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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I recommend this album to the Alvarez fans, 11 Dec 2001
I find this recital somewhat disappointing by comparison with Alvarez' first CD "Bel Canto".
There is nothing basically wrong with this album, but with a couple of exceptions, nothing outstanding either.The first problem lies in Alvarez' choice of repertory as compared to Alagna's counterpart "French Arias CD". Alagna has the edge, and not because of Alagna's is a French born singer, since Alvarez' French is flawless. By choosing a menu of arias out of the main stream, Alagna avoided comparisons with versions from great Tenors of the past, unknown to most listeners. In the "Fille" and "Guillaume Tell" arias, one cannot help but to compare Alvarez with the young Pavarotti renditions in "Primo Tenore", and Alvarez suffers. The second problem arises in Alvarez' effort in this set, to sound "elegant" by abusing of the use of dynamics. Some of his soft singing is practically inaudible, as for example the words "réveiller", "printemps" and "premiere" in "Pourquoi Me Réveiller". His best contributions in this set are:
a)Dom Sébastien aria "Seul Sur la terre", which evokes memories of the young José Carreras, is caped with a magnificent high C sharp.
b)"O Dieu de Quelle Ivresse " is hard to beat. The sensuous quality of Alvarez' voice is
displayed by those octave leaps to G and G sharps, with full use of portamento.
c)"Je ne sais si je veille.. O nature pleine de grace". Here, his mezza voce is firm and well supported and the dynamics correctly used. In the phrase "Dont l'éternel écho résonne dans mon coeur" (from "Il était une fois á la cour" aria), there is a noticeable wobble in the word "coeur". I find strange than no one bother to edit it. I recommend this album to Alvarez' fans (I count myself among them), but for those first time Alvarez' buyers my advise is buy the "Bel Canto" set.
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