Composer: David Alagna, Frederico Alagna, Roberto Alagna, Eduardo di Capua, Salvatore Cardillo, Pasquale Mario Costa, Ernesto de Curtis, Luigi Denza, Salvatore Gambardella, Salvatore di Giacomo, Francesco Paolo Tosti
Performer: Roberto Alagna, Avi Avital, Nemanja Radulović
Orchestra: London Orchestra
Conductor: Yvan Cassar, Frédérico Alagna
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalogue: 4814733
Release: 2016
Size: 1.16 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Alagna R: Malèna
02. Pisano: Se parla ‘e Napule
03. Giacomo: Marechiare
04. Cordiferro: Core ‘ngrato
05. Curtis: Torna a Surriento
06. Capaldo: Come facette Mametta
07. Alagna F: Etna (Sicilia focu e sangu)
08. Alagna F: Amuri Feritu
09. Russo: Scetate
10. Alagna F: Napolitanella (Canzona nova)
11. Capua, Mazzucchi: ‘O sole mio
12. Denza: Funiculì-Funiculà
13. Alagna F: Tu si da mia
14. Russo: I’ te vurria vasà
15. Alagna F: Sicilianedda (Tarantella prisuntusa)
16. trad.: I te voglio bene assaje
17. Alagna D: Libertà
You can let star tenor Roberto Alagna summarize the aims of this album himself (in brutal, unforgivable, gray-on-brown print): dedicated to his daughter Malèna, “This is doubtless the most intimate and personal album I have made.” You may then wonder why Neapolitan and Sicilian songs, popular materials that aim for broad appeal rather than intimate and personal experience, would be chosen for such a project. It’s true that something like Funiculì Funiculà is a bit odd in such a context, but several factors mitigate the potential contradiction. One is that several of the tracks are new, composed by Alagna’s brothers Frédérico and David, with input on the title track from Roberto Alagna himself. The family’s ancestry is Sicilian, but mastery of this idiom is nonetheless an impressive and, yes, personal thing. Second, the Sicilian songs as a group are not nearly as familiar, individually or in style, as the Neapolitan ones are, and especially here Alagna seems to choose songs that could be interpreted as referring to the renewing love of father for daughter. Finally, Alagna, even though he came from France, just seems to have this idiom in his bones, in a way that Jonas Kaufmann, to name another recent entrant in this repertory, does not, for all the vocal beauty on display. With sympathetic backing from a mysterious and largely uncredited London Orchestra under conductor Yvan Cassar, this is a release sure to satisfy Alagna fans and those looking for something new in the repertoire of popular Italian song.