Opera Rara<\/a> and the BBC Symphony Orchestra got to do the big reveal.<\/p>\nThe standard version of La Rondine, performed at the premiere in 1917, ends with Magda \u2013 the \u201cmigrating swallow\u201d of the title \u2013 nobly leaving her lovelorn Ruggero so that he can find someone more marriageable. Yet Puccini\u2019s 1921 revision \u2013 his third version of the opera, the one he was finally happy with \u2013 has Ruggero angrily sending Magda away. It\u2019s a big change, making the opera\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Few people got to hear this version when it was new \u2013 its premiere happened a few months before Puccini\u2019s death, by which time he was too ill to advocate for it \u2013 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 \u2013 and if a case needs making for this version, the recording this team has just finished making should do just that.<\/p>\n
The changes fell seamlessly into place here. Puccini\u2019s music turns on a dime \u2013 so much flirting and dancing, yet so much wistfulness \u2013 and Carlo Rizzi\u2019s 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\u2019t always outdo Rizzi\u2019s 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 Iv\u00e1n Ay\u00f3n-Rivas was first among equals here, his ardent Ruggero, complete with vibrant, beefy top notes, marking him out as a real rising star.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theguardian.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Operas often don\u2019t end up being performed in quite the way their composers intended \u2013 and that\u2019s been especially true of La Rondine, Puccini\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2192141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2192140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/La-Rondine-review-\u2013-new-version-of-Puccinis-opera-makes.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2192140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2192142,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192140\/revisions\/2192142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2192141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2192140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2192140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2192140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}