Verdi - Rigoletto / Viotti, Machado, Nucci, Mula, Luperi, Verona Opera

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous opera, and performance.......2006-07-10

I've become a great fan of TDK operas, with their wondeful color. Rigoletto is, of course, simply a great opera, Verdi's best, in my not so humble opinion. The opening scene of the hunchback's sadness could break any one's heart. Everything was well done, with repeats of the "avenge' aria and. of course, 'Donna mobile" Maybe there's one better, but this DVD completely satisfied me.

TERRIBLE PERFORMANCE!!!!!!!.......2006-02-27

This is the worst DVD in my opera collection. And I have over 50 of them.

Aquiles Machado as the Duke is horrible. He has bad vocal technique and sounds strained in his high voice. His characterisation is also unconvincing.

Inva Mula simply butchers the role of Gilda. She does not have good control of her high voice and therefore cannot give us effortless high notes. And her voice does not have a sweet innocent quelity. But she does look the part.

Mario Luperi (Sparafucile) sings badly and has an ugly voice. His acting is also unconvincing.

Sarah M'Punga (Maddalena) is more convinsing and does not sing all that badly and characterises well with her voice. Her use of portamento in her singing underlines well her characters sleezyness. Her acting is almost convincing.

Leo Nucci as Rigoletto is the only one who deserves praise. He looks the part. Acts convincingly and has a good dramatic baritone voice witch he uses with great musicianship.

Unfortunately his efforts are not enough to drag this production out of the toilett.
If you want a much, much better production of Rigoletto you should buy the one with Wixell, Pavarotti, Gruberova and the Vienna Philharmonic. Or any other production for that matter.
Just DO NOT BUY THIS DVD!!!

Leo Nucci, superb!!!.......2005-09-17

In this version of this moving opera masterpiece, in the Arena, Leo Nucci shows once more he is the perfect and ultimate "baritono verdiano".
His performance here, both singing and acting, is superb, touching, and full of nuances, and, if you love Verdi as I do, you should not miss it.

Almost.......2004-05-11

The music is from heaven, the story is from hell. I'm an Atheist. This and Tosca are my two favorite operas, and this is the first time I've seen Rigoletto. It is all beautiful (except maybe the breathless parting of the "lovers" in Rigoletto's house). My familiarity with and liking for operas is not so erudite as others', but I have ears and feelings. The picture and sound of this disc were perfect. I had no idea Nucci was such a tiny little man (never saw him before), and he was not my concept of Rigoletto, but I was able to accept him as authentic, and his slight size made him seem more vulnerable and helpless, a more perfect Rigoletto than I had previously imagined. And I loved him dearly when he broke character to take his bows and smiled, he was a beautiful man then. His voice also was not so resonant or rich as I'd come to think of as Rigoletto's. The only Gildas I've heard are Sutherland, Callas, Sills and Gruberova. Except Gruberova, I prefer them all to this one. Though she had a beautiful little voice and did very well with it. I couldn't help feeling I was watching/hearing one of the small, live Donizetti rarities I've collected over the years. On CD of course, not DVD. Everyone in this performance was good (2 of the numbers were encored), but frankly the whole thing seemed a little 2nd rate to me. I expect that comment to get this "review" ignored or crushed into oblivion with negative responses (like just about everything else I've ever said in an Amazon "review"), so I'll amplify that feeling by saying also that I thought Nucci's final exclamation which ended the opera lacked impact, it seemed anti-climactic, like something he'd said before, which he had. It seemed weak and understated when it should have overwhelmed the entire audience with pain, grief and horror. It was a pleasant Rigoletto, the music was marvelous, I don't know whether I'd recommend it because I don't know what else is available, but I do know I'd rather have one of my CDs of the show enacted instead of this version.

bravo bufón y todos los otros........2003-12-21

Evidentemente esta es en mi humildo opinión la mejor grabación e interpretación de esta gran ópera. todos, y digo todos sin excepción son casi perfectos, este término dicho sea de paso sólo lo podemos aplicar a las obras de Dios. La simpatía de Machado es sin igual en el mundo de la ópera, casi parece un muchacho; Gilda es una figura tremendamente agradable, tanto al oído como a la vista. He visto hasta ahora todas las grabaciones disponibles en DVD, reiterando mi opinión sobre esta maravillosa grabación. Nucci merece un comentario aparte, sencillamente es grandioso como el trágico padre que ha perdido a todo lo que tiene en la vida. Cinco estrellas es poco para él en especial. Bravo y larga vida a este maravilloso cantante.

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