Puccini’s all-American opus La fanciulla del West, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910, can be a difficult one to love. Set in a gold-mining community in mid-19th-century California, it’s an awkward cross between Spaghetti Western and Spaghetti Carbonara, the miners entering the ‘Polka’ Saloon to toe-curling greetings of ‘dooda-dooda-day’. Minnie is the gun-toting saloon owner, mother-figure, teacher and object of affection for the homesick miners. She falls for ‘Dick Johnson’ – the bandit Ramerrez – hunted down by Sheriff Jack Rance, who fancies taking Minnie for his wife. Just as the sheriff thinks he’s trapped his man, he loses him to Minnie in a game of poker. The opera lacks big hit numbers: only the tenor’s ‘Ch’ella mi creda’ in Act 3 briefly qualifies, yet it touches the heart in a sentimental way when the miners bid farewell to Minnie as she walks off into the California sunset with her beau.

Fanciulla isn’t staged that often in Italy. It hadn’t played at Naples’ Teatro San Carlo for over two decades until Hugo de Ana’s new staging opened its season last December. It’s a highly traditional production, with a rickety platform the base for the ‘Polka’, Minnie’s hut and the goldmine for Act 3. Costuming and lighting are subdued; this isn’t a production to dazzle the eye but is has a warm, sepia-toned quality which suits the work’s emotional temperature and comes across well on the small screen. There’s lots of busy detail and de Ana draws strong performances from each of the many cameo roles, along with the male chorus, although the bar brawl of Act 1 is a little tame.

Emily Magee is more associated with German than Italian repertoire but has sung Minnie across Europe in recent years. She’s a little rough-and-ready in Act 1 – which suits the character – and can depart from the note on occasion, her tone a touch acidic. But it’s a gutsy performance and she’s dramatically engaging, especially when squaring up to Claudio Sgura’s brooding Jack Rance. Sgura has an inky baritone and can certainly snarl, but his sheriff is elegantly sung. Roberto Aronica is a stolid but likeable Dick Johnson, a little cloudy mid-range, but the voice opens up nicely at the top. The chemistry between Aronica and Magee doesn’t exactly crackle but, otherwise, this is an enjoyable recording and could win Puccini’s opera new converts.