Word: alfano
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...Chorus conducted by Leinsdorf. RCA Victor LM ndot is Puccini's best and yet frustrating opera. "Best," be of the scope of its profound and dramatic characterize "Frustrating," because the touchstone, its final duet, not written by Puccini but one instead by a mediocre of his, Franco Alfano...
cini began the opera in 1920 without completing it in nter of 1924. Alfano finished ork by 1926, only shortly af Berg's Wozzeck had re its Berlin premiere. Though was written well after the experiments of Schonberg neo-Classic references of Strauss' Mosartean operas, osenkaveller and Ariadne auf it shares few similarities them. Rather, its dissonance something in common with the harmonies of Stravinsky's rd, written over a decade , and even more with Rim colorful orchestral Turandot is a strange operatally original work of art that aptly be labelled "reactionior its times...
...vain. But, at the same time, through the sheer excitement of this last duet, the audience would not regret this sacrifice, but instead would realize that the grand love of Calaf and Turandot required Liu's death. Her demise was not pathetic but necessary. As it stands now, Alfano's cheap music for this scene is just as brazen (and far less exciting) than the second act riddle scene between Turandot and Calaf. They seem not to have changed at all. The final duot, if Puccini had written it, would no doubt have righted this weakness in the opera...
...penultimate recorded performance. From it, we are all the more aware that this great Swedish tenor died when he still was near the top of his form. His battle of high notes with Turandot at the end of their last duet (itself the one truly exciting moment in Alfano's scoring) is a most extraordinary display of vocal power. His lyric rendition of much of the first act music makes his Calaf more sympathetic and more credible than any other I have heard...
...Puccini died in 1924, before having written what was to have been the opera's last, grandly clinching scene. The work was finished reverently but unimaginatively by Franco Alfano, a minor fellow composer and friend of Puccini...