Search - Giacomo Puccini, Zubin Mehta, Giovanna Casolla :: Puccini - Turandot / Casolla � Larin � Frittoli � Bottion � Colombara � Fardilha � Piccoli � Allemano � Vitelli � Mehta

What with the Nilsson-Björling and Sutherland-Pavarotti Turandot recordings still available and still superb, the world hardly needed another, and this one, taped live "at the Forbidden City of Peking," certainly smacked more of an "event" than a genuine artistic undertaking. The good news is that it's quite a fine reading, really, with Mehta's rock-solid, exciting, taut leadership, and his instrumental and choral forces at their best. The singing, too, is by large-voiced, exciting, good singers, but sadly, that's all they are. Neither the Turandot, Giovanna Casolla, nor the Calaf, Sergej Larin, has the type of voice one wants to hear often, or the interpretive insight to make a great impression. Barbara Frittoli's Liu is far better--enchantingly sung and delicately portrayed. The rest of the cast is good enough. But shouldn't our two stars be memorable as well as highly professional? --Robert Levine