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This probably has to be read in conjunction with my review of the same opera from La Scala. Although I am not very into Puccini I have two DVDs of this opera.
Overall, and in general, I much prefer the Covent Garden one to the La Scala one.
First of all, the sets are amongst the very best opera sets I have seen live or on DVD. Almost worthy of applause in themselves. Act I, the bar, Act II, Minnie's Log Cabin and Act III, the gallows in the mining village. It is enjoyable to note hundreds of little details and the overall picture is splendid.
I find so much of the music very reminiscent of that which accompanies classic Western films, and then I remind myself that Puccini did it first.
I find the first half of Act I does drag a lot. I see its importance in setting the scene; for a first viewing it's quite interesting, but it sags on repeated viewing. It's very clear how the main characters are introduced one-by-one and the atmosphere is set - the miners pining for home, the Wells Fargo man, and the camp minstrel (although I find the way he is blacked up Al Jolson style) very dodgy. The highlight of this opening 'boring bit' is the evocative miners' lament. (When I was making rough notes I wrote 'almost liturgical in its lachrimosity' - Pseuds' Corner, anyone?). And as the Minstrel the camera lingers on the "Wanted" poster for Ramirez, a bandit, a Spaniard from Mexico.
The opera only really starts after 36 minutes with the grand entrance of 'Dick Johnson'. And it grips me for the remainder of the Act. The Love duet in particular, especially the bit, erm, I wrote it down in English from the subtitles "Waht you cannot say, your heart told me when we danced". I do have a bit of a problem with Carol Neblett in this role. For one, she looks a lot like Nurse G-g-g-gladys Emmanuel, but more to the point, she adopts that tactic of sopranos when the top notes are beyond them - screamingly squawk it.
I am not sure whether Fanciulla is a great opera or merely a good one with some great scenes. Whenever Iwatch it I find myself repeat-playing certain sections. On this DVD, we get Plácido at his very best. It's not a role that is particularly considered a signature role for him, but it's pretty clear that he enjoys it, and vocally it suits him very well. He obviously relishes the opportunity to strut around oozing machismo - it's easy to see how Minnie fell so completely for him.
Act II starts badly with what I noted in my notebook as a 'rather tedious and ethnically embarrassing scene with Wowkle and Billy looking like cartoon-character "Red Indians"'. But when that's over with, I enjoy the way that Minnie is getting ready for her big date - and then he - Dick Johnson - arrives, looking very sexy, in an ankle length leather coat and a rather fetching hat, although, obviously, being a gentleman bandit, he doesn't wear that indoors.
They engage in sweet-talk at the table, but the music tells us that passion is rising; his macho strutting is mixed with an awkward nervousness. And 'Un baccio, un baccio solo' is pure steaming lust. He actually smokes the cigar she hands him (and we know from Carmen that this is a man who knows how to handle a cigar...).
Next is Comedy Moment, when the door blows open and snow blows in so Dick Johnson bundles Wowkle and the baby into the snow with indecent haste. Then we have a B-movie style passionate clench as the door blows open-and-shut in the blizzard. But the snow - and the sound of gunshots - is an excuse for Minnie, declaring everlasting love, to make Dick stay, whilst the orchestra portrays carnality. Frankly, if he was over me like that I would also declare everlasting love and I would not curl up in a bearskin and offer him my bed.
Opera is foremostly about singing, and I love the way Plácido sings in this, contrasting the passages where there is steel in the voice with tender moments. The orchestra is important, too. In this work it never realy plays 'tunes' but its mood music acts as an accompanist, a very different tone than, say, Bohème or Tosca.
To be honest, although I really enjoy this opera, there are crazy nonsensical aspects to it. He is shot and bleeding. I accept that at the time it was set it wasn't possible to summon the air ambulance, but I would have thought that a bit of basic First Aid would have come in handy, instead she just bundles him into the loft. When he is discovered by the big Bad Sheriff Jack Rance, still no first aid is administered, instead he sits slumped over the kitchen table as Minnie and Rance play poker for his body. And magically, he is fully cured in Act III*
Act III is short and perfectly formed - with yet another fabulous set. It begins with a lamenting reminiscent with the miners' lament in Act I - this time it's Rance, and Nick the barman, yearning for life with Minnie, who's off doing her own thing with 'Dick Johnson' aka Ramirez the Bandit. I really love the scene when he arrives having being cornered by the Wells Fargo men, looking deliciously scruffy and with his shirt unfastened enough to reveal just a tantalising glimpse of chest hair. He delivers that wonderful aria "Ch'ella mi creda libero e lontano"and Minnie arrives to save him.
A thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying opera - albeit with a zero body count - but probably not a great opera!
*It's a bit like the otherwise superbly wonderful 'Rome' on TV, where Lucius Vorenus is mortally wounded and bleeding in Egypt but somehow manages to make it back to Rome. I don't believe either scenario would be possible now, with a much greater understanding of physiology and hygiene, let alone medical care and fast transport, let alone the Old Days
PS In the course of writing this, I googled for 'Ch'ella mi creda..." and to my horror the first hit was for Andrea Bocelli. I couldn't quite believe that Bocelli has recorded it, but I caught a short snippet, and it was even more horrendous than I imagined; then my computer seemed to have been taken over by the disembodied voice of Andrea Bocelli with no obvious means of killing it. Needless to say, I am traumatised as a result of infiltration by this dangerous cult.
