Technical brilliance | Verdi - Rigoletto / Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, LSO, Bonynge

Just buy it | Verdi - Rigoletto / Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, LSO, Bonynge | Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Bonynge, ...

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	• Verdi - Rigoletto / Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, LSO, Bonynge Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Bonynge, ... Decca, 1990 average customer review:based on 63 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An excellent choice

Rigoletto is a problematic opera in recordings, and almost all of the ones that I've seen have some issue whether major or minor. The sheer fact that my only problem with this one is that Sutherland is a bit older than might be ideal makes it the best choice for me.

Sutherland's earlier Gilda is just that: earlier. She sounds younger because she IS younger, Cornell MacNeil is a very good Rigoletto, Sanzogno conducts a better show in some ways, but Renato Cioni is forgettable as the Duke at best. The classic La Scala recording with Scotto and Bergonzi, conducted by Kubelik is excellent and I'm more than willing to forgive the casting choice of Fischer-Dieskau but it's definitely a consideration in that however magnificent he may be, he doesn't sound Italianate. If Sutherland sounds too old in this recording, Beverly Sills sounds heavier and more wobbly in hers.

In the smaller roles, you have Sparafucile sung by Talvela here, other places by Siepi, Vinco, or Ramey. I have a hard time choosing. If you're looking for the great quartet, Fiorenza Cossotto on the Kubelik recording is undoubtedly more satisfying than Tourangeau, but she works here, somehow avoiding her mile-wide break for the most part.

As has been said many times before, the sheer vocalism here is unmatched. The absolute greatest exponents of bel canto and much other opera at the high points of their careers. If it disturbs you too much, patch in the Caro Nome from the Art of the Prima Donna instead of this one, but otherwise, enough nitpicking. Just sit back or open your score and enjoy it already!

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Technical brilliance

The singing here is of course very good, and you can trust the other stellar reviews to a certain degree. I will add that the atmospere is dark, which is a bonus. But taste differs. I mostly prefer another recording, by Angelo Questa, with Giuseppe Taddei as Rigoletto, Lina Pagliughi as Gilda and Ferruccio Tagliavini as the duke. That recording is older, from 1954; the sound is good, but not excellent. This is the only weakness, however. Taddei is much better than Milnes, with due respect to the latter. Taddei was the best dramatic baryton ever, even better than Ettore Bastianini when it comes to acting with the voice. For all Sutherland's brilliance, she doesn't sound like a young girl, but Lina Pagliughi does. Ferruccio Tagliavini was as good as Pavarotti and sounds as reckless as anybody could wish. Last but not least, the conducting by Questa is much much better than that of Bonynge, better waltzing and more dramatic nerve, better forward momentum. I am afraid being too crude here, but as I admire the singing of the present recording, I love the Questa one. The difference is - not absolute, though to a certain degree - between that of the pleasure of technical brilliance and production values on the side of the present recording and spiritual truth, excitement and fun on the side of the Taddei-Pagliughi-Tagliavini.

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Just buy it

If you can listen to the sample of "Ah! vegiia, o donna" above and not buy this recording, then you don't truly love Opera. This is simply a stunning recording. The sound quality is remarkably strong given the age of the recording, and the singing is stupendous.

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Great singing and good listening

This is a recording with incredible singing from three great voices: Sutherland, Pavarotti, and Milnes. It is simply an aural pleasure to hear. Great character interpretation you will not find here as in the classic EMI recording under Serafin where Tito Gobbi simply sounds like the character of Rigoletto, inflecting every phrase as if he were really living the drama. By contrast, Milnes simply pours forth beautiful resonant tone and with much subtlety in his singing but without real character definition. Ditto for Sutherland, but what resonance, roundness of tone and bloom in the voice! That is the pleasure. Sutherland sounds a bit matronly for a part which should be more of a girlish soubrette but that is a small price to pay for gorgeous soprano singing. Scotto brings more word-pointing to her Gilda under the baton of Rafael Kubelik on DG. Cotrubas sounds more like a definitive Gilda with her limpid lyric voice on the DG recording conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini. As for Pavarotti, I believe the Duke was his best role, perfectly suited to his voice and this, his first recording of it is better than the second one which came a decade later. I reach for this Decca recording for the beautiful, albeit somewhat mindless singing. Also, the conducting is very spirited and lively under Richard Bonynge-perhaps his best conducted recording.

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De primera clase!

Cabe mencionar que hace poco mas de 11 años que tengo este disco que tuvo a bien regalarme un amigo muy querido; de nuevo la fórmula muy efectiva en los años 70's; Pavarotti se muestra como "el mejor duque de la historia" (según críticos conocedores) y que vocalmente está en su punto, basta escuchar el aria "possente amor mi chiama" coronado con un trino para tenor que calidad insuperable; como dijera el propio Verdi "Rigoletto esta concebido como una interminable ristra de dúos", todos ellos memorables; Joanine se luce con la interpretación de una adolescente, imprimiendo una sutil Gilda, conmovedora hasta los huesos (vg en los hermosísimos dúos con Rigoletto) y con un dramatismo excepcional como en el terzetone del tercer acto previo a la muerte de Gilda a manos de Sparafucile, etc. Una de las joyas de este disco es la inigualable voz de Sherril Milnes como Rigoletto, sumamente convincente y elocuente; con una poderosa voz lírico spinto y diría yo hasta "di forza" que hiela los sentidos, poderosamente dual, muy lírica en los dúos con Gilda, pero muy enérgica y como trueno en las arias de bravura; gigante Rigoletto se tiene en esta grabación!!; otro poderoso vocalmente es el recientemente exinto gigante entre los que mas (media mas de 2 mts), Marti Talvela, con su voz profundísima, obscura y timbrada, bellamente trabajada, impostada y engolada; en el dúo con Rigoletto se tiene creo yo el momento más obscuro de la ópera con la conjunción de reino grave de la orquesta con el de dos voces obscuras y con el entorno maléfico de pensar en un homicidio... espléndido personaje en todos los sentidos; la orquesta magistralmente dirigida por Richard Bonynge y de sonoridad espectacular (vg la tormenta en el tercer acto al punto de desenlace en donde "brama a toda potencia" según palabras del musicólogo Kurt Phalen en su revisión literaria de la ópera); no se arrepentirán de comprarla!

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No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 1-JAN-2002

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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Tracks
Rigoletto: Act I: Preludio | Rigoletto: Act I: Della mia bella incognita borghese (Duca) | Rigoletto: Act I: Questa o quella per me pari sono (Duca) | Rigoletto: Act I: Gran nuova! Gran nuova! | Rigoletto: Act I: Ch'io gli parli | Rigoletto: Act I: Quel vecchio maledivami! (Rigoletto) | Rigoletto: Act I: Pari siamo! (Rigoletto) | Rigoletto: Act I: Figlia! Mio padre! (Rigoletto, Gilda) | Rigoletto: Act I: Ah! vegiia, o donna (Rigoletto) | Rigoletto: Act I: Giovanna, ho dei rimorsi (Gilda) | Rigoletto: Act I: Che m'ami, deh, ripetimi (Duca) | Rigoletto: Act I: Gualtier Malde...Caro nome (Gilda) | Rigoletto: Act I: Riedo! Perche? (Rigoletto) | Rigoletto: Act I: Zitti, zitti | Rigoletto: Act II: Ella mi fu rapita! (Duca) | Rigoletto: Act II: Duca, duca! | Rigoletto: Act II: Possente amor mi chiama (Duca) | Rigoletto: Act II: Povero Rigoletto! | Rigoletto: Act II: Cortigiani, vil razza dannata (Rigoletto) | Rigoletto: Act II: Mio padre!...Tutte le feste al tempio (Gilda) | Rigoletto: Act II: Schiudete, ire al carcere | Rigoletto: Act III: E l'ami? (Rigoletto) | Rigoletto: Act III: La donna e mobile (Duca) | Rigoletto: Act III: Un di, se ben rammentomi (Duca) | Rigoletto: Act III: Bella figlia dell'arnore (Duca) | Rigoletto: Act III: Venti scudi hai tu detto? (Rigoletto) | Rigoletto: Act III: Ah, piu non ragiono! (Gilda) | Rigoletto: Act III: Della vendetta alfin giunge l'istante! (Rigoletto) | Rigoletto: Act III: V'ho ingannato, colpevole fui (Gilda)

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