Plácido Domingo has left his indelible stamp on scores of roles during his remarkable career—but his performance of the romantic poet Hoffmann is one of his greatest achievements. It’s a fiendishly daunting role—high, heroic, and long. But Domingo’s honeyed, sumptuous tenor makes it sound easy. Carol Vaness portrays all four of the women who break Hoffmann’s heart, and Alan Held is his eternal nemesis. James Levine underscores Offenbach’s marvelous combination of Gallic sparkle and dark German romanticism.

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