TURANDOT (Busoni) Abbey Opera, Cockpit Theatre, 9 March 1978.

This was the first staging of Buzoni's opera in English. As one who is especially interested in the Turandot story, I particularly wanted to see it. The programme note repeated the oft-quoted error that the story comes from The Arabian Nights, in fact it comes from a Persian collection of comparable date called "The Hundred and One Days". Buzoni's opera is earlier than Puccini's but sounds more modern, and has several peculiar features. It is set a la Commedia del Arte with Truffaldino as commentator of the action. Adelma, Turandot's scheming confidant, remains from the original story, and Timur and Liu (invented by Puccini and/or his librettist) do not appear. Dramatically, the piece is a mess, the two courtiers Pantalone and Tartaglia (who, with Truffaldino, replace Ping, Pang and Pong) are somewhat irrelevant. Kalaf's faithful servant Barak, who in the first scene fills the place of Liu and tries to dissuade his master from his foolhardy escapade, seems all set to be built into a very moving character and then promptly vanishes from the action - unaccountably to reappear and pair off with Adelma. There is a moving aria near the beginning for the Prince of Persia's mother (the Queen Mother of Samarkand in this version). It is she who flings away Turandot's picture which Kalaf finds. The three enigmas are different to Puccini's - and I think, similar to those in the original story. The music is dramatically effective in places, but there were dull patches, and I would say I found it interesting rather than attractive. The opening of Act 2 in the garden with the offstage chorus of maidens singing variations on Greensleeves sounded very odd. Kalaf is a dull character beside Puccini's Calaf, and indeed the most interesting person is the Emperor Altoum. Diana Munn sang Turandot's music competently, but with a rather hard voice. John Walton was a raucous-voiced Kalaf, strained and toneless on top, and Michael Graham coped well with the part of Altoum, giving a moving performance in spite of the fact that he couldn't reach some of the (very low) bottom notes. The companion piece was Puccini's Gianni Schicchi which the conductor seemed to be trying to make sound like Busoni - it was too spiky by far, and lacked the syrupy sound of Puccini. Vincent O'Connor in the title role sang with plenty of voice, but was as hammy as usual in his acting; I have always disliked him intensely as a performer. MICHAEL WALTERS

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