Search - Puccini, Peerce, Albanese :: Puccini: La Boheme

Puccini, Peerce, Albanese
Puccini: La Boheme
Genre: Classical

Track Listings (12) - Disc #1
1. La boh?me, opera: Act I: Questo Mar Rosso
2. La boh?me, opera: Act I: Legna! Sigari! Bord?!
3. La boh?me, opera: Act I: Si pu?? - Chi ? l??
4. La boh?me, opera: Act I: Non sono in vena
5. La boh?me, opera: Act I: Che gelida manina!
6. La boh?me, opera: Act I: Mi chiamano Mim?
7. La boh?me, opera: Act I: O soave fanciulla
8. La boh?me, opera: Act II: Aranci, datteri!
9. La boh?me, opera: Act II: Ecco i giocattoli di Parpignol!
10. La boh?me, opera: Act II: Ch'io beva del tossico!
11. La boh?me, opera: Act II: Quando men v?
12. La boh?me, opera: Act II: Caro! - Fuori il danaro!
Track Listings (13) - Disc #2
1. La boh?me, opera: Act III: Oh?, l?, le guardie!
2. La boh?me, opera: Act III: Sa dirmi, scusi, qual ? l'osteria
3. La boh?me, opera: Act III: O buon Marcello, aiuto!
4. La boh?me, opera: Act III: Marcello. Finalmente!
5. La boh?me, opera: Act III: Mim? ? tanto malata!
6. La boh?me, opera: Act III: D'onde lieta usc?
7. La boh?me, opera: Act III: Dunque ? proprio finita?
8. La boh?me, opera: Act IV: In un coup??
9. La boh?me, opera: Act IV: Che ora sia?
10. La boh?me, opera: Act IV: Musetta! - C'? Mim?
11. La boh?me, opera: Act IV: Vecchia zimarra
12. La boh?me, opera: Act IV: Son andati? Fingevo di dormire
13. La boh?me, opera: Act IV: Dorme? - Riposa

CD Details

All Artists: Puccini, Peerce, Albanese, Mcknight, Toscanini
Title: Puccini: La Boheme
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Arkadia: the 78's
Release Date: 9/30/2000
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera & Classical Vocal
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPCs: 789368598229, 8011571780361

Synopsis

Amazon.com

Puccini's happy bohemians have never been in such a hurry! The old saying that Arturo Toscanini conducted as though his car was double-parked outside holds true here, though he makes a case for the opera as a piece of musical architecture better than anyone with orchestral details that sing out (and if they don't, the Maestro can be heard singing them himself). Though the cast has two big names--Licia Albanese and Jan Peerce--neither sound particularly happy, especially Peerce, who sounds like a baritone forcing himself to be a tenor. Though Toscanini conducted the opera's 1896 premiere, this 1946 recording seems a long way from the style of music-making that we know went on back then and thus can't be credited as being particularly authentic. It's more about Toscanini than anything, and for those who love the Maestro, that will be enough. --David Patrick Stearns

CD Reviews

Historical Gem

Michael Newberry | Santa Monica | 04/28/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Toscanini, what a conductor! This Boheme documents a great performance and a definitive concept of Puccini's masterpiece. The pacing is brisk and passionate, and there is something urgent in the music...like the exuberance and intensity of youthful love. The principals' virtuosity seems effortless. They oscillate between forceful exclamatory bursts to lyric tenderness, and swell romantically through high arching melodic phrases. I love the singing Licia Albanese, she is a fantastic Mimi, young and fresh sounding and has power that seems to come from nowhere. The Musetta of Anne McKnight is sultry and though Jan Peerce's voice sounds mature it is nonetheless magnificent. Two weak points are that, for some reason, Toscanini is heard, quite often, HUMMING! Bizarre! The other thing, of course, is that it's an early recording, 1946, and the sound...well, its not bad. But I would not part with this performance; I feel EVERY note as if I was right in the middle of the bohemians' bittersweet joys and their passionate love."