Juan Diego Florez Review - Bel Canto Spectacular, Decca CD 4780315

This page was last updated on: June 30, 2008

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Bel Canto Spectacular, Decca CD 4780315,

Juan Diego Flórez: Bel Canto Spectacular

Geoff Brown, The Times, 20 June 2008

"Oh, my friends," Juan Diego Flórez sings, "what a happy day!" Tonio's sentiment in Donizetti's La Figlia del Reggimento may be shared by many Flórez fans panting for a recital disc featuring the dashing Peruvian tenor riding the high Cs, or thereabouts, in track after track. Pant no longer. The famous nine Cs, as Tonio sings Qual destino, are reached early on, each scaled without peril. There are twinges of slight vocal strain elsewhere. Even so the CD remains, as the title says, a Bel Canto Spectacular, with the trademark Flórez blaze of a voice burning up seven Donizetti opera scenes, two Rossini and one Bellini.

It's a wonderful technical display. But like direct exposure to the sun, a voice of this intensity needs to be rationed. How wise of Flórez and his managers, therefore, to match his blowtorch with the gentler timbres of other singers. Anna Netrebko visits for a clump of La Favorita. If his voice is steel, hers is jelly, but her vibrato brings in its wake a degree of characterisation that Flórez cannot yet command. Another soprano, Patrizia Ciofi, is especially welcome as the heroine of Linda di Chamounix, singing with a veiled beauty.

Daniela Barcellona's big, dark mezzo presents us with a different register again, though the two voices still seem to be bosom buddies as they duet in Rossini's Viaggio a Reims. The CD's encore track brings the biggest name of all: Plácido Domingo, featured in Ah vieni from Rossini's Otello. In the scene's bel canto flourishes Flórez may now beat the veteran tenor for flexibility, but never for humanity and warmth.

Singing alone, Flórez himself offers some variety in tone. As he quietly contemplates a life without Ciofi's Linda, you realise anew the miracle of his breath control. And the secret tear of Una furtiva lagrima wells up very sweetly. Here and elsewhere, the refinement, lilt and graceful woodwinds of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, conducted by Daniel Oren, make a significant contribution. 4/5 Stars

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			This page was last updated on: June 30, 2008
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	REVIEW Bel Canto Spectacular, Decca CD 4780315,



		Juan Diego Flórez: Bel Canto Spectacular Geoff Brown, The Times, 20 June 2008 "Oh, my friends," Juan Diego Flórez sings, "what a happy day!" Tonio's sentiment in Donizetti's La Figlia del Reggimento may be shared by many Flórez fans panting for a recital disc featuring the dashing Peruvian tenor riding the high Cs, or thereabouts, in track after track. Pant no longer. The famous nine Cs, as Tonio sings Qual destino, are reached early on, each scaled without peril. There are twinges of slight vocal strain elsewhere. Even so the CD remains, as the title says, a Bel Canto Spectacular, with the trademark Flórez blaze of a voice burning up seven Donizetti opera scenes, two Rossini and one Bellini. It's a wonderful technical display. But like direct exposure to the sun, a voice of this intensity needs to be rationed. How wise of Flórez and his managers, therefore, to match his blowtorch with the gentler timbres of other singers. Anna Netrebko visits for a clump of La Favorita. If his voice is steel, hers is jelly, but her vibrato brings in its wake a degree of characterisation that Flórez cannot yet command. Another soprano, Patrizia Ciofi, is especially welcome as the heroine of Linda di Chamounix, singing with a veiled beauty. Daniela Barcellona's big, dark mezzo presents us with a different register again, though the two voices still seem to be bosom buddies as they duet in Rossini's Viaggio a Reims. The CD's encore track brings the biggest name of all: Plácido Domingo, featured in Ah vieni from Rossini's Otello. In the scene's bel canto flourishes Flórez may now beat the veteran tenor for flexibility, but never for humanity and warmth. Singing alone, Flórez himself offers some variety in tone. As he quietly contemplates a life without Ciofi's Linda, you realise anew the miracle of his breath control. And the secret tear of Una furtiva lagrima wells up very sweetly. Here and elsewhere, the refinement, lilt and graceful woodwinds of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, conducted by Daniel Oren, make a significant contribution. 4/5 Stars BACK