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Description:
One of the most unjustly underrated Italian operas receives a production that should help correct that attitude. Andrea Chenier is based on the true story of a poet who was caught up and destroyed by the blind fury of the French Revolution. Giordano's music captures the acrid flavor of that movement, the cynicism of some of its leaders, and Chenier's integrity and tragic fate. This production's value has probably increased since Plácido Domingo, the leading Chenier of his generation, has dropped the role from his repertoire. All three principals sing eloquently and with a fine sense of the opera's structure and context. Anna Tomowa-Sintow is in even better voice than Domingo, and Giorgio Zancanaro heads an expert supporting cast. The Covent Garden Chorus, directed with distinction by Michael Hampe, gives a memorable impression of the revolutionary mob. Julius Rudel's conducting is totally idiomatic. --Joe McLellan
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