Puccini: Turandot (Salzburg, 2002)

Cast: Gabriele Schnaut (Turandot), Johan Botha (Calaf), Christina Gaillardo-Domas (Liù), Paata Burchuladze (Timur), Robert Tear (Altoum), Vienna Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra, Vienna State Opera Chorus, Tölz Boys Choir, Valery Gergiev (conductor), David Pountney (director), Marie-Jeanne Lecca (costumes), Johan Engels (sets), Brian Large (video director)

Recorded at the Salzburg Grosse Festspielahus in August 2002

Issued on DVD by TDK Mediactive in 2003 [DV-OPTURSF, PAL/0, menus in English, subtitles in Englishc, German, French, Spanish, Italian]

Technical Details:
Aspect ratio 4:3
Sound LPCM, AC3 5.0, DTS 5.0

Running time: 125 minutes

Sung in Italian
The interest in this recording resides first in the production and the Berio completion, then in the performance. The production seems derived from the effect of the new music; it depicts starkly the transformation of the cold, formal, mechanistic old society to a new and human one through the love and the sacrifice of Liù. The first act and the second, until Turandot's appearance, are seen as a massive metal framework populated by mechanized people with giant puppets for the Emperor and the Mandarin. Turandot appears atop a golden gown, perhaps ten meters high; when the Prince succeeds in his trial, she is brought to earth and removes the gown to reveal a bloody shift. The effect is spectacular; the staging far more complex than indicated here. The final Act begins with a disrupted form of the mechanization and Turandot in disarrayed magnificence. With Liu's death - more complex than usual - the Princess is transformed gradually by her understanding and the people return for the final moments in conventional Western dress.

In this context, the Berio finale works well to illustrate the new China of the production, though perhaps it should be expressed the other way around, that the production makes the music work. The music is clearly derivative of Puccini, but it is also clearly a new voice reflecting the new philosophy, the new dependence on love rather than tradition.

Gergiev's reading is straightforward and brisk, perhaps wisely so for the new music, but lacking the inflection which can make the score soar. Botha uses a large lyrico-spinto instrument to good advantage, lacking only the lowest notes and the darker tone which made historic portrayals memorable. Burchuladze is effective if wooly; Tear does nothing with his role but is accurate. Gallardo-Domas is miscast here, perhaps because of the vast spaces of the house. She presses and employs the infamous glottal stop to gulp out her lines so that only the floated high notes are attractive (and even they are not of the best). Schnaut presents problems for the reviewer. Her voice in the climaxes is painful, yet she is convincing in interpretation. Again the house may have prompted excessive physical acting which ill becomes her; a more restrained reading would have served better at least until the finale.

The DVD preserves in excellent sound and picture a memorable Gesamtkunstwerk. If it does not offer the finest singing or most inspired conducting of the work, it is a true representation of the revised opera and worth investigating.

Related website:
TDK Mediactive www.tdk-mediactive.com

Michael Richter, 16 July 2003
mrichter@cpl.net
 
See also Michael Richter's Introduction to the DVD, for a list of other reviews see the DVD Project page.