It couldn't be more welcome when a recording transforms a work, as this one does, setting it on a new plane. Larondine ('The Swallow'), Puccini's ill-timed attempt to emulate Lehár in the world of operetta, was completed during the First World War. It's long been counted his most serious failure. Puccini's cunning has never been in doubt either, for he and his librettists interweave elements not just of La traviata but of The MerryWidow and Die Fledermaus, not to mention earlier Puccini operas. His melodic style may be simpler than before, but one striking theme follows another with a profusion that any other composer might envy. What Pappano reveals far more than before is the subtlety with which Puccini interweaves his themes and motifs, with conversational passages made spontaneoussounding in their flexibility. Above all, Pappano brings out the poetry, drawing on emotions far deeper than are suggested by this operetta-like subject, thanks also to Gheorghiu's superb performance, translating her mastery as Violetta to this comparable character. Magda's first big solo, 'Che il bel sogno di Doretta', finds Gheorghiu at her most ravishing, tenderly expressive in her soaring phrases, opening out only at the final climax. From first to last, often with a throb in the voice, her vocal acting convinces you that Magda's are genuine, deep emotions, painful at the end, intensified by the ravishing beauty of her voice.
As Ruggero, Alagna has a far less complex role, winningly characterising the ardent young student.
What will specially delight Puccinians in this set is that he's given an entrance aria about Paris, 'Parigi è una città', which transforms his otherwise minimal contribution to Act 1. The partnership of Gheorghiu and Alagna highlights the way that Puccini in the melodic lines for each of his central characters makes Ruggero's more forthright, Magda's more complex. Among much else, the role of the poet, Prunier, is transformed by the clear-toned William Matteuzzi in what's normally a comprimario role. Not only is his relationship with Magda beautifully drawn, his improbable affair with the skittish maid, Lisetta, is made totally convincing too, mirroring Magda's affair. For the fill-ups, the excerpts from Le Villi, warm and dramatic, make one wish that Pappano could go on to record that first of Puccini's operas, with Alagna giving a ringing account of Roberto's aria, as he does of the song, Morire! – with Pappano at the piano.
Originally an album-piece written for a wartime charity, Puccini used it, transposed up a semitone, with different words, as the entrance aria for Ruggero. Altogether a set to treasure.