Puccini: Le Villi.(Sound Recording Review)

[] Diener, David; Machado, Tezier; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Choeur de Radio France, Guidarini. Text and translation. Naive V4958 (Naxos, dist.)

[] PUCCINI: Edgar Varady, McCormick; Tanner, Jenis, Cigni; Orchestre National de France, Choeur de Radio France, Maitrise de Radio France, Levi. Text and translation. Naive V4957 (Naxos, dist.)

While most of Puccini's operas enjoy generous representation on disc--the sheer number of recorded La Bohemes boggles the mind--his first two stage works, Le Villi and Edgar, have had no such luck. Plagued individually and collectively by the fairly awful librettos of Puccini's first collaborator, Ferdinando Fontana, neither piece will ever attain a place in the opera house, but they make for terrific listening. Both contain vocal, orchestral and choral music that is either fascinating in its promise, clear in its foreshadowing of the masterpieces soon to come, or just plain wonderful in its own right. These new releases of Le Villi and Edgar, products of the Radio France series Figures d'Italie, both were recorded in concert before an audience, and both have the benefit of live-performance energy combined with meticulous preparation.

Puccini whipped up his first opera, Le Villi, in a frenzy, composing as quickly as possible in order to submit it by the deadline for the first Sonzogno one-act opera competition, in 1883. (The 1889 winner, Cavalleria Rusticana, is the main reason the Sonzogno competition is remembered today.) Through librettist Fontana's connections in music circles, Le Villi came to the attention of Arrigo Boito, who in turn used his influence to persuade the director of the Teatro dal Verme in Milan to stage the opera, in 1884. It was a huge success. Publisher Giulio Ricordi convinced Puccini to expand Le Villi to two acts, the version used for its less successful 1885 La Scala premiere, and for this recording. The additional music for the two-act version includes an aria for the heroine, Anna, "So come voi picina," which has turned up over the years on Puccini aria discs by a variety of sopranos.

Fontana's libretto is based on Alphonse Karr's short story, Les Willis, and concerns itself with the familiar legend of the Willis, spirits of betrayed maidens who lure faithless men to their death. Anna is the first in Puccini's line of sympathetic, fragile women, and it is no wonder that her potent aria has escaped the oblivion of the opera. Roberto, the betrayer, is a finely drawn character allotted an exciting scena of remorse, and Anna's father, Guglielmo, is given that rarity, a big Puccini aria for baritone. In addition, there are fine preludes, splendid choruses and rousing dance music. When Le Villi is well performed, as it is here, the true quality of the composer's achievement is evident, and the recognition of genius in this first opera is easy to understand.

The new recording features some fine, committed singing by Melanie Diener as Anna and Aquiles Machado as Roberto, as well as a strong Guglielmo from baritone Ludovic Tezier. Diener's voice is not to the manner born (as is Renata Scotto's on Sony's 1979 performance, under Lorin Maazel) but she sings with style and warmth aplenty. Machado offers honeyed Latin tone, projected with lots of squillo; only a slowish vibrato on high notes under pressure is a ...