Nessun Dorma; Roberto Alagna

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Here Roberto Alagna takes on verismo arias, works which require a type of exclamatory delivery very unlike arias from the bel canto period or the French repertoire. The danger for any tenor in this music is overstatement and oversinging - passions run high in this music, and the orchestral accompaniment is big and aggressive. Alagna is, for the most part, remarkably successful, bringing interesting nuances to even the most familiar of the arias ("Nessun dorma," "Cielo e mar") and making a fine case for a beautiful, sad aria from Zandonai's Giulietta e Romeo and painting a vivid portrait of the drunken title character from Wolf-Ferrari's Sly. He occasionally sings sharp: a phrase or two at the close of Turiddu's "Addio" from Cavalleria and every so often in the otherwise mellow "Amor ti vieta." But this recital never bores or tires the listener, and there's a good chance that Alagna is finally living up to his reputation as "the fourth tenor." This is terrific, and worth repeated hearings. --Robert Levine

Tracks:

Nessun Dorma - Luciano Pavarotti
Vissi D'Arte - Kiri Te Kanawa
Donna Non Vidi Mai - Carlo Bergonzi
Vogliatemi Bene - Luciano Pavarotti
Minnie, Dalla Mia Casa - Sherrill Milnes
Scuoti Quella Fronda (Flower Duet) - Mirella Freni
Firenze E Come Un Albero Fiorito - Roberto Alagna
Senza Mamma - Mirella Freni
Tra Voi, Belle - Jussi Bjorling
In Questa Reggia - Luciano Pavarotti
In Un Coupe?...O Mimi, Tu Piu Non Torni - Luciano Pavarotti
E Lucevan Le Stelle - Franco Corelli
Chi Il Bel Sogno Di Doretta - Leona Mitchell
Humming Chorus - Vienna State Opera Chorus
Recondita Armonia - Franco Corelli
O Mio Babbino Caro - Leona Mitchell
Tre Shirri - Leo Nucci
O Soave Fanciulla - Luciano Pavarotti

Tracks:

Che Gelida Manina - Luciano Pavarotti
Si, Mi Chiamano Mimi - Luciano Pavarotti
Dovunque Al Mondo - Luciano Pavarotti
Un Bel Di Vedremo - Mirella Freni
Ch'ella Mi Creda Libero - Jussi Bjorling
Quando M'En Vo' (Musettas Waltz) - Nicolai Ghiaurov
Intermezzo - Riccardo Chailly
Non Piangere Liu - Giuseppe Di Stefano
Tu, Che di Gel Sci Cinta - The John Alldis Choir
Una Parola Sola - Renata Tebaldi
Laggiu Nel Soledad - Renata Tebaldi
Oh, Saro La Piu Bella! - Jose Carreras
In Quelle Trine Morbide - Kiri Te Kanawa
Ah! Non V'avvicinate!...No! Pazzo Son - Luciano Pavarotti
Sola, Perduta, Abbandonata - Kiri Te Kanawa
Addio, Fiorito Asil - Luciano Pavarotti
Signore, Ascolta! - Monteserrat Caballe
Dunque E Proprio Finita!...Addio, Dolce Svegliare - Luciano Pavarotti

Average customer rating:

Five stars for Yu Qiang Dai
Alagna the Over-rated -- He's fine for the deaf!
Alagna brings verismo favorites and rarities to 'real life'
5 for Variety 3 for Voice
What a cool recital!

Nessun Dorma; Roberto Alagna
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari , Mark Elder , Roberto Alagna , London Voices , Ruggiero Leoncavallo , and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House - Covent Garden
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B0000DD76K
Release Date: 2003-10-21

Tracks:

Nessun Dorma!
Colpito Qui M'avete...Un Di All'azzurro Spazio (Improvviso)
Come Un Bel Di Di Maggio
Quando A Solden
Giulietta, Son Io
Non Parlate Cosi...Io Non Ho Che Una Povera Stanzetta
Musetta! O Gioia Della Mia Dimora!...Testa Adorata
Cielo E Mar!
Comare Lola...Viva Il Vino Spumeggiante
Mamma! Quel Vino E Generoso
La Dolcissima Effigie Sorridente
L'Anima Ho Stanca, E La Meta E Lontana
Dammi Un Amore Selvaggio E Ribelle
Che Piu Mi Resta! Tu Sola A Me Rimani
E Un Riso Gentil Qual'alba D'April
Mai Piu, Zaza, Raggiar Vedro
Tornato E Maggio Dopo Lungo Viaggio
Amor Ti Vieta
Un Orso In Musoliera Innamorato
Nessun Dorma!...O Sole! Vita! Eternita!

Amazon.com

Here Roberto Alagna takes on verismo arias, works which require a type of exclamatory delivery very unlike arias from the bel canto period or the French repertoire. The danger for any tenor in this music is overstatement and oversinging - passions run high in this music, and the orchestral accompaniment is big and aggressive. Alagna is, for the most part, remarkably successful, bringing interesting nuances to even the most familiar of the arias ("Nessun dorma," "Cielo e mar") and making a fine case for a beautiful, sad aria from Zandonai's Giulietta e Romeo and painting a vivid portrait of the drunken title character from Wolf-Ferrari's Sly. He occasionally sings sharp: a phrase or two at the close of Turiddu's "Addio" from Cavalleria and every so often in the otherwise mellow "Amor ti vieta." But this recital never bores or tires the listener, and there's a good chance that Alagna is finally living up to his reputation as "the fourth tenor." This is terrific, and worth repeated hearings. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

Five stars for Yu Qiang Dai.......2005-01-28

It was a big shock to hear Yu Qiang Dai's debut cd. He is, I think, the best lirico-spinto tenor nowadays. He has a lovely voice, which is very well produced. The center is wonderful, the lower notes are good, the high notes are shining and of fantastic quality... the singing through the passage is very well handled. He is an itelligent musical interpreter and singer, with an interesting and appealing line and sense of style. Very good dynamic changes. He offers some of the absolutely best renditions of some arias (nessun dorma and cielo e mar, for example) that I have heard in many years.
He still has to work his Italian (specially the consonants) and his French. But there were great historical tenors with bigger idiomatical problems.

Despite taking spinto repertoire, Yu never pushes, never tries to make the voice sound darker than it is, everything is always under control, and he takes the chance to give very stylish renditions (for example, of una furtiva lagrima), which is strange for tenors who "want to sing spinto".

The tenor is a fantastic discovery, one of the best ones around. Actually, all my criticism goes to EMI and the production of the CD: no choirs, no solists (for example, for the aria of Cavalleria, where the mother should sing her line), and the acoustic "atmosphere" has made some people to doubt if Yu's voice is really as big as it seems (people who saw his Cavaradossi at Covent Garden say that it is very big, actually).
Not a the best production job by the people of EMI, but five stars (ten if possible) for the singer. Simply wonderful.

Alagna the Over-rated -- He's fine for the deaf!.......2004-12-18

For Heaven's sake, it is ludicrous to compare Alagna -- who has talent but is NOT one of the "greats" -- to the likes of Jussi Bjorling or Domingo. The only reason other reviewers are impressed by this recording is because they haven't heard these arias sung by other, better tenors. First of all, Alagna is a lyric tenor, not a dramatic tenor, and his voice simply isn't big enough to handle the material without displaying a highly unattractrive raspiness, almost a bleating sound, on virtually every aria on the disc. How come no one noticed it (or did his fans simply choose to ignore it)? Alagna can be expressive in his singing, and I have no quibbles with the orchestra or conductor, but this vocal rasp or near-choke hardly makes this CD a listening pleasure for the discerning opera fan. Mario Del Monaco, who had the right dramatic voice for this material, recorded an album of "Verismo" arias which is available on CD and shows how these works should be sung -- with great dramatic power and vitality, not to mention ringing high notes. Alagna hits the high notes, but they are hardly "ringing." This CD demonstrates all too aptly why Alagna has never really caught on with serious and discriminating, knowledgeable opera fans who are familiar with many different tenors of the classic period. Alagna is one of the most over-hyped singers of his generation.

Alagna brings verismo favorites and rarities to 'real life'.......2004-03-21

The composers of the verismo school made it their mission to take opera away from the gods, royalty and nobles which it had exclusively depicted in the previous centuries and to finally have it concern people who lived 'real lives.' Unfortunately, too many opera fans and performers - especially tenors - make the mistake of assuming that the intense passions and 'crude realism' depicted by these composers is a license for excessive sobbing, gulping, screaming, macho posturing and other inartistic distortions of the music and drama. Roberto Alagna doesn't. What is so wonderful about his new disc of verismo arias is that none of what he sings is here merely a 'tenor showpiece'. His emotion is absolutely genuine, never 'look at me emote!'. He is always totally in tune with the dramatic situations, and serves them with a wide palette of tonal colors and vivid word-painting made even more intense by the clarity of his Italian diction, as superb as his native French. Although he has plenty of power and drama when required, more often he sings sweetly, smoothly, gently, and lyrically, even in the heaviest repertory. Best of all, Alagna's recent tendency to overuse the darker, rougher sides of his voice in recordings of Italian works has disappeared. This CD is his best work in that language and his singing here bodes extremely well for his future live excursions into these roles.

The title track 'Nessun Dorma' sets the stage for much of what follows. I can think of no higher praise than to say that it recalls that of Jussi Bjorling. Although Alagna doesn't have Bjorling's blazing voice and unsurpassable tonal beauty, he provides just as much sensitivity, nuance, and soft singing - this is a young man in love with a beautiful princess, not a soccer fan. His Andrea Chenier truly is a poet - youthful, passionate and desperate, and is Loris is equally impressive. Turridu in 'Cavalleria Rusticana' is surely an ideal vehicle for this tenor of Sicilian parentage, with his high spirits and smile in the voice for the drinking song turning serious and repentant for 'Addio alla madre'. For Enzo in 'La Gioconda', Alagna's 'Cielo e mar' is thoughtful and introspective, with a gorgeous diminuendo on 'O sogni d'or'. And what a joy to have Maurizio in 'Adriana Lecouvreur' sung by such a beautiful lyric voice, especially with more lovely pianissimo singing in 'L'anima ho stanca'! Can we hope for at least a live performance of the complete opera with his wife Angela Gheorghiu, who would be ideal in the title role?

Of course, any CD project Alagna undertakes will include a high percentage of rarities, and the very best of these are 'variations on a theme' to operas that Alagna is already famous for singing. Many consider his greatest role to be Romeo in Gounod's 'Romeo et Juliette', so it is no surprise that he is just as moving a Romeo in the tender and passionate tomb scene from Zandonai's 'Giulietta e Romeo'. In going from Puccini's version of 'La Boheme' to Leoncavallo's, Alagna switches from Rodolfo to Marcello, who is the tenor lead in this version. Having heard this opera in its entirety, I had originally thought that it was interesting but clearly inferior to the Puccini. Now I'm beginning to think all it needs is the right cast! More Leoncavallo rarities show Alagna at his most lighthearted and ebullient, even while playing some rather unsympathetic characters, from the feckless, selfish prince in 'I Zingari' to the married man having an affair with the title character in 'Zaza'. But in the wonderful 'Tu sola a mei rimani, poesia' from 'Chatterton', written by Leoncavallo when he was 17, Alagna is once again a heroic figure unlucky in love.

The 'Song of the Bear' from Wolf- Ferrari's 'Sly' is another triumph. Alagna darkens his tone to a rich bronze to become both the drunken poet of the title and his alter ego, the pathetic, lovestruck performing bear. He even improvises a delightful growl after 'voglio l'orsa!' ('I want the she-bear!'). Giordano's 'La Cene della Beffe' with its tale of a tenor jester's terrible revenge, would be a superb stage vehicle for Alagna's considerable dramatic talents, although here we only hear the character sweetly serenading about love in springtime. It is also nice to hear 'Quando a Solden', Hagenbach's anguished apology to the title character from Catalani's 'La Wally', an opera known mainly for the soprano aria 'Ebben? Ne andro lontano'.

The only problem I have with this disc, and I considered but decided against deducting the final star because of this, is that at least in the familiar selections I find conductor Mark Elder's tempos a little too slow. Although this allows Alagna to be at his most expressive, it takes away from the drama and urgency that is so necessary in this music. The Covent Garden orchestra does their usual splendid job, as does London Voices in their choral contribution, and Marianne Coterill and Tasmin Dalley are fine as Lola and Mamma Lucia. In addition to a wonderful background essay by John Steane, the documentation includes full texts and translations and - FINALLY - a biography of Alagna, as well as one of Elder.

I hope Alagna will get the opportunity to perform much of this material on stage, especially the rarities, although it might be best to limit his appearances in these roles to small theaters. Although Alagna has recently left EMI to go freelance, I am sure we will hear and see more of him in this and other interesting repertory - especially as he wants all his roles on DVD. Until then, "Nessun Dorma" is an ideal showcase for the marvelous voice and adventurous spirit of one of the greatest tenors of our day.

5 for Variety 3 for Voice.......2004-03-19

First off I think that it is really awesome that Roberto Alagna is recording rare works. On the flip side of that coin I dont really see how his voice can last through much more.
It is very clear that Alana should not really touch Verismo. I don't say this to be cynical or dismissive, he just goes very sharp and shows alot of force. The voice is very comfortable in French lyric Rep. When building a carrer, I think, a singer must find what his voice natually tends to and build around that. Certainly you can test and push boundaries, but If you make it your whole life pushing boundaries, than the voice breaks down. A similar fate befell Carreras, Di Stefano and many other singers. When I say that he should not touch verismo, I don not say that he brings nothing to the table, but that his voice does not have squillo and he goes very sharp when he hits high notes under stress, a sign of forcing. There is no squillo in his tone or dramatic declamation, and he has picked up the odd habit of scooping to seeminly every higher note.

The real positive is the interpretative ability, it is clear that Alagna is really thinking about each note, expecially in his excellent stuff from Cavalleria. I really enjoyed the Aria from sly, and listen to it more than most of the other tracks combined. Overall this is a good buy for some arias that you probably havent heard before.
I am not suggesting that roberto Alagna will ruin his voice. I am suggested that he is slowly beating the bloom out of his high notes, and taking the flexibilty and bright color by doing many artificial things in heavier rep.
So although I enjoyed this disc, and would recommend its purchace, I don't think it is the idiomatic verismo voice that one might expect in a verismo recital disc.

What a cool recital!.......2004-02-18

After a downright magnificent account of Berlioz, Roberto Alagna ventures into an equally demanding world of verismo. With Ruggero Leoncavallo most prominently featured, a wealth of material abounds.
Some of the grounds covered here were recently treaded by Argentinean tenor José Cura. I would venture to say that while Cura's recital was unusual and interesting, the CD at hand provided a lot more exciting moments in its 65-min time span save for the double-take of "Nessun Dorma." (the "updated" version would be welcome on another disc, I don't believe we need to have them both here for contrast).
Alagna's matured tenor is remarkably agile and the top notes are very secure. Even the rare sharps don't sound out of place. While there is an occasional unsteadiness in upper range, he makes up for it by a strong attack and seemingly endless breath span. He is also able to infuse a little sob when called for - some argue that this sob and not a hair more is what verismo demands. Such treatment of little known aria from Zaza "mai piu, Zaza, raggiar vedro" brought to mind young Carreras on his extremely rare Philips album. It's really a heart-gripping piece and it's a shame that a full recording of the opera is not available. Aside from this brief comparison, I wish Mr. Levine et al would stop the senseless references to the "4th tenor". The only "package" deal that Alagna participates in is with the missus - soprano Angela Georghiu. I sincerely hope he would not ever consider forming another duo or trio and ever venturing into pop. It's better to be a leader than a follower, even if the latter approach makes more money.
With his latest two CDs, Alagna shines as a pioneer of wonderful, but forgotten material. I have little doubt that composers such as Zandonai and Franchetti just found legions of fans thanks to this recital. I hope to be treated to a full recording soon!