On this new Decca release prolific recording artist and much
loved soprano Renée Fleming sings Italian arias popular
and rare. We have opera arias by Puccini from
La bohème,
Turandot,
La
rondine,
Suor Angelica and
Manon Lescaut. In
addition Fleming has unearthed many forgotten opera jewels including
rare repertoire by Puccini’s contemporaries Mascagni, Giordano,
Cilea, Catalani, Leoncavallo and Zandonai. The period covered
by the disc is a concentrated one, yet immensely rich and prolific,
ranging from
La Wally in 1892 to
Turandot in 1926.
The title of the disc
Verismo refers to the artistic and
cultural movement aimed at the realism of contemporary everyday
life that flashed comet-like across the arts world.
Most of the
verismo composers formed part of the
giovane
scuola (young school) a larger group of Italian composers
who had made the remarkable transition from the legacy of Verdi.
Flourishing at the turn of the 20th century these composers were
strongly influenced by the naturalistic literary movement of
authors such as Émile Zola. In the world of Italian opera
verismo originated
in 1890 with Mascagni’s one act
Cavalleria rusticana.
Strangely heroine Santuzza’s aria
Voi lo sapete from
Mascagni’s landmark opera is not included in this collection.
Choosing the repertoire for
Verismo was a revelatory process
for Renée Fleming, “
I was surprised by the sheer
volume and variety of the Italian operas from this period that
we aren’t familiar with…
Above all, my goal
with this recording is to share a broader selection from an especially
rich tradition of Italian opera, so that these Verismo heroines
can be heard again in all their beauty and complexity.”
Fleming here portrays a wide range of heroines. There is Wally
the Tyrolean village girl, Fedora and Gloria, women of the nobility,
the nun Angelica and two courtesans Magda and Stephana. There
is Lodoletta a foundling, the upwardly mobile Manon, the music-hall
performer Zazà, a factory worker Conchita and seamstress
Mimì. Finally we are taken to the Far East for Liù a
Chinese slave girl and Iris the lowly daughter of a blind man
in Japan.
Renée Fleming provides a high level of artistic consistency
across all the works on the disc. However, there are several
tracks that I especially enjoyed. From Puccini’s
Suor
Angelica (1918) Fleming gives a memorable and quite moving
performance as the nun Sister Angelica in her sorrowful lament
Senza
Mamma. In the body of this showpiece aria I detected some
slight fluttering in the voice but the long held note at the
conclusion is marvellously sung.
High drama is the order of the day in the aria
Un di (
ero
piccina) from Mascagni’s
Iris an opera
rarely
staged since its 1898 premiere in Rome. The heroine is Iris the
astonishingly naive daughter of a high-minded blind man. Fleming
sings beautifully her rather curiously worded text of the evil-eyed
octopus creeping out from the vast, dead sea.
Puccini’s underrated 1917 masterpiece
La rondine centres
around heroine Magda de Civry, a courtesan. Magda’s act
I aria
Ore dolci e divine is as swish and elegant as a
stroll in a fashionable Parisian park. From
La bohème (1896)
the aria
Si mi chiamo Mimi is heart-rending and sung here
with such loving affection.
In Leoncavallo’s rarely heard version of
La bohème from
1897, Fleming conveys a swaggering lilt to the lovesick Mimi’s
aria
Musette svaria sulla bocca viva. A hidden gem is
the tender aria
Angioletto, il tuo nome? from Leoncavallo’s
steamy 1900 operatic rarity
Zazà with the heroine
a French music-hall singer.
As
Zazà the
assured Fleming’s encounter with the little daughter of
her married lover would melt the stoniest of hearts.
From Puccini’s
Manon Lescaut (1893), cruelly tormented
and abandoned, emotions lies heavy in Manon’s set-piece
Sola
perduta, abandonata. Fleming’s intensely moving interpretation
is almost too hard to bear. It is fascinating to hear the aria
in this claimed world premiere recording of the composer’s
original manuscript version. By contrast the Spanish dance rhythms
including the sound of castanets in the aria
Ier della fabbrica from
Zandonai’s opera
Conchita (1911) conjures up images
of the heady atmosphere of flamenco.
In the aria
Tutto tramonta from
Fedora (1898) by
Giordano the dying heroine Princess Fedora sings an achingly
beautiful lament. This tear-jerking aria includes an off-stage
child’s voice that greatly adds to the poignancy. Giordano’s
Siberia (1903)
is a neglected opera that includes the memorable traditional
tune the
Song of the Volga Boatmen.
With astonishing rapture Fleming as the tragic courtesan Stephana
sings
No! Se un pensier… Nel suo amore rianimata one
of the sweetest imaginable arias in the repertoire.
The final track of the disc is the celebrated quartet
Bevo
al tuo fresco sorriso from the second act of Puccini’s
La
rondine. Here Fleming and star tenor Jonas Kaufman are joined
by soprano Barbara Vignudelli and tenor Paolo Cauteruccio (spelled
incorrectly in the booklet). Puccini certainly indulges the listener
in this sumptuous and moving love music with the quartet blending
beautifully. It’s hard to better the description in the
booklet of, “
the listener wallowing in a love-struck
ecstasy unsurpassed by Puccini.”
Well drilled and alert to the requirements of these scores the
orchestra provide splendid accompaniment. The Decca engineers
provide excellent sound quality with an especially impressive
balance between singer, chorus and orchestra. The tracks are
listed on the back of the jewel case but are not numbered. It’s
a nuisance trawling inside the booklet to obtain this basic information.
In addition I’m not sure how much handling the tissue-like
paper in the booklet can stand.
Renée Fleming’s creamy vocals are stunning and in
quite beautiful condition. Maybe the cream has thickened as I
felt that I detected the development of a slightly richer edge
to her timbre. Intelligent and accomplished she is incredibly
controlled and effortlessly conveys the intense sentimentality
of
verismo.
There are better communicators of the
Italian language than Fleming but her rapt enthusiasm more than
compensates. I hope it is not too long before I can hear Miss
Fleming in a live production. This is a wonderful collection
of arias from
verismo heroines that is worthy of acclaim.
It’s a shame that this Decca disc arrived too late for
my list of 2009 Records of the Year.
Michael Cookson
Track listing
Verismo
1. Puccini:
Senza Mamma from
Suor Angelica
2. Mascagni:
Un di (
ero piccina) from
Iris
3. Puccini:
Ore dolci e divine from
La rondine
with Saito Kaoru, Lucia Mencaroni, Barbara Vignudelli
4. Mascagni:
Flammen perdonami! from
Lodoletta
5. Catalani:
Ne mai dunque avro pace? from
La Wally
6. Puccini:
Si. Mi chiamo Mimi from
La bohème
7. Leoncavallo:
Musette svaria sulla bocca viva from
La
bohème
8. Leoncavallo:
Mimi Pinson, la biondinetta from
La
bohème
with Paolo Cautoruccio, Marco Calabrese, Saito Kaoru,
Annalisa Dessi, Carlos Gomez and Gilles Armani
9. Puccini:
Addio… Donde lieta from
La bohème
with Arturo Chacón-Cruz
10. Leoncavallo:
Angioletto, il tuo nome? from
Zazà
with Emma Latis
11. Puccini:
Sola perduta, abandonata from
Manon Lescaut
(original manuscript version - world premiere recording)
12. Zandonai:
Ier della fabbrica from
Conchita
13. Cilea:
O mia cuna, fiorita from
Gloria
14. Giordano:
Tutto tramonta from
Fedora
with Arturo Chacón-Cruz and Emma Latis
15. Puccini:
Tu che di gel cinta from
Turandot with
Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Marco Calabrese and Barbara Vignudelli
16. Giordano:
No! Se un pensier… Nel suo amore rianimata from
Siberia
17. Puccini:
Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso from
La rondine with
Jonas Kaufmann, Barbara Vignudelli and Paolo Cauteruccio
Renée Fleming (soprano) 
