tomekkobialka | "Turandot - First Act; Finale", by Giacomo Puccini (Audio + Sheet Music) @tomekkobialka | Uploaded April 2016 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
pf: London Philharmonic Orchestra and John Alldis Choir cond/ Zubin Mehta

Il Principe Ignoto (Calaf) - Luciano Pavarotti
Liù - Montserrat Caballé
Timur - Nicolai Ghiaurov
Ping - Tom Krause
Pang - Pier Francesco Poli
Pong - Piero de Palma

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Franco Alfano
Sung In Italian

World premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, April 1926.
Met and U.S. premiere: November 16, 1926.

Puccini’s final opera is an epic fairy tale set in a China of legend, loosely based on a play by 18th-century Italian dramatist Carlo Gozzi. Featuring a most unusual score with an astounding and innovative use of chorus and orchestra, it is still recognizably Puccini, bursting with instantly appealing melody. The unenviable task of completing the opera’s final scene upon Puccini’s sudden death was left to the composer Franco Alfano. Conductor Arturo Toscanini oversaw Alfano’s contribution and led the world premiere.

For a synopsis of the opera, see: metopera.org/Discover/Synopses/Turandot