Puccini Suor Angelica

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Giacomo Puccini

Genre:

Opera

Label: Classics

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 56

Mastering:

ADD

Catalogue Number: 74321 40575-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Suor Angelica, 'Sister Angelica' Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Adelheid Schiller, Lay Sister II, Mezzo soprano
Bavarian Radio Chorus
Birgit Calm, Mistress of the Novices, Mezzo soprano
Diane Jennings, Monitress, Mezzo soprano
Ellen van Lier, Almoner Sister I, Soprano
Ellen van Lier, Novice, Soprano
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Giuseppe Patanè, Conductor
Karin Hautermann, Almoner Sister II, Soprano
Lucia Popp, Suor Angelica, Soprano
Marga Schiml, Abbess, Mezzo soprano
Maria Gabriella Ferroni, Sister Osmina, Soprano
Maria Gabriella Ferroni, Sister Genovieffa, Soprano
Marjana Lipovsek, Princess, Contralto (Female alto)
Mechthild Georg, Sister Dolcina, Soprano
Monika Schmitt, Lay Sister I, Soprano
Munich Children's Choir
Munich Radio Orchestra
Valerie Errante, Nursing (Infirmary) Sister, Mezzo soprano

Composer or Director: Giacomo Puccini

Genre:

Opera

Label: Classics

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 51

Mastering:

ADD

Catalogue Number: 74321 40581-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(Il) Tabarro, '(The) Cloak' Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Bavarian Radio Chorus
Gerhard Auer, Talpa, Bass
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Giorgio Lamberti, Luigi, Tenor
Giuseppe Patanè, Conductor
Heinrich Weber, Lover II, Tenor
Ilona Tokody, Giorgetta, Soprano
Karin Hautermann, Lover I, Soprano
Munich Radio Orchestra
Siegmund Nimsgern, Michele, Baritone
Tullio Pane, Tinca, Tenor
Ulrich Ress, Ballad-seller, Tenor
Wiera Baniewicz, Frugola, Mezzo soprano
Most current recordings of Puccini’s Trittico are only available as inseparable triplets, so these newly divided constituents of Patane’s affectionately detailed account are well worth considering, especially at bargain price. In the case of Suor Angelica, where Ferroni is a girlish but shrill Genovieffa, Lipovsek an unexaggerated but also not especially characterful Princess, Popp and Patane himself are the main attractions. She does not have the ideal vocal purity for Angelica, but she strives for it, is touching throughout and moving by the end. I still prefer Tullio Serafin’s lovely performance on EMI, with Victoria de los Angeles the most affecting and most beautifully sung of all Angelicas, despite dated mono sound and the fact that it is available only as part of a complete trilogy. For anyone insisting on stereo or wanting this opera on its own, Patane’s version makes a more than acceptable substitute, but RCA have rather spoiled the bargain by providing a libretto in Italian only (with stage directions removed: what happens at the end? a newcomer to the piece might ask) and dividing the piece into only three tracks, one of them 28 minutes long.
The classic (but mono) rival to Patane’s Il tabarro is Vincenzo Bellezza’s rather stiff-jointed account, though that does have the incomparable compensation of Tito Gobbi as Michele (it is part of the same three-CD set as Serafin’s Suor Angelica). Nimsgern is not quite in Gobbi’s class, but he effectively combines pathos and menace, while Tokody and Lamberti are respectively the superior and almost the equal of their equivalents in the elderly EMI recording. Tokody in particular is a very convincing Giorgetta: Italianate and vehemently temperamental. Patane is reliable; the recording, a little recessing of the voices aside, is atmospheric and clean. Another worthwhile bargain alternative, but the mid-price EMI set also offers Gianni Schicchi, with Gobbi and Santini, which makes it something of a bargain also.'

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