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Interested in boning up before seeing the The Sacramento Opera's upcoming production of Donizetti's "Elixir of Love"?
A good primer is the 1992 Metropolitan Opera performance of the work, with Luciano Pavarotti as Nemorino.
That performance can be found bundled with three other operas in Deutsche Grammophon/Decca's 3-disc "Pavarotti: Italian Opera Collection".
Here you get Pavarotti also performing in "La Boheme," and "Pagliacci" in Metropolitan Opera productions. The one act opera "Il Tabarro" is also included. Oddly, it is Placido Domingo and not Pavarotti in the tenor role.
In this "Elixir," Pavrotti is joined by soprano Kathleen Battle as Adina. Battle delivers a sweetly rendered Adina in an extremely bright performance. And while this not top-shelf Pavarotti, it's still better than most, and one of the most warmly performed Nemorino's you'll see on disc. James Levine conducts a John Copley production.
