Solti conducts Verdi: Falstaff

“All the world’s a joke” declares Sir John Falstaff, as the 79-year-old Verdi ends his career in a huge sunlit burst of joy and laughter. A great performance of Falstaff is one of opera’s most life-affirming experiences, and this lavish studio staging, filmed in Berlin in 1979, unites two legends of postwar opera: the director Götz Friedrich and the irrepressible Georg Solti, conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker and a lively ensemble cast. But there’s no Falstaff without the fat knight himself, and the great French baritone Gabriel Bacquier brings a captivating wit and warmth to the title role.

Soloists: 

Gabriel Bacquier (Baritone), Richard Stilbell (Baritone), Max René Cosotti (Tenor), John Lanigan (Tenor), Peter Maus (Tenor), Ulrik Cold (Bass), Jutta-Renate Ihloff (Soprano), Sheila Armstrong (Soprano), Márta Szirmay (Mezzo-Soprano), Sylvia Lindenstrand (Mezzo-Soprano)

Ensembles: 

Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Schöneberger Sängerknaben, Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Sängerknaben, Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Conductor: 

Sir Georg Solti