EMI Live from the MET: 2174209
Puccini - Manon Lescaut 
Our Price: £11.95 (£10.17 ex VAT)
Format: DVD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Opera
Artist(s): Sean Panikkar, Marcello Giordani, Dwayne Croft, Paul Plishka, Dale Travis, Karita Mattila, Tamara Mumford, Lisette Oropesa, Jennifer Black, Sasha Cooke, Ellen Rabiner, Bernard Fitch, James Courtney, Tony Stevenson, Richard Bernstein, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Chorus and Ballet
Conductor(s): James Levine
Release Date: 14th September 2008
More Details on Puccini - Manon Lescaut
Karita Mattila gives a career-high performance in Puccini’s passionate opera Manon Lescaut, conducted by James Levine, filmed live at the Metropolitan Opera in Hi-Definition - the first time in 18 years since the opera was last performed on the Met's great stage.
Manon Lescaut, a French tale telling of a beautiful young woman destroyed by her conflicting needs for love and luxury, was Puccini’s first successful opera and the work that thrust him onto the international stage as Italy’s foremost opera composer.
Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, as Manon Lescaut, is the star of the performance. Her interpretation of the first of Puccini’s many archetypal heroines is ‘riveting’ (New York Times).
Interestingly, Mattila waited until her voice had gained maturity and richness before she first portrayed her Manon Lescaut, in 1999, when she was nearly 40. She now returns – enticing James Levine to conduct the work for the first time since 1981.
After 35 highly successful years as Music director of the Metropolitan Opera, a relationship unparalleled and unique in the musical world today, James Levine leads a fresh and intelligent performance.
“The musical standards on Tuesday, however, were compelling. Returning to this challenge for the first time since 1981, James Levine demonstrated keen appreciation of the line that separates pathos from bathos. He sustained slow tempos without compromising tension, savoured grandeur without exaggeration and supported his singers with enlightened tact.” – Financial Times
“Ms. Mattila was riveting…The gleaming, anguished power and beauty of her singing was beyond style.” – New York Times
"Giordani has all the ingredients to fill the role of the Met's star tenor: a remarkable range, a strong instrument, an attractive stage presence." - Washington Post
"...ever inventive, Karita Mattila enacted the heroine’s progress from gawky innocent to greedy charmer to tragic victim brilliantly." - Financial Times
"Mattila commands one of the most vibrant, most eloquent and, when she wishes, most seductive voices in opera" - NY Post
Cast:
• Edmondo, a student - Sean Panikkar
• The Chevalier des Grieux - Marcello Giordani
• Lescaut, Manon's brother - Dwayne Croft
• Innkeeper - Paul Plishka
• Geronte, a wealthy Parisian - Dale Travis
• Manon Lescaut - Karita Mattila
• A musician - Tamara Mumford
• Madrigal Singers - Lisette Oropesa, Jennifer Black, Sasha Cooke, Ellen Rabiner
• Dancing Master - Bernard Fitch
• A sergeant - James Courtney
• A lamplighter - Tony Stevenson
• A sea captain - Richard Bernstein
Set and costume designer: Desmond Heeley
Lighting designer: Gil Wechsler
Stage director: Gina Lapinski
Manon Lescaut, a French tale telling of a beautiful young woman destroyed by her conflicting needs for love and luxury, was Puccini’s first successful opera and the work that thrust him onto the international stage as Italy’s foremost opera composer.
Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, as Manon Lescaut, is the star of the performance. Her interpretation of the first of Puccini’s many archetypal heroines is ‘riveting’ (New York Times).
Interestingly, Mattila waited until her voice had gained maturity and richness before she first portrayed her Manon Lescaut, in 1999, when she was nearly 40. She now returns – enticing James Levine to conduct the work for the first time since 1981.
After 35 highly successful years as Music director of the Metropolitan Opera, a relationship unparalleled and unique in the musical world today, James Levine leads a fresh and intelligent performance.
“The musical standards on Tuesday, however, were compelling. Returning to this challenge for the first time since 1981, James Levine demonstrated keen appreciation of the line that separates pathos from bathos. He sustained slow tempos without compromising tension, savoured grandeur without exaggeration and supported his singers with enlightened tact.” – Financial Times
“Ms. Mattila was riveting…The gleaming, anguished power and beauty of her singing was beyond style.” – New York Times
"Giordani has all the ingredients to fill the role of the Met's star tenor: a remarkable range, a strong instrument, an attractive stage presence." - Washington Post
"...ever inventive, Karita Mattila enacted the heroine’s progress from gawky innocent to greedy charmer to tragic victim brilliantly." - Financial Times
"Mattila commands one of the most vibrant, most eloquent and, when she wishes, most seductive voices in opera" - NY Post
Cast:
• Edmondo, a student - Sean Panikkar
• The Chevalier des Grieux - Marcello Giordani
• Lescaut, Manon's brother - Dwayne Croft
• Innkeeper - Paul Plishka
• Geronte, a wealthy Parisian - Dale Travis
• Manon Lescaut - Karita Mattila
• A musician - Tamara Mumford
• Madrigal Singers - Lisette Oropesa, Jennifer Black, Sasha Cooke, Ellen Rabiner
• Dancing Master - Bernard Fitch
• A sergeant - James Courtney
• A lamplighter - Tony Stevenson
• A sea captain - Richard Bernstein
Set and costume designer: Desmond Heeley
Lighting designer: Gil Wechsler
Stage director: Gina Lapinski
