GIACOMO PUCCINI

 

La rondine - Live from the Met

 

Angela Gheorghiu

Roberto Alagna

directed by Nicholas Joël

Marco Armiliato

 

1.         La Rondine - Opening Credits & Introduction with Renée Fleming

2.         Act 1 - Ah! no! no!....Non dite questo

3.         Act 1 - Chi il bel sogno di Doretta

4.         Act 1 - Chi il bel sogno di Doretta

5.         Act 1 - No. Adesso non burlatemi

6.         Act 1 - Un momento: scusi

7.         Act 1 - Denaro! Nient'altro che denaro!

8.         Act 1 - E poi? ....Basta: è finito

9.         Act 1 - Ah! Ruggero Lastouc

10.        Act 1 - Parigi! È la città dei desideri

11.        Act 1 - Poeta raffinato

12.        Act 1 - Buona sera

13.        Act 1 - Forse come la rondine

14.        Act 1 - T'amo!... Menti!... Che mi riconoscrerebbe?

15.        Act 2 - Fiori freschi!

16.        Act 2 - Scusatemi... Nella dolce carezza

17.        Act 2 - Vuoi tu dirmi che cosa... Dolcezza! Ebbrezza!

18.        Act 2 - Ti Prego: dignità... Che caldo! Che sete!

19.        Act 2 - Una fuga, una festa

20.        Act 2 - Perché mai cercate di saper

21.        Act 2 - Dio! Lei! Guardala!...Già che il caso ci unisce

22.        Act 2 - Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso

23.        Act 2 - Rambaldo!...Ah! M'aiutate!

24.        Act 2 - Paulette! I nostri amici

25.        Act 3 - Senti? Anche il mare respira sommesso

26.        Act 3 - E siam fuggiti qui per nasconderlo

27.        Act 3 - No. Un segreto

28.        Act 3 - Dimmi che vuoi seguirmi alla mia casa

29.        Act 3 - Che più dirgli? Che fare... È qui? Non so!

30.        Act 3 - Avanti, vile! Vieni! Fa presto!

31.        Act 3 - No! Non m'inganno!

32.        Act 3 - È una donna felice: lo vedete?... Mi dia da fare subito!

33.        Act 3 - Amore mio! ... Figliuolo, tu mi dici

34.        Act 3 - Ma come puoi lasciarmi?

35.        Act 3 - Bows and Closing Credits

 

Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna star in the 2009 Metropolitan Opera production of Puccini’s La Rondine (The Swallow). This new production, directed by Nicholas Joël, was the company’s first staging in 70 years.

 

This elegant romance is the least-known work of the mature Giacomo Puccini. The story concerns a kept woman who defies convention to chase a dream of romantic love with an earnest, if naïve, young man. This Met Opera production features the dynamic soprano Angela Gheorghiu and Frenchborn tenor Roberto Alagna performing the roles of Magda and Ruggero, it blooms into its rightful place in the glorious Puccini canon.

 

La Rondine (The Swallow) was commissioned by Vienna’s Carltheater in 1913. Due to the impending outbreak of World War I, premiered in 1917, at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo with Gilda Dalla Rizza and Tito Schipa. Set in a Parisian salon, it is the story of Magda, the glamorous mistress of wealthy banker Rambaldo. Her yearning for romantic love compels her into the arms of the ardent and adoring young Ruggero.

 

The New York Times hailed the Art-Deco set production as “as sophisticated, charming and poignant”. This DVD features the 10th January, 2009 performance of the opera, which was aired globally in HD as well as two bonus interview featurettes: the first with Gheorghiu and Alagna; the second with Lisette Oropesa and Marius Brenciu, who sing the roles Lisette and Prunier respectively.

 

“Ms. Gheorghiu, as Magda, sings with gleaming sound and wonderfully dusky colorings…The conductor, Marco Armiliato, in what may be his best work to date at the Met, draws a nuanced and supple performance from the orchestra. I thought I knew this score quite well, but have never been so struck by the intricacies of the music”. – The New York Times

 

“Mr Alagna supplied plenty of vocal and physical glamour and equal amounts of intelligent phrasing and text-reading; his boyish Ruggero was entirely sympathetic and very moving”. – Classics Today

 

“I have never heard Alagna sing better, and Gheorghiu is at her sumptuous best. There are comparably beautiful performances by the younger couple, Marius Brenciu and Lisette Oropesa” – New York Daily News

 

EMI Classics DVD 6316189