CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Puccini - Turandot at the Forbidden City of Beijing / Mehta, Casolla, Larin, Frittoli, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

starring: Giovanna Casolla, Sergej Larin, Barbara Frittoli, Carlo Colombara, José Fardilha
directed by: Ruth Käch, Hugo Käch

Release Date April 13, 1999
I wish reviewers would review the product at hand without comparing to other recorded versions. No singer or opera performance is similar and should be reviewed based on it's sole merits alone. Larin is not Corelli, Casolla is not Nilsson and Frittoli is not Moffo. Just think how boring opera would be if every singer and opera performance was exactly the same. As a Chinese-American, I thoroughly enjoyed this lavish performance. From the Chinese perspective, it is a great honor that a magnificent composer such as Puccini would have been enthralled with our culture to write Turandot. To bring Turandot home to Beijing is an honor long overdue. Of course for such an important homecoming, Zhang Yimou, the greatest director in China would be asked ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Verdi - Falstaff / Muti, Maestri, Frittoli, Florez, Frontali, Antonacci, Busseto Teatro Verdi

starring: Barbara Frittoli, Ambrogio Maestri, Juan Diego Florez, Roberto Frontali, Riccardo Muti

Release Date November 18, 2003
Famous Verdi`s operatic last words: "Tutto nel mondo e burla, l`uomo e nato burlone burlon" would translate in something like "Everything in this world is a tease. Human beings were born teasers". Everytime I listen at this opera I get the strange feeling that indeed, old Verdi has been teasing us with an opera that breaks every single stylistic paradigm, demonstrating to the hypercritical young composers of his times (including Arrigo Boito himself) that old Verdi could rule even on the territory of the verismo. If I should have to define Falstaff with a single word that would be: "Exquisite". The monumental darkness of Othello and the Requiem are left behind and Falstaff rises as a completely fresh, "young" and enlightened approach to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

The Turandot Project

starring: Audrey Stottler, Lando Bartolini, Giovanna Casolla, Cristina Gallardo Domas, Yimou Zhang
directed by: Allan Miller (II)

Release Date May 28, 2002
It's difficult to do opera even poorly, and nearly impossible to do it well. The art form is staggeringly collaborative, and --- unlike cinema --- is utterly dependent on all factors combining in the right way at each unrepeatable, uneditable moment. So... take Puccini's swan song, TURANDOT, his grandest, if not his greatest, opera; now, present it in a city that has never produced western opera but that is the fictional/historical setting for its plot; make certain that your thousands of collaborators and artistic leadership do not speak the same language; and finally, add the less-than-creative tension of a totalitarian government determined that the entire enterprise should reflect well on both current leaders and the ancient culture. No wonder this film is so ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Rossini - Moise et Pharaon / Frittoli, Ganassi, Abdrazakov, Schrott, Filianoti, Muzek, Giuseppini, Ceron, Surguladze, Muraro, Muti, La Scala Opera

starring: Ildar Abdrazakov, Erwin Schrott, Giuseppe Filianoti, Tomislav Muzek, Giorgio Giuseppini
directed by: Carlo Battistoni

Release Date November 15, 2005
Rossini reworked his Italian "Mose in Egitto" of 1818 into the French Grand Opera "Moise et Pharaon" in 1827 and produced a Grand operatic spectacle. Though some of the intimacy of "Mose" is lost, the overall effect of larger than life dramatic forces at work is overwelming. The La Scala production is right on target. The chorus does itself proud. I replay time and again the great choruses. WOW, what sound, what force, what excitement! The soloist are also very good. The Moise of Abdrazakov is commanding and believable as a leader of his people agaist all odds. The voice I would like to hear in more Rossini is that of the Amenophis, Giuseppe Filanoti. A sweet, subtle sound with bel canto ability. The Ballet is silly. That scarecrow prima should have retired decades ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Puccini - Turandot

starring: Luana DeVol, Franco Farina, Barbara Frittoli, Stefano Palatchi, Francisco Vas
directed by: Nuria Espert

Release Date February 27, 2007
The casting of the protagonists didn't do justice to the opera. Turandot was overweight and so was Calaf, son of Timur.. Puccini intended to have a beutiful Turandot and a good looking Calaf. After Liu commits suicide, the conductor drops the baton and doesn't play one of th most beutiful arias. Pin, Pan and Pong were not convincing. The version with Placido Domingo was much better.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

New Year's Concert 2008 from the Teatro La Fenice

starring: Roberto Abbado, Barbara Frittoli, Walter Fraccaro, Ferruccio Furlanetto

Release Date April 01, 2008
The casting of the protagonists didn't do justice to the opera. Turandot was overweight and so was Calaf, son of Timur.. Puccini intended to have a beutiful Turandot and a good looking Calaf. After Liu commits suicide, the conductor drops the baton and doesn't play one of th most beutiful arias. Pin, Pan and Pong were not convincing. The version with Placido Domingo was much better.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Verdi - Otello / Muti, Domingo, Frittoli, Nucci, Ceron, La Scala

starring: Plácido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Cesare Catani, Barbara Frittoli, Rossana Rinaldi
directed by: Carlo Battistoni

Release Date October 21, 2003
Domingo, Domingo, Domingo...what an incredible singer and actor. I've seen the other two Othellos and they are both marvellous. It's incredible how consistently good Domingo is in all three performances. This is definitely a great version to have in your opera collection. Personally, this is my favorite because I really like the way Barbara Frittoli portrays Desdemona. Her Desdemona is defiant and strong. Frittoli has terrific dramatic instincts and is a beautiful lady too. Frittoli plays Desdemona in an ever-increasing state of shock and disbelief which is far more credible than timid Desdemonas popularized by other sopranos. Watch the scene where Othello orders her to "cry" and down to the ground. Frittoli's Desdemona fights her pride and very reluctantly lies face down in the slime. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Verdi - Falstaff

starring: Ruggero Raimondi, Barbara Frittoli, Manuel Lanza, Daniil Shtoda, Zubin Mehta
directed by: Luca Ronconi

Release Date February 27, 2007
Musically this 'Falstaff' probably passes muster -- barely. Ruggero Raimondi is frankly a bit long in the tooth for the part, it now being more than twenty-five years since he first sang the part. And he never had the low notes for the part, even back then. Barbara Frittoli is fine as Mistress Ford, and vocally Mariola Cantarero is a an equally fine Nannetta but she is a good deal more matronly than one would hope for a girl in the first bloom of love. Her lover Fenton, sung by Daniil Shtoda, is vocally acceptable but he is wooden as an actor and spends an awful lot of the time looking at the conductor. Laura Polverelli as Mistress Meg Page is OK but nothing special. The Mistress Quickly, Elena Zilio, simply doesn't have the chest voice for the part; her repeated 'Reverenza' just lies there gasping ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Verdi Box Set: Falstaff, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore

starring: Marcelo Alvarez, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Bryn Terfel, Jose Cura, Christine Schafer
directed by: David McVicar

Release Date June 26, 2007
Musically this 'Falstaff' probably passes muster -- barely. Ruggero Raimondi is frankly a bit long in the tooth for the part, it now being more than twenty-five years since he first sang the part. And he never had the low notes for the part, even back then. Barbara Frittoli is fine as Mistress Ford, and vocally Mariola Cantarero is a an equally fine Nannetta but she is a good deal more matronly than one would hope for a girl in the first bloom of love. Her lover Fenton, sung by Daniil Shtoda, is vocally acceptable but he is wooden as an actor and spends an awful lot of the time looking at the conductor. Laura Polverelli as Mistress Meg Page is OK but nothing special. The Mistress Quickly, Elena Zilio, simply doesn't have the chest voice for the part; her repeated 'Reverenza' just lies there gasping ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Falstaff

starring: Ambrosio Maestri, Roberto Frontali, Juan Diego Flórez, Barbara Frittoli, Inva Mula
directed by: Pierre Cavassilas

Release Date
Musically this 'Falstaff' probably passes muster -- barely. Ruggero Raimondi is frankly a bit long in the tooth for the part, it now being more than twenty-five years since he first sang the part. And he never had the low notes for the part, even back then. Barbara Frittoli is fine as Mistress Ford, and vocally Mariola Cantarero is a an equally fine Nannetta but she is a good deal more matronly than one would hope for a girl in the first bloom of love. Her lover Fenton, sung by Daniil Shtoda, is vocally acceptable but he is wooden as an actor and spends an awful lot of the time looking at the conductor. Laura Polverelli as Mistress Meg Page is OK but nothing special. The Mistress Quickly, Elena Zilio, simply doesn't have the chest voice for the part; her repeated 'Reverenza' just lies there gasping ... Read More: