# Round 2: Baritone: Rigoletto...Cortigiani, vil razza. Warren, Ruffo, Bastiannini



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I struggled picking out who to bring you but these are who I finally decided on. I was going to do Milnes as I thought his was beautiful in his prime, but substituted Ruffo instead.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Oh! now that's hitting below the belt! I adore baritone arias and you have succeeded in pitting my very favorite beautiful voiced baritone (Bastianini) against a truly spectacularly presented _Cortigiani_ as done by Ruffo, forcing me to break my streak, as I am compelled to mark my vote for Ruffo. 
Make no mistake, Bastianini still remains #1 baritone for me (with Hvor a close second).
I always enjoy Warren and find his characters well done but there's that "huffy" sound that bothers me.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

If I were to pick for vocal splendor alone, it would be Ruffo, Bastianini and Warren. 

Ruffo presents us The Great Baritone, extending a beautiful note here and there as he wills, and a greatly reduced tempo for the last section when Rigoletto pleads the courtiers for his daughter (“pietà signori”).

Bastianini displays his beautiful instrument, sings out nobly with appliqué dramatic effects, but the jester is also absent as with Ruffo.

Warren surprised me in that he sings almost without extraneous “effects,” no dramatics, yet he was the most affecting of the three.



P.S. I should’ve said that I’m normally not a fan of Warren, but as a rule, I love Bastianini’s voice.


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

I won't be a broken record and repeat my thoughts on Warren, but I must admit up front that I'm not even able to listen to his recording due to my immaturity lol.

Ruffo is a god and his reputation is well earned. In my mind I sort of see Bastianini as a Ruffo descendent, but he doesn't have the voice to stand up to his predecessor and isn't able to make up for that in other areas imo, as I'm heavily 'voice over everything'. The high G (not an easy note due to what comes before) illustrates how much more voice Ruffo had. He gets my vote.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Warren's voice is recorded with such presence and fidelity you feel he's standing right in front of you. After hearing him you're immediately transported back to the world of acoustic horns and cactus needles, and you hear a miniaturization of what was reportedly one of the biggest voices ever heard. It's unfair, but if you know how to listen to these technological relics you won't mistake what you're hearing. Ruffo wins this competition by virtue of sheer voice, as well as the kind of seamless legato that typified his age and has vanished from ours. That said, I don't find him offering any unique insights, and nothing to challenge Amato's rich interpretation. With Ruffo I'm generally more impressed than moved.

I enjoyed Warren and find nothing to complain about. His tubby vocal timbre never thrilled me, but that's not his fault. Bastianini's singing is less free, more effortful, and he could sell aspirates by the dozen.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

By the way, who is the baritone who sings "Povero Rigoletto!" at the beginning of Warren's recording? He sounds like Rigoletto material.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> By the way, who is the baritone who sings "Povero Rigoletto!" at the beginning of Warren's recording? He sounds like Rigoletto material.


Arthur Newman, the Marullo on the 1950 recording of Rigoletto with Peerce, Berger, Warren et al conducted by Cellini.

Apart from Marullo in Rigoletto we only have him as Doctor Grenvil in Toscanini's Traviata and Montano in Toscanini's Otello

He has a Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Newman_(baritone)


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## Shaafee Shameem (Aug 4, 2021)

None of these three is a particularly insightful interpreter, but Ruffo’s voice and singing are most impressive.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Bastianini's rendition is close to having everything I want in this aria. The slow tempo at the beginning seemed a little much but since they used it to, to use Woodduck's image "raise the temperature" simply by bringing up the tempo, I became in favor of it quickly. The rendition isn't filled with strikingly individual moments and there were times I thought he wasn't landing pitches quite as centered as I wanted but there my qualms end. To steal from MAS, he knows how it goes. The beautiful, reckless launch into the "Cortigianni.." section was so satisfying. The wonderful and, I thought, perfectly timed use of silences in the final phrases added so much to the drama. Everything felt inevitable and spontaneous and the voice is just beautiful.

Ruffo's name here sounds like mentioning a real candidate but for me this was not enough. The cuts prevented flow and the sound reduced his voice too much. When launched into a section I could get a feel for what he must have been but I couldn't compare this to the opulent spontaneity of Bastianini .

Warren's version improved as it went along but the opening was trying much too hard. I do like his voice, and it should be as good at this as at just about anything, but that production does not create the kind of legato I want in Verdi. 

For me it's Bastianini going away!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I find it hard to get Gobbi's unique accents out of my mind's ear in this, and the only singer here who could make me momentarily forget him is Ruffo, who had much more voice than Gobbi. 

Neither Warren nor Bastianini involve me in Rigoletto's plight at this point and left me completely unmoved. Callas said in her masterclass that Rigoletto should be like a wild animal at this point. I don't really get that from any of these gentlemen but Ruffo has a much wider tonal palette, so he gets my vote.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Warren employs too much huff 'n' puff and it's just too distracting.
Bastianini is quite impressive and I enjoy slightly faster "Cortigiani..." for a change. He sounds desperate and menacing and it's the most blood-pumping take of the three presented here. But he runs out of steam afterwards and the pleading part sounds quite generic. A pity he does not utilize more rubato in "assassini..." part.
With Ruffo it's pretty hard to find any faults (or any desire to look for them). Maybe his "difende l' onor" bothers me a bit, as the momentum is lost and with next part getting cut (for a LP side flip, obviously) it's a bit of a letdown. He definitely finds more nuances for his Rigoletto...
Gotta give it some more listens, so far it's between Bastianini and Ruffo for me...


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