Customer Reviews

Verdi - Rigoletto / Bruson · Gruberova · Shicoff · Fassbaender · R. Lloyd · Matteuzzi · Rydl · Santa Cecilia · Sinopoli

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

 

 

This is a great recording of Rigoletto. Bruson is the best Rigoletto recorded, his voice is perfect for the role. He is much more believable than Milnes and I love his rich deep baritone. Gruberova is perhaps the best Gilda ever! She has so much power to give yet can be so gentle and vulnerable, I love her Gilda!! The duets with her and Brunson are treasures. Shicoff is a good Duke, of course no one sings the role like Pavarotti but Shicoff is a close second. The only thing I miss in this recording are some of the optional high notes that are taken in the Pavarotti/Shutherland recording. But I respect Sinoppoli's descion to leave them out. Also in this format it is so affordable, why wouldn't you buy it.

Rigoletto is an undisputed masterpiece, with many of its arias, duets, and that famous quartet well known to opera buffs and others. In this recording, not only do we hear a believable, charming, but self-centredly ruthless Duke, but a superb Rigoletto himself in Bruson, who is vocally and dramatically at home in this role. And of course, the best Gilda on record is Edita Gruberova, whose ability to spin her voice into a fine exquisite line is world-renowned. She bring Gilda to life. The conducting is strong but sympathetic. In all, if you love Verdi's operas, or even if you don't, this is a superb recording.

Perhaps not the greatest "Rigoletto" ever, this 1984 recording has a lot to recommend it. With so many classic recordings of "Rigoletto", there is naturally a lot of competition. Bonynge (DECCA/LONDON) simply cannot be beat for glorious singing, while Giulini (DG) outclasses most for drama and interpretation.

Edita Gruberova has formidable competition elsewhere - Sutherland, Cotrubas, Popp, Gueden, and others - but she holds her own against her lofty rivals. Anyone looking for a great performance of Gilda cannot go wrong with this one. Gruberova's limpid and delicate "Cara nome" is the love struck daydream that it should be. "Tutte le feste al tempio" is well captured as the realization of a child who has had to grow up far to quickly.

Neil Shicoff is in glorious voice here. He creates his character skillfully and successfully. He wastes no time establishing himself as the salacious cad - it is clear from the moment he starts singing. Schicoff also turns on the seductive charm magnificently when making a conquest of Gilda and Maddalena. Renato Bruson is not the most beautiful voice recorded as Rigoletto, but he is genuinely touching, and it is hard to listen to him without being moved. His paternal love and humiliations are clearly presented, but never cliche.

Giuseppe Sinopoli leads one of his typically idiosyncratic interpretations. There are some odd choices, yet many of them work. But many of them do not quite work, such as his frequent use of rubato. In Act 4, the well known quartet is oddly dull, yet the trio that follows is thrilling and exactly what it should be. The performance does not quite add up to the some of its parts, and Sinopoli lacks some of the cohesive overall interpretive vision found with Giulini and others. Nonetheless, on the merit of the three principle singers, it is easy to be enthusiastic about this recording. This budget release has no libretto, but the low price adds to the favorable assets.

If the sublime Rigoletto of Sutherland/Pavarotti has 5 stars, how can this too have 5? Otherwise, this is a most excellant performance. Neil Shicoff doesn't quite cut it as the Duke, his voice just does not have that vibrant ring of Bjorling and Pavarotti but it is good nonetheless. Gruberova is an excellant Gilda, although her voice is not quite as purely beautiful as Sutherland's, it is a moving portrayal. Bruson is undoubtedly the best of the principals here, he ranks up there with Capucilli as the definitive Rigoletto. Now, if he took Milne's part in the Pavarotti/Sutherland recording, how great that would be!

Sinopoli conducts well, the sound is clear, good stereo. All in all a highly recommended second Rigoletto (the first being SUtherland/Pavarotti, or maybe the Giulini set)

I thoroughly enjoyed this recording of Rigoletto, and agree with the majority of comments written by the other reviewers. The greatest recording of course is the live broadcast from the Met. recorded in 1945 with Sayao, Leonard Warren and the incomparable Jussi Bjorling. Never has the role of the Duke been sung with such panache but the sound quality is pretty dire. Bruson et al, for Sinopoli, do a wonderful job in bringing this great opera to life.
P.S I can't understand why the reviewer below would say that he liked this recording and then only give it a two star rating just because the inauthentic high notes are left out. There's more to Verdi than show-stopping high Cs, and I think that the propensity of some singers to high-jack arias and turn them into vehicles to try and secure applause distorts the dramatic flow of the music.

I agree with all the other reviewers regarding the cast and conductor. You couldn't have found a better ensemble in the mid-80's for this recording- particularly Shicoff & Bruson.
My problem is, though, is the total omission of high notes entirely. Now, sure, maybe that's the way Verdi wrote the opera, but it seems insane to listen to it without any ornamentation at all.
Rigoletto is an opera that is fueled by singers who can scale its range and notes....To eliminate the majority of the high notes altogether, especially when the tenor role is in the more than capable hands of Neil Shicoff, is sad. In short, this recording is a great "what could have been." Sure, boring opera purists will love it, claiming it to be the way the music was intended to be. But those of us who are thrilled by memories of RIGOLETTO's past, with glorious high notes by the likes of Bjoerling, Di Stefano and Pavarotti will be very disappointed, Stick with the Bonynge recording with Milnes, Sutherland, Pavarotti and a lot of high notes.
The guy who wrote the review above mine must be a fruitcake!