Puccini: The Complete Operas (Amazon.com Exclusive)
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Music Reviews of Puccini: The Complete Operas (Amazon.com Exclusive)
Music Review: and no librettos...
Rating: 4 Stars
The age old question "Which is more important, the music or the libretto?" has been answered by the sin of omission in this product. Clearly, Sony believes that half of the artistry of these operas can safely be ignored, and no translations are needed. What you get is a short synopsis--albeit in a lovely book. But why oh why is there no disc of translations? EMI deals with this beautifully and artfully in their hefty CD sets by including a disc of pdf's, but here nothing, nada. For a majority of the operas you can do an online search and discover sites that have some kind of translation, but woe betide you if you are looking for something obscure (although "Le Villi", strangely, is available in translation online).
That said, the packaging is lovely, the recordings are beautifully done. If you are a Scotto fan, some of her greatest recordings ("Butterfly" especially) are here. The rarities are in starry form, the "Turandot" far from the best but still interesting and even gripping in places. Maazel is liberally represented as a conductor. His interpretations are sometimes a bit dry, but he always draws gorgeous, precise playing from his orchestral forces. The big find for me here was the "Rondine" recording, one of Moffo's finest and an underappreciated piece.
You couldn't call any of these recordings of the most famous operas definitive, and I'm glad I have others in my collection, but you can't beat the price. However, plan ahead and download some translations before you start digging in. Or better yet, get the scores!
Music Review: Get the Decca Box instead!
Rating: 3 Stars
The competing Decca Box at half the price is called Puccini - The Great Opera Collection. It features idiomatic performances recorded in Italy with the lush-toned Renata Tebaldi.
Tebaldi's voice is unique among Puccini soprano's for warmth, sensuality and size. Her caressing vocal quality is easier on the ears and the nerves than the vinegar-y Scotto, the overly grand Caballe, the breathy Cotrubas, the just plain odd Zampieri, and the here somewhat raucous Price. Likewise, del Monaco and Bergonzi are to be preferred over Domingo and Domingo and Domingo, who sounds exactly the same in each opera and delineates the characters not at all.
Many of these sets were recorded in London, with an unidiomatic chorus and sight-reading orchestra. Maazel's conducting is often arbitrary and eccentric, and Mehta's Turandot features incredibly slovenly playing. Decca's conductors may be less well known to today's listeners, but they are far more in the great operatic tradition which is now lost.
As far as recorded sound is concerned, the Decca's may be earlier but they are much more excitingly engineered, with both brilliance and air. Some of them remain demonstration-class to this day.
The Decca is also half the price of this set. Buy that one, and pick up Le Ville, Edgar and La Rondine separately if you like.
Music Review: An easy recommendation - great music, great value
Rating: 5 Stars
I'm not normally a fan of "The Complete" anything, but bought this collection from Amazon Gold Box for less than $60, and you cannot beat it for quality and price. Being a compilation, the recording quality naturally varies opera-to-opera, but not by much, and is generally excellent. The performances range from good to excellent; there are no dogs included. Thoroughly enjoyable.