Customer Reviews

Verdi - Rigoletto / Viotti, Machado, Nucci, Mula, Luperi, Verona Opera

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

 

 

This is a superb performance of Rigoletto made at the Arena di Verona. TDK has issued some excellent opera DVDs recently, featuring Eurpean performances, where opera is taken seriously. The digital video and the DTS sound option make the performance very realistic on a big screen TV. Although this is an outdoor performance, on the screen it comes across very well, and there is no sonic compromise, either.

Aquiles Machado is a very good Duke; his spinto voice is perfect for the role, and his interpretation has enough con brio to fit the part. Inva Mula does the most she can with the role of Gilda, which is a "look pretty/sing pretty" character. In her opening scene with Rigoletto, she sings in a pure lyric style, but the voice becomes more of a spinto in the second and third acts, with more richness. I think that it is an artistic bit with Mula and it makes more of Gilda's character than one usually experiences.

Mario Luperi (Sparafucile) and Sarah M'Punga (Maddalena) interpret their characters well, but are both vocally less than expected (This is the reason for a 4 star rating). Marcello Viotti conducts in the style of Toscanini and Levine: it is a brisk, but not at all rushed, interpretation.

Which brings me to Leo Nucci as Rigoletto. Nucci has been around for quite a while, and some recent performances have been a bit uneven, but he steal this show with a near perfect - vocally and interpretively - rendition of the part. The depth of character he brings to his role is best dramatized when he comes "out of character" for curtain calls.

With Rigoletto, Verdi reached a level of genius not achieved in his earlier works, as good as most of them are. For example, the Duke, a corrupt and totally amoral person, sings music that is exquisitely lyrical, while Rigoletto, essentially a good but troubled man, has vocal lines that are more intense but less lyrical. Character trumps over spectacle, with some of the best music being written for the intimate scenes between Rigoletto and Gilda.

I am delighted with this disc. As I have noted a number of times, the DVD medium is the next best thing to attending a live performance. In this case, the immediacy of the experience is near perfect. I recommend it without reservation.

In this version of this moving opera masterpiece, in the Arena, Leo Nucci shows once more he is the perfect and ultimate "baritono verdiano".

His performance here, both singing and acting, is superb, touching, and full of nuances, and, if you love Verdi as I do, you should not miss it.

Evidentemente esta es en mi humildo opinión la mejor grabación e interpretación de esta gran ópera. todos, y digo todos sin excepción son casi perfectos, este término dicho sea de paso sólo lo podemos aplicar a las obras de Dios. La simpatía de Machado es sin igual en el mundo de la ópera, casi parece un muchacho; Gilda es una figura tremendamente agradable, tanto al oído como a la vista. He visto hasta ahora todas las grabaciones disponibles en DVD, reiterando mi opinión sobre esta maravillosa grabación. Nucci merece un comentario aparte, sencillamente es grandioso como el trágico padre que ha perdido a todo lo que tiene en la vida. Cinco estrellas es poco para él en especial. Bravo y larga vida a este maravilloso cantante.

This is the worst DVD in my opera collection. And I have over 50 of them.

Aquiles Machado as the Duke is horrible. He has bad vocal technique and sounds strained in his high voice. His characterisation is also unconvincing.

Inva Mula simply butchers the role of Gilda. She does not have good control of her high voice and therefore cannot give us effortless high notes. And her voice does not have a sweet innocent quelity. But she does look the part.

Mario Luperi (Sparafucile) sings badly and has an ugly voice. His acting is also unconvincing.

Sarah M'Punga (Maddalena) is more convinsing and does not sing all that badly and characterises well with her voice. Her use of portamento in her singing underlines well her characters sleezyness. Her acting is almost convincing.

Leo Nucci as Rigoletto is the only one who deserves praise. He looks the part. Acts convincingly and has a good dramatic baritone voice witch he uses with great musicianship.

Unfortunately his efforts are not enough to drag this production out of the toilett.

If you want a much, much better production of Rigoletto you should buy the one with Wixell, Pavarotti, Gruberova and the Vienna Philharmonic. Or any other production for that matter.

Just DO NOT BUY THIS DVD!!!

Having studied opera with the great Tina Piazza--a student of Melochi and friend of Del Monaco--I cannot disagree more heartily with David from Iceland. This is one of the most joyous performances I have ever experienced of opera on DVD. What is missing from all the rather staid Met performances is the presence of an essential element of live opera--the audience.

I received this DVD by mistake and wouldn't part with it for the world. Machado is absolutely one of the best tenor I've heard since Pavorotti and Del Monaco. I don't know why he isn't world-famous. It is indeed a less complex staging than those of the Met, which in my opinion can be over-produced. But the TV direction of this "Rigoletto" is superb in its all-encompassing view of all the fun of a live production.

I recently ordered the Met's production "Otello" with Domingo, Fleming and Morris and was greatly disappointed by the lack of chemistry onstage and the total absence of the audience. Domingo and Fleming could have been singing separate concerts for all the acting and chemistry going on between them. At the end of ACT ONE the direction was so non-existent that audience had no idea when to applaud. And James Morris was about as malevolent as Tom Hanks who probably could have done a much better job than the former.

Do yourself two favors: disregard David from Iceland and get this DVD. Oh, yeah, and forget the five stars of the Met's "Otello." I'd give it two if I felt the need to comment further on that pallid production.

The singing here is good. So is the orchestra. The setting and acting too. The recorded sound and effect are all excellent. My only reservation is with Gilda. When she sings on her own, she is perfect. When she comes to two part or contrapuntal music, she is equally fine: but the the overall effect is not quite my cup of tea-- but that is of course only a matter of personal taste.

On the whole, the quality of this DVD is more modern and colourful and compact and as such, on the whole, even better than the one with young Pavarotti, save and except the part of Rigoletto.

I've become a great fan of TDK operas, with their wondeful color. Rigoletto is, of course, simply a great opera, Verdi's best, in my not so humble opinion. The opening scene of the hunchback's sadness could break any one's heart. Everything was well done, with repeats of the "avenge' aria and. of course, 'Donna mobile" Maybe there's one better, but this DVD completely satisfied me.

The music is from heaven, the story is from hell. I'm an Atheist. This and Tosca are my two favorite operas, and this is the first time I've seen Rigoletto. It is all beautiful (except maybe the breathless parting of the "lovers" in Rigoletto's house). My familiarity with and liking for operas is not so erudite as others', but I have ears and feelings. The picture and sound of this disc were perfect. I had no idea Nucci was such a tiny little man (never saw him before), and he was not my concept of Rigoletto, but I was able to accept him as authentic, and his slight size made him seem more vulnerable and helpless, a more perfect Rigoletto than I had previously imagined. And I loved him dearly when he broke character to take his bows and smiled, he was a beautiful man then. His voice also was not so resonant or rich as I'd come to think of as Rigoletto's. The only Gildas I've heard are Sutherland, Callas, Sills and Gruberova. Except Gruberova, I prefer them all to this one. Though she had a beautiful little voice and did very well with it. I couldn't help feeling I was watching/hearing one of the small, live Donizetti rarities I've collected over the years. On CD of course, not DVD. Everyone in this performance was good (2 of the numbers were encored), but frankly the whole thing seemed a little 2nd rate to me. I expect that comment to get this "review" ignored or crushed into oblivion with negative responses (like just about everything else I've ever said in an Amazon "review"), so I'll amplify that feeling by saying also that I thought Nucci's final exclamation which ended the opera lacked impact, it seemed anti-climactic, like something he'd said before, which he had. It seemed weak and understated when it should have overwhelmed the entire audience with pain, grief and horror. It was a pleasant Rigoletto, the music was marvelous, I don't know whether I'd recommend it because I don't know what else is available, but I do know I'd rather have one of my CDs of the show enacted instead of this version.

The Orchestra is good, also the singers, but in espacial Aquiles Machado (tue Duke)...absolutely Genial!
I Think is the best tenor now in the world.