Volume 1 of My Greatest Roles - Puccini

Three great masterpieces, Tosca, Manon Lescaut and La Fanciulla del West and Plácido Domingo in great form. What more can one ask?

The DVD set boasts of being the first ever DVD release of the live Tosca from Time and Settings of TOSCA. It is a wonderful Tosca with Plácido Domingo as Cavaradossi, Catherine Malfitano as Tosca and Ruggero Raimondi as Scarpia. In the original settings in Rome: act 1 in the church Sant'Andrea della Valle, act 2 in Palazzo Farnese, act 3 in Castel Sant'Angelo. Recorded July 1992.

Or you can buy the 2-DVD Set with Booklet, Box Set, Featurette, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Storyboards, Trailers. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada since it is a PAL DVD.


Then you have the 1976 opera film with Plácido, Raina Kabaivanska and Sherrill Milnes. This film was also recorded on location in Rome but naturally not live. As a bonus you get Plácido's son Plácido junior as the shepherd boy.


Then another great masterpiece, Manon Lescaut from the Royal Opera House, Coven Garden, London. Plácido Domingo is Des Grieux, Kiri Te Kanawa is Manon Lescaut and Thomas Allen as Lescaut. Recorded May 1983. It is just the perfect Manon Lescaut recorded. It is challenged only by the La Scala recording with José Cura and Maria Guleghina.

The third opera is LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST where Plácido Domingo is the perfect Ramirez bandit who falls in love with Minnie (Carol Neblett) and is instantly hated by the Sheriff Jack Rance (Silvano Carroli). Other versions with Plácido: Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Zampieri, Domingo, Pons, Bertocchi, Maazel, La Scala Opera and I did not like this one. Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Daniels, Domingo, Milnes, Croft, Laciura, Fitch, Slatkin, Metropolitan Opera which is OK but I prefer the ROH version (recorded May 1983)


VOL. 1-MY GREATEST ROLES-PUCCINI is just the best buy. I love it. I don't regret buying it even though I have bought the DVDs of Fanciulla and Manon Lescaut before and I have a TV recording of the Live Tosca.

For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com