Puccini: Manon Lescaut

Perhaps the greatest May-December match-up in opera recording, this thrilling live performance of Manon Lescaut stars tenor Plácido Domingo near the beginning of his career, in the youthful prime of his voice, and legendary soprano Magda Olivero (“The Queen of Verismo”) in her 60th year as the young Manon. Live performance, 1970.

“The kind of fanatic enthusiasm Olivero came to inspire can be heard on this recording, as can the justification for it. One of the luckiest things that ever happened to post-war Italian opera was the coaxing out of self-imposed retirement of the forty year old Magda Olivero in January of 1951. The legacy of recorded roles and concerts she has left is a treasure, and this Manon Lescaut one of its most brilliant jewels.” — Ira Siff