Puccini La Fanciulla del West
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Giacomo Puccini
Genre:
Opera
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 11/1987
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 130
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 419 640-2GH2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (La) Fanciulla del West, '(The) Girl of the Golden |
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Anne Wilkens, Wowkle, Mezzo soprano Carol Neblett, Minnie, Soprano Eric Garrett, José Castro, Bass Francis Egerton, Nick, Tenor Giacomo Puccini, Composer Gwynne Howell, Jake Wallace, Baritone Handel Owen, Pony Express rider, Tenor John Dobson, Trin, Tenor Jonathan Summers, Sonora, Baritone Malcolm King, Larkens, Bass Malcolm Rivers, Sid, Baritone Paul Crook, Harry, Tenor Paul Hudson, Billy Jackrabbit, Bass Plácido Domingo, Dick Johnson, Tenor Robert Lloyd, Ashby, Bass Robin Leggate, Joe, Tenor Royal Opera House Chorus, Covent Garden Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden Sherrill Milnes, Jack Rance, Baritone Tom McDonnell, Bello, Baritone William Elvin, Happy, Baritone Zubin Mehta, Conductor |
Author: Edward Greenfield
Based on the Covent Garden production of ten years ago with Sherrill Milnes brought in as an extra star to make Jack Rance a noble villain, this DG set of La fanciulla del West remains among the most successful of Zubin Mehta's opera recordings, taking the Gramophone Record of the Year award in 1978. His often brisk manner gives the performance extra tautness and cohesion, never detracting from expressive warmth. In practical terms it means that the whole opera can be conveniently squeezed on to two CDs instead of three LPs, with the extra convenience that Act 1 is complete on the first disc, Acts 2 and 3 on the second with no mid-act breaks involved.
The transfer captures the fullness and boldness of the original recording, but the slight drying-out process of the digital sound makes tuttis rather more strident than I had remembered with some hardness in the treble. That sometimes affects the recording of Domingo's tenor too. It remains a fine heroic performance, but his singing is more strenuous than we are used to now, when increasingly since the Otello seems to have been such a liberating factor for him. I wish that ''Ch'ella mi creda'' was more varied in dynamic, for example. Carol Neblett makes a touching Minnie, not so characterful as some but rich and true in the formidably exposed top notes. Milnes, as I say, brings out the nobility of Rance without diminishing his menace, and the rest of the cast, with Covent Garden stage experience behind them, provide a formidable team, with Gwynne Howell outstanding in the haunting minstrel ballad in the opening scene. Compact Disc enhances the precision of the voice as it is first heard off-stage, highly evocative. I am now curious to hear a digital transfer of the Decca set with Tebaldi and del Monaco, which was one of the earliest operatic spectaculars in the stereo era. I have a feeling the placing of voices and instruments in the stereo spectrum might be even more precise, but that is an academic point, when this DG set provides so outstanding an answer for anyone wanting this colourful, fascinating opera on CD, a piece even more moving on disc, I have often found, than on stage.'
The transfer captures the fullness and boldness of the original recording, but the slight drying-out process of the digital sound makes tuttis rather more strident than I had remembered with some hardness in the treble. That sometimes affects the recording of Domingo's tenor too. It remains a fine heroic performance, but his singing is more strenuous than we are used to now, when increasingly since the Otello seems to have been such a liberating factor for him. I wish that ''Ch'ella mi creda'' was more varied in dynamic, for example. Carol Neblett makes a touching Minnie, not so characterful as some but rich and true in the formidably exposed top notes. Milnes, as I say, brings out the nobility of Rance without diminishing his menace, and the rest of the cast, with Covent Garden stage experience behind them, provide a formidable team, with Gwynne Howell outstanding in the haunting minstrel ballad in the opening scene. Compact Disc enhances the precision of the voice as it is first heard off-stage, highly evocative. I am now curious to hear a digital transfer of the Decca set with Tebaldi and del Monaco, which was one of the earliest operatic spectaculars in the stereo era. I have a feeling the placing of voices and instruments in the stereo spectrum might be even more precise, but that is an academic point, when this DG set provides so outstanding an answer for anyone wanting this colourful, fascinating opera on CD, a piece even more moving on disc, I have often found, than on stage.'
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