Fine productions and performances of this trilogy offering equally good recording
Puccini's trilogy `Il Trittico' has three very contrasting one act operas, each lasting for about one hour and intended to be performed in the course of a single evening. They were composed in the order in which they were written with Il Tabarro (The Cloak) opening the set and Gianni Schicchi being the final part. In between was positioned Suor Angelica.
The most popular of these three has always been the rather dark, but always amusing, comedy Gianni Schicchi and for that reason it is often separated from the other two operas and paired up with some other short opera. One of the most successful pairings of this sort in recent years was the Glyndebourne production coupling Gianni with the fine Miserly Knight by Rachmaninov. This probably remains the most successful Gianni but is not really a relevant comparison in this case because of its `wrong' coupling.
To continue with this production therefore: The first thing to note is that when this trilogy was mounted in...
A Long Overdue Reevaluation
After many years Puccini's Il Trittico is being treated to the respect that is its due. The Met revived it recently and San Francisco also mounted it (after many years) and at ROH in a new production it has been memorialized on three DVD's. The only competition that this new release faces is the Met production that featured Renata Scotto in all three operas. It was available only by purchasing the entire box set which i did. I do not know whether each opera is now available individually: they should be.
For Scotto it was a great tour de force. Il Tabarro really requires a spinto (check out YouTube for Varady and Petrella) but the performance is mesmeriziing and her commitment is unquestioned. Angelica, frequently referred to as a step child, is perhpas her greatest performance. An early Angelica was Raisa whose credentials as a dramatic soprano have never been questioned and the end of the opera clearly requires vocal resouces that most lyrics simply don't have. De los...
A very enjoyable evening with less familiar Puccini
Although Westbroek is much older and less glamorous than the sexy Nizza in the TDK set, a tired and rather run down barge owner's wife fits the part equally well. All the cast in Il Tabarro were good and Luigi and Frugola specially so. The lighting is a bit too dark in my view so you need to watch this in a room with minimal lighting. The Suor Angelica sets are rather different but I did not find they deviated too much from the spirit of the piece and the colour and costumes were quite impressive. I did not feel Larsson was quite evil enough as the Princess but there were some delightful touches in the nursing sisters. This was the best of the three in my view although Gianni Schicci could have been perfect if the visual image had not been degraded by a greatly over-blown blotchy wallpaper and constantly flickering on and off lighting that made my eyes tired and took the focus off the cast who were universally excellent. The extras are good and are well worth viewing...
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