Operas often don’t end up being performed in quite the way their composers intended – and that’s been especially true of La Rondine, Puccini’s slender opera about the Parisienne courtesan Magda and her fleeting attempt to relive the romance and excitement of her youth. But a new edition has made his final thoughts on his opera performable again, and Opera Rara and the BBC Symphony Orchestra got to do the big reveal.
The standard version of La Rondine, performed at the premiere in 1917, ends with Magda – the “migrating swallow” of the title – nobly leaving her lovelorn Ruggero so that he can find someone more marriageable. Yet Puccini’s 1921 revision – his third version of the opera, the one he was finally happy with – has Ruggero angrily sending Magda away. It’s a big change, making the opera’s aftertaste bitter where it used to be sweet. There are lots of other differences too, notably some extra merrymaking for the chorus and orchestra in the second act.
Few people got to hear this version when it was new – its premiere happened a few months before Puccini’s death, by which time he was too ill to advocate for it – and then in 1943 the score and orchestral parts were destroyed in the allied bombing of Milan. Now, though, thanks to reconstruction work by the musicologist Ditlev Rindom and some new orchestrations by Martin Fitzpatrick, opera companies have a choice of which version to use – and if a case needs making for this version, the recording this team has just finished making should do just that.
The changes fell seamlessly into place here. Puccini’s music turns on a dime – so much flirting and dancing, yet so much wistfulness – and Carlo Rizzi’s conducting kept the sparkling orchestra on its toes, while the BBC Singers provided all the energy and precision needed in the expanded nightclub scene. The cast sang from behind music stands but did a decent job of acting nonetheless. Ermonela Jaho is a stage animal and her beautifully sung Magda drew us in even if her glowing soprano didn’t always outdo Rizzi’s orchestra. The supporting cast, including Juan Francisco Gatell as the wry, charming poet Prunier and Ellie Neate as the maid Lisette, was outstanding from top to bottom, but the tenor Iván Ayón-Rivas was first among equals here, his ardent Ruggero, complete with vibrant, beefy top notes, marking him out as a real rising star.
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