"Salvatore Licitra: The
Debut"
Puccini:
"E lucevan le
stelle" and "Recondita armonia" from
Tosca
"Nessun dorma" from
Turandot
"Ch'ellami creda" from La
fanciulla del West
"Donna non vidi mai"
from Manon Lescaut
"Addio fiorito asil"
from Madama
Butterfly
Verdi:
"Celeste Aida"
from Aida
"Sento avvampar nell'anima" from
Simon Boccanegra
"La vita è inferno ... Oh tu
che in seno agil angeli" from La forza del
destino
"Forse la soglia
attinse" and Barcarolle: "Di tu se fedele" from Un ballo in
maschera
"Ah! La paterna mano" from
Macbeth
"Ah! sì, ben mio
coll'essere" and "Di quella pira" from Il Trovatore
Salvatore
Licitra (tenor)
London Symphony Orchestra
Carlo Rizzi
(conductor)
Sony Classical
"Roberto Alagna: Bel
Canto"
Bellini:
"Prendi, l'anel
ti dono" from La sonnambula
"Meco
all'altar di Venere ... Me pretegge, mi difende"
from
Norma
"A te, o cara" from I
puritani
"Ascolta. Nel furor delle
tempeste" from Il
pirata
Donizetti:
"Veleno è l'aura ch'io
respiro! ... Sfolgorò divino raggio"
from
Poliuto
"Un ange, une femme inconnue"
and
"La
maitresse du roi? ... Ange si pur" from La
Favorite
"Sogno soave e casto" from Don
Pasquale
"Ed ancor la tremenda porta .
. . a te dirò negli ultimi"
from Roberto
Devereux
"Seul sur la terre" from Dom
Sébastien
"Quanto è bella" and "Una furtiva
lagrima"
from L'elisir d'amore
"Pour me rapprocher de Marie"
and "Ah, mes amis ...
Pour mon
âme" from
La Fille du regiment
Roberto Alagna (tenor)
Angela
Gheorghiu (soprano)
London Voices
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Evelino
Pidò (conductor)
EMI
With Domingo past 60 and Pavarotti descending further and further into camp (think late Elvis with a hankie), opera fans are itching to anoint someone new as the World's Greatest Tenor. Two contenders for the title recently issued solo albums: one of the discs is an interesting and sometimes exciting, though imperfect, effort; the other, sadly, represents a step backward for a promising newcomer.
To judge from the timing of Salvatore Licitra's "Debut" release, you might think Sony Classical rushed the young tenor into the studio to capitalize on his now-famous New York appearance in May 2002, when he won raves after replacing a reportedly ailing Pavarotti in Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera. In fact, this disc was recorded in London the previous March, so it was already finished when Licitra had his star-is-born moment. But the young tenor's triumph at the Met obviously gave Sony an excuse to unleash the "Fourth Tenor" hype — the booklet note manages to cram eight effusive quotes from New York critics into its first page and a half, and we get treated to several close-up pictures of our cherubic hero in thoughtful-artist poses. Verdi and Puccini get mentioned in passing.
Of course, discs like this aren't really about the music anyway. They are more like figure skating or gymnastics meets, with a series of compulsory exercises designed to show off the singer's ability to tackle a predictable set of operatic standards. (At Licitra doesn't stoop to "O Sole Mio.")
In this contest, Licitra manages to score poorly on both technical merit and artistic impression. Yes, his voice is a strong and fundamentally handsome one, with an especially rich bottom range and a powerful middle register — you can sense what prompted all the fuss at the Met. His top range, however, fails to excite: he hits the high notes squarely, but instead of thrills we get something that often borders on blaring. What's more, Licitra's performance betrays the fact that he is still learning to control his instrument and develop its interpretive possibilities. "Nessun dorma," for example, gets off to a wayward start and Licitra's phrasing throughout the aria is choppy. "Celeste Aida" goes reasonably well, but here too, there are shortcomings: Lictira's Radames pines for his tender princess in pretty much the same manner that he describes the glories of battle. And he hardly tries to render the aria's ending quietly — odd for a performer who has been touted for his ability to produce a secure pianissimo.
Even in his better performances, such as the selections from Butterfly and Un ballo in maschera , Licitra shows that he cannot yet caress a phrase the way Pavarotti could in his prime or project the kind of subtle of characterization that marks Domingo's best work. And if it seems unfair to hold a relative youngster to standards set by two legends, well, blame his handlers and Sony for inviting the comparison. Blame Sony, too, for the poor sound quality that further handicaps this disc. On just about every track, the vocal part is so reverberant that it sounds as if Licitra is singing in a cave. That is, when you can hear him: much of the time, he is blanketed with a curtain of orchestral sound so thick it would embarrass Mantovani.
Licitra may well be, as The New Yorker proclaimed, "the tenor of tomorrow." But this disc does him no favors today.
Though he's also relatively young, Roberto Alagna is already an international star and could probably coast for a while on his reputation. Thankfully, as this new disc demonstrates, the French tenor is still willing to take a chance or two. Bel canto style (literally, "beautiful singing") requires a nimble voice, and because the orchestra almost always takes a backseat to the singer, there is no place for a vocalist to hide. Despite the dangers, Alagna — who is closely associated with the heroic Verdi and Puccini roles — proves surprisingly well-suited to the more florid works of Bellini and Donizetti. His hefty tenor, it turns out, also has a lighter, lyric quality.
Throughout the disc, Alagna delivers the requisite vocal pyrotechnics: he hits a bevy of high Cs, a few C-sharps and even a high D (in "Ascolta" from Il pirata) and only occasionally does he sound like he is squeezing to reach the top notes. As you would expect, he rips through dauntingly florid passages fluently. Yet he also demonstrates that he is a mature interpreter, shaping melodies with nuance and color and adding a welcome sense of drama. This is especially true in the French items such as "Ah, mes amis ...", which benefit from his natural diction.
Not everything here is perfect, however. In a few of the louder passages, Alagna's voice takes on a slight metallic edge. And in general, he seems most at home in the declamatory arias, such as the selections from Poliuto that open the program. In the more tender arias, such as the haunting (and famous) "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore, Alagna is less secure. Despite some nice legato singing, he sounds unsteady, particularly when forced to change registers. Maybe Alagna was aware of these flaws: most of this disc was recorded in late 1999, but for some reason it didn't reach stores until this year.
Still, the plusses outweigh the minuses. Especially successful are the
selections in which Alagna teams up with other singers; soprano Angela Gheorghiu
in particular proves to be an able partner. Indeed, the duet in "Ah te, o caro"
from I puritani demonstrates exactly why this husband-and-wife team is
considered so magical on stage. Sensitive, beautifully played accompaniments by
the London Philharmonic under Evelino Pidò and a natural-sounding recording
round out the package nicely.
