Word: puccini
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Puccini: La Bohème (Rosanna Carteri, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Giuseppe Taddei; Chorus and Orchestra of Radio Italiana, Turin, conducted by Gabriele Santini; Cetra-Soria). The singers give an appealing account of life in their drafty garret, but are vocally outclassed by others who have recorded the popular opera...
Assets & Liabilities. The Met needs queues: new productions cost money. In addition to Forza this season, Bing is restyling Puccini's La Boheme, to be sung in two versions-Italian and English-and staging the U.S. premiere of Stravinsky's new opera, The Rake's Progress, also in English (TIME, Sept. 24, 1951). These will bring to twelve the number of new productions Bing has staged in his first three seasons at the Met. Almost all of them have been cheered by the critics (exceptions: 1951's Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci). But even after forgiveness...
...theater with the desire to make art." For two weeks he coached the singers in Italian bel canto, worked with the orchestra, sweetening a pianissimo here, strengthening an accent there, whipping up a tempo to a swirling climax. Last week, on opening night, he lowered his baton on Puccini's Tosca...
...orchestra never sounded better. Serafin's sure hand brought out all of Puccini's colorful instrumentation, without drowning out the singers. Critics praised the conductor, but had a few reservations about the performance: Tenor David Poleri was still forcing his fine voice; Baritone Walter Cassel sang beautifully, but could not resist a few hammy moments as the villainous Scarpia; U.S. Soprano Anne McKnight, who has been singing in Italy as Anna di Cavallieri. proved to have a big dramatic voice and sang an appealing Vissi d'arte, but her acting was weak. In Act II, a leak...
Proudly present for the performance was Father Dante del Fiorentino, a Brooklyn priest who knew Puccini intimately for years. While collecting material for a Puccini biography last year, he found one of the two known copies of the Mass in the family of Puccini's music secretary (the other is in a museum), then worked hard until it was published and performed. The Mass cannot easily be used in sacred services (a 1903 papal encyclical, among other things, generally forbids the use of orchestras in church). But Father del Fiorentino will see to it that the church benefits...