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John Rawnsley takes the title role in this acclaimed production first performed an ENO in September 1982
This recording is based on the extremely popular Jonathan Miller production in which the plot was moved to New York in the 1950s.
This disc, together with the previously released La Traviata, Osud, Julius Caesar, and Mary Stuart, form part of a new and exciting phase in Chandos’ popular Opera in English series. Around fifteen recordings, featuring a wide range of some of the world’s leading operatic stars, will be digitally re-mastered and made available at mid-price.
Chandos has a strong commitment to Opera in English through its association with the Peter Moores Foundation. This is the twentieth release in the series to date – one which has become the most comprehensive collection of Opera in English recordings ever undertaken by a record company, and a major addition to the catalogue.
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Rigoletto was the first of Verdi’s three most popular operas, which also included Il trovatore and La traviata and which appeared within the two-year span 1851-3. Verdi, upon being asked which was his favourite of his operas, is said to have replied:’ Speaking as a professional, Rigoletto, as an amateur, Traviata.
Almost the most arresting aspect of all Verdi’s mature operas is his ability to find exactly the right colour and hue (what Italians call tinta), musically speaking, for each work. The Prelude to Rigoletto is as good an example as any; its dark tints and louring aspect immediately tell us of a tragic, fearsome drama to follow. The opening scene places us just as unerringly in the licentious court of the libidinous Duke of Mantua, agent of the unhappy events depicted within the work.
Both Victor Hugo’s play and Piave’s libretto ran into problems with the censors. The only character with moral fibre is a court jester who plots the assassination of an absolute ruler, his master. The Duke’s opening solo immediately establishes him as a free-loving libertine while Rigoletto’s dominating role represents the climax of Verdi’s use of the baritone as protagonist, here exploring perhaps the highest tessitura of any of his other operas.
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