Search - Ramon Vargas, Manuel Lanza, Roberto Frontali :: Between Friends

Vargas is excellent, but his 'friends' are a mixed bag

Joy Fleisig | New York, NY United States | 08/23/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The lovely Mexican lyric tenor Ramon Vargas uses his new recording 'Between Friends' to explore the role of friendship in opera. In 7 popular duets and one rare Rossini trio, Vargas and six other singers reveal many operatic aspects of that 'divine and honorable sentiment'. Not surprisingly, many of Vargas' partners on this recording are indeed friends of his, as well as longtime colleagues. While this makes for excellent rapport between the singers, it is a shame that few of them can match Vargas for either voice or artistry. Fortunately, the tenor himself has one of the most beautiful voices of our time, rich and sweet as caramel, and he always sings with class and elegance.



The CD begins with what may be the most famous and popular tenor/baritone duet in opera, 'Au fond du temple saint' from 'The Pearl Fishers'. Vargas is joined here by Russian baritone Vassily Gerello, who I had the pleasure of seeing at the Met as Tomsky in 'The Queen of Spades' and Marcello in 'La Boheme' opposite Vargas' Rodolfo. Although they sing very well, Gerello's voice isn't really smooth or lyric enough for Zurga. Both singers also could use some work in French (Gerello's is strongly Russian-accented), and the recording tends to favor Vargas too much.



Before his branching out into the more 'standard' lyric tenor roles and the ascendancy of Juan Diego Florez, Vargas was possibly the finest bel canto tenor around. He returns to these roots in 'In questi estremi momenti' from Giocchino Rossini's 'Maometto II', the finest selection on this album. Here he plays Erisso, the father of Anna, who begs him to marry her to her fiance Calbo before she is captured by her enemy and suitor Maometto. The great Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova is luxury casting as Calbo with her rich voice and dark passion, and Barbara Lavarian, a clear-voiced soprano with a strong bottom and a bright top, is a fine Anna.



I've always thought that Italian baritone Leo Nucci was a bit of a dull dog in Verdi, but he has a real gift for comic roles and his Dulcamara is wonderfully bombastic and sneaky. Like his contemporary Roberto Alagna, Vargas is a more intelligent and thoughtful (if gullible) Nemorino than is usually portrayed. Staying with comic repertory, Vargas revisits what is perhaps his greatest role, Count Almaviva in 'The Barber of Seville' (his complete recording on Naxos is essential). He is here joined by a fellow Mexican, baritone Manuel Lanza. While Lanza has a nice, bluff voice and generally characterizes well, he doesn't have enough charisma to convince that Figaro is controlling and manipulating (or attempting to) everything that is going on, perhaps the barber's most essential quality.



Speaking of Figaro, it was in that role that I first saw Roberto Frontali at the Met in 1995, opposite Vargas' Almaviva. The Italian baritone was bright and likeable on that occasion, but as with Nucci, I've never found him to be an impressive Verdian. His singing is pleasant but tends to go in one ear and out the other. He is slightly better suited to Marcello in 'La Boheme' than Don Carlo in 'La Forza del Destino', but still doesn't make a very positive impression. Rodolfo is one of Vargas' best roles, and his part in 'O Mimi, tu piu non torni' is full of sweetness, passion, subtlety and detail. As for his Alvaro, in my review of Vargas' 'Verdi Arias' album I expressed concern that some of the more dramatic Verdi roles might be too heavy for his very lyric voice. Because 'Solenne in quest'ora' is one of the most lyric sections of this score, it comes off well here - I note some wonderful piano singing - but I doubt Vargas is up to the entire role, even on record. His sense of conflict and vulnerability is ideal for Don Carlo, but that is about as heavy as Vargas should go in Verdi, and he would be better suited to the vocally lighter French version or to singing it in a relatively small theater. For 'Dio, che nell'alma infondere', Vargas is once again joined by Gerello, whose voice suits Rodrigo better than Zurga, but he doesn't have quite the dramatic urgency Vargas does. While Maltese soprano Miriam Gauci made a fine CD of soprano arias for Naxos 12 years ago, she is considerably less impressive in the final Carlo-Elisabetta duet which concludes this CD. I will give her credit for her rich, dark middle voice and dramatic alertness, but her rapid vibrato is very distracting and her top refuses to bloom. I would have preferred that the vastly underrated, superb Latvian soprano Inessa Galante (who has recorded for BMG/RCA) could have been the Elisabetta instead. Some decent but unspectacular basses as Phillip, the Inquisitor, and Charles V bring the opera to its conclusion.



I continue to be impressed with the young, enthusiastic and accomplished players of the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan. Vjekoslav Sutej's conducting tends to be a bit on the slow side, which detracts from the comedy, but his work in the 'Maometto II' and 'La Boheme' excerpts is fine. The documentation includes full texts and translations, brief comments by Vargas, and an essay/synopsis of the operas and scenes in question. Unfortunately, there are no biographies of any of the artists - including Vargas - which is particularly a shame in the case of Lavarian, who I am totally unfamiliar with.



Although Vargas and Kasarova are always worth hearing and I think Gerello is very promising (he made a nice CD of Ukranian songs) many of these pieces have been recorded by far greater singers - not the least of whom are Jussi Bjorling and Robert Merrill for most of the tenor/baritone duets. Therefore, non-Vargas/Kasarova fans might want to listen to this CD ahead of time and judge their reactions to the other singers before spending any money.







"

Average performances

Voice Lover | Durham, NC | 11/30/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I like Ramon Vargas quite a bit. He does have one of the better lyric tenor voices available today and I only hope he continues to improve. Here are my thoughts are the tracks on this CD.



Pearl Fishers - every lyric tenor has to have a try at this famous duet and Vargas does some beautiful singing. This is perhaps the best performance I've heard of it in a long time. It doesn't rival the great Bjoerling-Merrill recording however.



Maometto II - interesting trio and well sung. I wish there were more rarities like this on this disc.



L'Elisir d'Amore - well sung performance but not much fun. This music is fun and should be sung as such even if the characters are in earnest. I find Nucci better than Vargas in this regard. Listen to Valletti & Poli on the old Cetra recording.



Don Carlo - well sung but not better than Bjoerling & Merrill or many others.



La Forza del Destino - The best performance on this CD, sung with feeling and tenderness. Vargas even sings the grace notes so often omitted. Excellent and recommended.



Boheme - Good performance.



Barber of Seville - Vargas does not seem to observe all of the coloratura markings, sliding over many of them in the first part of the duet. Lanza doesn't have as good a voice as many other Figaro's. Neither of them seem to be having much fun with this wonderful duet. Very much of a disappointment. Listen to how Cesare Valletti and Robert Merrill sing it on the Leinsdorf recording if you want to hear a well sung version.



Don Carlo - ok rendition of this famous duet. Carlo is one of Vargas' more recent roles and he handles it pretty well, but not well enough to erase memories of Bjoerling, Domingo or Alagna in the role. Gauci's voice is unstable and she has difficulty sustaining a nice line, not to mention a beautiful one. Listen to Caballe & Domingo on the Giulini set to hear a gorgeous performance.



All in all, it's a worthwhile CD and probably a good representation of Ramon Vargas' singing today."