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The Belasco Connection

The two operas Puccini composed to plays by David Belasco showed him to be making real advances in orchestral techniques.

With Donald Macleod. The two operas Puccini composed to plays by the American dramatist David Belasco showed him to be making real advances in orchestral techniques and the handling of characters. While these developments were largely ignored in the first of them, Madama Butterfly, the premiere of La fanciulla del West was a different story altogether.

Un bel di vedremo (Madama Butterfly, Act 2)
Mirella Freni (soprano)
Vienna Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan (conductor)

Viene le sera... Vogliatemi bene (Madama Butterfly, Act 1)
Mirella Freni (soprano)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Vienna Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan (conductor)

Datele voi qualche soccorso... Addio fiorito asil (Madama Butterfly, Act 2)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Robert Kerns (baritone)
Elke Schary, Christa Ludwig (mezzo-sopranos)
Vienna Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan (conductor)

La fanciulla del West (Act 1, excerpt)
Mara Zampieri (soprano)
Placido Domingo (tenor)
Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Lorin Maazel (conductor)

La fanciulla del West (Act 3, excerpt)
Juan Pons (baritone)
Placido Domingo (tenor)
Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Lorin Maazel (conductor).

1 hour

Broadcasts

  • Thu 3 Jan 2008 12:00
  • Thu 3 Jan 2008 20:45
  • Christmas Day 2008 12:00
  • Christmas Day 2008 23:00

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