Скачать или смотреть Roberto Alagna and Lise Lindstrom - Turandot - end of Act III

I would like to say a few words about Roberto Alagna's performance in this opera, which I witnessed in person, along with about 7999 others in Orange this past July. I have seen many Turandots, most of them many years ago - I have even seen Franco Corelli, perhaps the greatest Calaf ever, and the incandescent Birgit Nilsen, but I never realized what an exceptional love story it was, until this Turandot at Orange. From the moment Calaf sees Turandot for the first time and turns to the audience to reveal a face suffused with passion, to the very end, when he takes her hand and holds it to his face before folding her into an embrace, this is a seamless performance of a man possessed, a man who must follow his destiny, whether it leads him to heaven or to hell... Bravo, Roberto, bravo!!!

End of Act III - Turandot and Calaf are alone. Calaf demands that Turandot look on the innocent blood shed for her sake ("Principessa di Gelo"). Still in her black robe, she tells him not to come near her, but he does, and gives her a passionate kiss. Her black robe peels off to reveal a white one, and she stands uncertainly, vulnerable, and tells him that he is the only one of her suitors that she feared would break through her defenses. She asks him to leave her, now that he has won, but Calaf instead gives her a weapon - his name, and also her black robe... As the people, the court, and the emperor file into the Palace area, we see for the first time that there is some doubt on Calaf's face, and he falls to one knee. Will she tell them his name and put him to death??? But she says that his name is "Love", and her black robe drops off again to reveal a Turandot transformed by that love...