Verdi Arias (review)

Scenes and arias from Ernani, I due Foscari, Alzira, Attila, Macbeth, I masnadieri, Jérusalem, Luisa Miller, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, Les vêpres siciliennes, Falstaff
Munich Radio Orchestra
Men's Chorus of the Bavarian Radio
Edoardo Müller, conductor
RCA Victor (distributed by BMG Classics) 79603-2

Ramón Vargas has developed into a confident and valuable artist. Although his voice has a trace of a dark, baritonal color, reminiscent of the young Domingo, he is essentially a lyric tenor. His voice has the kind of freedom and spin throughout its range that enables him to shape a melodic line with firmness and eloquence. Interpretatively, Vargas often calls to mind another distinguished tenor: Carlo Bergonzi. Like Bergonzi, Vargas knows the value of restraint. The dramatic intensity in his singing, which can be quite persuasive, always seems to evolve from the music rather than being superimposed upon it.

Vargas's Verdi recital concentrates on the composer's "early" and "middle" works. The selections are arranged in chronological order, by year of composition, from 1844 to 1863. Then there is a gap of no fewer than three decades. Fenton's aria from the last act of Falstaff (1893) rounds off the program, much like a well-chosen encore at the end of a recital. (In other words, there is nothing here from Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlos, Simon Boccanegra, Aida, or Otello.)

Three of the tracks are rarely recorded novelties. The Ernani and Attila selections are alternative arias, composed for Nicola Ivanoff (Ernani's "Odi il voto") and Napoleone Moriani (Foresto's "Oh, dolore! Ed io vivea"). Both are effective; but the Attila number has an especially beautiful melody and is arguably superior to the number it was intended to replace. Henri's "À toi que j'ai chérie," from act 4 of Les vêpres siciliennes, is also a substitute aria, written for Pierre François Villaret when the opera was revived by the Paris Opéra in 1863. This suave number shows Verdi proving himself to be almost more French than the French: the undulating, text-driven melody could be mistaken for the work of the young Massenet.

From I due Foscari, Vargas performs Jacopo's entrance aria ("Dal più remoto esiglio") and its cabaletta ("Odio solo, ed odio atroce")—the latter, incidentally, is the original number, not the alternative cabaletta ("Sento Iddio che mi chiama"), written for Mario, which includes a top E-flat.

The inclusion of act 2, scene 2 of Alzira (beginning with the clarinet solo that accompanies Zamoro's entrance) is a bit puzzling, because Vargas recorded the complete opera (for Philips) a year before these sessions, and his admirers will no doubt acquire that release as well. Perhaps the tenor simply enjoys singing Zamoro's music: this performance of the aria ("Irne lungi ancor dovrei") and its cabaletta ("Non di codarde") is, like the one on the complete set, suave and assured, with a rousing display of slancio in the cabaletta.

The opening scene of I masnadieri (containing Carlo's "O mio castel paterno" and "Nell'argilla maledetta") also plays well to Vargas's strengths.

The Jérusalem aria, "Je veux encore entendre," is better known in its original form—"La mia letizia infondere," from I Lombardi. Here, as in the Vêpres number, Vargas demonstrates an idiomatic command of French.

The "standard" selections are Macduff's "Ah! la paterna mano" (from Macbeth) and Rodolfo's "Quando le sere al placido" (from Luisa Miller). Here the recorded competition is extensive, in both quantity and quality. If Vargas does not banish memories of some of his illustrious predecessors, his renditions are tasteful and evocative.

The Rigoletto excerpt is in fact the whole of act 2, scene 1, up to Rigoletto's entrance—including an uncut "Possente amor." Vargas reveals himself to be a splendid Duke of Mantua: ardent, impetuous, with an appropriate touch of aristocratic arrogance.

The Trovatore excerpt, by comparison, seems to be afflicted by...