Tito Gobbi
Wolfgang Amadeus
MOZART (1756–1791)
Don Giovanni:
1. Deh vieni alla finestra [2:12]
Le nozze di Figaro:
2. Non più andrai [3:38]
3. Aprite un po’ [2:51]
Gioacchino ROSSINI
(1792–1868)
Il barbiere di Siviglia:
4. Largo al factotum [4:54]
Gaetano DONIZETTI
(1797–1848)
L’Elisir d’amore:
5. La donna è un animale …
Venti scudi! [7:34]
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813–1901)
Don Carlos:
6. Convien … Per me giunto [3:46]
7. O Carlo ascolta … Io morrò
[4:12]
Otello:
8. Vanne … Credo in un Dio crudel
[4:26]
9. Era la notte [2:56]
La forza del destino:
10. Urna fatale [3:37]
La traviata:
11. Di Provenza il mar [4:49]
Rigoletto:
12. Pari siamo! [4:12]
Un ballo in maschera:
13. Alzati ... Eri tu [7:16]
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO
(1858–1919)
Zazà:
14. Buona Zazà del mio buon
tempo [2:05]
15. Zazà, piccolo zingara
[2:38]
Pagliacci:
16. Si può (Prologue)
[7:58]
Giacomo PUCCINI
(1858–1924)
La fanciulla del West:
17. Minnie, dalla mia casa [2:48]
Francesco CILEA
(1866–1950)
L’Arlesiana:
18. Come due tizzi accesi [4:07]
Tito Gobbi (baritone)
Nicola Monti (tenor)(5); La Scala Orchestra/Umberto
Berrettoni (1, 6, 7, 14, 15, 17, 18);
Philharmonia Orchestra/James Robertson
(2, 3, 8, 10); Orchestra/Alberto Erede
(4, 9, 16); Rome Opera Orchestra/Gabriele
Santini (5); Philharmonia Orchestra/Walter
Susskind (11, 12); London Symphony Orchestra/Warwick
Braithwaite
rec. July 1942 (1, 6, 7, 14, 15, 17,
18); 2 February 1948 (4, 9, 16); 14
March 1950 (2, 3, 8, 10); 24 September
1950 (11, 12); 30 September 1950 (13);
June 1953 (5)
Some singers impress
through large voices with thundering
fortissimos and brilliant top notes,
others with the extreme beauty and seamless
legato. There’s a third category with
less than first class voices but instead
deep musicality and the ability to make
the music – and the texts! – come alive.
Tito Gobbi definitely belongs to this
third category. His was not a particularly
big instrument. At climaxes his voice
did not expand effortlessly to that
all-embracing sound that made for example
Leonard Warren or Ettore Bastianini
so impressive. Instead one hears how
the voice strains and loses quality
and the uppermost notes tend to become
constricted, sometimes verging on ugliness.
This can even be heard on his earliest
recordings from 1942 when he was not
yet 30. For this reason I could make
a long list of baritones from roughly
Gobbi’s time and up to the present day
that were/are his superiors when it
comes to vocal brilliance. I won’t list
them but I think anyone with some experience
of listening to opera and song recordings
from the last 65 years or so will be
able to make a similar list. Whereas
many of these other baritones have already
fallen more or less into oblivion or
will do in the future, I am sure that
Gobbi will always remain alive through
his recordings – even when there is
no one left who has heard him in the
flesh.
Listening through the
five quarter hours of music on this
disc, recorded when he was still young
or at the most early middle-aged, one
hears evidence en masse that
here is/was a great interpreter of music,
not just a singer. Of course it is unfair
to under-estimate his qualities as a
singer. The Don Giovanni serenade,
The Don Carlo arias, Iago’s Era
la notte and Germont’s Provence
aria from La traviata are all
masterly examples of great singing with
smooth, well equalized and extremely
beautiful tone and exquisite phrasing.
The Traviata aria in particular is psychologically
superb: when faced with Alfredo’s anger
and despair and realizing that Violetta
has left him for another, Germont normally
– on stage as well as on records – sings
his aria as a feature number, directed
towards the 1500 people in the audience.
Gobbi’s Germont is confident: he puts
his arm around Alfredo’s shoulder, doesn’t
raise his voice but talks soothingly
about the beauty of the landscape in
Provence to cool his son’s temper. But
here, as well as in the other arias
mentioned, he stays mainly within a
dynamic range from pianissimo to mezzo
forte: the scope of a very lyrical Lieder
singer. In more dramatic and expressive
arias, where he also incorporates nuances
from forte to fortissimo the tone loses
some of its attraction. This matters
little for listeners who are after the
truth behind the music and the
texts. Evil, anger, despair, contempt,
defiance is seldom represented with
honeyed voice and expressionless features.
What makes Gobbi stand out is his ‘oral
face’; it is easy to imagine what he
looks like when impersonating Iago.
His Figaro – both Mozart’s
and Rossini’s – is a lively and good
humoured character. Listening to his
three arias (tr. 2-4) one instinctively
sees his warm personality – though spiced
with both irony and calculation. Iago’s
Credo is a masterly portrait
of malice, even morbidity. Gobbi sings,
or so it sounds, through the corner
of his mouth. A chilling experience.
His Rigoletto is tortured and suffering,
his Renato in Un ballo in maschera
is venomous but reveals so many mixed
feelings in an unusually nuanced portrait.
Tonio’s prologue from Pagliacci
is one of the most grateful scenes for
a dramatic baritone and few latter day
baritones have managed to be so expressive.
Simon Keenlyside on last year’s Gramophone
awarded recital is perhaps the one who
has come closest. Surrounding the prologue
are a handful of relative rarities.
The Fanciulla and L’Arlesiana
arias are expertly sung but it was the
two Zazà arias that really
caught my attention. His vocal qualities
include the perfect legato – but his
fortes were pinched even in 1942. Musically
these arias are notably fine. These
and a couple of others from this opera
suggest that it would be well worth
reviving once in a while.
Tito Gobbi went on
to make complete recordings of many
of the roles represented here (Barbiere,
Don Carlos, Otello, Traviata,
Rigoletto, Ballo and Pagliacci),
and they are indispensable. It is however
great to have these arias recorded when
he was at his freshest vocally and already
deeply inside the characters.
The transfers of the
original 78 rpms are excellent and one
can admire the young Alberto Erede’s
vivid handling of the orchestral introduction
to Pagliacci. Alan Bilgora’s
liner notes are highly readable and
are complemented by an extensive bibliography.
As with other recent
issues in the "Prima Voce"
series this disc should be an obligatory
purchase for anyone seriously interested
in great singing.
Göran Forsling
for details
NIMBUS PRIMA VOCE NI 7946 [76:10]
