Puccini: Manon Lescaut (complete opera recorded in 2008)

Filmed in high-definition

The performance captured on this DVD marks the first on the Met stage in 18 years of the Met's classic production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut. Finnish soprano Karita Mattila performs the title role, conducted by James Levine. Chevalier des Grieux is played by Marcello Giordani, Manon's brother by Dwayne Croft and Geronte by Dale Travis.

Manon Lescaut, the French tale of a beautiful young woman destroyed by her conflicting desires for love and luxury, was Puccini's first successful opera and the work that thrust him into the international spotlight as Italy's foremost opera composer.

Mattila's performance is a career highlight, with The New York Times calling her interpretation "riveting". The soprano waited for her voice to gain maturity and richness before singing her first Manon Lescaut in 1999, when she was nearly 40. She now returns to the work, attracting James Levine to conduct it for the first time since 1981.

After 33 highly successful years in charge of the company's musical forces, a relationship unique in the musical world today, the Met's Music Director James Levine leads a fresh and intelligent performance. "Conceptually Mr. Levine seemed on the same page with his star soprano. He drew Italianate ardor and pliant lyricism from the Met orchestra yet conveyed the rhythmic intricacy, harmonic boldness and symphonic sweep of the music as well." (The New York Times)

"Ever willowy and ever inventive, Karita Mattila enacted the heroine's progress from gawky innocent to greedy charmer to tragic victim brilliantly. … Marcello Giordani partnered her as golden-age Des Grieux, handsome and urgent in demeanour, suave in passages of introspection, glorious in outbursts of passion. … The strong secondary cast included Dwayne Croft, a gratifyingly crafty Lescaut, Dale Travis, a stern Geronte who resisted buffo temptation, and Sean Panikkar, a sweet and sprightly Edmondo. … [Levine] let the melodies soar." (Financial Times)

Backstage at the Met Bonus Material: Renée Fleming interviews Karita Mattila, Marcello Giordani, animal trainers and handlers Nancy and Paul Novograd, and the Met's Technical Director Joe Clark.