Puccini Beyond Opera

Puccini is one of the acknowledged giants of late-19th-century Italian opera, a composer with a singular skill for melody and an unrivalled dramatic instinct. So much was he a man of the theatre, however, that his concert works are often overshadowed. This playlist features a handful of rarely performed but beautiful works that he composed for solo piano, chamber ensemble or orchestra, including the haunting “Crisantemi” for string quartet.