDD
  • Number of Discs: 2
  • Format: Box set
  • Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
  • Label: Deutsche Grammophon
  • ASIN: B000001G9X
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,294 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

By bert1761 VINE VOICE on April 20, 2000
Format: 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.
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Format: Audio CD Verified Purchase
Turandot is one of the most spectacular opera's written in the 20th century, and it is quite unbelievable that so few recordings of it are available, and even fewer modern ones. When it comes to digital recordings, this Karajan has no real contenders: the Maazel on Sony is a live recording marred by some insanely slow tempos and too much stage noise and is repeatedly interrupted by applause; the Abbado on RCA can nowadays only be found second-hand; and the Parry on Chandos, though in many ways the best of the three, is in English, which doesn't quite work for me. Older favourites are the Mehta on Decca and the famous EMI recording with Nilsson, conducted by Molinari-Pradelli. The former of these two is by far the least painful to the ears; the EMI isn't bad for its age, but at big climaxes (and Turandot is full of them) sounds like it was recorded inside the stripped fuselage of a medium sized airplane.

Some may not forgive me for talking about sound first, but in an opera so `orchestral', so concerned with visceral excitement and exotic instrumental color I find it of great importance. The nine Chinese gongs, to mention one example, are simply inaudible in the Mehta and Molinari-Pradella recordings. Of course, modern recording technique does not automatically guarantee better results, but the odds do improve significantly. Ironically, those same gongs are maybe a bit too audible in this Karajan version; it is also the only recording I've heard where you can actually hear the tubular bells. That said, overall the sound seems a bit muddy and dark, and climaxes do not quite register to their full effect, mainly due to the distancing of the brass. Still, the overall sound is clearly superior to that of the aforementioned older recordings, and by a significant margin.
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By A Customer on September 29, 2000
Format: 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...
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Format: 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.
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