Adriana Lecouvreur (Complete opera recorded in 1977)

"Francesco Cilea's… dramatic balance between light and shade, delicate orchestration and thunderous melodrama, are all superbly served by the Philharmonia and James Levine on top form… Maria Callas could not have outstripped Scotto in this title role… Domingo sounds ardent and ideally youthful as her aristocratic boyfriend... Altogether unsurpassable." BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 *****

Adriana Lecouvreur, although a melodramatic fictional tale, is based on a real-life actress of the ComÉdie-FranÇaise, and is the only one of Cilea's operas to have held a place in the repertory, albeit on the fringes. The opera is tuneful and melodic with some arias that are also occasionally heard in recital but its main challenge is for a dramatic soprano and this is amply demonstrated here by Renata Scotto.