Le Villi was Puccini’s first opera, and while it contains some fine music–a soprano romanza that’s as lovely as anything he later wrote, a handsome (if predictable) soprano/tenor duet, an exciting ensemble, a big-throated tenor aria–the plot is so poorly laid out that it’s unstageworthy. It essentially covers the same ground as the ballet Giselle: a man forsakes his bride-to-be, she dies of grief, her father feels vengeful, her spirit joins the ghostly Willis, and together she and the Willis get the man to dance himself to death. The problem with the opera is that most pivotal moments take place off-stage: we presume that Roberto has been seduced into abandoning Anna; we hear that Anna dies. To fill in the blanks in the music and text Puccini awkwardly supplies a narrator at the start of Act 2.
This performance, taped live in Paris in December, 2002, is excellent, outshining its only competition, a late-’70s Sony recording with Scotto and Domingo led by Lorin Maazel. Here Melanie Diener is a lovely Anna, doing as much with the role as possible, and Aquiles Machado shows himself to be an excellent, full, lyric tenor, singing with expressivity and ringing tone. Baritone Ludovic Tézier uses his somewhat dry voice well as the grief-stricken father; a bit more Italianate juice would have been welcome. Sylvie David tells us the plot’s missing bits (Tito Gobbi did the more melodramatic honors for Sony). Marco Guidarini leads the forces of Radio France with true excitement. This is recommended for all Puccini lovers.
