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Editorial Reviews
Battleboro Reformer, Frank Behrens, December 2009
I have heard boring opera scores in my time -- especially those in so-called 12-tone style -- but never have I heard one so incompetent as the one Franco Alfano composed for the opera "Cyrano de Bergerac!" Alfano has before now been known mostly for completing his master Puccini's "Turandot" (and botching it badly). But since the Metropolitan Opera has decided to revive "Cyrano," his reputation has now to stand upon the very shaky foundation of what he did with this work.
There are now two videos available on DVD. The one I saw is on the Naxos label; and it is from this version that I draw my conclusions.
Not all that long ago, there were some recordings by a group called the Mannheim Steamroller, who played selections by this or that composer or genre all at the same volume and tempo with no pause between them, no dynamics, no other variety, so that one just blurred into the next. This is exactly how I felt during the first two acts of "Cyrano." Every one sings at the same volume, with no hint of a melody, no hint of characterization, no relation to what the text is saying.
In the Garden scene (Act III), Roxanne and the men manage to sing a little more softly; but things soon return to their top-of-the-voice monotone. It is only for a few moments in Act IV, when Cyrano asks the fifer to play a nostalgic air to get the cadets' minds off their starvation, that the music actually fits the mood and the words. Then it is back to the Alfano-steamroller.
Poor Placido Domingo tries to get some characterization into the title role but is stopped at every turn by the absurd score. Sondra Radvanovksy, who looks far too matronly for the young Roxanne, gets some applause by negotiating a long tuneless passage with excellent breath control. Rod Gilfry can do nothing with a De Guiche that is reduced to a minor character with most of his lines cut out.
Yes, almost the entire libretto is faithful to Rostand's original French text. However, the cuts are so extensive that the dramatic flow might leave anyone unfamiliar with the play wondering exactly what is motivating the characters.
The production is better than the opera deserves. It was filmed in 2007 at the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofia" in Valencia and conducted by Patrick Fournillier, who obviously saw more in the work than I can. Alfano's defenders are numerous; and I would be willing to listen to their reasons for loving this score.
The picture is in 16:9 ratio, the subtitles are in French and English, and the running time is 141 minutes. There are no bonus features.
Product Description
While best known today for having composed the ending to Puccini's unfinished Turandot, Franco Alfano wrote some dozen operas, including Cyrano de Bergerac (1936) with a libretto by Henri Cain based on Edmond Rostand's drama of the same
name. It is a moving tale of romantic misunderstanding, swashbuckling bravado and heartbreaking loyalty, in which the eloquent Cyrano feels unable to express his love for Roxane because of his famously protuberant nose except on behalf of his handsome but inarticulate friend, Christian. When Domingo and Radvanovsky sang Cyrano and Roxane at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Andante magazine
wrote: 'Incredibly, Cyrano is his 121st role. And it suits him splendidly ... Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was luminous as Roxane, her passionate outbursts showing off her powerful upper register to good effect'.
name. It is a moving tale of romantic misunderstanding, swashbuckling bravado and heartbreaking loyalty, in which the eloquent Cyrano feels unable to express his love for Roxane because of his famously protuberant nose except on behalf of his handsome but inarticulate friend, Christian. When Domingo and Radvanovsky sang Cyrano and Roxane at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Andante magazine
wrote: 'Incredibly, Cyrano is his 121st role. And it suits him splendidly ... Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was luminous as Roxane, her passionate outbursts showing off her powerful upper register to good effect'.
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