Edgar

Amazingly, Puccini's second opera, a notorious 1889 flop that the composer tinkered with for much of his life (never managing a version that won popular acclaim), receives its second recent filmed mounting in this 2008 production at the Teatro Regio in Turin. What distinguishes this from its predecessor, a 2004 performance at the Festival Euro Mediterraneo (see VL-7/07) is that it represents the first staging in more than a century of the newly rediscovered, original four-act version. The return to Puccini's first idea does not, however, reveal a lost masterpiece. The libretto, about a young man torn between two women—a sweet village maiden and a hellcat, appropriately named Fidelia and Tigrana, respectively—who fakes his own death after a stint in the army, bears some resemblance to Carmen but boasts little of the energy of Bizet's masterpiece (the score, while tuneful, isn't all that memorable). Still, the 19th-century sets and costumes are attractive, conductor Yoram David elicits refined playing from the orchestra, and the solo vocalism is excellent, with José Cura a strong Edgar, well matched by Amarilli Nizza and Julia Gertseva as Fidelia and Tigrana. Presented here in Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM stereo on DVD and DTS-HD 7.1 and PCM stereo on Blu-ray, Edgar remains lesser Puccini, but this is the preferred version for completists. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)