Puccini
“With Luciano Pavarotti as a powerful Des Grieux, James Levine conducts a comparably big-boned performance of Manon Lescaut, bringing out the red-blooded drama of Puccini’s first big success, while not ignoring its warmth and tender poetry. The impact is enhanced by exceptionally full, vivid sound, with the voices balanced close, well in front of the orchestra… its fullness and warmth are more faithfully captured in a performance even warmer and more relaxed. The rest of the cast is strong too, with Dwayne Croft a magnificent Lescaut who brings out the character’s wry humour. The veteran Giuseppe Taddei is superbly cast as Geronte, very characterful and still full-throated, while Cecilia Bartoli makes the unnamed singer in the Act II entertainment into far more than a cipher.” The Penguin Guide