Tito Gobbi
Wolfgang Amadeus
MOZART (1756–1791)
Don Giovanni:
1. Deh vieni alla finestra [2:12]
Le nozze di Figaro:
2. Non più andrai [3:38]
3. Aprite un po’ [2:51]
Gioacchino ROSSINI
(1792–1868)
Il barbiere di Siviglia:
4. Largo al factotum [4:54]
Gaetano DONIZETTI
(1797–1848)
L’Elisir d’amore:
5. La donna è un animale …
Venti scudi! [7:34]
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813–1901)
Don Carlos:
6. Convien … Per me giunto [3:46]
7. O Carlo ascolta … Io morrò
[4:12]
Otello:
8. Vanne … Credo in un Dio crudel
[4:26]
9. Era la notte [2:56]
La forza del destino:
10. Urna fatale [3:37]
La traviata:
11. Di Provenza il mar [4:49]
Rigoletto:
12. Pari siamo! [4:12]
Un ballo in maschera:
13. Alzati ... Eri tu [7:16]
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO
(1858–1919)
Zazà:
14. Buona Zazà del mio buon
tempo [2:05]
15. Zazà, piccolo zingara
[2:38]
Pagliacci:
16. Si può (Prologue)
[7:58]
Giacomo PUCCINI
(1858–1924)
La fanciulla del West:
17. Minnie, dalla mia casa [2:48]
Francesco CILEA
(1866–1950)
L’Arlesiana:
18. Come due tizzi accesi [4:07]
Tito Gobbi (baritone)
Nicola Monti (tenor)(5); La Scala Orchestra/Umberto
Berrettoni (1, 6, 7, 14, 15, 17, 18);
Philharmonia Orchestra/James Robertson
(2, 3, 8, 10); Orchestra/Alberto Erede
(4, 9, 16); Rome Opera Orchestra/Gabriele
Santini (5); Philharmonia Orchestra/Walter
Susskind (11, 12); London Symphony Orchestra/Warwick
Braithwaite
rec. July 1942 (1, 6, 7, 14, 15, 17,
18); 2 February 1948 (4, 9, 16); 14
March 1950 (2, 3, 8, 10); 24 September
1950 (11, 12); 30 September 1950 (13);
June 1953 (5)
Tito Gobbi was born
near Venice on 24 October 1913 and made
his professional debut in 1937. He is
perhaps best remembered today for the
series of complete operas he recorded
mainly during the 1950s and 1960s, but
for nearly ten years before that he
had been recording extracts from these
and other roles for HMV. Nimbus have
brought together here a selection of
these recordings, in well transferred
versions which bring out their considerable
merits much better than earlier transcriptions
that I have heard. They are presented
in roughly the date order of the operas
concerned – by far the best way for
anyone intending to listen to them in
succession. In the case of the Verdi
extracts it would however have been
better to keep even more exactly to
the date order as going backwards from
Otello to La Traviata does involve some
mental adjustment. This is a very minor
complaint compared with the apparently
wholly random order in which other recitals
I have heard recently have been presented.
It is certainly no serious problem.
Right from the first
track – the Serenade from Don Giovanni
– the listener is aware both of the
considerable beauty and character of
the voice, and of the detailed characterization
that Gobbi applies to each extract.
Even though the singer is plainly the
same, there is a clear difference between
Don Giovanni, Figaro and Sergeant Belcore.
It is this ability to illuminate the
individual characters and the place
in the drama that is Gobbi’s greatest
strength. I regret never hearing him
on stage, although when I see photographs
of the elaborate makeup that he made
use of, apparently including a whole
battery of funny noses, I am not sure
that it is not better to enjoy his vocal
acting on its own without what might
have been an unhelpful distraction.
No one listening to any of these tracks
could doubt his gift to project the
character and the drama purely by vocal
means.
Naturally all of the
extracts are sung in Italian, their
original language, and the vivid way
in which he points the words is both
an immense pleasure to the listener
and an object lesson to many current
singers who seem to aim solely at a
big, beautiful and unvaried tone. Gobbi
certainly could produce a beautiful
tone when he wanted to, but it was his
ability to do this at just the right
moment rather than continuously which
makes his performances so intensely
memorable. These early performances
do not always show the complete mastery
of the various roles that there is in
his later recordings, but by way of
very substantial compensation the beauty
of the voice itself is at its peak.
A succession of seventeen
arias and one duet is perhaps not the
best way to celebrate the artistry of
a singer whose key ability was always
to be a part of the musical and dramatic
whole. For instance I find it hard to
keep patience when a well characterized
performance of Rigoletto’s soliloquy
"Pari siamo" ends with a held
note rather than the breathless music
which accompanies Gilda’s entrance in
the opera. In the complete recording
he made later with Maria Callas the
full effect of the soliloquy is realized
as this continuity is preserved. Nonetheless
this is to nitpick. What we have here
is a well chosen and presented set of
performances from an interesting early
part of the career of one of the greatest
Italian baritones of the twentieth century.
There is a good and lengthy biographical
essay by Alan Bilgora, albeit with no
text or even any explanation of the
context of the individual extracts.
This is however to nitpick again. Here
is a disc that should be an essential
purchase for anyone with a love of Italian
opera or of singing in general.
John Sheppard
see also review
by Goran Forsling
NIMBUS RECORDS PRIMA VOCE NI 7946 [76:10]
