Turandot (1 of 2) - Original Alfano Ending Version ("Alfano I")

[@johnmauceri7773]

It's Josephine Barstow and Lando Bartolini with the Scottish Opera Orchestra conducted by John Mauceri. Decca.

[@gregberg5559]

Maestro- Thank you for presiding over this incredibly important recording. This CD is one of my prize possessions.

[@williamoliver8508]

Alfano is a composer with a modern sound. In this version you can appreciate a more cinematic sound, but not only that, it also contains more symphonic elements, with a "big" harmony, tetradic and well implemented in the orchestration. I really liked this proposal by alfano, I think they didn't let it flow in the composition and it had a lot of pressure. Please listen to the opera "Cyrano de Bergerac" there you can see an Alfano with more freedoms.

[@wilhiamas]

Alfano's original music makes more sense, especially during the transition between the "cold" Turandot, and after she is kissed, the "warm" Turandot. In Toscanini's cut, the transformation is too abrupt. Alfano gives us a more natural transition. What do you think?

[@giampierone010]

Certo,questo Calaf non siamo più abituati a sentirlo..Voce piena di armonici su tutta la gamma vocale canto a mezza voce efficace e un registro acuto splendido sempre a fuoco...anche se l'espressione non è il suo forte, nulla toglie a Lando Bartolini di essere uno degli ultimi grandi Calaf insieme a Giacomini e pochi altri negli ultimi 30 anni!!! Brava anche Turandot con temperamento focoso...grazie

[@Mezzotenor]

It's a great pleasure to become acquainted with this version -- many thanks for posting! I like many of the passages I'm hearing for the first time, but on balance I can understand why some cuts were made. Example: The interjection of the women's chorus in the transition between scenes two and three sounds a bit like vamping for the scenery shift, and I wonder if the stage manager told Alfano, "We need eight more bars there" or such. So I'd make cuts from this, but it deserves to be heard.

[@TempodiPiano]

Thank you very much for your job Marcny. That's wonderful.

[@Zobin211]

@nightskytube I agree. I believe Puccini composed slightly past the death of Liu, but for me that scene would be the perfect place to end Turandot. It is incredibly powerful and beautiful and is the emotional heart of the story. It also represents the death of Puccini himself, which gives the entire opera a sadness like no other. Turandot is my favorite of Puccini's works. A true maestro who was at the very height of his creative genius all the way to the end. Bravo.

[@javiermarting]

Es evidente que el final de la ópera es el que Puccini tenía en mente pero que por desgracia no pudo completar. Acabar la obra a partir de sus esbozos parecía lógico entonces y lo sigue pareciendo ahora. Alfano era un compositor perfectamente dotado para acabarla, aunque es cierto que Puccini eligió a Zandonai y, en mi opinión, debió ser él quien la acabara. El resultado de su primera versión es perfectamente razonable y, en mi modesta opinión, más ajustada al ritmo teatral de la obra. La versión acortada deja atrás demasiadas cosas y parece teatralmente precipitada. Al fin y al cabo, por muy buen director que fuera Toscanini, era eso, un director, y no debió someter al compositor a ninguna presión para acabar la obra como él quería. Por qué no la completó el mismo Toscanini si tenía una idea tan acertada de lo que Puccini quería? Sencillo: porque no era capaz de componerlo.

[@Operafreak9]

There is a story that Albanese refused to be a part of the Alfano ending, saying something like "Puccini died here, and where he dies, I die." Anyone know the details of that story? It doesn't make sense since Liu does not appear in the conclusion.(??)

[@gregberg5559]

I have read in a couple of different places that Toscanini conducted two or three performances after the premiere before turning over the baton to another conductor for the remainder of the run. But for sure, he never went near the opera again for the rest of his long career.

[@PecsMaster]

While we all wish Puccini had been able to complete Turandot, I think ending it where he did would have been theatrically empty. And Puccini had sketched so much and who better than his student Alfano. I prefer Toscanini's reworked ending. He changed little, and I think his edits kept the piece moving and beautifully structured. What he cut seemed more like Alfano and his final edits really made me feel it was Puccini's hand.

[@kbhprinsesse]

I agree 100%.

[@bence778]

At 1:15 the original version is much more powerfull, but anyway, it's the first time, that I'm listening that version, wow, amazing!!

[@kentokhromatic]

Is there any way to see the text of this version of the ending?

[@jacac]

I disagree. Puccini himself wanted his opera finished, and I think he knew better what to do with Turandot than we.

[@Caeruleo]

Whom would we expect to finish Shakespeare's last unfinished play? Several great playwrights who came after him come immediately to mind: Lord Byron, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde... And it seems that most people who go to plays expect the plot to be resolved before the play ends. Same thing with moviegoers. I doubt Eyes Wide Shut would have had much of an audience if it had been played in the theaters in the state Kubrick left it when he died. ;)

[@Felix73able]

I think this is a bit of a stretch from the rest of the opera personally; some great musical ideas and lots of echos of Fanciulla but a bit a mascagni/cinema/stravinsky mish mash.

[@Caeruleo]

A non-theatrical unfinished work would be fine, such as Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. But when it's a stage work, and there's a plot, most people expect the plot to be resolved before the work ends. ;)

[@Yaamoesje]

Who were the performers? And who conducted this? It's really great! I want this CD now!

[@dianafsantos]

Does anyone know what tracks in Alfano II are substituted by this version?

[@MaxLuetgendorff]

Me too. Who sang? Which production is that?

[@marinacaracciolo5940]

Non si deve tuttavia dimenticare che la seconda versione rappresenta un netto miglioramento - non soltanto nel senso di una maggiore stringatezza - rispetto a questa prima, che risulta piuttosto blanda e per così dire un po' "annacquata", con notevoli infkuenze e udibili echi di Zandonai, nonché di Debussy, Richard Strauss e Bartók, echi che spariscono alquanto nella seconda. Il passo, per esempio, che inizia con "Il mio mistero? Non ne ho più sei mia..." è molto più dtammatico e incalzante nella seconda versione, così come sparisce, sempre in quest'ultima, la presenza ormai inutile, "urlata" e ingombrante dei due protagonisti nella grandiosa chiusa finale, che la revisione di Alfano-Toscanini lascia molto intelligentemente soltanto al coro e all'orchestra. Molto altro si potrebbe dire... Tuttavia questa prima versione rappresenta una interessante "curiosità" e offre utili spunti di confronto per quanto concerne la famosa questione drammaturgica (lo sgelamento di Turandot) che ossessionava il sofferente Puccini e che, in ogni caso era già tutta risolta nel libretto stesso di Adami e Simoni.

[@nicolasm7114]

The last scene of the last opera...

[@yogui51]

pero quien canta?

[@kbhprinsesse]

Noisy.