Verdi: Falstaff

Serra, Norberg-Schulz, Graham, LipovsÆek; Van Dam, Canonici, Coni, Begley, Lefebvre, Luperi; Berlin Philharmonic, Solti. London 440650-2 (2)

Recorded with a live audience, whose applause, though annoying, doesn't intrude on the music, this Falstaff has much to commend it. Like most performances under Georg Solti, it is carefully detailed but also loud and emphatic, abetted by engineering that virtually places the orchestra in your living room. Chief among the assets is José Van Dam's Falstaff, which strikes a note of world-weariness suggestive of Don Quixote. Van Dam sticks to the printed notes and sings them beautifully. His is a leisurely, reflective reading somewhat at odds with Solti's slam-bang approach. The Belgian bass-baritone is master of the expansive tone, for example "In quest'addome .... questo é il mio regno" (Act I, Sc. 1). Missing, however, are the lip-smacking zest and scoundrelly craftiness that round out this character, as well as a note of ruefulness in the Act III monologue.

Solti too has odd moments, such as his slowness in some parts of the lovers' music ("Chiedo la vita") and especially in the first encounter of Falstaff with Quickly (jolly but thick-voiced Marjana LipovsÆek). At sagging tempos like these, the life quickly ebbs out of Falstaff. On the plus side, the ensembles are cleanly articulated, and there is little of the carelessness of vocal attack that can be the bane of this opera.

Paolo Coni does a fair job of revealing both Ford's rage and the comic exaggeration implicit in it. Luca Canonici, a more robust Fenton than customary, succeeds only intermittently in floating his lines. The tenor's delivery is more syllabic than legato; granted, the words are of paramount importance in Falstaff, but Nannetta and Fenton happen to have some of the most ingratiating melodies. Luciana Serra (Alice) lapses into suspect pitch, and Susan Graham (Meg) lacks sparkle, leaving Norwegian soprano Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz (Nannetta) a clear winner among the women. Merriment is present, but it's of the Lustigen Weiber von Windsor rather than the Falstaff variety. Only Italian singers, it seems, know those essential little tricks like dipping in and out of the chest voice at the right moments or holding and releasing a note lightly.

- J.W.F.