La Fanciulla del West
December 2004 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Sheriff Jack Rance (Juan Pons) is posting a reward for the bandit Ramerrez while he’s at the Polka Bar in the Cloudy Mountains of California during the Gold Rush. He’s also there because he’s in love with Minnie (Mara Zampieri), a woman who works there. She isn’t interested and wants more, hoping for true love. A stranger named Dick Johnson (Placido Domingo) arrives, and he and Minnie fall in love. The sheriff is suspicious of this stranger and furious about Minnie’s love for him. He discovers that Johnson is actually Ramerrez and tells Minnie the truth. When she turns Ramerrez away, he is wounded and taken into custody, and Minnie is the only one who can rescue him.

Giacomo Puccini had seen a performance of David Belasco’s play Girl of the Golden West in 1907 in New York City while in America for the US premieres of Manon Lescaut and Madama Butterfly. Puccini was enamored of all things exotic and, at that time, Gold Rush California seemed pretty mysterious to a European. He was sufficiently struck by the play that he immediately dropped his plans for an opera of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and hired Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini to write a libretto. After Puccini's usual leisurely composing process, the opera was premiered in New York in 1910, with Toscanini conducting and Caruso in the lead. While any Puccini opera was greeted with some degree of honor, La Fanciulla del West’s harmonic complexity and unresolved chords left much of the audience scratching its head. Sadly, that critique has never quite gone away.

Which is probably one of the reasons Opus Arte is releasing a 13-year-old recording -- there just aren’t that many other filmed versions of La Fanciulla del West available. Nonetheless, this recording has several strengths, not the least of which is Placido Domingo singing at the height of his powers, hitting high Bb in chapter 4 of Act 3 with both passion and precision. Juan Pons is also stellar as Jack Rance -- rugged and tough in an art form that could use more of both. Maazel shows more emotion and heart than usual, which is welcome. The costumes and sets are of Hollywood quality. The only letdown, and it is an inescapable one, is Mara Zampieri. We’ve all grown accustomed to sopranos who lack physical verisimilitude playing characters for which men are instantly willing to die. But we do expect a pretty voice. Zampieri was 50 years old when this opera was filmed, the same age as Domingo, but, alas, she had not taken as good care of her voice, which is both brittle and insecure.

The DVD has an excellent PAL-derived picture, and the sound is generally good. Whoever placed the stage microphones had a few problems that end up making Pons difficult to hear. Otherwise, given the fact that this was an Italian TV production whose costs were covered long ago, I am surprised by the miserly packaging. There is a stock synopsis and a libretto, which is in Italian sans translation, and no notes, information, background or any kind of extras whatsoever. La Fanciulla del West is a wonderful opera that deserves better treatment.

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