Ramón Vargas (tenor) - Opera Arias
Amilcare PONCHIELLI (1834 - 1886)
La Gioconda: Cielo e mar [4:36]
Giuseppe VERDI (1813 - 1901)
Simon Boccanegra: O inferno! Amelia qui! ... Cielo pietoso [5:05]
Arrigo BOITO (1842 - 1918)
Mefistofele: Dai campi, dai prati [2:21] Giunto sul passo
estremo [2:57]
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858 - 1924)
Tosca: Recondita armonia [2:40]
Francesco CILEA (1866 - 1950)
L’arlesiana: E la solita storia del pastore [4:30]
Charles GOUNOD (1818 - 1893)
Faust: Salut demeure chaste et pure [4:51]
Giacomo PUCCINI
Tosca: E lucevan le stelle [2:52]
Jules MASSENET (1842 - 1912)
Werther: Porquoi me réveiller [3:34]
Hector BERLIOZ (1803 - 1869)
La Damnation de Faust: Nature immense [4:08]
Giuseppe VERDI
I due Foscari: Notte! ... perpetua notte [5:40]
Giacomo PUCCINI
Turandot: Nessun dorma [2:59]
Budapest Symphony Orchestra/Riccardo Frizza
rec. Studio 22, Hungarian Radio, Budapest, 2012
Interview and biographical information in the booklet but no sung texts
CAPRICCIO C5165 [48:00]
The Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas came early
to singing, joining a boys’ choir at nine and soon becoming a
soloist. His aim was not at that time to be a professional singer, he
wanted to become a teacher. Providence brought him into contact with
a singing teacher he knew from his boys’ choir days and this teacher
advised him to take up singing as a soloist. He made his operatic debut
in Mexico City in 1983 and some years later came to Vienna and later
Lucerne. Other houses soon showed interest. In 1992 he was catapulted
to stardom when he stood in for Pavarotti in Lucia de Lammermoor
at the Met. At the time he was still primarily a lirico and that’s
a repertoire he wants to nurture even though he has gradually taken
on some heavier roles, as can be heard on this recital disc. I first
encountered his voice on the superb Naxos recording of Il barbiere
di Siviglia, incidentally recorded during the year of his breakthrough
and in the same city where this recital was set down, Budapest. He then
seemed to be a worthy successor to singers like Luigi Alva or Nicola
Monti who were great Almavivas in their day: smooth, light, elastic
and elegant. Although he has widened his repertoire to Rodolfo, Werther
and middle Verdi he still sings Don Ottavio and, his favourite character,
Nemorino. Neither of those two is heard here, and there are some others
that he should have avoided.
Cielo e mar is one of those. Basically it is a sympathetic reading
with a lot of care for nuance - he is far too intelligent to try to
out-bowl some testosterone-bulging colleagues from the past - no names
- but he has to force and then the strain is obvious. It is still not
a bad reading but he is no match for Jussi Björling and other true
lirico-spinto tenors. Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra
is also on the heavy side but still attractive. He has something of
the same intensity as José Carreras, whose Adorno for Abbado
on Deutsche Grammophon was one of his best recordings.
His Faust in Boito’s Mefistofele has a great deal to commend
it, though even here one can’t avoid feeling that he is a size
too small. Recondita armonia is good, better still is Federico’s
lament from L’arlesiana. This is his repertoire! Just listen
to his honeyed half-voice, so natural and beautiful. Gounod’s
Faust is also within his reach and here his nuances are lovingly realized.
He hits the high C, although not without some effort, but he scales
down beautifully at the end.
On a par with the L’arlesiana aria is also E lucevan
le stelle - impassioned, involved. Werther is another character
he cares for; maybe he is a bit overemphatic towards the end of the
aria. His third Faust, that by Berlioz, is good without being exceptional
but the rarity here, Jacopo’s aria from I due Foscari,
is really good. The beautiful cello solo in the introduction is very
well played and what follows is partly forceful but not over the top.
The beautiful hymn is sung with impeccable legato.
Nessun dorma - do we really need yet another recording? Probably
not and Vargas comes nowhere near the top of the pile. He also admits
in the interview that he will never sing Calaf on stage. He made the
recording for pleasure. Why not? It isn’t bad overall and he delivers
the end OK - though not all that heroically. We also miss the female
chorus in the middle.
The Budapest Symphony Orchestra play well and Riccardo Frizza is a sympathetic
conductor but at premium price 48 minutes playing time is pretty meagre.
There are several good readings here but also some that I could have
done without.
Göran Forsling
