Opera Arias & Duets
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Leonard Bernstein, Jules (Emile Frédéric) Massenet, Pietro Mascagni, Charles-François Gounod, Gustave Charpentier, Hector Berlioz, Gaetano Donizetti, Giacomo Puccini, Jacques Offenbach
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 6/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 61
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 556117-2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(L')amico Fritz |
Pietro Mascagni, Composer
Angela Gheorghiu, Soprano Pietro Mascagni, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Roberto Alagna, Tenor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
Manon |
Jules (Emile Frédéric) Massenet, Composer
Angela Gheorghiu, Soprano Jules (Emile Frédéric) Massenet, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Roberto Alagna, Tenor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
Anna Bolena |
Gaetano Donizetti, Composer
Angela Gheorghiu, Soprano Gaetano Donizetti, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
Don Pasquale, Movement: Tornami a dir (Notturno) |
Gaetano Donizetti, Composer
Angela Gheorghiu, Soprano Gaetano Donizetti, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Roberto Alagna, Tenor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
(La) Belle Hélène, 'Beautiful Helen', Movement: Au mont Ida (Paris) |
Jacques Offenbach, Composer
Jacques Offenbach, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Roberto Alagna, Tenor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
West Side Story, Movement: Tonight (Balcony scene) |
Leonard Bernstein, Composer
Angela Gheorghiu, Soprano Leonard Bernstein, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Roberto Alagna, Tenor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
Faust |
Charles-François Gounod, Composer
Angela Gheorghiu, Soprano Charles-François Gounod, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Roberto Alagna, Tenor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
Louise, Movement: Depuis le jour |
Gustave Charpentier, Composer
Angela Gheorghiu, Soprano Gustave Charpentier, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
(Les) Troyens, '(The) Trojans', Movement: Nuit d'ivresse et d'extase infinie! |
Hector Berlioz, Composer
Angela Gheorghiu, Soprano Hector Berlioz, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Roberto Alagna, Tenor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
(La) Bohème, 'Bohemian Life', Movement: O soave fanciulla |
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Angela Gheorghiu, Soprano Giacomo Puccini, Composer Richard Armstrong, Conductor Roberto Alagna, Tenor Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
Author:
It ranges quite widely over the French and Italian repertoires, always combining instant satisfaction with a wish for more. The Cherry duet from
The solos provide a welcome opportunity for that absence which makes the heart grow fonder. Gheorghiu, delightful in “Depuis le jour”, is even more so in the aria from Anna Bolena, exquisitely phrased and shaded as though it were the slow movement of a sonata by Mozart. Alagna gives exactly the reassurance that I couldn’t quite find in his solo recital (EMI, 12/95). “Ah! fuyez, douce image” opens with the softness associated from long ago with Smirnov and Muratore; he never forgets what he is singing about, is thrilling on his high B flats and finely controlled in the concluding diminuendo. His Mount Ida song from La belle Helene has panache and humour, a deliciously promising pianissimo start to the last verse and a good robust C thrown in before he finishes.
And then, inspiration on somebody’s part, there is West Side Story. “Tonight” has never, I should think, been better sung, and it also brings us to the other element in this recital – the playing of the Covent Garden orchestra under Richard Armstrong. In this, they make us realize afresh how distinctively flavoured (in harmony and orchestration) is Bernstein’s marvellous score: the duet is intensely moving, yet the rhythm is kept strong and there is no sugar-coating or melting into slush. Repeatedly, in Gounod and Bernstein as in Mascagni and Puccini, one reacts with an ‘I’d never noticed that before’ or simply a smile or sigh of pleasure in the sound. Always, for instance (or nearly always), in a complete performance the chord which introduces “O soave fanciulla” (the Boheme duet) brings its frisson, but here it does so as it were in cold blood, without preparation. If only somebody had taken a firm hand at the end! It remains the single regret. Otherwise, bliss.'
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