Giocomo Puccini (1858-1924) - La Bohème (1986) Cover Front Album Composer Giocomo Puccini (1858-1924) Conductor Georg Solti Orchestra / Ensemble I London Philharmonic Orchestra Length 102:48 Format CD Genre Vocal; Opera Chorus I John Alldis Choir Chorus Master John Alldis Index 399 Out of Print Yes Musicians Soloist Caballe; Domingo; Milnes; Blegen; Sardinero; Raimondi Credits Producer Richard Mohr Label BMG/RCA Catalog Line Red Seal Track List La Bohème 51:31 01 "Questo Mar Rosso" Concerti Grossi opus 6 Nos. 1-4 Concero I G-Dur Karl Suske, Eberhard Palm, Violine Burkhard Schmidt, Violoncello Walter Heinz Bernstein, Cembalo Neues Bachsches Collegium Musicum Leipzig - Max Pommer 00:58 02 "Nei cieli bigi Concerti Grossi opus 6 Nos. 1-4 Concero II F-Dur Karl Suske, Eberhard Palm, Violine Burkhard Schmidt, Violoncello Walter Heinz Bernstein, Cembalo Neues Bachsches Collegium Musicum Leipzig - Max Pommer 02:26 03 "Già dell'Apocalisse appariscono i segni" Concerti Grossi opus 6 Nos. 1-4 Concero III e-Moll Karl Suske, Eberhard Palm, Violine Burkhard Schmidt, Violoncello Walter Heinz Bernstein, Cembalo Neues Bachsches Collegium Musicum Leipzig - Max Pommer 00:55 04 "Pensier profondo!" Christmas Prologue Wiener Symphoniker Steven Mercurio 01:20 05 "Legna!" "Sigari!" "Bordò!" Deck The Halls Placido Domingo Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen Wiener Symphoniker Steven Mercurio 03:41 06 "Si può?" "Chi è là?" "Benoit!" The Closing of The Year Sarah Brightman Placido Domingo Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen Wiener Symphoniker Steven Mercurio 03:02 07 "Timido in gioventù" Tu scendi dalla stelle Riccardo Cocciante Gumpoldskirchner SpatzenWiener Symphoniker Steven Mercurio 03:34 08 "Chi è là?" "Scusi" "Una donna!" without tempo indication 02:03 09 "Oh! sventata!" without tempo indication 01:35 10 "Che gelida manina" Ginevra 04:24 11 "Mi chiamano Mimì" Dalinda, Ginevra 04:41 12 "Ehi! Rodolfo!" Ginevra 00:37 13 "O soave fanciulla" Polinesso, Dalinda 04:01 14 "Aranci, ninnoli!" Dalinda 03:37 15 "Questa è Mimì" Polinesso 02:38 16 "Una cuffietta a pizzi" Polinesso 01:56 17 "Oh!" "Essa!" "Musetta!" Ariodante 03:09 18 "Quando me'n vo'" Ariodante, Ginevra 03:34 19 "Gioventù mia" "Sciogli, slaccia!" Ginevra, Ariodante 01:17 20 "Caro!" "Fuori il danaro!" Re, Ginevra, Ariodante 02:03 La Bohème 51:17 01 "Ohè, là, le guardi! Aprite!" Ginevra 01:30 02 "Chi nel ber trovò il piacer" Re, Odoardo 02:31 03 "Sa dirmi, scusi, qual'è l'osteria" Re 01:43 04 "O buon Marcello, aiuto!" Ariodante 04:11 05 "Marcello, finalmente!" Ariodante 01:11 06 "Mimì è una civetta" Polinesso, Dalinda 05:11 07 "Addio, senza rancor!" Polinesso 04:08 08 "Che facevi, che dicevi" Lurcanio, Dalinda 03:43 09 "In un coupé" Lurcanio 01:20 10 "O Mimì, tu più non torni" Dalinda 03:15 11 "Eccoci" "Ebben?" Dalinda 02:32 12 "Vezzosa damigella" Ariodante 00:41 13 The Quadrille Costanzo Festa (ca. 1490 - 1545) 00:26 14 "C'è Mimì che mi seque e che sta male" Ginevra, Ariodante 05:18 15 "Vecchia zimarra, senti" Coro, Ginevra, Ariodante 02:24 16 "Sono andati? Fingevo di dormire" anonym 08:31 17 "Che ha detto il medico?" Nicolas Gombert (ca. 1500 - ca. 1557) 02:42 Personal Purchase Date 9/15/2002 Value $34.50 Store Berkshire Record Outlet Condition 100% Librettist Luigi Illica Nationality Italian Premiere Teatro Regio, Turin, February 1, 1896 "Form" Opera in Four Acts Language Italian Period Romantic Details Studio Walthamstow Town Hall, London Catalog Number 2-0371 Live No Recording Date 1/1/1974 Spars ADD Reissue No Sound Stereo Notes Mimì: Montserrat Caballe Musetta: Judith Blegen Rodolfo: Placido Domingo Marcello: Sherrill Milnes Schaunard: Vicente Sardinero Colline: Ruggero Raimondi Papignol: Allan Byers Benoit: Noel Mangin Alcindoro: Nico Castel Doganiere: William Mason Sergente dei doganieri: Franklyn Whitely Notes, illustrations, text and translation Essay: "Puccini and La Boheme" by Joseph Wechsberg Gramophone review: "Just when Solti's new recording of Tosca has appeared (reviewed below), it is good to be reminded how fine this RCA set is of La boheme. It was originally issued in the wake of the Karajan LP version at the time of quadraphonic experiments, and the sound never quite seemed worthy of the performance, nor yet a match for the Decca engineering for Karajan. The extra brightness and clarity of this CD transfer alters all that. Particularly when there has been a delay over issuing the Karajan set on CD and Decca have therefore opted for their 1950s recording conducted by Serafin instead, this Solti issue could not be more welcome. "I had forgotten just how persuasive Solti's conducting is here, not just how forcedul. He may start with all the speed and brilliance of Toscanini - though allowing Domingo and Milnes plenty of time to breathe and to enunciate words - but the warm Italianate expressiveness is then what strikes home, in Act 1 reaching a culmination in superb accounts of the two arias plus the duet from Domingo and Caballe, both in expansive, radiant voice. Domingo's heroic forthright view of Che gelida manina contrasts perfectly with the delicate, finely detailed, tenderly expressive singing of Caballe in Si, mi chiamano Mimi, leading to enchanting exchanges in the final duetting of O soave fanciulla. "Compact Disc not only makes the performance all the more vivid but all the more persuasive too. Much as I admire so many of the elements in Serafin's rival performance on CD, I find far less to love than I do here, quite apart from the superiority of the more modern, wider-ranging recording, which now emerges as very good for its period with the voices nicely balanced without being spotlit. It will take a very special version to oust this from first place on the CD list."