In a game attempt to find a hook on which to hang this recital,
emerging young American tenor Michael Spyres has entitled his
debut recital album “A Fool for Love”. He attempts to encompass
the span and gamut of the fourteen arias here by providing a
kind of link narrative in two Acts written in the saccharine
and jejune letter form of two letters each addressed “To My
Love”. In the end, it’s a harmless enough gimmick, I suppose,
but adds nothing to the worth of the recital.
Much more important is the quality of voice and singing. Anyone
on the lookout for a new Villazon, Flórez or Kaufmann will be
disappointed. Just as Vittorio Grigolo has, despite the hype,
failed to convince aficionados that he is really Pavarotti’s
successor, so Spyres has in reality little more to offer and
has a small, light, well-schooled voice with an attractive fast
vibrato. Despite the breadth of the programme, most of what
he sings sounds very similar; he is particularly charming in
the arias requiring legato and a honeyed, floating line but
the falsetto bias in the basic sound precludes much in the way
of excitement. I most enjoyed his sweet account of “Je crois
entendre encore”. That said, a quick revisiting of Caruso’s
or even Simoneau’s recordings reminds you of what the arias
should sound like when sung by a tenor of more pharyngeal heft
who deliberately lightens his voice by virtue of impeccable
technique.
For all his control, Spyres has a limited range of colour but
sings coloratura neatly on the vibrato. Like so many modern
singers, he is an excellent linguist, singing here in five languages,
maintaining excellent diction. Even so, there is a touch of
“easy listening” in his manner and his top Bs and Cs, although
secure, have no “ping”. He quite often recalls Nicolai Gedda
in timbre, which is, I suppose, no bad thing. Just as Gedda
was over-parted by the Italian tenor’s aria from “Der Rosenkavalier”
Spyres struggles to give it much passion or refulgence. Everything
he does is musical and pleasing but ultimately small-scale.
His voice cannot really do justice to the scope of the material
here, which, after all, includes some of the most challenging
staple arias in the tenor repertoire. I can, for example, think
of no reason why one would choose to hear him sing the arias
from “La Bohème” or “Rigoletto” over the likes of established
tenor greats. However, Spyres gives a particularly affecting
rendition of that prince among tenor arias, “Kuda, kuda” from
“Eugene Onegin” – a gift for a tenor of sensibility who can
command “les larmes dans la voix”. He makes a similarly affecting
job of the plaintive mini-masterpiece from Cilea’s “L’Arlesiana”,
“È la solita storia”. I love the way he takes the optional top
B at the climax but Pavarotti, Björling, Villazon and Tagliavini
all make so much more of it in both emotive and vocal terms;
Björling takes the top B, too, with considerably more élan.
Constantine Orbelian has proved himself a sympathetic accompanist
in previous recitals by Hvorostovsky, Radvanovsky and Podlès
and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra are a virtuoso band, so no
complaints there.
Full texts and English translations are provided; the sound
is first rate, with an excellent balance between singer and
orchestra.
Ralph Moore
Track-listing
Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797–1848)
La fille du régiment
1. “Ah! mes amis … Pour mon âme”
Igor STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)
The Rake's Progress
2. “Here I stand”
Gioachino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
Il barbiere di Siviglia
3. “Cessa di più resistere”
Gaetano DONIZETTI
L’elisir d’amore
4. “Una furtive lagrima”
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Don Giovanni
5. “Il mio tesoro”
Georges BIZET (1838–1875)
Les pêcheurs de perles
6. “Je crois entendre encore”
Jules
MASSENET (1842–1912)
Werther
7. “Pourquoi me réveiller”
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Der Rosenkavalier
8. “Di rigori armato il seno”
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924)
La Bohème
9. “Che gelida manina”
Giuseppe VERDI (1813–1901)
Rigoletto
10. “La donna è mobile
Gaetano DONIZETTI
Lucia di Lammermoor
11. “Fra poco a me ricovero”
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Eugene Onegin
12. “Kuda, kuda”
Francesco CILEA (1866-1950)
L’Arlesiana
13. “È la solita storia”
Encore:
Franz LEHÁR (1870-1948)
Das Land des Lächelns
14. “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz”
Michael Spyres (tenor) 