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Great small voice

Mr JB | Karlskrona Sweden | 06/16/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Nicolai Gedda has a quite 'small' voice but he uses it with great technique and intelligence. It's well focused, very smooth and not least, beautiful. In other words, a perfect lyric tenor. The combination of technique, intelligence and beauty makes him ideal for lieder, italian bel canto operas, romantic german & french operas. And you get it on these discs. All songs have been collected from the EMI archives, assuring a high production standard. It contains highlights from most of Gedda's most famous recordings, amongst them a lovely floating 'flower song' (Carmen) under Beecham, and a unbelievably beautiful and effortless 'Je crois entendre encore' (Nadir's romance from the Pearlfishers). The most famous tenor-arias from der Freischutz, il Barbiere di Siviglia, l'Elisir d'amore, Martha, la Boheme, der schöne Helena and many others are featured, as well as works by Mozart, Beethoven, Gounod, Lehar, Faure and Grieg. And their all tremendously well done.Gedda may not be a Wagner singer. Maybe not even suitable for much of Verdi's or Puccini's works. Therefor it's good that these discs has none of this repertoire. It focuses on Geddas other strengths. For, what Gedda misses in extreme power and positive 'vulgarity' (compared to the ever popular Corelli, del Monaco and sometimes Pavarotti), he greatly compensates by the cheer beauty and intelligence of his voice. This is a school-book example of lyric tenor singing, and after listening to these discs I assure you that you will understand why Nicolai Gedda was one of the last centuries most popular tenors. Simply great! And at this price it's almost a shame not to own it. A must för lovers of the somewhat lighter opera repertoire."