Puccini: La Boheme (Great Recordings of the Century)

Puccini: La Boheme (Great Recordings of the Century)

Puccini: La Boheme (Great Recordings of the Century)
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Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Conductor: Sir Thomas Beecham
Orchestra: RCA Victor Chorus & Orchestra
Performer: Victoria de Los Angeles
Performer: Jussi Bjorling
Performer: Giorgio Tozzi
Performer: Robert Merrill
Performer: Fernando Corena
Performer: John Reardon
Performer: Lucine Amara
Edition: Music CD
Format: Limited Edition, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2002-04-09
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Act One: Questo 'Mar Rosso' Mi Ammollisce E Assidera
  2. Act One: Aguzza L'igegno
  3. Act One: Legna!... Sigari!
  4. Act One: Si Puo?... Chi E La? - Fernando Corena
  5. Act One: Al Quartiere Latin Ci Attende Momus
  6. Act One: Chi E La? - The Columbus Boychoir
  7. Act One: Oh! Sventata! - Jussi Bjorling
  8. Act One: Che Gelida Manina! - Jussi Bjorling
  9. Act One: Si. Mi Chiamano Mimi - Jussi Bjorling
  10. Act One: Ehi! Rodolfo!
  11. Act One: O Soave Fanciulla, O Dolce Viso
  12. Act Two: Aranci, Datteri!
  13. Act Two: Chi Guardi?
  14. Act Two: Viva Parpignol!
  15. Act Two: Oh! Musetta! - Fernando Corena
  16. Act Two: Quando Men' Vo Soletta - Fernando Corena
  17. Act Two: Chi I'ha Richiesto?
Music CD 2
  1. Act Three: Ohe, La, Le Guardie!... Aprite! - Lucine Amara
  2. Act Three: Sa Dirmi, Scusi, Qual'e L'osteria - Victoria De Los Angeles
  3. Act Three: Mimi!... Speravo Di Trovarvi Qui
  4. Act Three: Marcello. Finalmente.
  5. Act Three: Mimi E Una Civetta
  6. Act Three: Mimi E Tanto Malata!
  7. Act Three: Addio... D'onde Lieta Usci Al Tuo Grido D'amore - The Columbus Boychoir
  8. Act Three: Dunque E Proprio Finita? - Jussi Bjorling
  9. Act Three: Che Facevi? Che Dicevi?
  10. Act Four: In Un Coupe? - The Columbus Boychoir
  11. Act Four: O Mimi, Tu Piu Non Torni
  12. Act Four: Che Ora Sia?... L'ora Del Pranzo - The Columbus Boychoir
  13. Act Four: Gavotta... Minuetto... Pavanella
  14. Act Four: C'e Mimi... C'e Mimi - The Columbus Boychoir
  15. Act Four: Ho Tanto Freddo. Se Avessi Un Manicotto!
  16. Act Four: Vecchia Zimarra - John Reardon
  17. Act Four: Sono Andate? Fingevo Di Dormire - Jussi Bjorling
  18. Act Four: Mi Chiamano Mimi... Il Perch Non So - Jussi Bjorling
  19. Act Four: Dorme?... Riposa

Music reviews of Puccini: La Boheme (Great Recordings of the Century)

Music Review: LO TROVO SCINTILLANTE
Rating: 5 Stars

Away with revisionist deviationism, say I. For most of my life Beecham's has been regarded as the Boheme to end all Bohemes, and I maintain resolutely that it still is that, for all the advances in recording techniques since 1956. The digital remastering dates from as recently as 2002, but Beecham used to obtain very good technical quality of sound for his day, and for the usual reason that he demanded it and there was no use in arguing. I also offer the following consideration as regards sound-quality - when it is a matter of large forces, say a symphony orchestra let alone the battalions necessary for grand opera, the nature of the sound that can be offered to us in our sitting-rooms simply cannot resemble other than distantly their real sound in the concert hall or opera house. The effect resides to some extent on power of suggestion over the listener's ear, and although I routinely welcome every extra ounce of sound-quality that I can get, in the last resort once a certain level of quality and realism has been attained anything over and above that is secondary so far as I am concerned.

In fact I thought that this set started very promisingly in the matter of `real presence'. The sound is quite forward and it `socked it to me' quite effectively. However as matters advanced the general impact (in the technical sense) seemed to recede somewhat. I believe that this is due in part to the style of the performance. I never heard a more beautiful or affecting Che gelida manina than I do here, but I have certainly heard many that were more vigorous. I believe, simply, that Beecham and Bjorling have decided to ration the quota of `can belto' in their presentation, and it is let loose principally in duets and ensembles. This in turn, I'm inclined to think, is of a piece with the policy on tempi, which have drawn comment for being on the slow side. By way of a comparison in that respect I replayed my old Toscanini LP set, and the difference is admittedly marked, with Beecham taking 107 minutes and Toscanini, renowned and to some extent properly renowned for fast tempi, clocking out after barely 95. Without going through more exhaustive comparisons I suppose I can take Toscanini as representing the opposite extreme, which leaves me wondering how significant the issue of tempi can really be. At any speed this is a distinctly short 4-act opera, and I hope that anxiety regarding the extra 12 minutes is not a matter of the pace of modern life and fitting in La Boheme between other commitments, much as Sir Malcolm Sargent was suspected of speeding up symphonic finales in the interests of finishing before the 9 O'Clock News.

Myself, I could take any amount of musicianship like this. The performance came about at all through the alertness of a musical agent who spotted that Beecham, de los Angeles and Bjorling were all simultaneously in New York, and with awesome efficiency an orchestra and chorus together with a supporting cast were conjured up. It would have been worth hearing this Boheme for the sake of Merrill, Corena and above all Tozzi alone, as anyone ought to concur who has heard Tozzi's colossal `For He is like a refiner's fire' in Beecham's Messiah. However what most of us want it for above all is of course that sublime trinity. De los Angeles had possibly the loveliest soprano voice of her generation, and Bjorling, whose voice will bear comparison with any later tenor I can think of, even Pavarotti, did not live long enough to leave us the legacy we would have wanted. When I say, not for the only time, that I think Beecham the greatest conductor of the 20th century what I mean is this. His work has about it a peculiar sense of God-given grace (Beecham was of course an unbeliever), an aura of pure and abstract music, that is irrespective of the `weight' of the compositions he handles. He did not turn out complete Beethoven cycles (largely because he did not greatly like Beethoven) but he cast that special radiance on music of all kinds, finding and even sometimes implanting a shining particle at the core of works that had seemed base metal in other hands. At the very pinnacle of musical creation, this is the characteristic with which Mozart invests both his most obviously awesome inspirations and his seemingly lightest pieces.

I am in no hurry to get to the end of La Boheme, but there is another aspect to the matter too. The libretto is witty and the self-mocking banter of the penniless artists in their Parisian garret requires a certain kind of sophistication in the way it is sung and acted. When I ask myself Which conductor is most in tune with this kind of idiom, I reflect that greatly as I revere, say, Furtwaengler I can hardly envisage him in this context, and indeed for this question to be answered it only has to be asked. I could point also to Beecham's handling of Puccini's orchestration, which he admired to the extent of rating it more highly than Strauss's, suggesting as I do so that you will hear good enough sound-reproduction in this set to appreciate what it is that differentiates Beecham from, say, Karajan, and which is far more important than any niceties of digital recording.

I have never yet wept at La Boheme, because to me it is not art imitating life but just Italian opera being itself. The gale of life blows high among this community of impoverished creators, but clearly they need youth on their side to sustain such a precarious existence, while in the meantime l'haleine de la mort (in Maeterlinck's chilling phrase) is there to envelop the weakest of them, catching the rest by surprise. Vita brevis, ars longa, and this is a recording for the ages.
More Puccini: La Boheme (Great Recordings of the Century) free music reviews:
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Description of Puccini: La Boheme (Great Recordings of the Century)

Every so often in the recording industry, there's a miracle, and this is one of them. This 1956 recording was organized quickly in New York, not on the heels of a stage performance and not even with a noted orchestra. All the right singers were in town at the same time--some popping in to sing a few bars before heading for the airport--and the result is the single greatest recording of this oft-recorded opera. The leads--Victoria de Los Angeles and Jussi Björling--would make it special in any case. But Robert Merrill is excellent and Lucine Amara is a light-voiced, French-sounding, ultra-stylish Musetta. This is also the only full-length Puccini recording by the great conductor Sir Thomas Beecham. A classic. --David Patrick Stearns

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