Search - Jules Massenet, Luigi Denza, Pasquale Mario Costa :: Malinconia d'Amore

Carreras today

08/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The collection of art songs presented here fall under an overarching theme of unrequited love and, as the title suggest, melancholy. This emotion lends itself very well to song writing, and some of the melodies here are loved and known by heart by everyone. Massenet's "Elegie", that opens the album, is a piece often performed by Carreras in recital and it has one of the loveliest, most heart-breaking tunes ever composed.
We all know of Carreras's courageous battle with Leukemia in 1987 and his courageous return to performing. A lot of people, critics in particular, have an ax to grind with The Three Tenors enterprise that in turn inspired a myriad of lesser-known talents with lesser credentials to peddle tenor singing to the masses. Needless to say, the Big 3 did more good than bad in this respect. It is also rather pointless to bring up another quibble - Carreras's clearly diminished vocal abilities. While the newcomers to his art do enjoy the Carreras of today, i.e. the voice that still possess much vocal beauty in the middle and lower registers, those of us who either heard him live on stage before 1987 or have his recordings of great opera roles, do often suffer a feeling of nostalgia. Sure, the Carreras of "Tosca", "Aida" or "Andrea Chenier" was a sheer wonder. He did take many risks with his voice and it might have contributed to the reduction of his upper range. But (!) this is still a voice that needs to be heard and appreciated. When not pushed, it is still able to speak directly to the listeners' hearts. Someone very observant once called Carreras "a born communicator". This still rings very true. The middle and bottom registers of his voice are still in very good shape. In fact, many of today's reigning tenors would envy his solid and well-projected octave from middle C down. The honey-hued quality of this octave is well taken advantage of by the producers of this CD. All the art songs here are written to be sung passionately and warmly; take "Era De Maggio" for instance. Carreras responds ably, shading his delivery with a wide palette of emotions that speak to the listeners regardless of whether or not their Italian or French is fluent.
So, for those of you interested in vocal acrobatics, do get EMI's new compilation "The Very Best of José Carreras". It's a 4th item of EMI's "The Very Best" collection. But for those who enjoy touching and romantic songs performed by an artist with a great skill in communicating human emotions, this CD is for you."

Beautifully Sad

Madame Butterfly | Seattle, WA | 10/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was gifted this CD from someone who had a deep love for Jose Carreras's voice and body of work. Out of all of Carreras's non opera CD's, I probably wouldn't have chosen this because true to its title, it's rather melancholic and I don't like to purposely get into sadness. However, Carreras, with his profound ability to express depth of emotion through his voice, manages to convey the essence of these songs without totally overwhelming us with sorrow.



I will admit though that the first time I heard this CD I did weep because these songs are rather heavy and Carreras makes them come so alive and I did feel quite forlorn. Subsequent listening also created the same effect in me, however, it feels more like a ghost of sadness that comes up and it's not as intense, so I can enjoy what these songs are trying to convey without feeling overwhelmed.



I haven't read the biography of Jose, but I do know that he had leukemia and suffered tremendously through that ordeal and it feels as if how that experience affected him came out in this music. There is a note in the insert in which Carreras wrote that he picked these songs himself and that they are very personal to him. My experience is that Carreras has this way of expressing the inexpressible with his voice and it comes out totally in this CD.



I think this CD is for die hard Carreras fans mostly and also for those who would like or are willing to be deeply affected in the heart and be blown apart.

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