In an interview from 16 May 2012 Joseph Calleja explains why
he recorded this tribute to Mario Lanza. He ‘is the tenor
responsible for the start of my career. My first experience
of operatic singing was hearing Mario in the film The Great
Caruso’. Joseph Calleja wasn’t alone. Millions
of people probably had their first encounter with operatic singing
through Lanza’s movies and some of them were so hooked
that they wanted to become opera singers themselves. He had
a voice, that man! I probably heard him on the radio in my teens,
though I have no specific memory of that, but one of my first
gramophone records was an EP with four titles from the RCA catalogue:
the Pearl-Fisher Duet with Björling and Merrill, the Anvil
chorus from Trovatore, the Habanera from Carmen
with Risë Stevens and Granada with Mario Lanza.
That was for many years the only recording I had with him and
after some years I got more or less tired of it. The voice was
beautiful, the intensity palpable but everything was too much,
larger-than-life. I returned to Lanza later on and still liked
the quality of the voice but not the over-use of it. There was
no subtlety, very little elegance.
The first time I heard Joseph Calleja I didn’t think in
Mario Lanza terms, but subconsciously I must have thought that
here was a singer with exactly the qualities Lanza lacked: elegance,
subtlety, a willingness to sing softly. It was also a rather
small voice and I couldn’t dream of hearing him in the
spinto repertoire in which Lanza excelled. He has gradually
filled out and grown but basically it is a lirico.
Before I put on the disc after a tasty dinner together with
my wife I skimmed through the play-list and found that many
of the songs and arias were in Jussi Björling’s repertoire
and that was a good omen, since I have always counted Calleja
among possible heirs to Jussi. He isn’t there yet, will
probably never be but he is certainly among the best of the
younger singers - he is not yet 35 and many lyrical tenors have
developed towards dramatic roles fairly late. No one, at least
not I, could imagine that Gösta Winbergh would become a
Lohengrin, a Walther, a Florestan and a Parsifal - but he did.
Calleja sings beautifully and stylishly in the first six numbers,
never overloading the voice, concentrating on elegant phrasing
and lightness of tone. When he reaches the verismo arias from
Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana he cleverly
avoids any histrionics a la his idol Lanza. This is good
for his vocal health. However something is inevitably missing.
It is pretty but pale. Three standard songs from the Italian
light repertoire fare much better and in particular Parlami
d’amore is fine. With Cielo e mar he is back
in the heavy-weight field and, in spite of careful and beautiful
phrasing, he feels a size too small. Amor ti vieta is
also verismo but this is an aria that even so light-voiced a
singer as Leopold Simoneau could manage. Because you’re
mine goes well but the Flower song and Nessun dorma
are not yet his cup of tea.
You’ll never walk alone from Carousel was
intended for a contralto and as such, in the musical, it’s
a real tear-jerker. Sung by a tenor it loses some of its magic
- but it is beautifully sung. d’Hardelot’s Because
brings the recital to a happy end and those who have fallen
under Calleja’s spell will, I’m sure, feel fully
satisfied. I am more doubtful when it comes to die-hard Lanza
fans. I suspect that they, like me, miss the adrenalin and the
big gestures. Less than a year ago I reviewed a disc with similar
contents, a mix of popular songs and opera arias with Vittorio
Grigolo. He is even more lyrical than Calleja but he had chosen
arias that were perfect for his present vocal status.
Full marks, anyway, for the playing of the BBC Concert Orchestra
and also for the singing of the New London Singers in two of
the numbers and, not natural today even with full price issues,
complete texts with translations. Someone has been thinking.
Summary: Here is one of the most beautiful tenor voices now
before the public, treated with musicality, style and feeling.
If the programme appeals to you, by all means buy the disc,
but don’t expect the adrenalin kick that Mario Lanza was
able to convey.
Göran Forsling
Track listing
Nicholas BRODSZKY (1905
- 1958)
1. Be my love* [3:03]
Agustín LARA (1900
- 1970)
2. Granada [3:59]
Renato RASCEL (1912 -
1991)
3. Arrivederci, Roma [3:47]
Juventino ROSAS (1868
- 1894), Irving AARONSON (1895
- 1963)
4. The loveliest night of the year* [3:40]
Gioachino ROSSINI (1792
- 1868)
5. La danza [3:16]
Sigmund ROMBERG (1887
- 1951)
The Student Prince
6. Serenade [3:27]
Ruggero LEONCAVALLO (1857
- 1919)
Pagliacci
7. Recitar ... Vesti la giubba [2:57]
Pietro MASCAGNI (1863
- 1945)
Cavalleria rusticana
8. Mamma!Quel vino è generoso [3:59]
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
9. ‘A vucchella [3:10]
10. Marechiare [3:01]
Cesare Andrea BIXIO (1896
- 1978)
11. Parlami d’amore, Mariù* [2:47]
Amilcare PONCHIELLI (1834
- 1886)
La Gioconda
12. Cielo e mar! [4:35]
Umberto GIORDANO (1867
- 1948)
Fedora
13. Amor te vieta [1:54]
Nicholas BRODSZKY
14. Because you’re mine[2:02]
Georges BIZET (1838 -
1875)
Carmen
15. La fleur que tu m’avais jetée [3:52]
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858
- 1924)
Turandot
16. Nessun dorma [3:08]
Richard RODGERS (1902
- 1979)
Carousel
17. You’ll never walk alone [1:44]
Guy d’HARDELOT (Helen
RHODES) (c 1858 - 1936)
18. Because [2:19]
Joseph Calleja (tenor) 