I read an issue of Gramophone that said, and I paraphrase, “It seems that Italian tenors these days are from South America”. I couldn’t help but agree; just look at the records of those singing the traditional Italian repertoire: Jose Cura, Ramon Varga (who performed La Traviata with Renee Fleming), Juan Diego Florez (who performed in an LA Opera gala with Renee Fleming), and of course Marcelo Alvarez (who performed Manon with… well, you get the idea). Whereas the Italians have Salvatore Licitra, still a newbie with only one ‘serious’ classical disc, Marcello Giordani (who? Don’t worry, he’ll be featured in a future article), and erm… Andrea Bocelli (let’s not even go there!). An honorary mention is Roberto Alagna, a Spaniard with Italian parentage who is no doubt one of the best purveyors of the Italian repertoire (who performs regularly with someone the Covent Garden staff calls La Vampira, and that is not exactly a tribute to her Romanian parentage.) (Just to avoid confusion, the term ‘Italian tenor’ for the rest of this article refers to tenors who specialize in the Italian repertoire, not necessarily of Italian birth.)

And that is why this CD so deserves its name, A Tenor’s Passion. The South American Italian tenor sings music that hardly anyone wants to record these days, but is the reason why everyone aspires to be singers in the first place. I mean, who can really tire of hearing ‘Che gelida manina’? Or ‘E lucevan le stelle’?

For this recital, Alvarez has chosen arias that will push his voice, formerly a lyric tenor, into the spinto-lyrico Fach that is mainly the 3 Tenors territory. Says the tenor in the album notes: “I am no longer a young man of 25 who is afraid of taking risks for fear of ruining his voice…I feel that this is the moment and I am ready to accept this challenge.” It seems a logical step for him, seeing that his previous recordings and opera appearances are pretty much in the same categories: Italian and French arias, bel canto, and an Italian classical-pop duets CD with true-blue Italian Licitra. His voice, a dark, warm tone, is frequently pushed to match the dramatic moments, but still retains its colour. His high notes are resonant and thrilling. He characterizes well despite resorting to a few exaggerated sobs and sighs here and there. There is a bit of ‘goat-bleating’ (that shrieky sound that many Italian tenors make when starting a difficult phrase), which is probably excusable given that even Alagna and many others do it too. He also shows signs of strain here and there, but they are hardly noticeable. Voice wise, he actually resembles Jose Carreras a little, when the latter was still in his prime. 

The tracks are neatly arranged into three sections: the first six songs are arias by Puccini, ending with (what else!) Turandot’s ‘Nessun Dorma’. The next seven are Italian arias by assorted composers, including the only Italian aria from a German opera (‘Di rigore armato il seno’ from Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, rearranged here to edit out all the extra bits.) The remaining three songs are French arias from different French composers.

While his singing is good, there is hardly anything exemplary to set these performances apart from those of Corelli, Domingo, Pavarotti etc. But this does not mean that his efforts should be written off as cheap copys. He is, after all, a fantastic singer in his own right, who like his predecessors, is constantly working with other major singers and conductors of his day. ‘Che gelida manina’ is done sensitively. It is a little slower than average, which Alvarez uses to bring out more expressiveness by sensitive shadings of his vocal colours. The Andrea Chenier excerpt, sung by an idealistic poet who will become a victim of the French revolution, is executed with much youthful bravado (pun fully not intended!) ‘Cielo e mar’ is dramatically quite intense, and Alvarez aces all of the aria’s Herculean challenges.

Elsewhere, this CD suffers from obvious budget constraints, as can be seen in ‘A te o cara’, from I Puritani, done without the accompanying chorus, or an Elvira to turn this aria into a passionate duet with a goose-bump inducing climax. Instead, the parts where Elvira and the choruses come in are conveniently edited out. (For a good version of that aria/duet, listen to Roberto Alagna’s Bel Canto CD on EMI, sung ravishingly with a woman that the Covent Garden staff refer to as La Draculetta, and that is not fully a tribute to her Romanian heritage either.) And the most obvious cost-cutting measure: The part of the Sacristan in “Recondita armonia” was sung by Marcello Viotti, none other than the conductor himself! (this briefly reminds me of another singing musician: Izhak Perlman making his operatic debut singing the part of ‘A Jailer’ under James Levine’s baton on EMI, opposite Renata Scotto.) The Rosenkavalier excerpt was rearranged in the schmaltzy fashion that is typical of Bocelli’s pop numbers, and sung with waaay too seriously for a comedic scene.

He does better on the French arias. ‘O paradis’ is well characterized; loving, proud and narcissistic. I have not seen this opera yet but I can somehow feel the scenario through his performance. The aria by Lalo, “Vainement, ma bien-aimée”, is all lovey-dovey. And the last track, The excerpt from Carmen, is no doubt the best performance on this CD: Alvarez deepens his already dark tone to haunting effect, bringing out the depth of Don Jose’s devotion and a character who is already showing signs of a mental breakdown. It is really chilling.

To summarize, if you are one of those already sick of hearing Puccini again and again (however unlikely that may be), you might want to give it a miss. But if you want to hear these beloved classics sung by a contemporary singer currently making waves in international opera houses, then this is the one for you! Chances are he’s not going to make his Esplanade debut anytime soon, so this is as good as it gets. Based on its own merits, I give this album 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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