All recordingsPrices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.) See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Puccini: Manon Lescaut
Licia Albanese, Jussi Bjoerling & Robert Merrill Rome Opera Chorus & Rome Opera Orchestra, Jonel Perlea Each release includes a booklet with a three-language synopsis (English/French/German), full cast list and detailed track list. | 
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Sean Panikkar, Marcello Giordani, Dwayne Croft, Dale Travis, Tamara Mumford, Karita Mattila, Paul Plishka, Lisette Oropesa, Jennifer Black, Sasha Cooke, Ellen Rabiner, Bernard Fitch, James Courtney, Tony Stevenson & Richard Bernstein The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet, James Levine Set and costume designer: Desmond Heeley, Lighting designer: Gil Wechsler & Stage director: Gina Lapinski Karita Mattila gives a career high performance in Puccini’s passionate opera, Manon Lescaut conducted by James Levine – filmed live at the Metropolitan Opera in Hi-Definition. Continuing its collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera and its Metropolitan Opera : Live in High-Definition series, EMI Classics is proud to release the METs classic 28 year old production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut on EMI Classics DVD. This release marks a special moment in the Metropolitan Opera’s history. It is the first time in 18 years since Puccini’s Manon Lescaut was last performed on its great stage. Manon Lescaut, a French tale telling of a beautiful young woman destroyed by her conflicting needs for love and luxury, was Puccini’s first successful opera and the work that thrust him onto the international stage as Italy’s foremost opera composer. Finnish soprano, Karita Mattila, as Manon Lescaut is the star of the performance. Her interpretation of the first of Puccini’s many archetypal heroines is ‘riveting’ – New York Times. Interestingly Mattila waited until her voice had gained maturity and richness before, when she was nearly 40, she first portrayed her Manon Lescaut in 1999. She now returns – enticing James Levine to conduct the work for the first time since 1981. After 35 highly successful years as Music director of the Metropolitan Opera, a relationship unparalleled and unique in the musical world today, James Levine leads a fresh and intelligent performance. “…the spectacular Zeffirelli staging, now rather showing its age. It still makes a good frame… for Ramón Vargas's engaging Rodolfo, sung with ardour, and Gheorghiu's fine-toned but rather grand Mimì.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Licia Albanese, Jussi Björling, Robert Merrill Rome Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, Jonel Perlea Recorded 1954 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Anny Schlemm (Manon); Hans Hopf (Des Grieux); Karl Wolfram (Lescaut); Herbert Bartel (Geronte); Peter Offermans (Edmondo) Cologne Radio, Otto Ackermann Recorded 1954, sung in German | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Lescaut Placido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa, Thomas Allen The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Giuseppe Sinopoli | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Giulio Fioraventi, Dino Formachini La Scala Milan Chorus & Orchestra, Tullio Serafin | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Ramón Vargas, Giuseppe Taddei, Cecilia Bartoli & Dwayne Croft Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Licia Albanese, Jussi Björling, Robert Merrill, Franco Calabrese Rome Opera Orchestra & Chorus, Jonel Perlea Plus 5 bonus Puccini arias | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Puccini: Manon LescautRecorded 18th-20th, 22nd and 24th-27th July, 1957, in the Teatro della Scala, Milan
Appendix: Giuseppe Di Stefano sing Puccini Arias
Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Giulio Fioravanti, Franco Calabrese, Dino Formichini & Dino Formichini Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, Tullio Serafin Transferred by the award-winning Mark Obert-Thorn, this 1957 recording of Manon Lescaut with Callas singing the title rôle and Di Stefano as des Grieux, was one of Callas’s last complete recordings at La Scala, Milan. Although the strain of her recent recording of Turandot (Naxos 8111334-35) sometimes takes its toll, her command of Manon is complete. Those pages that are rarely sung accurately by other lyric sopranos, for example ‘L’ora, o Tirsi’ from Act II, Callas sings with polish and precision, executing the triplets with perfect rhythmic command. | 
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| |  | Puccini: Manon Lescaut31/3/1956
Licia Albanese (Manon Lescaut), Frank Guarrera (Lescaut), Jussi Björling (Des Grieux), Fernando Corena (Geronte), Thomas Hayward (Edmondo), George Cehanovsky, Rosalind Elias & James McCracken Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, Dimitri Mitropoulos Bonus: Björling in Manon Lescaut. First release in excellent sound. | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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