Jun 26, 2022 6pm Staatsoper Berlin
Puccini: La Fanciùlla del West
Cond: Massimo Zanetti, Dir: Lydia Steier
Anja Kampe (Minnie), Marcelo Álvarez (Dick Johnson), Michael Volle (Jake Rance), Stephan Rügamer (Nick), Arttu Kataja (Sonora)
(scroll down for English review)
看完猶太歌舞騷，轉到柏林國立歌劇院看普契尼《西部女郎》，同一星期看第二齣普契尼。這是大約在疫情時首演的新製作，導演是Lydia Steier，當時的指揮應該是柏柏諾，假如演出沒取消的話，這輪由Massimo Zanetti主演，三位主角是Anja Kampe、Marcelo Álvarez及前一晚才聽他唱完《西西里晚禱》的Michael Volle，兩男爭一女，始終是萬試萬靈，威爾第的三男一女實在太難了。
以Anja Kampe，或者幾年前維也納新製作的Nina Stemme這些華格納女高音去唱主演Minnie，都猜到這劇會很重型，但《杜蘭朵》也有重量女高音啊，所以心想，重極都有限度吧。恕我無知，真的可以很重，如果《杜蘭朵》相等《莎樂美》，《西部女郎》就是《Elektra》，尤其是我較早前在同一間歌劇院聽過《Elektra》，甚至比《Elektra》可以更大聲。雖然兩種大聲是不同的，但《西方女郎》是豐滿的大聲，《Elektra》那種是暴戾的。
作為後期，亦可以是說「唔好聽」的普契尼歌劇，《西部女郎》沒有著名詠嘆調，甚至可以說，普契尼直頭不想寫一首金曲出來！這保證了此劇會永遠不紅，但最令我驚訝的，不只是比華格納、史特勞斯更爆棚的管弦樂，而是普契尼隨時比華格納更接近音樂戲劇的理想。第一幕（一小時）是太長了，但第二幕（45分鐘）我敢說是普契尼寫得最好的一幕，是他全部作品而言，比《托斯卡》第二幕更為緊張。第三幕是沒有《托斯卡》的金曲，但更擺脫到無以為繼的命運，還是掀起到高潮，結尾比史特勞斯或荀伯格用更大樂隊寫出來的巨響更為燦爛。我絕對會鄙視崇尚華格納及馬勒，輕視普契尼的人，我知他們一定沒現場看過《西部女郎》。
My second Puccini opera within a week at Staatsoper Berlin. The trio of Anja Kampe, Marcelo Álvarez, Michael Volle was a sure-win but I didn’t expect the gigantic sound coming out from the pit. I thought Turandot was Puccini’s loudest opera, how wrong was I! If Turandot is Salome, then La Fanciùlla del West is Elektra. I can make this comparison because I did hear Elektra in the same house. Although I like both (West and Elektra), their loudness isn’t the same. The Puccini felt full and colourful while the Strauss is the violent type.
Crowds who flock to Butterfly, Tosca or La Boheme would dread West’s absence of hit tunes. That, precisely, is Puccini’s greatest achievement for this opera, not its fatal flaw. Although Act 1 is too long, the 45-minute Act 2 is probably the best act that Puccini ever wrote, the tangling of the two men and the titular character is even more intense than the Act 2 in Tosca. In this act, or probably the whole opera, Puccini came closer than Wagner in the latter’s ideals of music drama. Puccini still managed to write an Act 3 with surprises, this in itself is a miracle but even more unbelievable is the final minutes featuring a more glorious orchestral climax than the efforts of Strauss or Schoenberg with more gigantic orchestras.