The front of the double jewel-case of this issue sports two
prominent promotional stickers. One has a double statement,
the first being: Angela Gheorghiu adds one of verismo’s greatest
roles to her repertoire. Absolutely true, it is a great
role for the right soprano voice; however, Gheorghiu has never
sung it on stage, in concert, or on record before. The second
asserts: Domingo’s first studio recording of this role created
by Caruso, again absolutely true. Why am I going down this
path? Well the blue single sticker, complete with Domingo’s
image states The 70th Birthday Celebration.
As every opera-lover knows, the great tenor is still singing,
turned seventy as I write in early 2011. But what are we to
make of that sticker about a recording made three years ago?
Better to have been a bit more candid and to have avoided the
implication.
More recently Domingo has performed and recorded the great Verdi
baritone roles of Simon Boccanegra (see review)
and Rigoletto. Six months prior to this recording he
also set down the tenor role of Giuliano de' Medici in Leoncavallo’s
I Medici, the first of a projected trilogy, Crepusculum,
the second and third parts remaining unwritten as Leoncavallo
suddenly, in 1892, became world famous as the composer of I
Pagliacci. Those two works, like Giordano’s Fedora,
and his better-known Andrea Chenier, are distinctly verismo
operas and require biggish and more dramatic-voiced singing.
Such roles and singing, as well as making these more considerable
demands on the power of the voice, often lessen the need for
gentle legato from the participants. Caruso did much to sustain
this work with his singing of the brief aria Amor ti vieta;
it easily fitted onto a ten inch shellac 78rpm. Here it is set
in context of the quartet as Loris realises that Fedora is going
to Paris where he dare not follow (CD 1 Tr. 10). As I listened
to Domingo’s singing my mind went back to the lyric tone of
his interpretation on his first CD recital (see review)
and I could not help but notice the thicker tone and slight,
but obvious vibrato now present. Elsewhere his singing, including
the high notes, albeit never too high, still pings out and his
lyricism in the act two recognition duet is typically ardent
(CD 1 Trs. 15-17). Where he scores again is with his vocal power,
colour palette and greater characterisation. This species of
verismo also involves more declamatory singing and less legato,
which suits Domingo’s current vocal skills whilst allowing for
his now consummate ability to convey character and emotion.
If Domingo manages to convey Loris’s many emotions, this ability
is significantly less so with Angela Gheorghiu as Fedora. She
is very much a lyric soprano who, although having sung the heavier
role of Tosca since this recording as well as the lyric
coloratura of Verdi’s Violetta in La Traviata, simply
lacks the required variety of tonal colour and vocal heft. In
act one there is some lovely singing, particularly as she finishes
her brief Son gente risoluta (CD 1 Tr. 5) with a lovely
diminuendo. But when the going gets tough for Fedora in act
three (CD 2 Trs. 1-6) the above shortcomings show through, and,
with those qualities lacking, the ability to convey the drama
of the story and the desperation of Fedora is absent. Mirella
Freni, alongside Domingo in the 1993 DVD recording from La Scala
(see review)
was in her fifty-eighth year with performances of Aida and Leonora
in La Forza del Destino behind her and with their pension
secured if she had not had the voice for it. Elsewhere the singing
of Fabio Maria Capitanucci as De Siriex is easy on the ear with
Nino Machaidze as Olga less so.
The principle of verismo was the portrayal of real life situations,
the more contemporary the better. The action in this opera starts
in 1881/2 in St. Petersburg and fits the verismo concept like
a glove. Whilst pre-dating Puccini’s Tosca by two years
it too is based on a play by Sardou. The melodramatic plot starts
in act one (CD 1 Trs. 1-6) with a murder in St. Petersburg of
Fedora’s fiancé Vladimir. In act 2 (CD 1 Trs. 7-17) the scene
has moved to Paris where Fedora, still pursuing the murderer
of her fiancé, has tracked down Loris who she believes responsible.
He admits the killing, but insists he can prove his innocence.
Fedora draws up a list of names for the police including Loris’s
name and that of his brother. Loris later convinces Fedora that
the death followed Vladimir seducing his wife. Fedora believes
him and in a passionate duet the two confess their love for
one another. Act 3 (CD 2 Trs. 1-6) is set in Fedora’s villa
in the Bernese Oberland. She and Loris are living together contentedly
until he discovers that his brother was arrested thanks to an
earlier denunciation by a Russian woman, and that he drowned
in his cell when the nearby river overflowed. Worse, the shock
had caused the death of Loris’s mother. Loris realises that
Fedora was the Russian woman concerned with the original denunciation.
Fedora seeing no way out takes poison and dies in Loris’s arms.
Domingo surely seeks to emulate Caruso by leaving an unparalleled
discography, in his case of complete operas not just arias.
It was therefore inevitable that he would want to leave a studio
performance of a work that has, from time to time, featured
in his stage repertoire. Fair enough, although his studio discography
and extensive recordings of live staging is never likely to
be repeated. That said, an audio release of the La Scala performance
of this opera with Mirella Freni in the name part would have
served him better.
Alberto Veronesi on the rostrum is an excellent accompanist,
the orchestral interlude of act two being a good example (CD
1 Tr. 13) of his skills. There is a brief essay, a good synopsis
and full libretto, all with translations in English, French
and German.
Robert J Farr
Princess Fedora Romazov - Angela Gheorghiu (soprano); Count Loris
Ipanoff - Plácido Domingo (tenor); De Siriex, a diplomat in Paris
- Fabio Maria Capitanucci (baritone); Countess Olga Sukarew - Nino
Machaidze (mezzo) 
