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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
On this disc, tenor Roberto Alagna concentrates solely on the work of bel canto masters Donizetti and Bellini. These are composers who foreground vocal timbre and rely on highly decorated melodies to propel their dramas. Alagna's voice is therefore placed under a rather harsh spotlight, with none of the carefully wrought orchestral effects or complex harmonies of Verdi and Puccini (his more usual operatic territory) to support him. Generally he succeeds beautifully and produces some rich, varied singing with a burnished heroic edge. In the more declamatory arias, such as "Sfolgorò divino raggio" from Poliuto and "Me protegge" from Norma, his powerful high Cs and C-sharps are stunning and raise the hairs on the back of your head--they're not called "money-notes" for nothing. He is less successful in the gentler areas of the repertoire, however, with its long-breathed delicate melodies which call for a greater degree of legato--the tender "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore is wrestled into submission rather than caressed. That said, the orchestral playing is delicious, particularly in "Sogno soave" from Don Pasquale, and the overall disc contains much to please.--Warwick Thompson
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