This discs of highlights
from Rigoletto, now available
at budget price, is culled from a complete
recording made twelve years ago. With
a playing-time of almost 76 minutes
it contains around 2/3 of the opera,
which means that we get all, or almost
all the well-known scenes and arias
plus some numbers that are not so well-known
but important for the drama.
On a highlights disc
we rarely get much dramatic continuity;
as soon as one has become involved in
the proceedings there is a break, or
at worst, a fade-out and then we jump
to the next scene. The booklet has a
short synopsis, giving the outline of
the story, but it is not cued and it
isn’t easy for the uninitiated to know
what is actually sung. Moreover one
of the pivotal characters, the professional
murderer Sparafucile, is completely
missing, although, ironically enough,
Samuel Ramey, who sings Sparafucile
on the complete recording, appears in
large print on the cover. Didn’t anyone
at Warner listen, say, with the libretto
at hand?
Carlo Rizzi secures
good playing and singing from his Welsh
forces, although his conducting sometimes
feels a little anonymous and he is generally
on the slow side, compared to some reference
recordings. He highlights though the
contrasts in this score between the
light and the dark, well illustrated
in the first two tracks, where the prelude
with its ominous dark brass sounds and
rolling timpani is heavy and menacing
– and very slow – while the party scene
at the Duke’s palace that follows is
light and lively, almost to the other
extreme. On a highlights disc this matters
less, of course, since we don’t get
the full picture anyway. I don’t know
if this is the general impression when
listening to the complete recording,
since I haven’t heard it.
A look at the cast
list shows that we have here a strong
cast, not least among the comprimario
singers. Alastair Miles’s sonorous bass
stands out in the two tracks where Monterone
appears (tracks 5 and 17). Peter Sidhom
and Barry Banks as Marullo and Borsa
also do a good job with expressive singing,
especially from Sidhom. As Sparafucile’s
seductive sister Maddalena, Jennifer
Larmore is heard to good advantage in
the duet with the Duke, preceding the
famous quartet.
Of the three main characters
Alexandru Agache’s Rigoletto stands
out. This is a younger-than-usual sounding
jester with a bright high Verdian baritone.
His two set-pieces are dramatic and
nuanced. In Pari siamo (track
6) we meet a Rigoletto on his way home,
still shaken to the core from the damnation
that Monterone had launched at him at
the palace. And in the scene with the
courtiers, Cortigiani, vil razza
dannata (track 15) he is truly tortured.
This is great acting and singing that
goes to the heart.
His daughter Gilda
is sung by Romanian soprano Leontina
Vaduva with a slightly fluttery tone,
that on the one hand is quite appropriate
for the young girl’s predicament, nervous
and eager; on the other the voice tends
to develop a vibrato in forte passages
that is too wide for an innocent girl.
Caro nome (track 9) is reasonably
well sung and she can sing beautiful
pianissimos when required, as in Tutti
le feste al tempio (track 16) where
she is at her best. Agache (at 3:59)
sings Piangi with much tenderness
and affection and this also comes across
in Lassù in cielo in the
final duet (track 22). Vaduva sings
with great feeling and Agache again
makes us feel that his Rigoletto is
experienced, not "just" interpreted.
The Duke of Mantua
is of course a carefree and ruthless
seducer with no deeper feelings, but
he has style and and should be sung
accordingly. Richard Leech, with his
slightly gritty tone, sings a vital
Questa o quella (track 3), but
a little short on elegance. Unfortunately
we are bereft of the Gilda–Duke duet
in act 2, which may be a pity, because
in the few phrases we hear of the dialogue
preceding the duet proper Leech sounds
properly impassioned. He is musical
and nuanced and his big scene beginning
act 2 is well sung although his tone
hardens sometimes and gets a metallic
edge. The cabaletta Possente amor
(track 13) is sung with great élan,
but he is also pressed to his limits.
La donna è mobile (track
19) is not bad but he has none of the
elegance, the light and shade of, say,
Gigli or Bergonzi. He finds a warmer
tone in the aforementioned duet with
Maddalena and is on his best behaviour
in the quartet, where he phrases seductively.
Something
of a mixed bag perhaps, but there are
many good things here and Agache’s impersonation
of the hunchbacked jester is something
more than that. His two monologues and
his duets with Gilda are the tracks
I most certainly will revisit.
Göran
Forsling
Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera/Carlo
Rizzi 
