Newsday, November 2005

The myth of the American frontier as a kind of Earthly Paradise free from the human stain is a mainstay of our national mythology, depicted most powerfully, perhaps, in the paintings of the Hudson River School. Maybe it took an Old World sophisticate like Giacomo Puccini to bring to light the pain and corruption that lurk even where all seems unspoiled and new.

La Fanciulla del West, which had its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910, may be Puccini's greatest opera: a dark, harmonically daring score that was extolled by such avatars of modernity as Anton Webern. Still, Fanciulla (the title translates as "The Girl of the Golden West") has never become a repertory staple, owing, some say, to its creaky Western cliches and ostensible lack of pretty tunes.

Opera Orchestra of New York's magnificent concert performance Monday suggested another reason why Fanciulla has never caught on: It is just so ineffably sad. Yes, the lovers ride off into the sunset, but the opera begins and ends with loss: the homesickness of Minnie's barflies, Minnie and Dick's sorrowful leave-taking, and the miners' anguished farewell to their darling girl. For all the talk of redemption in Fanciulla, these frontier folk enjoy no fresh starts. "We're all alike, bandits and cheats!", Minnie exclaims, just before swindling Sheriff Jack Rance to save the life of her outlaw man.

The earnestness and spiritual depth of Aprile Millo's art can beget campy results in frippery such as Adriana Lecouvreur, but they served her admirably as Puccini's Bible-quoting barkeep. Patches of Millo's timbre are threadbare, and her top notes in particular can be raw and blustery. Nonetheless, she drove the Carnegie Hall audience to delirium with her fearless, great-hearted assumption of this unforgiving role, bringing stamina and overwhelming moral import to Minnie's final call for
forgiveness.

As the bandit Ramerrez, alias Dick Johnson, tenor Carl Tanner started off in tight form, but his muscular voice blossomed thrillingly for the climax of Dick's remorseful "Ch'ella mi creda." Tanner shifted deftly between the outlaw's swagger and the hunted man's desperate longing for love, wooing Minnie with a poignant, fumbling tenderness. (The evening's fine, discreet semi-staging was by Ira Siff.)

Making his American debut as Rance was baritone Marco Chingari, a strapping fellow with crisp enunciation, a pleasingly burnished voice and an impressive command of the stage. Daniel Mobbs turned in a plush-toned performance of the minstrel Jake's lament, drenched in melancholy. Standouts in the many supporting roles included William Ferguson, Daniel Paget, and Stephen Gaertner.

Undoubtedly fired by the chance to play such a masterfully wrought score, the Opera Orchestra of New York served up unfailingly gorgeous sounds: Oh, those whole-tone harmonies in Act I! Eve Queler's assertive conducting did sometimes leave her soloists buried. The New York City Gay Man's Chorus under Jeffrey Maynard offered sweet and dreamy song, a fitting complement to Puccini's heartbreaking opera of nostalgia and loss.

LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST. Music by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini. Performed by Opera Orchestra of New York under Eve Queler. Attended Monday at Carnegie Hall.