The American Richard Tucker’s ringing, clarion, enthusiastic tenor in its prime is a self-recommending statement; his presence on the world’s opera stages and even on American television (search out footage of him singing under the razor-sharp control of the great Toscanini) always a joy to hear. This 1959 live Verdi Rigoletto from the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Italy may, aside from Renato Capecchi and possibly Ivan Sardi, leave you amiss in the name-recognition department, but the cast and the sound, re-mastered and fine for its time and circumstance, will win listener’s over.
