Massenet - Manon / Gheorghiu, Alagna, Patriarco, van Dam, Ragon, Rivenq, Panzarella, Koch, Schimmack, Pappano
Thomas Beecham stated once that he would "happily give up all the  Brandenburg Concertos forManon." He might also have thrown in a couple  of Beethoven symphonies and the late Mozart operas if he had heard whatAngela  Gheorghiumakes of the title role; she's stunning. If you want a Manon who  is transparently charming from the first note, whose venal flaws are presented  with honesty and insight, whose final self-recrimination is heartbreaking,  Gheorghiu is your woman. And when the dramatic portrayal is underpinned with  that technique--pianissimo top notes, exquisite phrasing, powerful lower  register, glorious full, rounded sound--it's impossible not to be drawn into  this wonderful reading. Her husband,Roberto  Alagna, if he doesn't quite have her silken tone, still is an excellent  partner, and gives a real sense of des Grieux's early callowness being  transformed by suffering into emotional maturity. ConductorAntonio  Pappanodraws some lush playing from the band, and sensibly avoids treating  the 18th-century imitations as frivolous pastiche. From the lightness of the  early comic scenes, it's almost possible to believe that the ending will be a  happy one, such is the integrity of his approach--and it makes the terrible  close all the more harrowing.--Warwick Thompson