Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Falstaff
Falstaff – Giuseppe Valdengo (baritone)
Fenton – Antonio Madasi (tenor)
Ford – Frank Guarrera (baritone)
Dr. Cajus – Gabor Carelli (tenor)
Bardolfo – John Carmen Rossi (tenor)
Pistola – Norman Scott (bass)
Alice Ford – Herva Nelli (soprano)
Nannetta – Teresa Stich-Randall (soprano)
Meg Page – Nan Merriman (mezzo-soprano)
Mistress Quickly – Cloe Elmo (mezzo-soprano)
Robert Shaw Chorale
NBC Symphony Orchestra/Arturo Toscanini
rec. live radio broadcast, 1 & 8 April, 1950, Studio 8H, Radio City, New York
XR remastering in Ambient Stereo
Pristine Audio PACO204 [128]

Falstaff, premiered 130 years ago as I write, is often cited as the Verdi connoisseur’s favourite opera for its quicksilver wit, charm and delicacy; it also shares with Otello, the work which preceded it, the inestimable advantage of having its text crafted by poet, musician and acolyte Arrigo Boito as Verdi’s collaborator, resulting in a libretto which reflects both the poetry and spirit of its Shakespearian origin.

This recording has long been a benchmark; I recommended it in my survey as the best live mono account, alongside the even more venerable studio recording  conducted by Molajoli in 1932 and that by Karajan in 1956.

I reproduce here my assessment in that survey, omitting my observations about its original dry, mono sound, as of course it is now remastered here in Ambient Stereo:

“This has long been cited as a paragon of its kind, especially as Valdengo, under Toscanini’s authoritative coaching, gave the performance of his life as Falstaff, equalled only by his Iago three years earlier…As with the Otello, the whole enterprise palpitates with raw energy and a little roughness in ensemble, compared with Karajan’s precision, is a price worth paying. I sometimes wonder which of the two recordings of Falstaff – Karajan or Toscanini – I would cling to if forced to choose, as although even an inspired Valdengo does not have Gobbi’s variety…there is a special atmosphere to this live broadcast and I stand amazed at the way Valdengo erases all “Iago-esque” qualities in his voice and transforms himself into the Fat Knight incarnate. He has a voice quite similar to Gobbi’s; lean, incisive, with a fast vibrato and a serviceable snarl and growl and he brings almost as many inflections to his utterance of the text.

His co-singers are first-class, especially Cloe Elmo’s classic Mistress Quickly in a starry quartet of female voices. Nelli is lovely as Alice, it’s always a pleasure to hear Nan Merriman’s “old-fashioned” mezzo – she repeats her vibrant Meg for Karajan six years later – and the attractively pure, white-voiced Stich-Randall is as ethereal as Moffo as Nannetta. Madasi is a bit throaty as Fenton but ardent and adequate. Guarrera has the right voice for Ford and throws himself into the role, acting vividly and rising impressively to the climax of his big “Vengeance Aria”.

Toscanini’s way with the score is wonderful: detailed, flexible, precise and affectionate; the ensemble is as good as in Karajan’s somewhat more refined recording. Seventy years on, this is as fresh as the day it was broadcast.”

Given that encomium, my only task here is to comment upon to what degree Pristine have revitalised the sound. In his note, Pristine founder and sound engineer Andrew Rose remarks, “this 1950 Falstaff emanated from the acoustic deadzone that was NBC’s Studio 8H, which can make the taped recordings seem even more arid than their predecessors. The combination here of both XR remastering, which compensates for inaccuracies in microphone frequency responses, and Ambient Stereo (with a little convolution reverb, bringing with it a sense of real-world opera-house acoustics), makes for a much more enjoyable listening experience.” I concur with the general drift of his comments, but having made comparison with my RCA Red Seal white box of Toscanini’s Verdi recordings, I cannot in all honesty that the transformation effected by Pristine is so very striking; I have always found the original sound very acceptable and while a certain harshness has now been remedied but I find that the slight added reverb marginally alienating compared with the immediacy of the RCA issue and it is remastered at a lower volume, requiring a tweak upwards.

In brief, while the improvement made by Pristine is welcome, if you already have it on RCA I would not urge you to rush to replace it – but if you love this wittiest and most elegant of operatic masterpieces, you must own it in some form.

Ralph Moore

Availability: Pristine Classical