Narrated and conducted by Bernard Keeffe
Puccini is the undisputed box-office king of the opera house. There is hardly a theatre in the world, from Stockholm to Sydney, that can survive a season without putting on one of his three best-sellers - La Bohème, Tosca or Madame Butterfly.
What is it about his music that has made the public itself decide this? In this informal workshop-style programme for Opera Month BERNARD KEEFFE concentrates on the masterly dramatic timing, the cunning choice of libretto and the melodic appeal and orchestral craftsmanship that distinguishes Puccini's operas. with Peter Glossop (baritone)
Josephine Barstow (soprano)
Adrian de Peyer (tenor) and with Colin Huehns (boy soprano) and Simon Mastcrton-Smith (bass) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra leader ASHLEY ARBUCKLE
Particularly instructive about the authentic foundations on which the composer would erect his wonderfully simple, strong, unabashedly sentimental music dramas. (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH) Sound ALAN EDMONDS
Directed by KENNETH CORDEN (Repeat) (Berg's Lulu is on Thursday at 8.25 pm)