Verdi: Rigolotto, Act Iv

(Colin Davis conducting London Symphony; Argo ZRG-535). Michael Tippett is generally accounted to be Britain’s number-two composer, behind Benjamin Britten. This symphony offers a good example of his solid, concentrated, craftsmanlike style, although its lyricism never quite shakes free from its tight construction.

Verdi: Kigolctto, Act IV (Toscanini with Warren, Milanov, Peerce, Moscona, NBC Symphony; RCA Victrola VICS-1314e). Toscanini’s Rigoletto Act IV, taped at a wartime Red Cross concert in Madison Square Garden, remains a uniquely powerful experience after twenty-five years. With it are I Lombardi and Luisa Miller excerpts.