A NEW TURN ON 'TURANDOT' REVISED ENDING TO PUCCINI WORK STIRS EXCITEMENT, DEBATE.

Byline: Rick Mortensen Staff Writer

AS LOS ANGELES OPERA prepares to stage the world premiere of a new ending to Giacomo Puccini's ``Turandot,'' members of the cast and creative staff aren't quite sure what to make of the new ending, composed by Luciano Berio.

Soprano Audrey Stottler, who has made the title character her signature role and is slated to perform it at the Met in the fall, expressed ambivalence about the ending.

``Everybody has their own interpretation, and this production has its own interpretation. I don't particularly agree with it, but that's not my job,'' she said. ``My job is to make a realization of the character in the production in which I'm cast.''

Stottler and other opera professionals are accustomed to a version of ``Turandot'' that has been part of the repertoire since its 1924 premiere. Because Puccini died before completing the ending, his colleague Franco Alfano stepped in and wrote an ending using Puccini's own sketches and reprising previous thematic material.

Alfano completed his work under a tight deadline and pressure from Arturo Toscanini, who conducted the premiere. While the finished product was a success and continues to be popular, the fact that the pivotal ending was written by someone other than Puccini has fueled speculation about possible alternatives.

Final reckoning

``I think the music world has been looking for decades for a new ending, because the original ending was done in a rush,'' said L.A. Opera Director of Artistic Operations Edgar Baitzel.

Berio, an eclectic composer known primarily for his pioneering work in electronic music, took nearly a decade to complete his version. Like Alfano, he used Puccini's sketches, but to different musical and dramatic ends.

``Ninety-nine percent of it doesn't sound anything like Puccini,'' said L.A. Opera Chorusmaster William Vendice. ``I don't think it was supposed to; I don't think that's Berio's aim.''

Vendice, who has worked on several productions with the Alfano ending, said only a few bars in the Berio ending were identical to the Alfano version.

``There's brand-new music, which I'm not smart enough, I guess, to see its connection to the Puccini sketches,'' he said. ``Then, there's music that has the same vocal line as the Alfano, which I'm sure he got from the original Puccini, that is harmonized entirely differently.''

Baitzel agreed that Berio's aim was not to make it ``sound like Puccini,'' but that might not have been Puccini's aim either.

``I think Puccini was really looking for a new musical language,'' Baitzel said. ``We all know how Puccini respected the works of Wagner and, especially, the works of Arnold Schoenberg. That made us believe when we were considering a new ending that it really should not only pay respect to the musical tradition of the mid-1920s, but should really look forward.''

The opera takes place in ancient Peking, where Princess Turandot puts her suitors to death unless they can answer her three riddles. Calaf answers the riddles, and when the princess still refuses to marry him, he gives her an out if she can guess his name.

She threatens to put all the members of her kingdom to death unless they can discover Calaf's name; her guards capture Calaf's father and the father's female servant Liu. Rather than let the guards torture Calaf's name out of her, Liu kills herself, declaring that her sacrifice will make Turandot love the suitor. The ending proves Liu right, and Turandot declares that Calaf's name is ``love.''

The Alfano version ends with a jubilant chorus in which the subjects celebrate their ruler's change of heart. The Berio version ends more quietly, with the chorus singing softly from off stage, then growing silent. Berio also added an orchestral interlude to the final act.

No fairy-tale ending

``Alfano put the ending in a way that it's a huge exclamation mark, Berio put it in a way that it was a slight question mark,'' Baitzel said. ``If you consider the background of that story, I think that is the right ending ... How can this people with all this emotional damage have a happy future? That's really the question of the piece.''

Stottler said the Berio ending makes the opera darker, which is less in line with her concept of the work as a romantic fairy tale.

``I think it's an opera, basically, of hope, where love can conquer all; it's a very uplifting fairy tale,'' she said. ``This version ends with 'his name is love,' but it's a dark tale rather than a happy ending.''

Happy or not, Baitzel said the new ending resonates with audiences. He saw a concert version of it in the Canary Islands at the Las Palmas Music Festival, which, along with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Netherlands, commissioned the work.

``The reception was enthusiastic,'' he said ``They listened to that new ending, they were totally drawn into that new kind of music. They gave it an immediate standing ovation; the audience really got the message of that new ending, and there was no comparison and no complaint about it.''

At the time L.A. Opera put the new ``Turandot'' on its schedule, there was already a performance scheduled for December at La Scala. The cancellation of the La Scala date made L.A. Opera's production the world premiere. Baitzel said Houston Opera plans to do the new ending next year, and other companies might follow suit.

``We are fortunate to be doing the world premiere of the staged version, which, basically, was a total coincidence,'' Baitzel said. ``It's now up to every theater which version they choose to do.''

TURNADOT

What: Puccini's work with a new ending composed by Luciano Berio.

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday and May 30, June 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14; 2 p.m. June 1 and 16.

Tickets: $34 to $165. Call [phone].

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Soprano Audrey Stottler, whose signature role is the title character in ``Turandot,'' says the new ending conflicts with her view of the opera as a hopeful fairy tale.