Composer: Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini
Performer: Jonathan Tetelman
Orchestra: PKF – Prague Philharmonia
Conductor: Carlo Rizzi
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalogue: 4864683
Release: 2023
Size: 0.98 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Donna non vidi mai (from Manon Lescaut)
02. Nessun dorma (from Turandot)
03. Parigi! E la citta dei desideri (from La Rondine)
La Bohème
04. Che gelida manina
05. O soave fanciulla
06. Dunque è proprio finita
Tosca
07. Dammi i colori! Recondita armonia
08. Mario Cavaradossi? … E lucevan le stelle
09. Ah, Manon mi tradisce (from Manon Lescaut)
10. Io so che alle sue pene (from Madama Butterfly)
La fanciulla del West
11. Quello che tacete
12. Ch’ella mi creda
13. Dimmi: perchè, gli hai chiesto…Vorrei tenerti (from Il tabarro)
14. Non piangere, Liù! (from Turandot)
15. Torna ai felici dì (from Le Villi)
After his much-acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon début Arias (“This disc is quite simply a sensation”– BBC Music Magazine), Chilean-American tenor Jonathan Tetelman turns his attention to Giacomo Puccini, to mark the centenary of the composer’s death in 2024. For Tetelman, Puccini is one of the greatest of all composers of Italian opera: “I listen, study and enjoy his music daily. There is always something to learn from him, and my mind is forever open to him. Without Giacomo Puccini, opera wouldn’t be the same. Grazie, Maestro!”. Celebrating the very best of Puccini , the album is released to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of one the world’s most popular opera composers.The album consists of well-known tenor arias such as Nessun dorma, E lucevan le stelle, Donna non vidi mai and Che gelida manina, popular ensembles from “Madame Butterfly”, “La bohème” and “Il tabarro” as well as rarities such as Torna ai felici from “Le Villi” and Parigi nè la città dei desideri from “La Rondine”.
Talk to opera aficionados, or at least to Deutsche Grammophon’s indefatigable army of publicists, and one will hear the name of rising tenor Jonathan Tetelman frequently. A bit of listening to The Great Puccini, his sophomore release, will confirm why: his voice has the effortless quality that was once associated with Luciano Pavarotti. It seems to issue forth from his vocal apparatus as a force of nature, lacking the tension in the high notes that one naturally expects. One might, it is true, accuse Tetelman of undertaking unambitious programming with a debut album of aria hits followed by a Puccini album, but this is not quite fair. Tetelman includes not only the evergreen “Che gelida manina” and “Nessun dorma” but selections from the lesser-known early Puccini operas. Sample “Toran ai felici di” from the very first Puccini opera, Le villi, which Tetelman boldly chooses as his finale. It sounds like a million bucks here, and this is reason enough to keep an eye on this young tenor. He doesn’t always have the gift of stepping fully into a character and modulating the voice to match, but this will come with time and age and, perhaps, with a plum part in a full opera, which one hopes is on Deutsche Grammophon’s agenda. Until then, listen and enjoy, along with all the others who put this release on classical best-seller charts in the autumn of 2023.