LONDON 3-LPs OSA 13108: PUCCINI - Turandot - Pavarotti, Sutherland - 1973 UK TAS
$
35
$ 35
Sold For
Feb 20, 2016
Sold Date
Jan 20, 2016
Start Date
$ 50
Start price
1
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USA
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eBay
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Description
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Background -
This stereo 3-LP set features operatic music written by Giacomo Puccini and conducted by Zubin Mehta accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Superb performance throughout - this title can be found on The Absolute Sound (TAS) Superdisc List for outstanding sound and performance (aka as HP List - HP stands for Harry Pearson, the one time editor of the famous audiophile magazine)! The LPs were made in the UK and issued in 1973. Record labels have the vintage "FFRR" label (see below for details).Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, completed by Franco Alfano, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.
Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's 1801 adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot by Carlo Gozzi. The original story is based on the story of Turan-Dokht (daughter of Turan) from the epic Haft Peykar (The Seven Beauties), work of 12th-century Persian poet Nizami. The opera's story is set in China and involves Prince Calaf, who falls in love with the cold Princess Turandot. To obtain permission to marry her, a suitor has to solve three riddles; any wrong answer results in death. Calaf passes the test, but Turandot still refuses to marry him. He offers her a way out: if she is able to learn his name before dawn the next day, then at daybreak he will die.
The opera was unfinished at the time of Puccini's death in 1924, and was completed by Franco Alfano in 1926. The first performance was held at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 25 April 1926 and conducted by Arturo Toscanini. This performance included only Puccini's music and not Alfano's additions. The first performance of the opera as completed by Alfano was the following night, 26 April, although it is disputed whether this was conducted by Toscanini again or by Ettore Panizza.
While long recognised as the most tonally adventurous of Puccini's operas, Turandot has also been considered a flawed masterpiece, and some critics have been hostile. Joseph Kerman states that "Nobody would deny that dramatic potential can be found in this tale. Puccini, however, did not find it; his music does nothing to rationalize the legend or illuminate the characters." Kerman also wrote that while Turandot is more "suave" musically than Puccini's earlier opera, Tosca, "dramatically it is a good deal more depraved." However, Sir Thomas Beecham once remarked that anything that Joseph Kerman said about Puccini "can safely be ignored".
Some of this criticism is possibly due to the standard Alfano ending (Alfano II), in which Liù's death is followed almost immediately by Calaf's "rough wooing" of Turandot, and the "bombastic" end to the opera. A later attempt at completing the opera was made, with the co-operation of the publishers, Ricordi, in 2002 by Luciano Berio. The Berio version is considered to overcome some of these criticisms, but critics such as Michael Tanner have failed to be wholly convinced by the new ending, noting that the criticism by the Puccini advocate Julian Budden still applies: "Nothing in the text of the final duet suggests that Calaf's love for Turandot amounts to anything more than a physical obsession: nor can the ingenuities of Simoni and Adami's text for 'Del primo pianto' convince us that the Princess's submission is any less hormonal."
Ashbrook and Powers consider it was an awareness of this problem – an inadequate buildup for Turandot's change of heart, combined with an overly successful treatment of the secondary character (Liù) – which contributed to Puccini's inability to complete the opera.
Concerning the compelling believability of the self-sacrificial Liù character in contrast to the two mythic protagonists, biographers note echoes in Puccini's own life. He had had a servant named Doria, whom his wife accused of sexual relations with Puccini. The accusations escalated until Doria killed herself – though the autopsy revealed she died a virgin. In Turandot, Puccini lavished his attention on the familiar sufferings of Liù, as he had on his many previous suffering heroines. However, in the opinion of Father Owen Lee, Puccini was out of his element when it came to resolving the tale of his two allegorical protagonists. Finding himself completely outside his normal genre of verismo, he was incapable of completely grasping and resolving the necessary elements of the mythic, unable to "feel his way into the new, forbidding areas the myth opened up to him" – and thus unable to finish the opera in the two years before his unexpected death.
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LPs made by LONDON (Decca) Records, in the UK / ENGLAND / Great Britain
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LPs released in 1973
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LPs are recorded in STEREO
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Record Catalog Number: OSA 13108
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Record Labels are primarily BLACK with SILVER lettering, with the famous, vintage "FFRR" Stereophonic logo on the labels
Puccini // Mehta
LP title and music on this rare item -
Turandot
Performers -
The London Philharmonic Orchestra
featuring: Pavarotti, Sutherland, Caballe, Ghiaurov, Krause, Pears
CONDITION Details:
The LP BOX jacket is in excellent plus condition! The box is tight and clean, with NO splits, with just a bit of weakening at the seams and corners (see pics). The colors on the jacket are sharp, with a bit of discoloration. Considering the age of the LPs, the box is in excellent plus condition (see pictures with this listing as they are of the actual item).
Comes with a large, 32-page libretto that is in mint minus condition.
The LPs are in near mint minus condition! We found that the vinyl looked superb on this LP set. There are no significant marks and the LPs retain much of the original gloss and sheen - obviously well taken care of! There are NO serious spindle marks on the record labels either. Just beautiful UK made vinyl! That said, acquiring a vintage LP set like this is for the performance and rarity of the title, not necessarily for the sound quality.A Short Note About LP GRADING -
- Mint = Only used for sealed items.
- Near Mint = Virtually flawless in every way.
- Near Mint Minus = Item has some minor imperfections, some audible.
- Excellent = Item obviously played and enjoyed with some noise.
- Very Good Plus = Many more imperfections which are noticeable and obtrusive.
For best results, always thoroughly clean your LPs before playing them.
LPs can be audiophile quality pressings (any collector of fine MFSL, half speeds, direct to discs, Japanese/UK pressings etc., can attest to the difference a quality pressing can make to an audio system).
Don't let this rarity slip by!!!price rating
