Puccini La Fanciulla del West

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Giacomo Puccini

Genre:

Opera

Label: DG

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 130

Mastering:

ADD

Catalogue Number: 419 640-2GH2

PUCCINI La Fanciulla del West – Mehta

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
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.'

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