Puccini: Turandot [Blu-ray]

I enjoyed this very much
Of all Puccini's operas Turandot is by far the most difficult to cast and stage. In the days of CD all the cast had to do was sing and it was not a lot different in the early days of DVD. Blu-ray creates a host of challenges and the bar is being raised all the time. This new production by Opera Australia, recorded in Melbourne, is a cut above any other that I have seen in a number of important ways: The staging is very good indeed. I found the Valencia performance too dark and cluttered, here the lighter costumes and excellent overall balance give a most satisfying visual impression. Great attention has been paid to a few special effects such as the corps of executioners and the Chinese temptress who are just brilliant. The three ministers are also handled a bit differently and with great skill. Liu is portrayed by a Korean soprano to good effect and a number of east Asians appear in the cast. We are still some way from getting a Turandot that looks the part but Susan Foster gives a...

Bravo Opera Australia!
THE OVERVIEW
Now and then a recorded performance of an opera or concert piece is so well done that it becomes a "classic" by which other recordings of that work are compared. It's my belief that this Blu-ray disc of Opera Australia's 2012 production of Turandot is very likely to become such a classic. This forecast is based not only on comparisons with existing DVD and Blu-ray performances of Turandot, but with my conclusion that everything in the subject disc works, and works quite well indeed. In fact, one could say that this recording features a performance where "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

THE SINGERS
However, the "parts" in this production are amazing! The two female leads, Susan Foster as Turandot, and Hyeseoung Kwon as Liu, are more than equal to the demands of their respective roles. Ms. Foster easily handles the high tessitura of "Principessa Divina," rightly regarded as one of operas most difficult dramatic soprano parts. She...

The OperaDou Jury* applauds the Opera Australia production of "Turandot"


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