Customer Reviews

Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The real tragedy of this recording does not lie with Verdi's libretto, nor in the performance thereof. It lies with an atrocious sound-track which has done the performers of this opera a great injustice. With the technology available to us today, it is an outrage that this superb rendition of Rigoletto is marred by such bad sound quality. Even taking into account that this is a live recording, there is simply no excuse. Strange noises crop up at various stages, the orchestra sounds flat and muffled, one hears the intake and expulsion of breath on the microphones, the volume is inconsistent and the audience is noisy. Even some of the 1950 and 1960 recordings were of a better quality than this one. It really is a pity, because this could have been one of the most beautiful recordings of our time. Andrea Rost manages to capture the innocence and naivete of Gilda perfectly. Her voice is clear and crystalline and she transports us with her poignant "Gualtier Maldé ... Caro nome che il mio cor" in the first act. Renato Bruson is a strong, yet sensitive Rigoletto. He manages to convey his anger and resentment, his love and tenderness with such credibility that one marvels at the scope of his emotions and his ability to evoke the listener's anger one second and his sympathy the next. Mariana Pentcheva certainly deserves a special mention. Her Maddalena is strong and hard, just as it should be while Roberto Alagna's Duke is superbly frivolous and callous. His phenomenal voice is well suited to portray the Duke's lust for life and nonchalant attitude toward the fairer sex. A truly excellent cast, a superb performance, if you can get past the bad sound. I can't.

Riccardo Muti is often accused of eschewing high notes due to his obsessive "come scritto" attitude. I think that even though he deletes high notes from his performances, his overall grasp of Verdi's operatic structure merits excellence, especially since he conducts the score with so much energy and passion without mangling the precision of execution. Rigoletto is one of Verdi's most exciting works, and Muti is able to imbue the score with much passion that this recording becomes a must-have for lovers of his music. Just listen to the Rigoletto's aria, Cortigiani vil razza dannata. No other conductor, not even Serafin, is able to whip the orchestra to such a frenzy and is yet able to keep things under control. This is the La Scala orchestra in one of its finest moments!

The cast is not too bad either. Many people will accuse Roberto Alagna for not being Pavarotti, and I think that is for the better. I find that Pavarotti's sense of phrasing and his natural ability with the language are an asset to any Verdi work, but I just find him boring sometimes. Alagna forms a character out of the one-dimensional Duke and brings out all the drama that we would miss from other tenors. He is an outstanding singer and tosses off the high notes with such reckless abandon that one would immediately think that the Duke is a despicable character instead of a musical showpiece.

The lead role is taken by Renato Bruson, who along with Tito Gobbi and Ettore Bastianini, gives one of the most convincing interpretations of Rigoletto's complex character. His tormented singing is only highlighted by the several vocal inflections he is able to perform with his powerful instrument. This is indeed Verdian phrasing and acting at its finest, and what a powerhouse Bruson is! Some would wish that his voice were darker like Bastianini's, but that is a minor quibble if one were to regard the magnificent performance he gives in this recording.

Andrea Rost many not be Italianate of voice, but she gives a sensitive account of Gilda's character. I still prefer Callas and Scotto, but she isn't as bad as some reviewers would portray her to be. Perhaps the voice is a bit edgy in the alts, but it is very youthful and crystalline throughout its range. A fine performance.

The rest of the cast such as the Sparafuciles are taken in good hands, but it is for Bruson, Alagna, and Muti that I would highly recommend this recording.

This is an impressive Rigoletto musically and dramatically, which came as a relief. Considering Muti's long-held reputation in Verdi, his recorded legacy is a sad history of the vocal decline at La Scala in recent decades. Sony and EMI both attempted to equal the fantastic run of recordings from La Scala under Walter Legge in the 1950s, a time when he automatically had Callas, Di Stefano, and Gobbi to undertake major roles. Their Rigoletto is still the one to beat. Fortunately, this Muti-led performance from 1995 has a more than respectable cast for that era: the young Alagna as the Duke, the experienced Renato Bruson in the title role, and at a somewhat lower level Andrea Rost as Gilda. It's really the conductor who dominates the proceedings, however, acting as a kind of latter day Toscanini with intense energy, strict tempos, and clear, precise orchestral execution. Nothing is much fun or full of heart, but the same was true of Toscanini, too, despite his vaunted reputation.

The first to try and impress us is Alagna, strutting forcefully through "Questa o quella." The lean tone and focused production reminds me of Alfredo Kraus, minus the elegance. At least Alagna is secure and virile in his characterization (better in youth than the tired, passe singer he has unfortunately turned into). We wait through some convincing courtier byplay to arrive at Bruson's first big chance, "Pari siamo," where a listener will find him either musically interesting or dramatically miscast, since this Rigoletto sounds neither self-pitying, vicious, nor poignant. He sounds angry and rather aristocratic. I've never admired this singer's voice, which seems dry and colorless to me, but I have to concede his musical integrity. Is that enough when you don't care very much about the character? Purely in vocal terms he's not hefty or juicy enough for the role, and the very bottom notes are husky rasps.

Gilda gets her first chance in the duet with her father, and here Rost is without real distinction if you are used to Callas, Scotto, Sayao, Cotrubas, Sills, Studer, or even Sutherland in the role (I say "even" because La stupenda's voice was two sizes two large and her Italian diction atrocious). Rost's main failing is that she sounds psychologically blank; although the Gramophone found the portrayal "altogether lovely," their criterion must have been only the sound of her voice. On that score, "Caro nome" goes well. Muti conducts the aria with great skill and sensitivity, and Rost follows his lead -- our attention is held from first to last, which isn't easy to do.

The qualities I've described pertain throughout the entire performance, never falling below high musical standards while never rising to personal involvement or touching emotion. This seems to be a fault with many modern Rigolettos, including those led by Giulini (DG) and Sinopoli (Philips)-- the latter gives Bruson another try in the title role, to no great difference except that he was in fresher voice in 1987. One longs for a truly charismatic Rigoletto, especially from La Scala, of all houses. It doesn't quite happen here.