The Romantic arias Rolando Villazón chose for his first solo recital on Deutsche Grammophon all come from operas he has never sung on-stage. Given the selection, that's not surprising, because there is some pretty obscure material here. The most familiar operas are Verdi's Luisa Miller and Simon Boccanegra, Ponchielli's La Gioconda, Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, and Boito's Mephistofele, none of them are exactly at the core of the contemporary repertoire. From there, Villazón reaches even further afield, to works by ...
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The Romantic arias Rolando Villazón chose for his first solo recital on Deutsche Grammophon all come from operas he has never sung on-stage. Given the selection, that's not surprising, because there is some pretty obscure material here. The most familiar operas are Verdi's Luisa Miller and Simon Boccanegra, Ponchielli's La Gioconda, Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, and Boito's Mephistofele, none of them are exactly at the core of the contemporary repertoire. From there, Villazón reaches even further afield, to works by Mercadante, Pietri, Gomes, and obscure operas by Donizetti and Ponchielli. It's a pleasure to hear a recital devoted to rarities sung with such passion and conviction; it's clear Villazón is thrilled to have discovered these little known or virtually unknown arias and to offer them to modern audiences. The most familiar aria is the title track, Cielo e Mar! and with it Villazón sets the tone for the whole album: an intensely warm tone with the substance and richness of a lyric baritone,...
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