Antonio Salieri’s Falstaff is not Verdi’s and never will be. That out of the way, it’s a charming evening’s entertainment, occasionally quite funny, with nicely characterized roles, swell, brief melodies, excellent, spicy wind writing (vividly played here on period instruments and recorded in such a way that the sonics favor them), and nice forward propulsion. The action moves quickly and pointedly, the dry recitatives are frequent but never too long, and when they do go on, the cast here is clever and involved enough to make them dramatically viable.
This recording was made during live performances in France in April, 2002, and while the occasional stage noise can distract, the live venue also makes for very spunky characterization. I can’t figure out why the audience applauds certain arias and ignores others when the quality is absolutely equal–perhaps some of the music was taken from rehearsals. Jean-Claude Malgoire approaches this Falstaff from a truly Classical-buffo vantage point, with crisp tempos and a respect for the work as a piece of sheer entertainment: Happily, there is no attempt at making it grander than it is.
The singers are up to the demands of their respective jobs. Best are baritone (not bass-baritone) Pierre-Yves Pruvot as a colorful Falstaff who sings without mugging but pays close attention to shadings and accents, and Salomé Heller as Mrs. Ford, who must present herself as a German girl to lure Falstaff into the trap she and Mrs. Slender–a.k.a. Meg Page in Verdi–have set. (There is no Mistress Quickly; the German-girl ruse takes the place of Quickly’s visit to the fat knight we know from Verdi’s Act 2, scene 1.)
Tenor Simon Edwards is fluent and nicely enraged as Mr. Ford, and Nigel Smith turns Slender into another unhappy husband who learns his lesson. The mezzo Hjördis Thébault makes a nice Mrs. Slender. Bardolf, Falstaff’s servant, is a bigger role than in Verdi, and Raimonds Spogis creates a vivid picture of this out-of-luck, disliking-his-master guy that will remind some of Leporello. There was a recording of this opera released on Chandos a few years ago, and while it is quite good, this one has more snap and is the recommended version. Bear in mind that it’s a light work, with little or no depth and no pretensions to masterpiece status, and you won’t be disappointed.
