La Fanciulla Del West is not my favourite Puccini opera by all means, I have more of a fondness for Tosca and La Boheme and also Madama Butterfly and Turandot, and it is not really one of my favourites either. Its story is very basic and run-of-the-mill and apart from Minnie and Rance perhaps the characters are standard. However, while the opera has been criticised for a lack of any memorable arias(excepting Ch'Ella Mi Creda and Minnie Dalla Mia Casa), the music is beautifully crafted with homages to Strauss, Debussy and to a lesser extent Wagner but with enough of Puccini's lyrical style to make you realise it is still Puccini you're listening to, the three principal roles are very demanding especially Minnie's, and all the productions I've seen have taken risks in the staging during Act 2 especially the 1992 Met production.
This is a very impressive production, of the Met HD productions of Puccini's work, it is not as good as Turandot, La Boheme, Il Trittico and La Rondine, but I put it on a similar level to Madama Butterfly and Manon Lescaut and leagues above Tosca(a contender alongside Hansel and Gretel as the worst of the Live in HD opera broadcasts from the Met). Despite not holding La Fanciulla Del West in high regard as much as Puccini's other operas, I was familiar with the opera long before seeing this Met production. This is because of watching the 1982 Covent Garden performance with Neblett, Domingo and Carolli, 1991 La Scala with Zampieri, Domingo and Pons, 2005 Torre Del Lago with Dessi, Armiliato and Gallo and the 1992 Met with Daniels, Domingo and Milnes(I really want to see the DVD with Antoinetta Stella), and listening to the Tebaldi, DelMonaco and MacNeil and Neblett, Domingo and Milnes recordings.
Firstly, I loved how it looked. Holding a very similar visual style to the Met production, you really feel as though you have been transported to the West. I particularly loved the tavern/saloon set for Act 1. The costumes are beautifully tailored, with Gallo looking very imposing and important and looking at Voight's Minnie you can understand why everybody loves her as much as they do. As usual, the HD is splendid and the camera work, picture and sound quality are sharp and clear. Musically, it is of high order, the orchestra show a great understanding of the both lyric and dramatic style of Puccini's very continuous score and the conducting from Nicola Luisotti is musical and subtle, while bringing out the tension of Act 2 effectively.
La Fanciulla Del West is an ensemble opera in a sense, and there is a great cast to do justice to the roles. Of the miners roles, I found Keith Miller as Ashby and Dwayne Croft(though not as good as his Sharpless in Madama Butterfly) as Sonora to be the ones who stood out. But the opera relies heavily on its three leads, and all three are really impressive. Marcello Giordani(who I loved as Des Grieux) is perhaps the weakest of the three, but he is still good. His chemistry with Voight makes the end of Act 1, one of the opera's highlights and the closest to Puccini's style the opera gets, affecting, he sings with ringing tone and good musicality and Ch'Ella Mi Creda is quite moving. Where he is not quite as good is his acting, which I felt was a little stiff in places.
Deborah Voight is superb as Minnie, a very demanding role, of the Puccini soprano roles in my opinion only Turandot is more so. She has had a lot of expertise in Strauss and Wagner and this helps a lot I think. The voice is wonderfully dramatic, perfect for the challenging and somewhat angular passages in Act 2 after Johnson is found, yet also conveying the lyrical and more qualities you would expect hearing Mimi, Liu or Cio-Cio San. She is a very good actress, giving Minnie depth as well as vulnerability. Lucio Gallo is a very effective Jack Rance, though I find Milnes more interesting and more three-dimensional in the role. The singing is good with a pleasing timbre, if not what I call powerful, and the singing is strong, playing Rance with more spice than he did at Torre Del Lago and recently in Amsterdam.
Staging-wise, I was very taken with the Poker scene, which is a riveting scene and just as much here, and the very end, which I found a very moving touch where you felt a little bit of sympathy for Rance. Overall, very impressive. 8.5/10 Bethany Cox
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