Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #133352 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-11-20
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Classical, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 417 minutes

Customer Reviews

Two OK Productions, One Stinker
This appears to be the second box by TDK that packages three opera DVDs together - Puccini's La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. All six of the operas in the two box sets are available as single DVDs; the boxes offer a bit of a price break. The first box, which contained Carmen, Don Giovanni and Fidelio, I applauded. This one doesn't quite cut it. The stinker in this set is the production of Turandot from the Salzburg Festival. Fairly well sung (although there are better), the production itself is outré, one of those efforts that have earned the sneering designation of 'Eurotrash', where the director's 'vision' trumps the composer's and librettists' intentions. I would suggest you go read the reviews of the single DVD of this production of Turandot, which is still on sale here at Amazon Puccini - Turandot / Gabriele Schnaut, Johan Botha, Robert Tear, Paata Burchuladze, Valery Gergiev, Salzburg Opera and see what others have said about it. I frankly couldn't force myself to watch the whole thing and thus did not review it.

La Bohème, however, I did review; you can see that here: Puccini - La Boheme / Alvarez, Gallardo-Domas, Hong, Servile, de Carolis, Parodi, Bartoletti, La Scala Opera. It's a Zeffirelli production and I liked it, but there are also other productions that are just as good or better, including the Met's Zeffirelli production.Puccini - La Boheme / Pavarotti, Scotto, Niska, Wixell, Plishka, Levine, Metropolitan Opera conducted by James Levine.

I also reviewed Madama Butterfly in this set when it came out as a single. Puccini - Madama Butterfly / Fiorenza Cedolins, Marcello Giordani, Juan Pons, Francesca Franci, Carlo Bosi, Daniel Oren, Verona Opera. I gave it 4/5 stars.

I honestly cannot recommend this box unless you know you want the Salzburg Turandot. The price break is probably not enough to make is worthwhile otherwise. The other two opera DVDs are not quite at the top of their respective heaps.

Scott Morrison

for 40,- I would buy it again, but not for 60,-
Apparently they put the prize up, since I bought it two weeks ago.

This package contains three Puccini operas, of which two are directed by Franco Zeffirelli in his well-known overcrowded costum festival style. I would give four stars for La Boheme, because it works quite well, even though I am not a fan of traditional productions and two stars for Madama Butterfly, due to the pour acting and sound quality of the orchestra (probably because it was recorded from the arena in Verona).
In contrast, Puccini's unfinished Turandot in this collection is from the Salzburger Festspiele and instead of using the version finished by a pupil of Puccini, Berio filled in the missing parts in the third act. This gives the leading character time to develop from a cold blooded killer to a human being, as commented by Gabriele Schnaut in the interviews contained on this DVD. That is basically the main theme of this production - the psychological development of Turandot. Instead of presenting this opera as the usual chinese costum festival, the director tried to focus on the cold bloodedness of Turandot- resulting from insecurity and fear from men, because of a bad experience of one of her ancestors - which is reflected by the whole society - a society of robot-like creatures thirsting for blood. Gergiev creates the appropiate sound for spectacle like that and I would definitely give five stars, if it wasn't for the acting inabilities of Johan Botha. Must be very challenging for a director with a singer who not only doesnt know how to act, but also has to sit for half of the production, probably due to his size.