Placido Domingo as Mario Cavaradossi, Catherine Malfitano as Floria Tosca, Ruggero Raimondi as Scarpia; Zubin Mehta conducting the RAI Orchestra Sinfonica and Coro di Roma; cinematography by Vittorio Storaro; directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi. 1992

. 'Andrea Andermann s television production was simply a triumph'
THE TIMES
'The staggered timing, the complex technology and the settings themselves made the production the first of its kind'.
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Manon Lescaut: 'Manon', wrote Puccini to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1889, 'is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the heart of the public.' This turned out to be a truly prophetic statement since none of Puccini's other world successes were received on their first nights as rapturously as Manon Lescaut. The popularity of Puccini's great masterpiece has never waned and the highly acclaimed Götz Friedrich production at Covent Garden was hailed as an operatic milestone. Two of the world's leading stars - Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo - head a strong cast conducted by the brilliant Italian conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli. Sung in Italian with English subtitles.

La Fanciulla del West: Puccini's penultimate opera is based on a play by David Belasco set at the height of the notorious California gold rush. The composer took three years to complete the work, which, for him, marked a new stylish departure. With more modern harmonic combinations and local melodies, Puccini pieced together a far larger canvas than anything he had tackled before. In this recording, Piero Faggioni's highly detailed staging is matched by Ken Adam's superbly atmospheric sets. Carol Neblett sings the role of Minnie The Girl of the Gold West; Placido Domingo is as ignitable as ever in the role of Dick Johnson, alias the bandit, Ramirez, and Silvano Carroli sings the sinister sheriff, Jack Rance. Conducted by Nello Santi.