La Rondine isn’t Puccini’s finest moment. As drama it’s a retread of La BohËme. The music resembles out-takes from Madama Butterfly. What holds it together is Magda.
Tag: Puccini
La bohËme on Tour, WNO, Oxford
Every major opera company needs a production of La bohËme. It is one of the operas which has the potential to attract everyone, the work which will tempt the occasional opera goer into the theatre.
La bohËme at the Salzburg Festival
It is difficult to speak with excessive enthusiasm of the programming of a Salzburg Festival that included both Carmen and La bohËme, though it would subsequently be redeemed in part by a staging of Die Soldaten.
Alfredo Catalani — A new perspective on later Italian opera
Assumptions about later Italian opera are dominated by Puccini, but Alfredo Catalani, born in the same town and almost at the same time, was highly regarded by their contemporaries. Two new books on Catalani could change our perceptions.
Sensitive, intelligent Madama Butterfly, Royal Opera
This Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House, London, brings out
the depth and intelligence of the human story Puccini might be trying to tell
us, beneath the surface gloss.
Madama Butterfly by Caurier and Leiser
Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser’s Madama Butterfly is such a classic that it is being filmed for the second time at the Royal Opera House, London.
Tosca, Covent Garden
The current Tosca at the Royal Opera House is something of a classic, revived four times in five years. It’s now being filmed for cinema to be released in November 2011.
Ermonela Jaho — Singing and Character
Ermonela Jaho caused a sensation at Covent Garden in London five years ago, when she took over Violetta at short notice from Anna Netrebko.