"Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso"

This beautiful chorus number from Puccini's La Rondine is my parent's favorite piece of classical music, probably due to the fact that it's the epitome of Puccini. The rousing melody makes a lasting impression, and stays stuck in your mind for days - but has the magic of staying new every time you hear it. The marriage of the soaring strings and resonant voices create what seems like one of the first examples of a show-stopping chorus number; a predecessor of it's musical theatre cousin.

Puccini pulled out all the stops on this; absolutely every element of opera is involved in this stunning, breath-taking piece. It's like the opera equivalent of a Bruce Springsteen anthem; you've got the 'kitchen sink' effect - EVERYTHING is in there. Chorus, full orchestra, soloists - everyone going hell for leather. And the result is just...well it brings tears to your eyes. Every-time.

The piece comes about halfway through Act 2, after Magda, disguised as 'Paulette', (as it simply wouldn't be classed as an opera without an element of disguise) meets Ruggero for the first time (as Paulette...) and the two fall in love. The piece is without doubt, a wonderful musical painting of their hearts soaring as they find themselves together, as the vocal phrasing suddenly breaks then continues up up and up to glass-shattering vocal heights in both the lead tenor and soprano lines. The video is truly mind boggling due to the fact that both Alagna and Gheorghui achieve this seamlessly...whilst sitting down. That's some real technique right there. Their acting is so brilliant that they seem enclosed in their own little bubble, as the celebration in song happens around them; they are too in love to notice. Though, at the time of recording, I suppose they really were...

The magic really starts to happen as soon as the full company come in. The chorus, though whole in sound, seem again like parallels of Magda and Ruggero - everyone is caught up in their own romance - their participation in the song binding them together by the dizzy state that links them all. They creat such a rich, vibrant and joyous sound - you can't help but be carried away by its romanticism. The melody of people enveloped in love generously crosses the orchestra pit, is given to the audience, and lifts your spirits like nothing before.