Kageki 'Doukeshi' Zenkyoku

I will always have a soft spot for Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, having performed in the chorus for it four years ago. The story is very dramatic and moving, and the music has arias and such that rank among the best of not just Verismo but opera(the highlights being Vesti La Guibba, Si Puo and Non Pagliaccio Non Son). This Pagliacci filmed live in Japan is brilliant, one of my favourite performances of the opera actually alongside the 1968 Vickers, Kaibaivanska and Glossop, 1982 Domingo, Stratas and Pons and 1954 Corelli, Micheluzzi and Gobbi(the 1978 Domingo, Stratas and Milnes is also worth watching if not quite in the same league) ones.

Visually, I was impressed. I have seen productions of various operas that are not as good in the technical values yet the musical values and performances make it one of the best available versions. That is not the case with this Pagliacci, the sets are not too stock, the costumes of especially the play scene works well within the play-in-a-play parallel in the opera and the camera work is quite good. The sound is not the sharpest it could've been, though I've heard worse, but still acceptable.

Musically, this Pagliacci is outstanding. The orchestral playing give nuances to Si Puo, Nedda and Silvio's duet and the more anguished parts of Vesti La Guibba, but also are thrillingly intense in Nedda and Tonio's big scene and Non Pagliaccio Non Son and play stylishly in the parts of the play scene leading up to the finale. The chorus are balanced quite nicely, and the conducting is a vigorous reading without being too rushed or plodding. The staging is often powerful, Non Pagliaccio Non Son is enough to knock anyone's socks off.

As for the performances, again not much to fault. Mario Del Monaco vocally may not be quite as good as in 1955's Andrea Chenier, 1957's Il Trovatore and 1959's Otello with some moments of coarseness that I didn't hear much of in the aforementioned performances, but his Canio is nonetheless startling. His voice is big and thrilling when it needs to be, just not as focused as before, and dramatically you felt his anguish in Vesti La Guibba yet his Non Pagliaccio Non Son is so emotional and intense that you will be biting your nails.

Gabriella Tucci is thrilling as Nedda, singing warmly in her big aria Qual Fiamma Avea Nel Guardo...Stridono Lassu and in her duet with Silvio, which literally smolders, and throughout she is very expressive. Whether it is being vulnerable being with her brutish husband Canio. Or whether it is being bitchy as she treats Tonio with scorn.

Aldo Protti is an excellent Tonio, managing to be amusing in the play scene, scary in the latter part of his scene between Tucci's Nedda and in his revenge and poignant in the prologue and conveying all three aspects superbly. His voice is of a dramatic baritone, one that is incisive and quite striking, again managing to give the scene with Tucci some fire and the prologue its pathos and sense of storytelling. He is also one of the more athletic baritones in the role, doing a somersault in the prologue that I have not seen before in the role and was quite enthralled by.

The Silvio of Attilio D'Orazi is appropriately delicate, providing a contrast to the more vehement characterisation of Canio. And Antonio Pirino's Beppe, while the role is a rather small role, is characterful. In conclusion, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox