Thomas - Mignon - Horne, Vanzo, Welting, Zaccaria, von Stade - Almeida 19773CDs - ADD - 75'38, 64'18, 54'59
Sony 1998
Performer: Nicola Zaccaria, Ruth Welting, Frederica Von Stade, Marilyn Horne, Alain Vanzo
Conductor: Antonio de Almeida
Orchestra/Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra
Opera lovers who buy this 3 CD set will receive very good value indeed. There's three and a quarter hours of delight. Arias for the four or five principal characters in the opera are frequently heard in extract; here they can be heard in context. There's a lullaby, a styrienne, a polonaise and - of course - Mignon's "Connais-tu le pays?". Thomas, the composer, somehow managed to express homesickness much more successfully in this aria than Schubert, Hugo Wolf, or any other composer who attempted settings of Goethe's text. --Amazon customer
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