Placido Domingo,
baritone; Pablo Heras-Casado, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana. Sony
88883733122.
For the past four or five decades, two tenors have
dominated the operatic scene: the late Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo.
Pavarotti may have had the more thrilling voice, but Domingo had the richer,
more versatile voice. It’s always a pleasure when the man releases a new album.
The back cover of Domingo’s latest CD (2013), titled
simply Verdi, explains that “for the
first time the world-renowned tenor has released an album of baritone arias--an
exceptional document of Domingo’s discovery of opera character new to him, and
a tribute to Verdi, who has played a crucial role in Domingo’s career. ‘Verdi
is a wellspring of great music, and every lyric singer is grateful to him. So
for me this recording is a special celebration and an act of thanksgiving and
love toward Giuseppe Verdi.’” What goes without mention here is that doing an
album of baritone arias is also a nod to Domingo’s age, since the man is as of
this writing in his early seventies. Not that I believe he isn’t still fully
capable of doing tenor arias; just saying. Besides, he has already recorded
every major tenor aria there is, so perhaps it’s best to give him the benefit
of doubt.
Anyway, Domingo provides well over an hour of music on the
album, eighteen tracks from nine different Verdi operas, starting with
“Perfidi! All’anglo contro me v’unite!” from Macbeth. No, these aren’t the most-common numbers for non-opera
fans, and as I have less interest in opera than I should, I found most of them
only vaguely familiar. Nevertheless, one cannot deny that Domingo has the
talent for them.
As always, the voice is still strong and flexible. The
intonation remains remarkably accurate, and the tone smooth, mellow, and
mellifluous. What's more, although these are baritone arias, Domingo's natural
tenor continually manifests itself. Some minor tremolo creeps in at times,
whether intentional or not. It's not distracting, and many listeners will
welcome it.
And so it goes through further selections from Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera, La traviata,
Simon Boccanegra, Ernani, Il Trovatore, Don Carlo,
and La forza del destino. The voice
remains relatively strong, and if anyone doubts the power, one has only to
listen to "Si, la mia figlia!" to learn otherwise. The control is
still there, the projection, the phrasing, the precise articulation and
control, even at his age, if not always so exacting as in his prime.
As important, the poetic qualities of Domingo's voice
continue to manifest themselves. Listen to the lyric flow of "Di Provenza
il mar, il suol" or "Il balen del suo sorriso," and you'll see
what I mean.
On several tracks other singers join Domingo: soprano
Angel Joy Blue, tenor Aquiles Machado, baritone Fernando Piqueras, and basses
Bonifaci Carrillo and Gianluca Buratto. Maestro Pablo Heras-Casado and the
Orquestra de la Communitat Valenciana lend commendable, sympathetic
accompaniment throughout.
The greatest tenor of all time? The greatest baritone of
all time? Perhaps the greatest singer of all time, period? Who knows. I won’t
take sides. But it is pleasurable listening to his voice again, even in its mature
years.
Domingo made the recording in 2012-2013 at the Palau de
les Arts “Reina Sofia” Auditori, Valencia, Spain and Angel Recording Studios,
London, England. The sound displays an acceptable depth of field for a
recording of this sort. There is good dynamic impact, too, making for a fairly
realistic presentation. Clarity seems fine most of the time as well, although
there are occasions when the orchestral accompaniment can be a touch bright.
It's an overall welcome sound, in any case.
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:
JJP
Domingo is not a baritone. His renditions of these arias is laboured and colourless. Listen to someone like Ettore Bastianini to see what I mean.
ReplyDelete