Search - Giuseppe Verdi, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Neil Shicoff :: Verdi: Rigoletto

Imaginative conducting, but let down by the leads

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/30/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In this and his La Forza, I found Sinopoli one of the most imaginative and sensitive Verdi conductors in the past thrity years--he is so much more supple and inward than Levine. I have listened to this Rigoletto for that reason many times, but I cannot warm up to any of the principal singers.



Neil Shicoff sounds strained, on the verge of shouting half hte time, and lacks any ease or lyricism. Edita Guberova, as always, has a shrill edge to her voice--it's the kind of colorature Beverly Sills possessed, "as much needle as thread," to quote a comment about her. As Rigoletto, Renato Bruson is certainly skilled, and being Italian he is much closer to the Verdi idiom than the others. Even so, I find his voice dry and shallow, a first-cousin to Jose van Dam and Fischer-Dieskau. If you admire them more than I do, Bruson will proaably appeal to you as well.



This set joins the equally uneven Giulini performance from Los Angeles as an example of how hard it is today to cast the bread-and-butter operas that are the backbone of the Verdi canon."