|
A Transatlantic Operatic Cooperation
GIUSEPPE PENNISI on Puccini's
'La fanciulla del West' in Cagliari
Puccini's The Girl from the Golden West is a well-known opera. I've reviewed it a few times here over the last few years (eg 'A Difficult Score', 7 May 2016, 'A Marvelous Job', 29 December 2010 and 'Eyes Tight Shut', 22 July 2010). Nonetheless the production I saw and heard at the Cagliari Teatro Lirico [20 October 2017] is a landmark for organizational, musical, and staging reasons.
The Girl from the Golden West is a masterpiece, not performed as often as it ought to be because of the huge resources it demands: a gargantuan orchestra, three leads, quite special voices — a Wagnerian-Straussian soprano; a tenor with a strong central register; and an almost Verdian baritone — some fifteen soloists, each with a specific musical function and color, and an elaborate stage set almost as complex as that of a top class Western movie...
Copyright © 29 October 2017
Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy
|
