Puccini - La Bohème / Freni, Pavarotti, Harwood, Ghiaurov, Karajan
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Free Music Notes for Puccini - La Bohème / Freni, Pavarotti, Harwood, Ghiaurov, Karajan
Free Music Review: If you think this is great...
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the greatest recording of Boheme, bar none. Pav is simply the King of tenors. And Freni is nearly his match. But if you think Pav sings well here. Wait until you hear him as the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto! He hits with ease several high Ds. I repeat, high Ds. And his voice, his voice...ah, his voice.I recommend this Boheme and Pav's Rigoletto with Milnes and Sutherland. Make sure you get his earliest Rigoletto, however. The Pav/Sutherland/Milnes Rigoletto. Pav did several other dukes and they are not nearly as good.
Free Music Review: This Boheme is legendary...
Hit: 5 Stars
And it's legendary for good reason. Pavarotti's sweet, ringing lyric-spinto tenor voice wraps itself around the role of Rodolfo like the lover he is. This voice soars to the skies with Rodolfo's love for Mimi, sung here by the lovely and affecting Mirella Freni. Here is a Mimi who can melt hearts of solid ice and her performance with Pavarotti is irresistible. We come to the voice of Nicolai Ghiaurov, a man with an instrument worthy of a god. What does he do with the very human role of Colline? He sings it magnificently, bringing to life dimensions I have never heard out of any other bass, with the possible exception of Giorgio Tozzi. Colline's farewell to his jacket, in his pitiful and touching attempt to save Mimi, brings tears to my eyes when Ghiaurov sings it. How such a gigantic voice can sound so sincere and sentimental is a mystery to me, but Ghiaurov pulls it off superbly. This is no fluke. Listen to Ghiaurov as the tortured Boris Godunov says farewell to his son as he is dying, and you will come to appreciate what a master singer Ghiaurov was.
Everyone here pulls together to give us a spritely yet tragic Boheme worthy of the ages. This is a worthy companion for the classic versions with Gigli, Callas and di Stefano, and Beecham conducting Bjoerling, Victoria de los Angeles, and Robert Merrill. If you love Puccini and this opera, you owe it to yourself to get this performance. Do yourself a big favor and buy this!
Free Music Review: Finally
Hit: 5 Stars
YES. Finally a great performance with great sound quality. This DECCA recording has it all. Perfect sound and amazing cast.
And what a cast!!
Pavarotti makes here (with some other Donizetti operas on record) one of his BEST performances ever. The voice shines! It is clear with beautiful ringing and healthy high notes.
I loved Freni. She delivers here a very wonderful sick and vulnerable mimi. Along with De Los Angeles, she made history of her performance here as mimi.
I cannot forget the very precious performance of Ghiaurov! Bravo.
And Karajan's recording...amazing (But I think comes second place after Beecham).
Well...nothing goes bad in this performance...on the contrary...it is just Perfect!
Free Music Review: It can't get much better than this.
Hit: 5 Stars
I confess this was the first time I'd heard this recording of THE opera, "La Boheme," and now I don't think I'll ever be able to tolerate another. The little details are the best part, like the way Karajan holds Pavarotti at that high C in "Che gelida manina," or the snake-charming lustiness of Eliazbeth Harwood's "Quando men vo." I could go on for a long time; fact is, everybody's great, down to the smallest role. The quality of the recording itself is just so-so, but with so much talent, both on stage and in the pit, that's just not a problem. Buy this and you'll love it, I promise.Free Music Review: The definitive recording all should have.
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the perfect recording of La Boheme because it captured the best singers in their prime. What is a better combination than Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti? Even the other singers are tops-Rolando Panerai, Elizabeth Harwood and of course, Nicolai Ghiaurov (Freni's husband). The conducting of Von Karajan never dsipleases. This may not be a DDD recording, but the remastering is excellent. I would never replace this recording in the world. A must for all operatic libraries!