Search - Luciano Pavarotti: Nessun Dorma - Puccini's Greatest Arias on DVD

Not a Fitting Tribute!

A Pavarotti Fan | Palos Verdes, CA USA | 01/15/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD could have been a glorious

tribute to two musical geniuses.

Supposedly, Decca put out this DVD

in honor of Puccini's 150th birthday.

I would hardly call it a fitting

tribute to either Puccini or Pavarotti.



Decca has merely cobbled together some

Puccini arias Pavarotti sang at various

concerts and recitals. All of these

performances are on DVDs, previously

released, coincidently, by DECCA. If you

already own just a few of Pavarotti's

DVDs, there's nothing new here.



The DVD runs a scant 53 minutes; pretty

skimpy when you consider that Puccini's

works formed the bookends of Pavarotti's

career since he debuted in "La Boheme"

and his final opera was "Tosca."



While there are several arias from'

"La Boheme," there is no footage of

Pavarotti singing with Freni or Scotto,

with whom he frequently performed this

opera. The wonderful "Live from the

Met" performance of Pavarotti and

Domingo singing the duet, "In un coupe?/

O Mimi, tu piu non torni," from the last

act of "La Boheme" would have been a

wonderful addition. From "Madama Butterfly,"

only one aria..."O fiorito asil. "Do vunque

al mondo" from the first act, which he sang

so beautifully, is completely omitted. So

many breathtakingly beautiful performance

were left out, but they somehow found room

for a solo performance by Raina Kabaivanska

of "Mario! Mario! Mario!"



In my opinion, this DVD is just a craven

attempt by Decca to make a fast buck by re-

packaging what they've already released.

However, if you don't have any of the other

Pavarotti DVDs, there is some beautiful

singing here and you'll probably enjoy it.

I would, however, recommend "A Life in Seven

Arias" which is far superior to this one.

"The Last Tenor/Pavarotti and the Italian

Tenor," which was done by the BBC, is also

excellent.



"

Pavarotti and Puccini! What a combination!

P. Sutherland | Berea, Ohio, USA | 12/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a voice!!! What beautiful music!!! Pavarotti and Puccini are a combination made in heaven. After the instant tears provoked by the sheer emotion of his voice, what impressed me most about this compilation of Puccini arias was the massive audiences in each venue. Zillions of people packed the houses to hear him. Imagine if all those people actually attended operas! The industry would be thriving instead of struggling to survive!











"