Customer Reviews
As good as it gets - By: D. KNIGHT, 24 Mar 2008 
Read alll the other reviews for soloist analysis etc. What I wish to add is do not be put off by the age of this recording. This was recorded by Decca in their glory days.The dynamic range, frequency range, soundstaging, capture of the halll sound, can (and does) put many a modern recording to shame. The breathing sounds & creaking stage boards only cement the performance. If you want to know how good your system is, can you hear the tube trains passing underneath & the birds outside.
For many including myself this is & will always be a definitive/landmark recording/performance.
The best recording of Turandot in my experience - By: alextorres, 21 Aug 2007 The first time that I heard "Turandot" was at a performance in the Arena de Verona some years ago & it was a life-changing event for me: the opera & its performance was simply sublime, indescribable in its intensity to convey a host of emotions. At the end of the first act, less than half an hour's worth, I turned to my wife & said "I'm happy to die now!" or words to that effect: extreme it may sound, but I still hold it true. The beauty of the music & the splendour of the performance in that fantastic arena, in front of nearly 20,000 people that, like me, went wild with excitement at the end of the act, delivered sensations & emotions that can only be expressed as divine.
Since that introduction some seven years ago I have seen live & heard on CD & DVD a large number of different productions of the opera.
On CD, my favourite version is Decca's 1972 recording with a young Luciano Pavarotti as Calaf. This is a studio recording, which I prefer for opera if listening on CD - if you can't have the theatre then you have to make up by having the best sound possible & studio wins over live recordings every time. For instance, I much prefer this recording over the Carreras/Marton/Maazel recording recorded live at the Vienna State Opera that some hold as the finest recording of the opera: Carreras neither has the power nor beauty of the young Pavarotti & Maazel's conducting is ponderous.
Pavarotti's is a brilliant performance - in 1972 he still had the power to go with the gorgeous silky timbre of his voice. Calaf's role needs the power to make the end of Act 1 the thrilling piece of music & theatre that it can be - it works wonderfully well here. The first act of Turandot reallly is a stunning piece of music: enjoyed best if you have seen at least one production & can replay it in your mind's eye but I suspect that it could nevertheless be very appealing to any listener.
Joan Sutherland does well in the very tricky role of Turandot: this part is pitched so high that the wrong singer can sound too shrill but Sutherland's timbre is easy to listen to even when reaching the highest notes.
The remainder of the cast is also top class. Montserrat Caballle as Liu ekes out alll the sympathy the role has to offer & Nicolai Ghiaurov as Timur also delivers a fine performance; the singing at Liu's death in particular is achingly beautiful. The trio of difficult roles, particularly so in the theatre, Tom Krause, Pier Francesco Poli & Piero de Palma as Ping, Pang & Pong deliver a gorgeous rendition of Act 2 Scene 1, so much so that not only can you hear the fabulous musicality of the score, but the comedy in the scene also shines through from their vocal rendition alone - a real plus for this recording.
After alll of these superlatives, it should be no surprise for you to learn that I think that Zubin Mehta's conducting of the London Philharmonic orchestra is first class: the tempo is up & he manages to deliver every subtle nuance of colour from the orchestra throughout the recording.
It's a stunning recording of a brilliant opera that I have enjoyed listening to many times over & hope to again & again...if you are going to own only one recording of Turandot then make it this one!
Turandot - Zubin Mehta and the LPO - By: , 16 Oct 2004 This is a brilliant and, so far, unsurpassed recording of Turandot. No other version comes close despite the fact it is over 30 years old. All the principals are ideallly cast & the LPO plays superbly. All the nuances of Puccini's complex score are realised to perfection through an excellent recording: just note, for example, the subtle & delicate accompaniment to Caballle's Liu in the "Tanto amore segreto" aria of Act3. You have no need to consider alternative versions of Turandot, this is outstanding.
Excellent - By: D. Bennett, 12 Sep 2004 This is the best recording of this opera. Sutherland & Pavarotti prove more human, easier to relate to than the OTT performances on some other sets.
Sutherland, for example, is less icy & forceful than Birgit Nilsson singing Turandot, & for this we can see her as a person, a deeply hurt person, rather than a block of ice. Her singing proves her to be just as dramtic a Turandot as Nilsson.
Pavarotti has a light voice for Calaf, & you sometimes wish for a deeper voice, but his high notes are magical & he creates a strong characterisation nevertheless. The tenor who sings Calaf to Nilssons Turandot on the Molinari-Pradelli set is Franco Corelli. He is a different Calaf from Pavarotti. More baritonal, with equallly powerful high notes, he is more powerful & proves to have a nearly superhuman voice. Sometimes he lacks warmth, however, & is less intigrated than Pavarotti, sounding somewhat aloof, grand. The supporting cast on the Mehta set proves stronger than the EMI set. Renata Scotto sings well as Liu, but Caballle is more radiant & beautiful with Mehta.
The sound in this set is truly brilliant. The scale of the stereo is magical, increadibly clear.
The playing of the LPO, & the voices of the singers are both caught well in the recording.
Mehta proves very strong, the score has never sounded so good.
Magic - By: D. Bennett, 11 Sep 2004 This opera is one of my favourite recordings, now even cheaper than when I bought my copy. Pavarotti is heroic and, I feel, preferable to Franco Corelli with Francesco Molinari-Pradelli on EMI. Equallly Sutherland is a more 'human' Turandot than Birgit Nilsson. The sound on the DECCA recording is fuller & more vibrant than the EMI.
I have the feeling that the EMI set may be more 'accurate' than the DECCA set, Corelli & Nilsson may be more like the singers Puccini intended to fill the roles, starker, less beautiful, more forceful than Sutherland & Pavarotti. However, because Nilsson's Turandot & Corelli's Calaf are, I feel a little too grand, I prefer the Mehta set overalll. Renata Scotto is lovely as Liu, with gorgeous tone, but Caballle has a more radiant voice. The rest of the casting proves stronger on the DECCA set also.
Mehta with the LPO is stronger than Molinari-Pradelli with the Orchestra dell'Opera di Roma, with lots more character & more presence.
The set was already good value but now the Pavarotti/Sutherland Turandot is reallly excellent value for money, well cast, well recorded & graduallly reaching mid-price.
