There’s no funny business in conductor Riccardo Frizza’s reading of Puccini’s masterpiece La bohème: every melody, cadence and mood change receives absolute reverence and discipline. The result is a beautiful synthesis, as the vocalists achieve an impeccable balance with the orchestra, who handles Puccini’s tender, forceful writing with leisurely grace.
Disc 1
Disc 2
- Zinka Milanov, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Alexander Gibson, Franco Corelli, Giangiacomo Guelfi, Michael Langdon, David Tree, Forbes Robinson, Ronald Lewis, Rhydderch Davies & Noreen Berry
- Ruggero Raimondi, Dame Margaret Price, Julia Varady, Lucia Popp, Hermann Winkler, Stafford Dean, Kurt Moll, Bavarian State Orchestra & Wolfgang Sawallisch
- Sherrill Milnes, Christa Ludwig, Karl Ridderbusch, Carlo Cossutta, Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera & Karl Böhm
- Renata Tebaldi, Guiseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Nicola Zaccaria, Virgilio Carbonari, Oliviero de Fabritiis, Giuseppe Morresi, Antonio Negri, Franco Piva, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano & Gianandrea Gavazzeni
- Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, Fiorenza Cossotto, Robert Merrill, Carlo Felice Cillario, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & The Metropolitan Opera Chorus
- Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Olivera Miljaković, Adolf Dallapozza, Walter Berry, Eberhard Wächter, Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera & Josef Krips
- June Anderson, Orchestra Sinfonica Dell'Emilia Romagna "Arturo Toscanini" & Miguel Angel Gomez Martinez