Puccini: Turandot

This is a very nice package of a fantastic recording of this great opera. Though I was familiar with three or four arias from this work for years, I had never heard the entire piece. Let's face it, a lot of non-"highlight' music in operas can be a bit boring, making it tempting to skip forward to an aria. Not so with this work. It is one of the few operas I've heard so far where I enjoy the entire two-hour score - it is a sonic masterpiece. The music is dramatic, majestic, soaring, rich and, heartbreaking. The clarity of sound is superb, especially on the included High-Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-Ray disc, a format I had never heard (or even heard of) until now. The improvement in sound is most noticeable in the bass sections of the orchestra (which chimes in often), as well as in an overall increase in clarity and, if I can use an ineffable description from the name itself, purity, of sound. It's smooth. This package includes two CDs tucked inside thick plastic polycarbonate sleeves (like the kind some 2-pocket presentation folders are made from) attached securely to the inside front cover and its facing page. The Blu Ray disc is similarly attached to the inside back cover. The ones attached to the covers can be a bit tricky to remove due to there being nothing to grab on to, but at least they don't fall out on their own. What I couldn't quite determine from the picture when I purchased this is that it includes a 230-page, high-quality booklet printed on glossy paper, bound and attached to the binding, so that the whole package is basically a book with the CDs attached to the covers. The book gives the full text of the opera in four side-by-side languages (German, Italian, English and French, in that order, on facing pages), along with a synopsis of the opera, blurbs on Puccini and Pavarotti, and a few pictures from the recording studio. For anyone who already loves this work, this is probably one recording you should own. If you like opera or Puccini in general and enjoy the arias from this work but haven't heard the whole thing, I don't think you'll be disappointed. The music is beautiful and moving throughout. My favorite selection: Non piangere Liu. Stunning. The voices are so pure and clear that you'll feel like you're right there in the opera hall (or, in this case, the recording studio). Highly recommended. The good news is that Decca appears to be releasing more of these all-in-one packages of the key repertoire (L'elisir d'amore and Madama Butterfly are also available).

Sturdy packaging really helps to maintain item quality. Item was pristine. This is by far the best Turandot with my favorite opera singer, Joan Sountherland. Oh she sings powerfully and beautifully. Montserrat Caballe sings as Liu and her last song ends with exemplorary diminuendo, so beautifully done: once you hear it, you’ll never forget. Nicolai Ghiaurov as Timur and Luciano Pavarotti as Calaf: how many more do we want! I heard Pavarotti in Turandot before he died, so this CD set is to remember him how powerful his singings were. A small note: this operas cut some parts to shorten the time, so for example, we don’t get to hear Ping, Pong,and Pang singing and lamenting their circumstances. Tiranfdot’s finale MUST end with bang and excitement, and we get the powerful, exhilarating ending that makes your cry! Lastly, I am not a fan of Zubin Mehta 100% but for this performance he performs forcefully and accompanies singers extremely well. He has the total control of the orchestra. Highly recommended.

I just wanted to rate this as highly as possible - it is divine. Simply divine. If there was any doubt about Joan Sutherland being the voice of the century, this recording will easily nullify all the debates. It is Sutherland, and Sutherland only. PS: Sutherland's voice is what I would describe as 'golden' in hue and effect. It is a marvel to witness how cold that gold sounds here, as the Ice Princess Turandot. It is a block of luminous gold; solid, thick and reflective. It is trained impeccably well: agile, un-apologetically feminine and poised. It is not liquid, but still malleable. A voice with no upper limit, yet brooding with a cold fire beneath it all. Sutherland sounds like an angel as Lucia and Lakme. The sensual warmth of her voice, which can be found in her Violetta or Semiramide, is nowhere to be found here. This is her Esclarmonde/Norma voice: cold as the blue ocean. People will say she was not an actress. Well, she was not. She was a musician, and if you can manage to evoke this much emotion with your voice alone, then who really cares about prancing around in silly costumes or so-called flawless diction? This is way up there as a crown jewel of opera for me, very much like Callas's incomparable Tosca.

This recording is one of the greatest opera recordings ever made. Great voices. Great performances. I see no need to extol the virtues of this performance further. Every opera lover owes it to themselves to enjoy it in their collection. The main point of this review is to say that the remastered CD sound is a slight improvement over the prior CD. However, the Blu-Ray audio is significantly superior to both -- particularly in terms of clarity,detail, and noise floor. The original CD is a recording I have played many times and use to audition audio equipment as I am quite familiar with it sonically. My wife also commented on the increased clarity and detail audible in the Blu-Ray recording. This was my first "Hi-res" audio purchase, and I was impressed enough with the sound on it that I have subsequently purchased many other opera and classical recordings on Blu Ray audio or SACD. Here's hoping we see many more opera releases in Blu-Ray audio!

CD box set of Turandot opera in excellent shape. Box its self, showing its age by peeling in places. But otherwise, very satisfied at the great price.

Considerada por muchos críticos como una versión de referencia de esta ópera de Puccini. La grabación es excelente, el conjunto de voces es soberbio (quizás la Sutherland no es la más indicada para su papel, pero cumple con profesionalidad). La dirección de Mehta es magnífica. Una compra acertada, sin duda.

The first time that I heard "Turandot" was at a performance in the Arena de Verona some years ago and it was a life-changing event for me: the opera and its performance was simply sublime, indescribable in its intensity to convey a host of emotions. At the end of the first act, less than half an hour's worth, I turned to my wife and said "I'm happy to die now!" or words to that effect: extreme it may sound, but I still hold it true. The beauty of the music and the splendour of the performance in that fantastic arena, in front of nearly 20,000 people that, like me, went wild with excitement at the end of the act, delivered sensations and emotions that can only be expressed as divine. Since that introduction some seven years ago I have seen live and heard on CD and DVD a large number of different productions of the opera. On CD, my favourite version is Decca's 1972 recording with a young Luciano Pavarotti as Calaf. This is a studio recording, which I prefer for opera if listening on CD - if you can't have the theatre then you have to make up by having the best sound possible and studio wins over live recordings every time. For instance, I much prefer this recording over the Carreras/Marton/Maazel recording recorded live at the Vienna State Opera that some hold as the finest recording of the opera: Carreras neither has the power nor beauty of the young Pavarotti and Maazel's conducting is ponderous. Pavarotti's is a brilliant performance - in 1972 he still had the power to go with the gorgeous silky timbre of his voice. Calaf's role needs the power to make the end of Act 1 the thrilling piece of music and theatre that it can be - it works wonderfully well here. The first act of Turandot really is a stunning piece of music: enjoyed best if you have seen at least one production and can replay it in your mind's eye but I suspect that it could nevertheless be very appealing to any listener. Joan Sutherland does well in the very tricky role of Turandot: this part is pitched so high that the wrong singer can sound too shrill but Sutherland's timbre is easy to listen to even when reaching the highest notes. The remainder of the cast is also top class. Montserrat Caballe as Liu ekes out all the sympathy the role has to offer and Nicolai Ghiaurov as Timur also delivers a fine performance; the singing at Liu's death in particular is achingly beautiful. The trio of difficult roles, particularly so in the theatre, Tom Krause, Pier Francesco Poli and Piero de Palma as Ping, Pang and Pong deliver a gorgeous rendition of Act 2 Scene 1, so much so that not only can you hear the fabulous musicality of the score, but the comedy in the scene also shines through from their vocal rendition alone - a real plus for this recording. After all of these superlatives, it should be no surprise for you to learn that I think that Zubin Mehta's conducting of the London Philharmonic orchestra is first class: the tempo is up and he manages to deliver every subtle nuance of colour from the orchestra throughout the recording. It's a stunning recording of a brilliant opera that I have enjoyed listening to many times over and hope to again and again...if you are going to own only one recording of Turandot then make it this one!

Dazu bleibt nur zu sagen: einfach herrlich!! Vielen Dank für die sehr schnelle Lieferung

El libro que viene con los discos está mal impreso (las letras están hacia abajo). Es defecto de fábrica, por eso no lo regresé. Los discos están bien. El servicio de entrega muy bien, como siempre.

Sem dúvida a melhor versão em estúdio dessa obra prima.