"My top [Rigoletto] recommendation – although it comes with a caveat – comes from Florence. In June 1960 Mercury’s Living Presence mobile recording truck arrived at the Teatro della Pergola. Under the direction of Wilma Cozart Fine, Mercury’s three-microphone set-up captured this thrilling account by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Gianandrea Gavazzeni, who paces things perfectly. It boasts a splendid, youthful cast..." - Gramophone, October 2021
This top recommendation in Gramophone magazine arrived with perfect timing as we were already planning to release a recording of Rigoletto today, marking both the composer's birthday weekend and the 170th anniversary of the classic opera's first performance.
The only caveat the magazine's reviewer had was with the sound quality of the available transfer - which is exactly what Pristine's XR remastering is here to rectify! Now you can enjoy Ettore Bastianini's performance as Rigoletto, with a fine cast alongside him, in the superb sound quality it has long deserved. If Gramophone magazine says it's the best recorded performance ever who are we to disagree?