Puccini's La fanciulla del West
The Gramophone Choice
Carol Neblett sop Minnie Plácido Domingo ten Dick Johnson Sherrill Milnes bar Jack Rance Francis Egerton ten Nick Robert Lloyd bass Ashby Gwynne Howell bass Jake Wallace Paul Hudson bass Billy Jackrabbit Anne Wilkens sop Wowkle Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Zubin Mehta
DG 474 840-2GOR2 (130‘ · ADD · T/t). Recorded 1977. Buy from Amazon
This opera depicts the triangular relationship between Minnie, the saloon owner and ‘mother’ to the entire town of gold miners, Jack Rance, the sheriff, and Dick Johnson (alias Ramerrez), a bandit leader. The music is highly developed in Puccini’s seamless lyrical style: the arias for the main characters emerge from the texture and return to it effortlessly. The vocal colours are strongly polarised with the cast being all male except for one travesti role and Minnie herself. The score bristles with robust melody as well as delicate scoring, betraying a masterly hand at work. Carol Neblett is a strong Minnie, vocally distinctive and well characterised, while Plácido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes make a good pair of suitors for the spunky little lady. Zubin Mehta conducts with real sympathy for the idiom.
DVD Recommendation
Mara Zampieri sop Minnie Plácido Domingo ten Dick Johnson Juan Pons bar Jack Rance Sergio Bertocchi ten Nick Luigi Roni bass Ashby Mario Chingari bar Jake Wallace Aldo Bramante bass Billy Jackrabbit Nella Verri mez Wowkle Antonio Salvadori bar Sonora Ernesto Gavazzi ten Trin Giovanni Savoiardo bar Sid Orazio Mori bar Bello Francesco Memeo ten Harry Aldo Bottion ten Joe Ernesto Panariello bar Happy Pietro Spagnoli bass Larkens Claudio Giombi bass José Castro Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan / Lorin Maazel
Stage director Jonathan Miller
Video director John Michael Phillips
Opus Arte OALS3004D (144’ · 4:3 · 2.0 · 0 · N/T/t/s). Recorded live 1991. Buy from Amazon
This DVD of La fanciulla del West presents Jonathan Miller’s atmospheric production for La Scala, with sets by Stefanos Lazaridis and costumes by Sue Blane. The cast is strong, and Lorin Maazel proves a warmer, more idiomatic Puccinian here than he generally was in his audio recordings for CBS/Sony. His direction makes one marvel afresh at the imagination and colour in this score, distinct from other Puccini operas in its obsession with the whole-tone scale.
Miller’s production takes the melodrama seriously, with realistic sets and period costumes. It even manages to bring off the improbable scene in Act 2 when Sherriff Rance finds Dick Johnson’s blood dripping down from the loft of Minnie’s cabin, leading to the game of poker when Minnie blatantly cheats. Though at the end Dick and Minnie get no further than the back of the stage instead of riding off into the sunset, the authentic gulp of emotion is well caught in this rare Puccini happy ending.
Plácido Domingo is in superb voice, and wins ovations for each of his big solos. Juan Pons is wonderfully firm and dark of tone as Jack Rance. Though Mara Zampieri as Minnie sings with clear focus and no suspicion of a wobble, the result is often near to hooting – a strong performance, none the less.
Camerawork is a little fussy but not too distracting. Not only is the documentation fuller than usual in DVD booklets, with a facsimile of the opera house’s cast-list on the back, it also contains a complete (if minuscule) libretto and translation.
