Germany Puccini, La fanciulla del West: Soloists, Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper, Philharmonishces Staatsorchester Hamburg / Antonino Fogliani (conductor). Staatsoper Hamburg, 4.4.2025. (SRT)
Once I first began entering into opera and found that Puccini had written a Western, La fanciulla del West struck me as an entire absurdity. Now it’s in all probability the work of Puccini’s that I like probably the most. When you settle for that the orchestra is the hero (extra of that under) then it’s his most convincingly through-composed work, the motives interwoven convincingly and deployed symphonically to nice impact, and when you get previous the setting, the characters are sympathetic individuals of flesh and blood who you’ll a lot reasonably spend your time with than Scarpia or Calaf. The hovering rush of the orchestra when Minnie first seems would possibly simply be the best entrance music given to any character in opera, although Dick Johnson’s comes a detailed second, and there’s nothing in opera fairly just like the loopy scene on the finish of Act II when Minnie and Rance play playing cards for Johnson’s life.
The Hamburg State Opera’s 2015 manufacturing is pretty summary in its settings, a world away from the lavish realism that, till lately, you possibly can have seen at Covent Backyard or the Met. A number of extra props would have helped Vincent Lemaire’s designs to return to life, and it’s self-defeating to not give Minnie’s hut an upstairs through which Johnson’s wounded physique might be stashed. Nevertheless, Vincent Boussard’s manufacturing speaks clearly to the characters’ improvement, and there’s an entrancing second through the second-act snowstorm when the curtain billows all the way down to defend the scene from view, suggesting that Minnie and Johnson’s temporary second of ardour comprises greater than only a kiss. The costumes aren’t period-specific, however all of them look nice, as nicely they need to when you think about that they’re designed by none aside from Christian Lacroix.
The true curiosity on this efficiency, nonetheless, the final on this season’s run, was within the orchestral taking part in, and the marvellous manner that the ebb and stream of Puccini’s rating was formed by conductor Antonino Fogliani. These large, arching climaxes have been constructed into the work’s general argument, and each element was cleanly articulated. The strings, particularly, sounded magnificent as they evoked the darkness of Rance’s ardour for Minnie in Act I, then sounding jaded and empty for the desolate opening of Act III.
This run of performances marked Anna Pirozzi’s debut within the position of Minnie, and she or he sounded terrific in it. An announcement firstly begged the viewers’s indulgence as she wasn’t feeling her greatest, although for probably the most half you possibly can not have informed. True, she sounded a bit worn out by the point of the ultimate farewells, however elsewhere she sounded assured and assertive, cresting the climactic notes and summoning up marvellous vulnerability when she discovers Johnson’s true identification. This was additionally Gregory Kunde’s debut as Dick Johnson. The voice sounded a bit pale on the prime in comparison with how – allow us to say it – a youthful tenor may need sounded, however he introduced lyricism and heat to the position, and it’s nice to listen to it correctly sung reasonably than bellowed the way in which a whole lot of Italian tenors do. Claudio Sgura’s Rance was a bit gray across the edges however introduced out all of the contradictions within the sheriff’s character and received the steadiness good within the first two acts between his love for Minnie and jealousy of his rival.
The refrain and the minor roles have been all fantastically taken, particularly a golden sounding tenor from Mziwamadoda Sipho Nodlayiya’s Harry and a successful Nick from Andrew Dickinson, alongside a sonorous Ashby from Han Kim. Seeing all of them line as much as take their curtain calls on the finish was a reminder that La fanciulla is an ensemble opera on the extent of Die Meistersinger or Peter Grimes, and its uniqueness in Puccini’s output makes it treasurable reasonably than foolish.
Simon Thompson
Creatives:
Director – Vincent Boussard
Set Designer – Vincent Lemaire
Costume Designer – Christian Lacroix
Lighting Designer – Guido Levi
Refrain director – Christian Günther
Solid included:
Minnie – Anna Pirozzi
Dick Johnson – Gregory Kunde
Jack Rance – Claudio Sgura
Nick – Andrew Dickinson
Ashby – Han Kim
Sonora – Tigran Martirossian
Trin – Paul Kaufmann
