Giaccomo Puccini: La Rondine - Gheorghiu/Alagna, MET 2010 (DVD9)

Puccini's music has never been more elegant or beautiful. It is amazing that this lovely opera remains so little heard. With performances as brilliant as this one I doubt that will continue for much longer. If you are a devotee of Puccini you will probably love this staging of his still rarely performed but nearly perfect creation: La Rondine. It is a performance of rare elegance and taste, suffused with the autumnal musical beauty of an artist at twilight.

Cast
Magda, Angela Gheorghiu
Ruggero, Roberto Alagna
Lisette, Lisette Oropesa
Prunier, Marius Brenciu
Rambaldo, Samuel Ramey
Yvette, Monica Yunus
Bianca, Alyson Cambridge
Suzy, Elizabeth DeShong
Périchaud, David Won
Crébillon, David Crawford
Gobin, Tony Stevenson
Georgette, Anne Nonnemacher
Gabriele, Belinda Oswald
Lolette, Mary Hughes
Adolf, Marty Singleton
Chanteur, Ashley Emerson
Rabonnier, Jason Hendrix
Serveur, Roger Andrews

Piano Solo: Steven Eldredge

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Marco Armiliato

Production: Nicolas Joël
Stage director: Stephen Barlow
Director for video: Brian Large

Bonus: Backstage at the Met with Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Lisette Oropesa and Marius Brenciu

Tech Specs
Recorded live in HD transmission, 16 January 2009
Editor: EMI (50999 6 31618 9 2)
DVD9
Video: NTSC / 29.97fps / 720x480 / 16:9 / Mpeg-2
Audio: LPCM Stereo 48 kHz / DTS 5.1
Language: Italian
Subtitles: It/Fr/En/Ge/Sp/Ch
Scans: Back/Front Cover, Disc, Booklet
Approximative time: 1h:54min
Release date: 2010
Approximative size: 6.4GB