Verdi: Falstaff
Geraint Evans (Sir John Falstaff), Ilva Ligabue (Alice), Anna Maria Rota (Meg), Oralia Dominguez (Mistress Quickly), Sesto Bruscantini (Ford), Mariella Adani (Nannetta), Juan Oncina (Fenton) & Hugues Cuénod (Dr Caius)
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vittorio Gui
this is as fine a performance of Verdi's last opera as I have ever heard, thanks primarily to the conducting of the veteran Vittorio Gui...He brings a Rossinian lightness and elan to Falstaff,...
Verdi: Falstaff
Geraint Evans (Sir John Falstaff), Ilva Ligabue (Alice), Anna Maria Rota (Meg), Oralia Dominguez (Mistress Quickly), Sesto Bruscantini (Ford), Mariella Adani (Nannetta), Juan Oncina (Fenton) & Hugues Cuénod (Dr Caius)
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vittorio Gui
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this is as fine a performance of Verdi's last opera as I have ever heard, thanks primarily to the conducting of the veteran Vittorio Gui...He brings a Rossinian lightness and elan to Falstaff,...
About
Glyndebourne’s association with Falstaff commenced in 1955 for a production staged at the Edinburgh Festival, directed by Carl Ebert, designed by Osbert Lancaster and conducted by the great Carlo Maria Giulini.
Falstaff quickly proved to be a favourite and enjoyed 5 revivals in quick succession. This recording comes from Glyndebourne Festivals’ 1960 season, conducted by Vittorio Gui, in what was Geraint Evan’s third outing as Falstaff.
Evans sung in the 1957 and 1958 Glyndebourne restagings, in a role that was to go on and have a role in defining him as a singer, performing Falstaff in numerous productions including Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera, and on record under Georg Solti.
On this recording, Geraint Evans is joined by Sesto Bruscantini as Ford, Juan Oncina as Fenton, Ilva Ligabue as Alice Ford, a role she is most remembered for having recorded it twice: under George Solti and Leonard Bernstein, this (new/archive) recording predating both these.
The remaining classic cast member is the Swiss tenor Hugues Cuénod as Dr Caius, his glorious sense of the role's comedy beautifully portrayed here. Hugues Cuénod passed away in December 2010 at the age of 108, having a career that spanned 66 years. He was something of an institution at Glyndebourne, walking the Glyndebourne stage for over 30 years and involved in some 470 performances. At the age of 82 he appeared in Glyndebourne’s production of Le nozze di Figaro and in 1990, at the age of 87, was offered the role of Monsieur Taupe in Capriccio, a role he had sung previously at Glyndebourne, but declined.
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Awards and reviews
January 2012
this is as fine a performance of Verdi's last opera as I have ever heard, thanks primarily to the conducting of the veteran Vittorio Gui...He brings a Rossinian lightness and elan to Falstaff, while savouring the extraordinary orchestral textures...Not that the cast is less than distinguished...They had clearly been rehearsed so that even in this almost incessantly rapid score they play off one another to magical effect.
10th December 2011
Geraint Evans’s larger-than-life Falstaff is just as endearing as his studio version, and the ladies make a genteel showing: this is not so much a first choice, more a period piece.
November 2011
Gui's skills in earlier-19th-century scores suit him well to the pace and contrasts of Falstaff...Glyndebourne's remastering is clear and the sound, if boxy next to more modern treatments, is certainly evocative of the house's small, original auditorium...[Evans] is less manneredly comic than he became...Overall here is not just a reminder of Gui's and Evans's achievement but a genuine contribution to the Falstaff discography - a relaxed, genial reading
6th November 2011
Nothing surpasses the joy of hearing a decent performance of this incomparable opera. The cast, including the divine Ilva Ligabue as Alice, clearly relish the delight of performing the work. Sesto Bruscantini gives a vivid account of Ford’s mighty monologue and Hugues Cuenod’s Dr Caius is a neat cameo.
10th November 2011
[Evans is] dark-voiced and riotously lustful in the title role, opposite the beautiful, supremely self-assured Mistress Ford of Ilva Ligabue...Among the distinct pluses are Oralia Dominguez's very suggestive Mistress Quickly and the unusually sympathetic, yet dangerous Ford of Sesto Bruscantini, one of finest performances of the role on disc.
