Puccini: La Boheme (complete opera recorded in 2012)

Who among us doesn't already have a personal relationship to La Bohème? Probably a deep and intimate one: this opera, perhaps more than any other, strikes a chord that resonates in us where we are most sensitive.

Puccini, one could say, was the most refined example of verismo: a literary and theatrical movement towards the end of the 19th century that strove to portray the people and the actions of the time with greater realism. Stage characters were no longer to be presented in stiff tableaux, they should appear as modern people in a living context with which the audience could easily identify. And this is exactly what happens when we experience La Bohème: identification. Whether we are young or old we see ourselves in the protagonists' longing for intimacy and affection, and we love to experience these young bohemians and their eccentric, helpless flight from responsibility, a flight stopped abruptly when life's harsh reality suddenly and brutally looks them in the eyes.

At the same time, I would say that it is the music that winds its way into our innermost being and makes us virtually helpless. It is as if we burn inside when we hear Mimì's and Rodolfo's grand and indescribably beautiful arias. We are hit even more strongly by Rodolfo's despair when he realises that Mimì is dead: 'Mimì!' The sound of pain and devastation in his voice has remained with me long after every single Bohème performance I have ever attended. This outburst could very well be at the top of a 'heart-stopping moments in opera' list: the moments that cause the heart to skip a beat, while we are almost compelled to remain focused on the situation, regardless of how painful it is.