Massenet: Manon

This recording deserves the superlative reviews it has amassed. Monteux directs with excitement, a mastery of style, and love. Victoria de los Angeles gives us a Manon who is transformed by events into different stages of maturity, all when she was in excellent voice. All of the characters are believably performed, including Des Grieux, although Legay sounds like his great aria, "Ah, fuyez, douce image", was a vocal struggle for him on the higher notes, some of which terminate in what is almost an explosion.The recording is, of course, in mono, and I find that when listening through headphones a treble reduction helps to lessen the roughness of string sound.Both bonus works are again beautifully performed. What a voice de los Angeles possessed and shared with us!

In case you are hesitating at the price, I can only say get this one. You have not heard this opera unless you have heard this recording...not only the best Manon in De los Angeles, but the uncut score (only the Pappano is also uncut, I think, and it doesn't compare to this). The sound on this issue is good mid 50s mono: plenty good enough to capture the orchestration of "Manon," and the voices are very well recorded. I had this on an EMI issue, and I heard parts of the Urania label issue, and they are horrible sounding and shrill in comparison to this issue. So the extra money is worth it for sure.Everyone talks about De los Angeles' perfectly sung and sweet Manon, but for me the revelation is also Henri Legay's Des Grieux. He sings it in such a light French style, and you realize, after hearing so many Italianate Des Grieuxs, that this is actually the way it is meant to sound. After hearing him it is hard to listen to anyone else, although Alfredo Kraus is almost as good (I haven't heard Gedda...but he probably sings in the French manner as well--however, the recording with Kraus is cut, which is a bummer).

Suffice it to say that this is a VAST improvement on EMI's CD re-issue of this recording. A VAST improvement. EMI's was shallow, edgy and generally unpleasant--obviously an old work-tape was dubbed onto CD and left at that.This crystal-clear TESTAMENT remastering has far more depth and perspective, a stronger bass response and a far smoother treble: night and day.The 1956 performance is an absolute classic, including a priceless Opéra-Comique ensemble led by the most famous French conductor of the 20th Century, Pierre Monteux.In the title rôle, the charming Spanish soprano Victoria de los Ángeles (1923-2004) is simply a dream, combining a superb command of the idiom and a lovely, full, silvery timbre rarely heard from French sopranos. This was unquestionably her best stage part. She is ably seconded by the elegant French lyric tenor, Henri Legay.The rest of the cast understands the style and traditions of this music as in no other modern recording. Listen to Henri Borthayre as des Grieux père or the unforgettable René Hérent as Guillot: this is what true ensemble-playing by an ensemble of STARS means!This is an indispensable historical document, besides being a most pleasurable musical experience.The coupling of de los Ángeles-Boston-Münch NUITS D'ÉTÉ (Berlioz) another absolute classic comparable to the supreme Régine Crespin recording on Decca 460973 [ASIN: B00000JXZ4 ] is but an added inducement to this feast!

No one has made so real and tragic Manon's death as Victoria de Los Angeles does in this recording. With the beauty and sincerity of her singing, the vulnerability of Manon's love of des Grieux and desire for wealth becomes painfully real as we realize the inevitable price of such passion. I'm puzzled by the mixed review of Legay's Des Grieux. His 'Ah, fuyez douce image", surpassing any other rendition of this aria I have every heard including Nicolai Gedda's, opens with a beautiful pianissimo and plea that is shatteringly stunning. The rest of the cast are all French speaking and all together make this a magnificent tribute not only to the heavenly de los Angeles, but to Monteux who enraptures us with this masterpiece of a recording. The strengths and miracles of this recording have no superior and few equals, the Sills Manon being the only one of them. The choice is a personal choice - but no one loses in that choice.

I would be curious to know how the sound has been remastered by Testament, and whether improved over the earlier EMI midpriced reissue, which was exceedingly "hot" on top and strident. Having owned and loved this classic performance on LP, for me the first CD reissue was a distinct disappointment. I was hoping EMI would rebalance the sound, as with their Verdi Falstaff under Karajan which is much improved in its newest edition (Great Recordings of the Century).

This EMI recording of Massenet's "Manon" released by Testament with Victoria de los Angeles in the title role and conducted by the great Pierre Monteux, who had conducted the famous Catalan soprano in many performances in USA prior to the recording, has been the reference of the work ever since it was released. What many people don't know is that Des Grieux was supposed to have been sung by none other than Jussi Björling as David Bicknell, producer of the recording and head of EMI's International Classical Division explained to me personally many years ago. Unfortunately Björling, after some time of dithering with the project, withdrew as he thought his French was not up to the standards for a definite recording of the work. The great soprano gives the most irresistible impersonation of one of the most unmistakably French characters ever, and where the marvellous complicity between these conductor and singer is evident throughout the recording. On top of it both are surrounded by the Paris Opéra Comique forces, starting with the wonderful and extremely experienced cast like the excellent Lescaut of Michel Dens, Henri Legay as Des Grieux and the rest in wonderful form, with the invaluable experience of being the theatre where Massenet's masterpiece has been performed far many more times than any other in the world, thus providing an unsurpassed atmosphere that to this day marks this recording as the reference for all the others in existence and for the new ones to come. Furthermore Testament has done a wonderful job cleaning the original tapes and thus improving the sound that now is infinitely better than the EMI copies.Xavier Vivanco

Eine der grandiosesten Operngesamtaufnahmen auf dem Markt - hier passt alles - ein leuchtendes Dokument der Aufnahme und Musikgeschichte

J'ai depuis fort longtemps - ce disque vient de mes parents - "l'original" publié en 1956 par PATHE-MARCONI. Il s'agit "des Nuits d'été" et de "La Damoiselle élue. Cet LP très rare fait partie des trésors de ma discothèque. Depuis le début du CD - c'est-à dire 1985 - j'ai guetté la parution de cet enregistrement numérisé : mais, rien de rien! Il y a environ quatre ans, les Archives de la Radio canadienne (WHRA) ont publié un coffret "Charles Munch dirige la musique française" avec Justement en public Victoria de de Los Angeles interprétant Les oeuvres de Berlioz et Debussy en question. "On dit que" Munch, éblouit par la performance de la superbe cantatrice espagnole, a tenu, dès "le lendemain" réaliser en studio "Les Nuits" et "La Damoiselle". TESTAMENT, nous donne enfin en CD, ce fameux disque, cet éblouissant disque couplé avec "Manon" de Massenet. Un coffret de 2 CD absolument génial!RG-TOMMY