Puccini: La Fanciulla del West

Opera 115

Puccini: La Fanciulla del West

Soloists

La Scala Milan

Lorin Maazel

Puccini was still a little suspect as a serious composer when I was at University - Kerman’s description of Tosca as a ‘shabby little shocker’ was an extreme view perhaps but not completely a typical of attitudes of the time.  Since then thankfully things have changed and we now recognise Puccini as a composer of real substance. Last year I included his Il Tabarro in my project. That was a real discovery and so I was looking forward to hearing this opera for the first time.  I was not disappointed. This is a truly amazing score which shows Puccini birding effortless the world of late 19th century Italian opera with modernism. Much of the music belonged in the world of Louise or Pelleas. The harmonic pallets is very wide and the orchestration constantly inventive.

So what is this this not performed nearly as often as the other major Puccini works? First of all there is some oddness about an Italian composer setting an opera during the Californian gold rush with references to the Pony Express and other colloquialisms sounding very out of place in Italian. Secondly perhaps the pacing is rather slower than we expect from Puccini. One can imagine the audience at the first performance at the Met starting to look at their watches and wondering when Caruso is going to appeal - the scene setting, though marvellous in its way, does take a long time. Then it has to be admitted that the opera doesn’t have the big hit tunes one expects in Puccini. There are lots of lyrical moments of course but the action doesn’t really stop to allow for arias. This recording is of a live performance and one can feel the sense of relief midway through Act 2 when they finally get to applaud a tenor solo - the applause goes on for ages and though Domingo’s performance is superb one senses that it wouldn’t have got the same level of applause had there been a succession of applause moments throughout the work.

So a fascinating work with many really impaired and dramatic passages and a wonderful quiet end as the hero and heroine walk off into the sunset.. This is one of those operas where ithe heroine doesn’t die in the final scene. I’m so glad that I have added this to my collection of Puccini operas. 

Peterson-Berger: Arnljot

Opera no 99

Peterson-Berger: Arnljot

Soloists

Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Okko Kamu

This continues my exploration of Scandinavian opera. Peterson-Berger was an important figure in late 19th century Swedish music. As well as being a teacher and composer he was also a critic and here is link to Stenhammer’s opera in this project. Peterson-Berger wrote a very damning criticism of Stenhmamer’s Tirfing, which effectively ended any possibility that it could become a repertory item.

Ironically Peterson-Berger’s opera (only extracts are available) doesn’t have anything like the impact of Stenhammer’s work. There was some attractive music here but it did seem very varied in style and I didn’t really detect the voice of a composers who had a clear personality. Some of the music seemed progressive but in other places it seemed almost naive. There were some Wagnerian influences but surprisingly to me I was quite often reminded of early 20th century English music - Delius and Vaughan Williams - though obviously this was not direct influence but perhaps evidence of common roots in the mid 19th century.

Delius: Fennimore and Gerda

 Opera 75

Delius: Fennimore and Gerda

Soloists

Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

Richard Hickox

In last year's project https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/2025/02/delius-sea-drift.html I found Sea Drift hard to come to grips with and finished my blog post thus: Perhaps there are treasures in Delius that I will finally appreciate one day, but for the moment he is not on my list of composers that I must explore further.

If there are treasures to come I don't think that they will be found among Delius' operas. I did see A Village Romeo and Juliet years ago and I have to say it was probably the most boring evening at the opera that I have ever spent. This opera had the merit of being shorter but otherwise my feelings were the same. I just can't get on Delius' wavelength. The music seems to drift along aimlessly with some overwrought chromatic harmony which I often find feels almost uncomfortable or worse. There were a few moments when the music settled down a bit into something lyrically attractive but otherwise this was not for me. There are four other Delius operas - three of them early works. I can't think that I will ever want to listen to any of them!  Still this project is all about exploring new things - not everything will come off.