Alfano: Cyrano de Bergerac (DVD) – Plácido Domingo, Sondra Radvanovsky

Composer: Franco Alfano
Artists: Plácido Domingo, Sondra Radvanovsky, Arturo Chacón Cruz, Rod Gilfry, Corrado Carmelo Caruso, Roberto Accurso, Javier Franco, Itxaro Mentxaca, Nahuel di Pierro, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Cor de la Generilatat Valenciana
Conductor: Patrick Fournillier
Director: Michal Znaniecki
Format: NTSC
Language: French
Subtitles: French, English
Region: All Regions
Number of Discs: 1
Studio: Naxos
DVD Release Date: November 17, 2009
Run Time: 141 minutes

While best known today for having composed the ending to Puccini’s unfinished Turandot, Franco Alfano wrote some dozen operas, including Cyrano de Bergerac (1936) with a libretto by Henri Cain based on Edmond Rostand’s drama of the same name.

The story is a moving tale of romantic misunderstanding, swashbuckling bravado and heartbreaking loyalty, in which the eloquent Cyrano feels unable to express his love for Roxane because of his famously protuberant nose – except on behalf of his handsome but inarticulate friend, Christian.

When Domingo and Radvanovsky sang Cyrano and Roxane at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Andante magazine wrote: “Incredibly, Cyrano is his 121st role. And it suits him splendidly…. Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was luminous as Roxane, her passionate outbursts showing off her powerful upper register to good effect.”

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