Puccini’s original score was ‘finished’ by Franco
Alfano, whose additions are heard uncut on this dramatic
all-star recording
Antonio Pappano has never yet
conducted Turandot in the theatre – and that has been a
deliberate choice, he confesses in the note accompanying his new
all-star recording. Previously he found the opera less
interesting than Puccini’s other works, its bloodthirsty
fairytale story unsophisticated. He has clearly undergone an
about-turn. The performance he gets here from the forces of
Rome’s Accademia di Santa Cecilia – where he is soon to hand
over to Daniel Harding, after nearly two decades in charge – is
theatrical from start to finish.
That’s true even though
the two leads have yet to play their roles on stage. Sondra
Radvanovsky has steel in her soprano for the titular princess,
eager to chop off her suitors’ heads if they can’t answer her
riddles. But there’s a hint of something else from her first
appearance, when her imperious hauteur admits softness at the
recollection of her wronged ancestor.
Jonas Kaufmann is
on heroic form. He has a darker voice with a lower centre of
gravity than past Calafs such as Pavarotti and Björling, but it
glows where it needs to, notably in a long-breathed Nessun
Dorma.
Ermonela Jaho has the breadth of tone to equal
them as Liù, combined with almost impossible sweetness on the
high notes. The rest of the cast is strong, too: Michael Spyres,
no less, ensures the Emperor sounds powerful as well as elderly.
The recording was made under studio conditions with Covid
distancing. There is a little imprecision in the chorus, but if
anything this only heightens the feeling of being in the middle
of a populous crowd as the drama unfolds around us, especially
with Pappano whipping up playing of such controlled abandon. The
palette of orchestral colour is huge and constantly shifting,
Pappano drawing out the music’s particular exotic atmosphere.
Puccini died leaving Turandot unfinished. It was completed
by Franco Alfano – but Toscanini, the opera’s first conductor,
disliked Alfano’s work and insisted he cut about 100 bars,
ending up with the version most theatres perform today. This is
the first studio recording to include all of Alfano’s original
music, uncut: Radvanovsky gets more to sing in the final-act
duet, making Turandot’s capitulation to Calaf slightly less
sudden.
The novelty of the inclusion, plus the vibrancy
of Pappano’s orchestra, makes this recording distinctive even
among the several excellent ones already out there. Its release
coincides with Pappano’s first Turandot in the pit, at the Royal
Opera House in London – a ticket that just got hotter.
