It's accorded real purity by Gheorghiu.ĬD 3 named ‘Daughters’ is a varied collection where the destinies of daughters are affected by parental dynamics. Also of note from Turandot is slave girl Liú’s aria Tu che di gel sei cinta sung prior to her suicide. The duet Vogliatemi bene, un bene piccolino from Madam Butterfly with Gheorghiu as the love-struck Japanese girl Cio-Cio San (Madame Butterfly) and Alagna as love rat Navy Lieutenant Pinkerton radiates compelling passion. Coming later the much loved Vissi d'arte sounds spectacular and is sung with tenderness and emotion. The duet Mia gelosa! with Cavaradossi sung by Alagna demonstrates Gheorghiu’s top register to wonderful effect. One of Gheorghiu’s signature roles is as the renowned singer Floria Tosca. Closing the disc is the desperate Manon’s heartbreaking aria Sola, perduta, abbandonata from Manon Lescaut.ĬD two, entitled ‘Puccini Heroines’ comprises scenes and arias from Tosca, Madame Butterfly and Turandot - operas that portray women as principals in the scenario: brave women of conviction and principle. Notable from Carmen is the famous Habanera, and the Seguidilla and Près des ramparts de Seville (seduction duet) opposite Roberto Alagna as José.
Here we have scenes and arias from Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Massenet and Puccini - a disc covering sizeable extracts from Bizet’s Carmen and Massenet’s Manon. The first CD ‘Femmes Fatales’ showcases her roles as the seductive women in opera who dominate men emotionally and who are like putty in her hands. It seems that Gheorghiu herself was involved in the programme selection and it comes as no surprise that her most celebrated stage roles Violetta, Mimì, Tosca, Magda (La rondine) and Adriana Lecouvreur are included.
TOSCA OPERA CD CATALANI ALFREDO PLUS
The set comprises eight thematically programmed CDs plus a single DVD containing performance extracts and an exclusive interview with film and opera director and producer Franco Zeffirelli. Titled ‘Angela Gheorghiu - Autograph’ this generous Warner Classics box set marks the 25th Anniversary of Gheorghiu’s first appearance on the opera stage. I, like many, acclaim her as the greatest soprano of her generation.Įither singing on her own or opposite her equally starry ex-husband, Roberto Alagna, the body of work Gheorghiu has amassed both on the opera stage and in the recording studio is outstanding. Her velvety, dark-tinged voice has a special quality that can move the stoniest of hearts and together with her refined acting ability she can command the stage.
Was it really as long ago as 2010 that from the comfort of my Odeon cinema seat I watched the live stream from Royal Opera House with Gheorghiu in her prime singing the title role in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur opposite Jonas Kaufmann. Hailed as the successor to Maria Callas, the Sunday Times described Gheorghiu’s voice as “a liquid instrument of great lyrical beauty with gleaming spun-gold notes”. From that day I’ve followed the fortunes of this Moldavian soprano, a train driver’s daughter, who married a plumbing engineer and then divorced for a temperamental French/Sicilian star tenor. It’s hard to imagine there being enough interest in an opera singer for that being done on television today.
It was conducted by her champion Sir Georg Solti. I can clearly remember in 1994 the BBC clearing its evening schedule to broadcast live from Covent Garden, Angela Gheorghiu’s sensational performance as Violetta in La Traviata.
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