"Pag and Cav"
often come separately on CD, each fitting
neatly onto one disc, and there is plenty
of choice. Pagliacci is a story
of jealousy and revenge set in the context
of strolling players and featuring,
in the final scene, a "play within
a play" during which the murderous
intentions of the leading player, Canio
(who is meant to be playing a clown)
become all too real. This recording
is said to have been made "live"
in Milan in 1954 and my guess would
be that it was a live radio broadcast.
Certainly it does not seem to have been
recorded in the opera house since the
only evidence of an audience is the
one within the play. Because this version
does not lack for spontaneity we benefit
from being without the unwanted audience
distractions which afflict some live
opera recordings. Unfortunately, though,
the sound is quite poor and nowhere
near the best standards of the mid-1950s,
although the voices generally fare better
than the orchestra. The prologue is
particularly disappointing with distorted
brass but there is some improvement
later, although perhaps it is just a
case of the ear becoming adjusted. Comparisons
with Karajan’s recording, made in the
studio in the same city just 11 years
later, reveal a huge difference in sound
quality.
The performance is
certainly worth a hearing, having plenty
of dramatic vitality and being generally
well-sung. Tito Gobbi as Tonio is particularly
fine but all the principals give decent
showings and Simonetti’s direction is
sprightly. Gobbi’s Tonio and Corena’s
Canio are available in alternative studio
performances (the former twice, initially
opposite Callas’s Nedda; in the latter
they sing together under von Matačić).
Returning to the Karajan, there are
also major differences in performance.
It would be hard to choose between the
casts (Carlo Bergonzi is wonderful as
Canio for Karajan) but Karajan’s performance,
lasting some six minutes longer, is
much grander (partly an effect
of speeds but also, I suspect, a much
larger orchestra), perhaps losing something
in dramatic immediacy along the way.
They are both valid views of the work
but, if Simonetto is probably more authentic,
Karajan is more powerful and much easier
to listen to, courtesy of the superb
recording.
Since this recording
is a budget issue, it may be acceptable
that it lacks both synopsis and libretto
– presumably it is not meant to be your
only version of Pagliacci. To
buy both this and the Karajan (which
is handsomely packaged) would cost about
the same as one full price CD, indicating
how spoilt we have become in the last
few years. If you are prepared to tolerate
the sound, this would be an interesting
historical supplement.
Patrick C Waller
Orchestra and Coro di Milano della RAI/Alfredo
Simonetto 
