Puccini: Manon Lescaut

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This performance is unique, with Act 4 for once a culmination in Callas's supreme account of the death scene. She may present a rather formidable portrait of a young girl in Act 1, but here the... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: 5563012
Label: Warner Classics
Length: 2 hours 0 minutes

Building a Library

April 2006

First Choice

Puccini: Manon Lescaut (1997 - Remaster), Act I

Work length36:29

$11.00

$14.30

Giulio Fioravanti (bass-baritone), Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor), Vito Tatone (tenor), Giuseppe Morresi (bass), Maria Callas (soprano), Dino Formichini (tenor), Franco Ventriglia (bass), Franco Ricciardi (tenor), Franco Calabrese (bass), Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo-soprano), Carlo Forti (bass)
Teatro alla Scala
Tullio Serafin
Recorded: 1957-07-27
Recording Venue: 18-27 July 1957 / Teatro alla Scala, Milan

Ave, sera gentile (Edmondo / Coro / Des Grieux)

Track length5:48

$1.00

$1.30

Tra voi, belle, brune e bionde (Des Grieux / Coro)

Track length1:17

$1.00

$1.30

Ma bravo! (Edmondo / Coro)

Track length1:52

$1.00

$1.30

Discendono, vediam! (Coro / Edmondo / Lescaut / L'Oste / Des Grieux / Geronte)

Track length2:09

$1.00

$1.30

Cortese damigella, il priego mio accettate (Des Grieux / Manon / Lescaut)

Track length4:15

$1.00

$1.30

Donna non vidi mai (Des Grieux)

Track length2:36

$1.00

$1.30

La tua ventura ci rassicura (Edmondo / Coro / Geronte / Lescaut / L'Oste)

Track length6:11

$1.00

$1.30

La tua Proserpina di resisterti (Edmondo / Des Grieux)

Track length1:50

$1.00

$1.30

Vedete? Io son fedele alla parola mia (Manon / Des Grieux / Lescaut)

Track length4:26

$1.00

$1.30

Non c'è più vino? (Des Grieux / Manon / Edmondo / Geronte / L'Oste / Lescaut)

Track length2:59

$1.00

$1.30

Cavalli pronti avete? (Lescaut / Geronte / Edmondo / Coro)

Track length3:06

$1.00

$1.30

Puccini: Manon Lescaut (1997 - Remaster), Act II

Work length22:25

$7.00

$9.10

Giulio Fioravanti (bass-baritone), Maria Callas (soprano), Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor), Giuseppe Morresi (bass), Vito Tatone (tenor), Carlo Forti (bass), Dino Formichini (tenor), Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo-soprano), Franco Calabrese (bass), Franco Ricciardi (tenor), Franco Ventriglia (bass)
Teatro alla Scala
Tullio Serafin
Recorded: 1957-07-27
Recording Venue: 18-27 July 1957 / Teatro alla Scala, Milan

Dispettosetto questo riccio! (Manon / Lescaut)

Track length2:32

$1.00

$1.30

Sei splendida e lucente! (Lescaut / Manon)

Track length2:25

$1.00

$1.30

In quelle trine morbide (Manon)

Track length2:25

$1.00

$1.30

Poichè tu vuoi saper (Lescaut / Manon)

Track length2:56

$1.00

$1.30

Che ceffi son costor? (Lescaut / Manon / Un Musico / Coro)

Track length2:14

$1.00

$1.30

Paga costor! (Manon / Lescaut)

Track length1:18

$1.00

$1.30

Vi prego, signorina (Il Maestro di Ballo / Geronte / Manon / Coro)

Track length8:35

$1.00

$1.30

Puccini: Manon Lescaut, ATTO SECONDO / ACT 2 / ZWEITER AKT / DEUXIÈME ACTE: Oh, sarò la più bella! (Manon / Des Grieux)

Work length8:24

$1.00

$1.30

Maria Callas (soprano), Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor)
Teatro alla Scala
Tullio Serafin
Recorded: 1957-07-27
Recording Venue: 18-27 July 1957 / Teatro alla Scala, Milan

Puccini: Manon Lescaut (1997 - Remaster), Act II

Work length14:32

$4.00

$5.20

Franco Calabrese (bass), Giulio Fioravanti (bass-baritone), Giuseppe Morresi (bass), Maria Callas (soprano), Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor), Vito Tatone (tenor), Franco Ventriglia (bass), Franco Ricciardi (tenor), Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo-soprano), Dino Formichini (tenor), Carlo Forti (bass)
Teatro alla Scala
Tullio Serafin
Recorded: 1957-07-27
Recording Venue: 18-27 July 1957 / Teatro alla Scala, Milan

Ah! ... Affè madamigella (Manon / Geronte / Des Grieux)

Track length3:11

$1.00

$1.30

Ah! Manon, mi tradisce (Des Grieux / Manon)

Track length2:35

$1.00

$1.30

Lescaut! ... Tu qui? (Des Grieux / Manon / Lescaut / Un Sergente)

Track length3:25

$1.00

$1.30

Intermezzo

Track length5:21

$1.00

$1.30

Puccini: Manon Lescaut (1997 - Remaster), Act III

Work length16:57

$7.00

$9.10

Vito Tatone (tenor), Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor), Carlo Forti (bass), Maria Callas (soprano), Giuseppe Morresi (bass), Giulio Fioravanti (bass-baritone), Franco Ventriglia (bass), Franco Ricciardi (tenor), Franco Calabrese (bass), Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo-soprano), Dino Formichini (tenor)
Teatro alla Scala
Tullio Serafin
Recorded: 1957-07-27
Recording Venue: 18-27 July 1957 / Teatro alla Scala, Milan

Ansia, eterna, crudel (Des Grieux / Lescaut)

Track length2:51

$1.00

$1.30

Manon! ... Des Grieux! (Des Grieux / Manon / Un Lampionaio)

Track length4:37

$1.00

$1.30

All'armi! All'armi! (Coro / Lescaut / Des Grieux / Manon)

Track length0:58

$1.00

$1.30

Il passo m'aprite (Sergente / Comandante / Coro)

Track length0:49

$1.00

$1.30

Rosetta! (Sergente / Coro / Lescaut / Manon / Des Grieux)

Track length3:59

$1.00

$1.30

Presto in fila! Marciate! (Sergente / Des Grieux / Coro / Comandante)

Track length0:33

$1.00

$1.30

Ah! non v'avvicinate! ... Come io piango ed imploro (Des Grieux / Comandante)

Track length3:10

$1.00

$1.30

Puccini: Manon Lescaut (1997 - Remaster), Act IV

Work length15:00

Album only

Giuseppe di Stefano, Giuseppe Morresi (bass), Maria Callas (soprano), Vito Tatone (tenor), Giulio Fioravanti (bass-baritone), Dino Formichini (tenor), Carlo Forti (bass), Franco Ventriglia (bass), Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo-soprano), Franco Calabrese (bass), Franco Ricciardi (tenor)
Teatro alla Scala
Tullio Serafin
Recorded: 1957-07-27
Recording Venue: 18-27 July 1957 / Teatro alla Scala, Milan

Tutta su me ti posa (Des Grieux / Manon)

Track length3:09

$1.00

$1.30

Manon, senti, amor mio! ... Vedi, son io che piango (Des Grieux / Manon)

Track length3:54

$1.00

$1.30

E nulla! Nulla! (Des Grieux / Manon)

Track length2:45

$1.00

$1.30

Sola, perduta, abbandonata (Manon / Des Grieux)

Track length5:12

Album only

Reviews
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Reviews

2010

This performance is unique, with Act 4 for once a culmination in Callas's supreme account of the death scene. She may present a rather formidable portrait of a young girl in Act 1, but here the final act with its long duet and the big aria, 'Sola, perduta, abbandonata', is far more than an epilogue to the rest, rather a culmination, with Callas at her very peak. Di Stefano, too, is on superb form and Serafin's pacing of the score is masterly. Di Stefano wipes the floor with most of his rivals past and present: in Act 4 he has a concerned tenderness for Manon that others can only sketch, his debonair charm in 'Tra voi belle' is incomparable and (rarest of virtues among tenors) he never sings past the limits of his voice. Fioravanti as Lescaut and Calabrese as Geronte sing well if not very characterfully.
However, digital CD remastering in this instance loses out. A break has to be made in Act 2 – in a fairly innocuous place before the duet 'Tu, tu, amore tu'. The first two acts make up a total timing only a few seconds over the 75-minute limit, but evidently it was enough to prevent them going on to a single CD. That said, the CD brings the same advantages in refining the original boxy sound without glamorising it in false stereo, plus the usual advantages of absence of background and ease of finding places. For an account of ManonLescaut which comes fully to terms with the opera's huge contrasts of colour and mood you'll also have to have a modern recording, for with all its improvements the sound here remains very dry.

Puccini: Manon Lescaut

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