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Vittorio Grigolo purposely waited to record his first operatic solo album until he had something unique to communicate in the repertoire and has chosen arias representing the culture I come from. THE ITALIAN TENOR presents music from three giants of the lyric stage Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini and combines famous arias with lesser-known discoveries. The album was recorded in the Teatro, Regio di Parma with the resident orchestra and conductor Pier Giorgio Morandi.

Donizetti's Una furtiva lagrima (L'Elisir d'Amore) has been a litmus test of the Italian tenor since the days of Enrico Caruso, whose famous performance of the aria paved the way for the opera's return to the repertoire after years of neglect. Equally beautiful is Spirto gentil (La Favorita) in which the lead character laments the loss of his love forever.

The disc presents Vittorio as five Verdi characters. His selection begins with Quando le sere al placido from Luisa Miller and continues with Ella mi fu rapita and Possente amore from Rigoletto. Verdi s early opera Il Corsaro is rarely performed on stage today, but the young tenor triumphed in the title role at the Zürich Opernhaus earlier this year. The arias Tutto parea sorridere and Si de Corsari il fulmine give him ample opportunity to demonstrate his lyric and dramatic gifts, as does the one chosen aria from Un Ballo in Maschera, the introspective Forse le soglia attinse....ma se m'e forza perderti . Following the cavatina Ah si ben mio coll essere , Vittorio makes a rare venture into the spinto tenor repertoire with Di quella pira (Il Trovatore).

The Puccini selection features a seldom heard aria from the composer's first opera, Le Villi, Ecco la casa...torna ai felici di . Vittorio was drawn to the unusually dark, almost Wagnerian colours of the piece. Donna non vidi mai (Manon Lescaut), sung at the beginning of the opera as des Grieux falls in love with the young Manon, provides a clear contrast to the despair of Cavaradossi in E lucevan le stelle (Tosca) as the painter awaits his execution. The aria Firenze è come un albero fiorito from Puccini's only comic opera, Gianni Schicchi, foreshadows the melody of the celebrated O mio babbino caro in its central section. Of course, no survey of the Italian tenor repertoire would be complete without the best-loved aria of them all - Che gelida manina (La Bohème).