Product Description Cast: Andrea Chenier -- Placido Domingo Maddalena di Coigny -- Anna Tomowa-Sintow Carlo Gerard -- Giorgio Zancanaro Bersi -- Cynthia Buchan Contessa di Coigny -- Patricia Johnson Roucher -- Jonathan Summers Incredible -- John Dobson Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Julius Rudel Producer: Michael Hampe From Amazon.co.uk Giordano's Andrea Chenier is one of the greatest of verismo operas， full of heart-stopping big tunes and powerful emotional situations. If it is not as well-known as it should be， it is because in summary it sounds a little too like Puccini's Tosca: there is a tussle between political opponents over a woman， an attempt to save a condemned man， a tenor aria about writing poetry on the eve of execution. The difference is that Gerard (Giorgio Zancanaro) is not a villain like Scarpia， he is an idealist whom the French Revolution has betrayed as much as it has his rival the poet Chenier (Placido Domingo). His temptation to abuse his power to seduce the virtuous Maddalena (Anna Tomowa-Sintow) is a momentary one， though its consequences are terrible. There is a streak of post-Wagnerian decadence in much of this--Maddalena is at least as much in love with death as she is with Chenier， and the final love duet has a deeply sinister aspect. Domingo is at his best in this Covent Garden Opera House performance from 1985; at once ardent and serious-minded， we believe in his Chenier as a poet and political figure. Conductor Julius Rudel gives the rich score all the weight and lyricism it demands and the Covent Garden chorus is at its occasional best in the scenes of revolutionary excess.