In my review
of the 1954 Cetra recording of Rigoletto I recount how
the advent of the LP in the early 1950s caused a rush by the majors
to set down their own recordings of the basic operatic repertoire
with their contracted artists. The UK’s Columbia label (Angel
in America) had the redoubtable Maria Callas under contract and
were building their recorded repertoire round her. Although she
had only ever sung the role of Gilda on stage twice, in 1952,
and had already sung heavier roles of an entirely different fach
she was cast as the virginal Gilda. Tito Gobbi, one of two outstanding
Italian Verdi baritones of the day was cast as Rigoletto with
the generally admired Giuseppe Di Stefano as the rapacious Duke.
With that cast the issue was a sure fire success (see review).
But in some households, including mine, there was more focus on
the portrayal of Rigoletto himself and the Duke as much as on
the casting of Gilda. In our view there was a worthy rival in
the form a recording from Italian Cetra. This featured the impressive
Giuseppe Taddei as Rigoletto and Ferruccio Tagliavini as the Duke
whose presence tipped our choice Cetra’s way. We viewed the vocally
elegant Tagliavini as being far preferable to the coarsening di
Stefano. The only problem was the availability in Britain with
post-Second World War imports impeded by currency restrictions.
When Cetra made a franchise agreement with Manchester’s Rara Records
those problems were over and Taddei et al had pride of
place in our small LP collection. This RCA recording hardly entered
the debate when it was issued in Britain in 1958. With the advent
of stereo all the record majors carried new casts into the studio.
RCA went to Rome again and recorded Rigoletto under Solti’s
baton and with Robert Merrill, as here in the eponymous role.
This later recording and performance is admired by many, including
my colleague Göran Forsling (see review).
It had become the
habit of RCA to take the best of the New York Metropolitan Opera’s
cast to Rome for their opera recordings in this period. What
they did not have in that venue, or others for that matter,
was the quality of recording engineers sported by the likes
of Decca. This was a state of affairs that lasted until RCA’s
commercial association with Decca came along and allowed exchange
of artists as well as engineers. The quality of the recording
in the rather boxy acoustic of the Rome Opera House is allied
to overload distortion as early as the prelude. It is the first
drawback. Strangely the Robert Merrill appendix (CD 2 trs. 17-21)
is far better balanced and does not suffer those drawbacks.
Merrill was often seen as the junior partner to fellow American
Leonard Warren at the Met in this period. It continued until
the latter’s untimely death on the Met stage in 1960 during
a performance of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino. Warren’s
Rigoletto is caught live at the Met earlier in the year of this
recording (see review).
Robert Merrill (1917-2004) is somewhat lighter in tone than
Warren and whilst less expressive his range, legato and rock-solid
vocal quality would be even more admired in this repertoire
today than it was in this period. His rendition of Rigoletto’s
taunting of Ceprano (CD 1 tr.3) in the first scene lacks the
vitriolic bite of Gobbi in the EMI version with Callas. Has
his interpretation alos suffers from the odd raw vocal patches
of his illustrious Italian colleague. Merrill’s Pari siamo
as Rigoletto compares himself with the assassin Sparafucile
and is full of character (CD 1 tr.7) as is his sympathetic response
to Gilda’s plight as she emerges from the Duke’s room after
her experiences there of his true rapacious nature (CD 2. trs.5-7).
Merrill is not as expressive as Warren, Gobbi or Taddei in Cortgiani
vil razza dannata (CD 2 tr.4). He compensates as Rigoletto
realises with horror that the Duke is alive and it is his daughter
is in the sack. This illustrates the best of the singer and
his interpretation (CD 2 trs 15-16).
As I have indicated
my family and I chose Tagliavini as the Duke. Would we have
done the same if Jussi Björling’s (1911-1960) interpretation
had been available? He certainly sings with vocal elegance and
a wide range of tonal variety and expression. Particularly impressive
is his Ella ma fu rapita … Parmi vedir (CD 2 tr.1) and
if he holds the final note of La donna e mobile (CD 2
tr.9) a second or two too long it is a minor quibble. Björling’s
plangent tone and capacity to inflect a phrase is ideally suited
to this role. I was somewhat equivocal about the Gilda of Roberta
Peters (b.1930) in the Met live recording. In this performance
I find her much more convincing compared to Callas on EMI, despite
the latter’s efforts to convey a young girl … and also compared
to Lina Pagliughi on Cetra. Peters’ trill in Caro nome
(CD 1 tr.12) is nothing to write home about but her steady fulsome
tone has its own virtues elsewhere. She is convincingly fraught
in Tutte le feste (CD 2 tr.6) as Gilda confesses her
shame to her father and seeks his solace. The American bass
Giorgio Tozzi (b.1923) is adequate if a little penny-plain as
Sparafucile. His final note in Quel? Vecchio maledivami
as he leaves Rigoletto after their meeting is a little manufactured
and fails to chill my spine (CD 1 tr.6). The Italian Anna Maria
Rota (b.1932) as Maddalena is suitably seductive and effective
in her later pleading with her brother not to kill him (CD 2
trs 10-13). Jonel Perlea (1900-1970), an often-underrated conductor,
supports his singers without doing so to the detriment of Verdi’s
drama. The performance has the minor cuts traditional at that
time.
The Merrill arias
appendix illustrates his vocal strengths and minor weaknesses.
His legato in Il balen (CD 2 tr.18) is a delight and
is also present in Germont’s aria (tr.19) although in the latter
he cannot express the pain of the father as he tries to persuade
his son of the virtues of their home in Provence. Merrill is
also excellent in the brio of Figaro’s Largo
al Factotum (tr.20) whilst
not being suitably saturnine in Iago’s Credo (tr.17).
Those things being said, I can live with the tonal smoothness
and excellent diction of his singing any day of the week, particularly
when compared with those with pretensions as Verdi baritones
before the public today!
The
Naxos booklet has a brief
introductory essay and excellent artist profiles as well as a
good track-related synopsis. Working with German LPs, restoration
engineer Mark Obert-Thorn has
done what he can with something of a sow’s ear in terms of recording
quality.
Robert J Farr
Duke of Mantua - Jussi Björling (tenor); Rigoletto, his jester -
Robert Merrill (baritone); Gilda, Rigoletto’s daughter - Roberta
Peters (soprano); Sparafucile, a villain available for hire as an
assassin - Giorgio Tozzi (bass); Maddalena, his sister - Anna Maria
Rota (contralto); Giovanna, Gilda’s Duenna - Silvana Celli (mezzo);
Count Monterone - Vittorio Tatozzi (bass); Marullo, a courtier -
Artura La Porta (baritone); Matteo Borsa, a courtier - Tommaso Frascati
(tenor); Count Ceprano - Leonardo Monreale (bass); Contess Ceprano
- Lidia Grandi (soprano)
