Page 294 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

OW: How do you think Puccini developed between the
periods he wrote “Tosca” and “Turandot?”

DH: In between both pieces, he wrote “Madame Butterfly,” “Il Trittico,” “Manon
Lescaut,” and “La Fanciulla,” and he traveled in this time, so his curiosity for other
cultures grew enormously. With such a great composer, one always asks the
question, what would have happened with 10 more years? You always have the
feeling they were looking for something else to explore or rebelling against themself.
Puccini is not the exception.

OW: How do you view the score of “Turandot,” especially

in modern times when there is talk of orientalism and

western cliches?

DH: Puccini was inspired, like many of his colleagues at the time in the Verismo
period, by new sound worlds. He uses the pentatonic scale just as Debussy or Ravel
did. This opera is the music of its time and should be treated as that.

OW: Will you be performing only Puccini’s music or with

the Alfano ending? If so, how do you view this music in

comparison to Puccini’s, and how do you unite the two

musical styles?

DH: We will be doing the original Alfano ending that will be a premiere in France. I
see it simply as a different composer and never tried to conduct it as Puccini’s music;
I rehearse it to get the best of Alfano and his own personality and color – that way to
serve Puccini’s “Turandot” as best as possible. I appreciate very much that the piece
has a conclusion rather than being left incomplete.

OW: Finally, what excites you about performing Puccini?

Would you consider him one of your favorite operatic

composers?

DH: I have conducted “La Bohème,” “Tosca,” “Turandot,” “Madama Butterfly,” and
very soon in Liverpool, “Gianni Schicchi” with the wonderful Sir Bryn Terfel and the
young singers of the European Opera Centre. Even if I don’t like to have “favorite
composers,” I have to admit that Puccini is one of my favorites. I enjoy enormously