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 for Manon." He might also have thrown in a couple of Beethoven symphonies and the late Mozart operas if he had heard what Angela Gheorghiu makes 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. Conductor Antonio Pappano draws 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