Every once in a while a disc arrives that takes my fancy on first hearing.
This is not necessarily a sound base for a review, being a subjective
response, perhaps influenced by mood or a good glass of wine. Aware of the
danger I wait a while and then repeat the playing, in the case of this
collection by a husband and wife duo, several times.
The rear of the case tells me that the disc is dedicated to the memory of
Richard Tucker, well-known tenor in the early post-Second World War era at
New York’s Metropolitan Opera and on recordings. Both singers have benefited
from having been recipients of the award named in memory of the tenor, he in
2009 and she in 2012. The only Hispanic to have won the Tucker Award Ailyn
Pérez also won the fifteenth annual Plácido Domingo Award.
Stephen Costello made his Met debut in 2007 aged twenty-six; his wife is
scheduled to make hers in February 2015 as Micaëla in a starrily cast
revival of
Carmen. The two together have sung at many leading
operatic addresses and came onto my radar when they sang the tenor and
soprano leads in Verdi’s demanding
La Traviata at London’s Royal
Opera House in the spring of 2014. It is an opera in which they have starred
at several other major opera houses.
The first thing that appealed to me is the fact that the excerpts chosen
are not brief. The first five tracks each exceed eight minutes. The sound is
clear, the voices set in an atmospheric but natural acoustic. Yes, I could
and did find criticisms, but these were far outweighed by the pleasure of
their graceful singing and phrasing in these diverse items. It is not often
I hear a nice
mezza voce ending to the
Cherry Duet, or a
diminuendo with which Costello finishes the first verse of the
Rigoletto excerpt during which his tonal brio and clear tone and
enunciation is particularly welcome along with his wife’s vocal decorations.
The extract from
L’Elisir D’Amore is even more of a delight where
Pérez’s singing is particularly pure with good articulation, phrasing
and sparkling characterisation. Meanwhile, Costello really comes into his
own in the extract from
Faust where he caresses the words and
phrases as to the manner born, as well as in good French language inflection
and vocal style. The duo are particularly well suited to this music. Despite
their stage experience in
La Traviata, the act one duet
Un di
felice left me a little cold. Yes it is joyous, but he brings a shade
too much edge to his voice whilst her singing is warm-toned and beautiful
without touching the heart. I am surprised the choice was not the act three
Parigi o cara, which would have given them the opportunity to
caress the Verdian lines and tug at my heartstrings as Bergonzi and Caballé
do in their recording (see
review). When it comes to Puccini’s
O soave
fanciulla I have no qualms. Their voices soar together, she sings
softly and gently, he responds and at the end as she goes up the scale there
is no tenorial competition from him as he drops volume. I really could feel
the moonlight shining. Her Mimi scheduled at Hamburg in December 2014 and La
Scala in
the following August will be
worth hearing, I do not know if he is partnering her in either of these
runs. I would happily pay good money to hear them.
As to what might be snobbishly considered as trifles from their American
heritage, both Ailyn Pérez and her husband give the music its due. My
notes simply say they are Mercedes voices in a Ford Fiesta, but that is
cruel to the music and their heritage.
For me a thoroughly enjoyable collection that shows great promise for the
future. I look forward to seeing either of them, or preferable both
together, in a staged performance.
Robert J Farr
Contents List
Jules MASSENET (1842-1912)
Manon
Toi! Vous!…N’est-ce plus ma main [8.03]
Pietro MASCAGNI (1863-1945)
L’amico Fritz
Suzel, buon dě (Cherry Duet) [8.41]
Giuseppe Verdi
Rigoletto
Signor né principe – E il sol … Addio! speranza [7.13]
La traviata
Un dě felice, eterea [3.18]
Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797-1848)
L’elisir d’amore
Caro elisir … Esulti pur la Barbara [8.46]
Georges Charles GOUNOD (1818-1893)
Faust
Il se fait tard [9.54[
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924)
La bohčme
O soave fanciulla [4.08]
Leonard BERNSTEIN
West Side Story
One hand, one heart [4.16]
Richard RODGERS (1902-1979) and Oscar HAMMERSTEIN II
(1895-1960)
Carousel
If I loved you [3.00]
Frank LOESSER (1910-1969)
Guys and Dolls
I’ll know [3.34]
Robert WRIGHT (1914-2005) and George FORREST
(1915-1999)
Kismet
And this is my beloved [3.58]
