Renée Fleming - Verismo
see end of review for full details
Renée Fleming (soprano)
Coro e Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Giuseppe Verdi/Marco Armiliato
rec. 5, 6, 8-10 August 2008, Auditorium di Milano. Italy. DDD
DECCA 478 1533 [72:20]
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
Coro e Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Giuseppe Verdi/Marco Armiliato