VILLAZON, ROLANDO

The Romantic arias Rolando Villazón chose for his first solo recital on Deutsche Grammophon all come from operas he has never sung on-stage. Given the selection, that's not surprising, because there is some pretty obscure material here. The most familiar operas are Verdi's Luisa Miller and Simon Boccanegra, Ponchielli's La Gioconda, Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, and Boito's Mephistofele, none of them are exactly at the core of the contemporary repertoire. From there, Villazón reaches even further afield, to works by Mercadante, Pietri, Gomes, and obscure operas by Donizetti and Ponchielli. It's a pleasure to hear a recital devoted to rarities sung with such passion and conviction; it's clear Villazón is thrilled to have discovered these little known or virtually unknown arias and to offer them to modern audiences. The most familiar aria is the title track, Cielo e Mar! and with it Villazón sets the tone for the whole album: an intensely warm tone with the substance and richness of a lyric baritone, seamless legato, absolute technical security, and interpretive sensitivity to the variety of musical styles represented. The most familiar arias are, perhaps unsurprisingly, the musical highlights of the album, but some of the rarities are real finds; the cavatina "La dea di tutti I cor" from Mercadante's Il Guiramento, "Ah! Sei tu fra gli angeli" from Gomes' Fosca, and the scene from Donizetti's Poliuto stand out for their melodically memorable lyricicism, and all the Verdi excerpts display a sense of dramatic urgency and orchestrational sophistication that set them apart in a class by themselves. Baritone Gianluca Alfano, who fills in incidental solo parts in several of the scenes, is very weak and sounds out of place on an undertaking of the quality of this recital. Coro e Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, led by Daniele Callegari, provide a solid accompaniment, and the sound is clear, present, and well-balanced. ~ Stephen Eddins, AMG

Estimated despatch 5-10 days after ordering.