Customer Reviews

Verdi: Falstaff

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Falstaff is my very favorite opera!! Only two things are needed for a great performance of Falstaff, a wonderful Bass-Baritone and a superb conductor, because Falstaff is a conductor's opera. The two best recordings of Falstaff, as far as I am concerned are Bernstein's with Dietrich Fisher Diskau and of course the evergreen Toscanini recording with the NBC symphony. James Levine conducted some wonderful performances of this opera at the met with Cornell MacNeil in the 1980s and it was broadcast, currently not available on DVD. I was looking forward to this performance because I imagined that Colin Davis with his Mozart and French repetoire would be a good fit with the lightness of Verdi's last opera. He does not disappoint. His work with the London Symphony Orchestra earns 4 1/2 stars. Michael Pertrusi being Italian is an idiomatic Falstaff, very good, but not quite great. Bryn Terfal is the Falstaff of this age, but his recording with Abbado is badly conducted and the rest of the cast is variable except for Thomas Hampson. Davis' cast is all idiomatic and appropriate. The ensembles sparkle where they should and the whole opera is well paced. I enjoyed this recording twice when I first got it and expect to do so in the future. A fine reading of Falstaff, but how about a Levine recording or DVD with an equally great Falstaff?

In terms of peripherals this is an exemplary Falstaff. The recorded sound is lovely, capturing the voices up close and sweetly. The orchestra plays meticulously, and by taking things a shade slower than usual, Colin Davis has time to amke many nice little points along the way. Verdi's score has rarely sounded so charming in its details. Following in Toscanini's footsteps, most conductors try for an antic pace in this opera, so it's refreshing to hear it on less adrenaline.

As far as singing goes, these unknowns from London do a very good job. Most sound young, which is especially winning in the romantic pairing of Nanetta and Fenton. There isn't a star in the bunch, yet they outsing the hand-picked cast found on Abbado's disappointing set from DG, which has only Bryn Terfel's mythic, overblown Sir John to lend any attraction. Here, having set up the scene perfectly, Davis falls short on the most important ingredient: Falstaff himself. Michele Petrusi has a solid, well-trained bass, on the young side for this role, that he uses well, but wihtout charisma Falstaff falls apart, and Petrusi hasn't much of it. He cannot convey humor, malice, cunning, self-pity, pomposity, animal appetite--the bloated mixed bag that is Sir John. Mostly he sounds blustery and angry, which gets tedious after a while.

Still, the lovely incidentals don't amount to nothing, so I enjoyed this set as a one-time listen. If you are phlegmatic, British, or both, you may enjoy it even more.