Verdi: Rigoletto

A fizzy Rigoletto with stellar casting from the old Met:
This classic Rigoletto dates from RCA's golden era at the old Met, and it has come up sounding gorgeous--far better than its age--in this bargain remastering. Every aspect is strong vocally. Alfredo Kraus can't stand up to Bjorling''s mesmerizing tenor, but he sings more precisely and with greater refinement--this is one Duke who doesn't bawl out a single phrase. His only flaw is a streak of mildness that makes lechery and treachery fairly unbelievable. Merrill possessed the best dark bass-baritone of his generation (and to think the Met also had Leonard Warren until his untimely death), and Anna Moffo is far more warm and feminine than the usual canary bird Gilda. Aside from the impeccable soloists, there's Solti's fizzy conducting, which renders excitement without driving too hard (a reputation he deserves far more in the Aida to come). He makes the then lackluster Met orchestra sound world-class, and the Met chorus is just as good. In all, there have only been a handful of Rigolettos to match this one, and probably none in the nearly five decades since it appeared on LP.

Very satisfying:
It really doesn't get much better than this. The glory of this recording is the delicate, lovely and intelligent singing of Anna Moffo whose Gilda is perfection. Robert Merrill as Rigoletto turns in a startling demonstration of what nuanced and expresive singing can do to even such an old war-horse of a role. Alfredo Kraus was one of the outstanding tenors of the era and his Duke is also tremendous. The RCA Italiana Orchestra and Chorus are first rate and this includes the many solo or near solo bits for woodwinds. Solti's conducting is very idiosyncratic, marked by some extremely rapid tempi. Luckily, everyone is able to keep up and indeed the principals continue to provide nuanced and effective performances at speeds that would turn most performances to mush. The effect is to prduce a very red-blooded and melodramatic performance -- but then Verdi's warhorses are best ridden hard. There are several outstanding recordings of Rigoletto. This is one of them, and is not clearly surpassed by any. Its most distinctive aspects are Moffo's characterization and Solti's distinctive conducting. The sound is more than acceptable -- indeed, I don't really see much difference in quality from later recordings.

Much improved over the original RCA CD release:
Much improved over the original RCA CD release of the late 1980s, this remastered Rigoletto from the Sony/BMG/Masterworks collection moves the voices forward from the rather distant perspective of the original CD release, and also captures much of the orchestral bloom of the original vinyl LP release from the RCA/Metropolitan Opera golden age of the 1960s. The only questionable aspect of the remastering was the decision to maintain the original' s almost ping-pong like left--right placement of the voices, which is at times distracting. However the decision can be defended on grounds of faithfulness to what listeners actually heard on the original RCA vinyl LP, which was typical of early stereo opera recordings. While all of the vocal performances are good, the particular charm of this set is diva Anna Moffo's girlishly youthful Gilda, which along with her Violeta from La Traviata, ranks with her most affecting performances on disc. Her smoky soprano tones is the perfect vehicle to reveal Gilda's at times perplexing combination of girlish innocence morphing into mature womanhood, which occurs as Verdi's romantically ironic plot unfolds towards the final tragedy. Interestingly, while Sony/BMG has released Moffo's La Traviata and her less well known but excellent La Bohème \oMimi\c in spectacularly remastered SACD 24-bit sound, it has not done so with this recording. As good as the sound is in standard CD, one hopes this recording will also make its appearance in the full SACD format, as the master tape appears to be in excellent condition, better in fact then they somewhat tough sounding La Bohème master.

2 Words......Robert Merrill:
Robert Merrill was the GREATEST baritone that ever lived. His sound was PURE GOLD! Best Rigoletto of all time.

My Desert Island Disc:
Rigoletto is my favorite opera of all time so when it comes to recordings I am very discerning. I have three of them (also Pavarotti/Sutherland and Björling/Perlea) and every one of them I enjoy for very different reasons. But this is the only recording that I never fail to come to back again and again. I fell in love with it and it's high time you followed suit---add it to your opera collection!