PUCCINI: “GIANNI SCHICCHI.” Helen Donath, Peter Seiffert,...

PUCCINI: “GIANNI SCHICCHI.” Helen Donath, Peter Seiffert, Rolando Panerai and others; Chorus and Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio conducted by Giuseppe Patane. Eurodisc 7751-2-RC (compact disc). This thoroughly competitive performance of Puccini’s only comedy boasts Patane’s unspectacularly idiomatic conducting and the services of Panerai, who, at 63, lends a still-juicy baritone and wily theatrical resources to the eponymous rapscallion. Donath proves youthfully endearing in “O, mio babbino caro,” while tenor Seiffert hymns the beauties of Florence with fervor. Eurodisc deserves censure for splitting the opera into only two CD bands.