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Article: OPERA
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- September 18, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1994 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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WITH summer just a memory, the Proms no more a nightly fixture,
the opera houses can settle down to the autumn seasons. What to
kick off with? Big tunes and spectacular productions, of course:
Puccini all round - Turandot in the grand style at the Royal Opera
on Monday, Tosca the modern way at ENO two days later.
There are sound reasons for having a small Puccini-fest to start
the season. Tosca is always a draw, and Turandot is probably the
only opera composed this century to have become truly popular.
Separated by 25 years (Turandot, unfinished when the composer died
in 1924, was premiered in 1926), the operas succeed for all the
old, reliable reasons: dramatic stories; simple, ...