If I am not mistaken
this is Roberto Alagna’s first album under his new exclusive
contract with the prestigious DG label. It comes as something
of a surprise to find that its aim is towards the more popular
end of the market. Nothing wrong with that of course, as long
as it is a quality product, and so it turns out to be.
I have to admit
that the name Luis Mariano didn’t mean anything to me, and
since I suspect that there might be one or two readers out
there who are just as ignorant as I was, I had better give
a thumbnail portrait of him. Born in 1914 he became a great
favourite in France during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and
although he practically never appeared on an opera stage he
was regarded by many as one of the great tenors. He performed
popular songs and operettas or, should we say, musicals, often
created especially for him, in most cases by Francis Lopez,
whose compositions form the largest part of this recital.
Most of the songs were written in the 1950s which was probably
Mariano’s greatest period. He died in 1970.
Roberto Alagna’s
earliest memory of Mariano was when he was about ten and his
mother set up her tape-recorder in front of the TV set to
record a film with Mariano, La Belle de Cadix, two
songs from which are on this disc. Mariano then became a hero
to him and having wanted for years to pay tribute he now felt
that he was ready for it. However this was to be no pastiche
album; he wanted to sing the songs in his own way, not trying
to imitate Mariano.
Alagna is in excellent
voice and it is obvious from his first entrance that he enjoys
this music. He digs into it wholeheartedly and there is a
freshness and virility about his performances that silences
every criticism, whether it be the creeping feeling that some
of this is “kitsch” or that he once or twice can’t resist
showing off his by now impressively heroic top notes. Otherwise
he sings with such flair, elegance and rhythmic facility that
everything is quite irresistible. His French is of course
“the real thing”. When he ‘goes English’ in the two Cole Porter
songs, he is fairly idiomatic there too.
I played the whole
disc straight through twice, first together with my wife,
who listened to the first two or three tracks without uttering
a word and then said: “That’s a tenor! Who is he?”.
Having satisfied her curiosity we listened till the end without
further comment. After my second traversal I noticed that
my note-pad was blank, which has never happened before when
listening for reviewing purposes. But I know that whenever
I want to listen again to this disc I can safely press the
random button on my CD player and be sure that whatever comes
out of the speakers will be to my liking, Mexico and
Vaya con Dios maybe a notch above the rest, but C’est
magnifique! is equally appealing and Maria Luisa
and …
Alagna also invited
some of his friends to join him in a couple of duets, which
also sound fine. The problem is that since the friends don’t
have the same vocal resources they are placed in different
acoustics to achieve a believable balance; the effect is that
they seem to be in separate rooms. This is a minor problem
and one soon gets used to it.
The conductor
Yvan Cassar has also made all the arrangements and besides
the Paris Symphonic Orchestra, which presumably is a pick-up
band, there are numerous individual musicians that I haven’t
listed above. Suffice it to say that the contributions from
all these excellent instrumentalists perfectly match Alagna’s
singing. The sound is of course studio bound but vivid. All
in all this is a high quality product that can be recommended
with the strongest possible enthusiasm – provided you are
hooked on this repertoire. I liked it enormously!
But apart from
short playing time – there is a black mark, and a big one:
the booklet. I can’t understand why Deutsche Grammophon of
all record companies should produce something that is practically
unreadable. OK, the credits on page 2 are acceptable, but
the rest: the smallest imaginable print in white of course
on black of course! Dear record producers, don’t you want
music lovers who pay full-price for your products to be able
to read the texts? Why on earth then engage good writers like
Benoit Duteurtre and Olivier Miquel for liner-notes that are
made illegible through the whims of some designer. This is
something that also affects Mr Alagna’s own writings?. The
information I have culled from the booklet I managed to decipher
with the help of a magnifying glass! I think this is an insult
to the record buying public – and to Roberto Alagna and the
memory of Luis Mariano. Shame on you, DG!
Göran Forsling
Roberto Alagna (tenor),
Paris Symphonic Orchestra and Musicians/Yvan Cassar
