Customer Reviews

Verdi - Falstaff / Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Hendricks, Gonzalez, Valentini-Terrani, Giulini

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Falstaff" is not Verdi's greatest work, but it is undeniably a masterpiece. In this live 1982 recording under the wonderful Carlo Maria Giulini, all the musical forces combine to make this a Verdi recording to remember. Renato Bruson in particular is exceptional as Falstaff, singing with gorgeous tone and natural feeling for the character. Giulini believes he is the perfect Falstaff, and it is hard to disagree. Ricciarelli as Alice is very good, mostly producing beautiful sound despite some infrequent harshness, Leo Nucci is an almost frighteningly intense Ford, Dalmacio Gonzalez is ideal as Fenton and Barbara Hendricks is excellent as Nanetta. It's Giulini, though, who makes this into a great recording. He shows an instinctive feeling for the riches of Verdi's score and directs everyone to perfection. The booklet is very generous, with many black and white photos from the performances. It might also be pointed out that almost all of the lead singers are Italian (Bruson, Ricciarelli, Valentini-Terrani, Nucci, etc.), and just seem to me to have a better feeling for Verdi than non-native singers. Buy this "Falstaff"!

This recording really has it all! First, we hear the great maestro Guilini conduct one of his signature operas. You can definitely hear all rehearsing that's gone into this performance - every passage is incredibly crisp and every intonation of the characters is perfectly echoed by the orchestra. Somebody said this is a recording with a smile. How true! The artists just had a lot of fun while performing this work - a sign of great mastery of its vocal demands. The sound is spacious and I could hardly tell it was a live performance. DG provided a very informative booklet with great pictures, but, alas, no artist bios.
Renato Bruson as Falstaff is a dream come true. I've always thought of Rigoletto or Rodrigo as his best roles, but he has a natural gift for comedy as well. (For instance, he recorded Don Pasquale and it's hilarious!) What Bruson brings to this role is a touch of sadness; his Falstaff is not just a fat old rascal, but also a rather likable 3D figure. Plus his dark baritone voice is really beautiful, rich and velvety with perfect breath control and superb legato line. Katia Ricciarelli is also surprisingly adept at comedy, I am so used to hear her in dramatic roles, it's a pleasure to hear her gorgeous soprano applied here. Young Barbara Hendricks as Nannetta is just delightful, sweet and witty. Lucia Valentini Terrani as Quickly is a perfect casting choice, no wonder poor John falls for everything she tells him. Leo Nucci's baritone is very different from Falstaff's and their duet in Act 2 is fabulous. Everyone in the cast is top notch, they just can't be given enough credit in these few words.
With most recordings someone usually finds a weak link. With this one, it would be next to impossible. While there are some wonders still available, e.g. with Tito Gobbi in title role, this one deserves to be in the top 10 best all-around performances of all time.

Some people have described Giulini's Fastaff as "unsmiling". It certainly isn't. Giulini conducts with great love and passion, and if this isn't the funniest Falstaff available, it is one of the most gorgeous and well sung. Renato Bruson in his absolute prime sings like a (verdian) god even if Gobbi and Taddei are more characterful. Ricciarelli is lovely as Alice and Valentini-Terrani great fun as Miss Quickly. Leo Nucci matches Bruson well as Ford. All in all this is a most handsome Falstaff and worth every penny.

Although faced with competition from von Karajan's older recording on EMI's Recordings of the Century and Toscanini's account, Giulini's probably stands alone among modern recordings. I have never heard anyone describe this set as "unsmiling" and can categorically deny this as untrue. I found myself smiling throughout. A live recording, there is some audience laughter as well (although recorded lightly) but applause is edited out, which I find somewhat disconcerting, finding applause to be a natural part of a recording this fine.

Giulini retired from opera conducting on disc soon after his acclaimed Don Carlo in the Sixties, so when he agreed to make a live Rigoletto with the L.A. Phil. as pit orchestra in 1982, the music world expected a sure-fire masterpiece. The results, as I remember at the time, were disappointing. We were getting early signs of Giulini's late style: serious, slow, caressing. Quite a change from the alert, vital conducting he had brought to Verdi before. The adjective "unsmiling" is fitting for this straight-faced reading, and despite all the care Giulini takes over orchestral detail, the production lacks any fizz -- what good is a comedy when the champagne has gone flat?

The casting is fine in every role except the one that counts most, Falstaff himself. Renato Bruson was an accomplished and widely admired singer, but his baritone isn't "fat" enough for the role of Sir John, and even though he tries many vocal tricks to simulate a buffo portrayal, Bruson refuses to lose his dignity. This Falstaff doesn't create humor in himself or in others. In the end, one has the impression that Giulini is giving us a museum-quality 'Falstaff' rather than a living, breathing creature. For Verdi and Shakespeare, life was never this polished and smooth.

The musical world is stunned this day at the loss of one of the great musicians of the 20th Century: the gentle, poetic, insightful, spiritual conductor is gone. Though Giulini conducted little during his last years of life, this live recording of Verdi's FALSTAFF set the international opera world into raves and accolades when this fully staged production was produced and performed in the then operaless Los Angeles in 1984.

The CD is a live recording and while the usual audiences presence can be distracting to listeners of other operas, this fine recording wisely captured the essence of Giulini's alchemy in the presence of the interaction between the performers and the receivers. Always a lover of conducting operas, especially those of Verdi, Giulini knew this score so thoroughly that he could embrace every nuance of the orchestral portions as well as providing just the right underpinning for the soloists and ensembles. His selected cast of Renato Bruson as Falstaff, along with Katia Ricciarelli (in her very finest hour), Barbara Hendricks, Leo Nucci, Lucia Valentin-Terrani, Dalmacio Gonzalez, and Frances Egerton give their all: there are few ensembles in the final moments of this masterpiece that provide the lusty glowing wit and warmth that Giulini coaxes from this sparkling cast.

At the time of this production and recording Giulini was the conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and indeed this performance was part of that season of subscription performances! And how often are we allowed the luxury of having a major symphony orchestra in the opera pit? His years with the orchestra lifted it from the bold and flashy ensemble from the Zubin Mehta years to the burnished and golden glow so identified with Giulini. The orchestra adored him, the public held him in awe, and the international press began to pay very close attention to the LA Philharmonic.

For those of us who had the privilege of sitting in the audience during his tenure and basking in the magic from his revelatory FALSTAFF (not to mention the majesty of his Mahler, Bruckner, Mozart, Beethoven, et al), this recording will always be a treasured memento of the halcyon years with the Maestro. He will be remembered as a poet of the podium. This recording is one that belongs in the collection of everyone who savors the great moments in musical history. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, June 05

This version of Falstaff by Giulini and Bruson is good. It isn't horrible as some have said, nor is it a masterpiece performance as others have said. It is a good performance, and that is all. There are better versions out there, but this one can be purchased used at a budget price.
I don't love it but I do like it (it IS entertaining without being definitive) so I give it Four Stars.

SOURCE: Live performance offered as part of the regular Los Angeles Symphony season on April 13, 1982.

SOUND: Live 1980s digital stereo. Audience applause has effectively been edited out, although some laughter appear in mid-performance. The orchestra sounds more crisp than any I've ever heard on a recording of "Falstaff." Solo voices come across very nicely. On the other hand, the many ensembles tend to be ground into a nearly indecipherable mush. Why this should be, I can't fathom, but even the first complete recording under Lorenzo Molajoli, dating from 1932, does more justice to Verdi's magnificent vocal interplays. (I played the old set--which I have criticized here in Amazon for its poor sound--after hearing this one, just to confirm that memory hadn't played me false.) If you are the kind of fan that regards an opera as a symphonic score burdened with a vocal line, this is the set for you. Otherwise beware of a recording that betrays the very thing that makes "Falstaff" uniquely brilliant.

CAST: Sir John Falstaff - Renato Bruson (baritone); Mistress Alice Ford - Katia Ricciarelli (soprano); Mistress Page - Brenda Boozer (mezzo-soprano); Mistress Quickly - Lucia Valentini Terrani (mezzo-soprano); Nannetta Ford - Barbara Hendricks (soprano); Ford / Signor Fontana - Leo Nucci (baritone); Master Fenton - Dalmacio Gonzalez (tenor); Bardolfo - Francis Egerton (tenor); Pistola - William Wildermann (baritone); Doctor Cajus - Michael Sells (tenor).

CONDUCTOR: Carlo Maria Giulini with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

DOCUMENTATION: Libretto with translations into English and other languages. Brief essay on the opera and its history. Summary of the plot. Track list with timings.

COMMENTARY: I take exception to the earlier Amazon reviewer who said "`Falstaff' is not Verdi's greatest work, but it is undeniably a masterpiece." I say that `Falstaff is Verdi's greatest work (although, alas, not his most popular), and it is undeniably a masterpiece, but this recording is a mediocre rendition of it. In fact, the only recording I can name that is worse than this one is that ghastly train wreck with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title role.

The first thing obviously wrong with this "Falstaff" is the selection of Renato Bruson to portray Sir John. Bruson is a good, sound baritone. He is more than adequate in most things and admirable in some things. Old Jack Falstaff, however, is as far beyond his reach as King Lear is to Jerry Lewis. If I had been the producer of this recording, I might have given him a try at Ford but it would never have entered my mind to associate him with Falstaff. Only Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau among the famous baritones of the 1980s would have been a dumber choice. On this set he sounds like a competent lyric baritone singing the notes well enough, but no more. In no way does he inhabit the role and become Vecchio John in the way that Valdengo did in the 1940s, Gobbi in the 1950s and Taddei in the 1960s.

Leo Nucci will forever be a journeyman baritone, good enough, never memorable, always a second choice at best. His Ford is good enough, but not memorable in any way, pallid, in fact, when measured against his recorded predecessors.

Katia Ricciarelli is all right as Alice Ford, but light-voiced in a role that ideally should have some Tebaldi-like vocal heft. (Tebaldi played the part and may be heard on a pirate recording with Tito Gobbi.) On purely vocal considerations, I would have cast her as Nannetta, not Mistress Ford.

Barbara Hendricks as Nannetta is the best piece of casting in this production. Good as she is, she does not quite match the extraordinary competition offered by Anna Moffo and Lina Pagliughi in earlier recordings. Occasionally, though, she exhibits enough unexpected vocal weight to make me think that she might have been a better choice than Ricciarelli for Alice Ford.

Lucia Valentini Terrani is a good enough singer but not even close to the same acting league as her predecessors as Mistress Quickly. Gonzalez is a satisfactory Fenton. Boozer and Sells are fine in their small parts. Egerton and Wildermann are just flat-out terrible as Bardolfo and Pistola, each worse than the other.

The well-recorded orchestra sounds fine, but the conducting lacks the snap and fire and ... yes, life that Molajoli, Toscanini and Karajan conjured up in such great abundance.

This is an adequate recording of "Falstaff" that competes with magnificent recordings from Toscanini and Karajan, as well as very good ones from other conductors.

Three adequate stars.

Though I don't disagree with other listeners' opinion that Guilini is the star of this recording, it is a minor tragedy to compare the principals here favorably against those of earlier recordings, such as Gobbi or Taddei under Karajon and especially Geraint Evans with Solti conducting. Perhaps Bruson sounds Falstaffian when one has never heard Evans exclaim, "Saltimbanco!" Some may find Nucci's Ford tolerable but surely not after their eardrums have encountered Robert Merrill's baritone. And Katia? Fortunately Falstaff is not a soprano showcase, like an Aida, Traviata, or Otello.

I understand that Bruson is, or was, quite a good actor on-stage, which surely explains how his flat, underpowered monotone continues to impress those that have seen him perform.

The greatest testament to this set's deficiencies is the number of used copies available at Amazon. As I write this, it stands at 15. That so many listeners wish to pawn off this recording of a Verdian masterpiece exposes the truth. Better to look elsewhere.

Falstaff is definitely Verdi's most astonishing masterpiece: it is extremely dense, overloaded with themes, and its music is incredibly inspired. What Maestro Giulini and his team deliver is NOT Falstaff. The tempo is unbearably slow; it sounds like Bruckner or Brahms! Bruson's capture of the role is much too heavy, and yet his voice is not impressive. Ricciarelli does not fit the role at all; it requires her to be very agile, which she is not in this recording. If you want to discover the real Falstaff, refer to Karajan's version with a great collection of artists: Tito Gobbi (unforgettable), Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Feodora Barbieri... It is one of the best recording of an opera (ever)