Puccini - La Boh?me / Freni, Pavarotti, Harwood, Ghiaurov, Karajan
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Free Music Notes for Puccini - La Boh?me / Freni, Pavarotti, Harwood, Ghiaurov, Karajan
Free Music Review: Pavarotti and Freni at their very best
Hit: 5 Stars
Karajan always provided a musical featherbed for his singers when he conducted opera, and here he takes La Boheme carefully, with measured tempos to wring every last tear. If you love the opera, this is a wonderful approach (at the very opposite of Beecham's famed mono account with Bjorling and de los Angeles, which is brisk and unsentimental. Well, as unsentimental as one can be with Boheme). On the twentieth hearing I am as moved by this performance as the first time I heard it. Pavarotti in prime voice and Freni as a Mimi to tear your heart out make an unmatched pair--how amazing that they both come from the small north Italian town of Modena.
The orchestra and Decca's sonics are vast for such an intimate opera, but that only adds to the emotional excess--a compliment in this case. Harwood isn't the Musetta of my dreams, but she was a Karajan favorite and does well here, far beter than her embarrassing Merry Widow under him. The La Scala veteran Rolando Panerai couldn't be bettered as Marcello, and he can stand up to Pavarotti's overwhelming presence.
In sum, I wouldn't change a thing, but canny buyers might anticipate that Decca will release a remastered version someday in their Originals line. The sound is fine already, but sonic updating never hurts. Highly recommended.
Free Music Review: Buy, listen, treasure
Hit: 5 Stars
A long time ago, my father was driving my teenaged self somewhere as he listened to a cassette of "Pavarotti's Greatest Hits" on the car stereo. During "Che gelida manina", he tried to enlighten my ignorance as to what was special about it. "This is one of the great moments in opera," he explained. "The man sings this beautiful aria. Then the woman sings something even more beautiful. Then the two of them sing together and it's even more beautiful than that." I grunted in assent that it must be a whole lot of beautifulness and then returned my attention to whatever science fiction novel I was reading at the time.
Many years have passed since then. My father is dead, and I probably know more about opera now than he did. But, perhaps because of that conversation, the end of Act I still defines "La Boheme" for me. [Moral of the story for parents of teens: Keep sharing yourself with your kids, no matter how much they grunt at you. There's no telling what will stick.] If a performance doesn't convey Dad's Guinness-Book sense that opera really doesn't get any more powerful or moving than this, I have to consign it to the "Not Quite" file. Sorry Tebaldi/Bergonzi and Callas/di Stefano.
All of which is to set up my claim that Freni/Pavarotti are the ones who truly deliver the goods in this virtually impossible-to-sing scene. While di Stefano's voice has a marvelous bronze gleam and crisp pronunciation, he simply doesn't have the sheer tone power to compete with the strength of Puccini's melodies. When Rodolfo sings "In te ravviso / Il sogno ch'io vorrei sempre sognar!", the heroic notes demand that the tenor produce a sound that you would follow into battle. Here Pav unforgettably brings da noise - and "Yes, Giorgio" is forgiven all over again.
Freni is equally virtuosic in the soprano's milieu, somehow managing to convey a waifish bohemian as she robustly full-lungs her way through some of the most cruelly exposed high notes in the music. And how euphoniously their two instruments mesh in the duets! How confidently they surf the surging waves of Karajan's conducting!
I don't know what else to say except that it's all here. Every component of the recorded operatic experience - composer, conductor, musicians, and singers - exercising mastery at world-class levels. There is nothing to impede the plucking of your heartstrings until they fray and snap. If you can listen to the final offstage "Amor!" with dry eyes, there is something dead inside you - I'm sorry to say. I'm verklempt now just thinking about it.
So, yes - all the raves here are true. This is not just the best "Boheme", but one of the best opera recordings ever made. You know what to do.
Free Music Review: Cat's Meow
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the one, especially if you are a Pavarotti fan. In this recording everyone acquits themselves with style. Pavarotti is magnificent, Freni is gorgeous, as is Harwood, Ghiaurov...well the whole gang is great. Free Music Review: Beautiful
Hit: 5 Stars
I own two recordings of Puccini's La Boheme, and this one is my favorite. I love this set, the recording is excellent. Pavorotti and Freni are magnificent in this version. This is just an excellent opera. It is so beautiful and touching. It is one of my all time favorite opera's.Free Music Review: WONDERFUL!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Happy I purchased this album. Nothing pleases me more than to listen to this music I love. Pavarotti Fan