Performer: Roberto Alagna, Aleksandra Kurzak
Orchestra: Orchestre National d’Ile de France
Conductor: Yvan Cassar
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Sony
Release: 2019
Size: 1.24 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Lucio Dalla: Caruso
02. Gioacchino Rossini: Domine Deus (From “Petite Messe solennelle”, IGR 51)
03. Georg Friedrich Händel: Frondi tenere e belle … Ombra mai fu (From “Serse HWV 40”)
04. António Carlos Gomes: Mia piccirella (From “Salvator Rosa”)
05. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Tre giorni son che Nina
06. Louis Niedermeyer: Pietà, Signore
07. Anton Rubinstein: Ô lumière du jour (From “Néron”)
08. Teodoro Cottrau: Santa Lucia
09. Giacomo Puccini: Vecchia zimarra (From “La bohème”)
10. António Carlos Gomes: Sento una forza indomita (From “Il Guarany “)
11. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Sérénade de Don Juan, Op. 38/1
12. Jules Massenet: Élégie
13. Helen Rhodes: Parce que (Because)
14. Giuseppe Verdi: Qual voluttà trascorrere (From “I Lombardi alla prima crociata”)
15. Emanuele Nutile: Mamma mia, che vo’ sapè?
16. Georges Bizet: Mi par d’udire ancora (From “Les Pêcheurs de perles”)
17. Ruggero Leoncavallo: Mattinata
18. Francesco Cilea: No, più nobile (From “Adriana Lecouvreur”)
19. Jules Massenet: Chiudo gli occhi (From “Manon”)
20. Ernesto de Curtis: Tu ca nun chiagne
The Franco-Italian tenor Roberto Alagna associates much of his childhood memory with the figure of Enrico Caruso, the first modern tenor. Alagna superimposes the memory of his great grandparents, who knew the illustrious tenor in New York at the beginning of the last century, with that of the Richard Thorpe film The Great Caruso starring Mario Lanza which he watched when he was a little boy.
These memories never left him and, with his teacher Rafael Ruiz, a young Roberto listened with passion to Caruso’s recordings while trying to pull apart the art of his singing. And now, fully matured, it makes sense that Alagna should finally dedicate an album to his idol, a project long in the waiting.
Respecting the style and vocal delivery of Caruso all while conserving his own vocal identity, Robert Alagna has released here a generous album that endeavours to re-establish the discography of his glorious fellow-singer from 1902 to 1920. All in all, the work consists of twenty tracks that interpret the songs recorded by Caruso: sometimes operatic and sometimes more popular in style, Alagna includes an interpretation of Lucio Dalla’s Caruso, a tune written in 1986 about the final days of the tenor in the Sorrente Vittoria Hotel, with an arrangement by Yvan Cassar that does not undermine the rest of the album. A true 2019 vintage if you will.