CD review
Renée Fleming with
Saito Kaoru, Emma Latis, Lucia Mencaroni, Barbara Vignudelli (soprano), Annalisa Dessi (mezzo soprano), Paolo Cautoruccio, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Marco Calabrese, Carlos Gomez (baritone), Gilles Armani (bass)
Coro e Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Giuseppe Verdi c. Marco Armiliato
Arias from La Bohème (Leoncavallo and Puccini), Conchita, Fedora, Gloria, Iris, Lodoletta, Manon Lescaut, La rondine, Siberia, Suor Angelica, Turandot, La Wally, Zazà
Verismo (‘truth’) is a most misused word: usually (as here) it is applied, carelessly, to almost all late-romantic Italian opera after Verdi, or maybe a style of vocal utterance where bel canto is swept away by emphatic declamation and over the top emoting. In an assiduously researched programme note Renée Fleming makes the case for a lighter, lyric voice in this repertoire, citing a list of forbears (including Claudia Muzio, Mafalda Favero, Magda Olivero and Rosanna Carteri) as models, while respectfully acknowledging the ‘iconic’, but heavier voiced interpretations of Callas, Tebaldi, Freni and Scotto. In fact, none of the latter four ladies were dramatic sopranos –Freni (a definitive Susanna) and Scotto (likewise Lucia) came to roles like Fedora at the end of their careers, when their voices were not as versatile as they once were. This is not the case with Fleming (who sings Rossini’s coloratura enchantress Armida at the Met this season) who here chooses excerpts within her lyric fach, though in fact this period is not new to her, many late romantic Italian plums by Puccini, Catalani, Cilea and co. have appeared on earlier recitals, notably a 2001 disc with Mackerras.
As for ‘truth’, I’m not sure we get it here. Fleming fans will not be disappointed; she is in glowing voice and is attentive to diction, and to a lesser extent, character. However, I’m not convinced that this material suits her. The same care which she took in preparing her notes results in a lack of spontaneity, and fussiness of execution in music that requires emotional directness to make its point. Take the opening item: Senza Mamma, from Suor Angelica. The line is never quite left alone, it is intercut with little catches of breath and tiny slides. Turn to Magda Olivero and you find more refinement, a longer, more direct sense of line, more specific nuance, including a telling observance of staccati at the close, and stricter tempo. Fleming makes these ‘little women’ – Puccini’s Mimì, Liu and Mascagni’s Lodoletta included – sound calculating and not nearly fragile enough. Her lustrous but slightly backwardly placed sound, and comparatively occluded diction place her at a disadvantage. Just compare her to specialists in these styles from Carla Gavazzi and Augusta Oltrabella to Denia Mazzola and Diane Soviero (whose 1995 Verismo recital contains similar rarities) and they all have a slimmer, even wiry open sound. Even the more lyric approach from say, Freni and Maria Chiara reveals diction with more forward bite.
Still there are surprises: Fleming’s Iris is pacier, and more involved than Scotto’s on her classic 1974 verismo disc, she sings the lovely solos from Siberia and Cilea’s Gloria cleanly. She saves her greatest involvement for, of all things, the final scene of Fedora.
The recital is scrupulously planned, with the repertoire offering a mix of the familiar and rare (though not as recherché as in Fleming’s recent ‘Homage’); and steps are taken to alleviate torpor, a danger when most arias are slow and expressive. Witness the two operetta-ish excerpts from Leoncavallo’s Bohème, Iris’s frantically declaimed dream of a sea-serpent, and Conchita’s catchy five-in-a-bar account of dealing with three suitors which provide up-tempo contrast. There are less familiar solos from familiar operas (La Wally, La rondine) and even a world premiere recording of Puccini’s first thoughts for Manon Lescaut’s Sola, perduta, abbandonata! with different text in places, a more organic transition to the middle section, and a clunkingly awful vocal and orchestral peroration – still, instructive to hear once. An extensive supporting cast and chorus are also in the mix, with a luxurious cameo from Jonas Kaufmann in the quartet from La rondine along with fully cast chunks of Liu’s death in Turandot and the finale to Fedora. A real novelty is the extended scene (of quite revolting sentimentality) from Leoncavallo’s Zazà involving a speaking child and a piano lesson. Orchestral playing is nuanced, and details such as tuned gongs in Iris and rasping trumpet dissonances in Conchita, register. Recording ambience is natural, capturing Fleming’s voice faithfully without cocooning her in artificial resonance. It’s an interesting, and intermittently captivating listen, but I cannot help but think Dvorˇák, Massenet and Strauss suit this diva better.
[first published in OPERA magazine]
JULIAN GRANT 2009