Le villi
1. Se come voi piccina [5:27]
Edgar
2. Addio mio dolce amor [3:45]
Manon Lescaut
3. In quelle trine morbide [2:23]
4. L’ora o Tirsi [1:37]
5. Sola, perduta, abbandonata
[5:38]
La bohème
6. Si, mi chiamano Mimi [4:57]
7. Quando m’en vò [2:36]
8. Donde lieta usci [3:29]
Tosca
9. Vissi d’arte [3:18]
Madama Butterfly
10. Un bel di vedremo [4:32]
11. Che tua madre [3:26]
12. Tu, tu,piccolo Iddio [4:20]
La fanciulla del West
13. Laggiù nel soledad
[2:58]
La rondine
14. Chi il bel sogno di Doretta
[3:07]
Il tabarro
15. E’ ben altro il mio sogno
[4:40]
Suor Angelica
16. Senza mamma [5:52]
Gianni Schicchi
17. O mio babbino caro [2:24]
Turandot
18. Signore ascolta [2:41]
19. In questa reggia [5:58]
20. Tu che di gel sei cinta [2:21]
We are approaching
the end of the Puccini year and the
steady stream of CD and DVD issues hasn’t
abated. The precise day for celebration,
Puccini’s 150th birthday,
isn’t until 22 December so there is
still room for a couple of further issues.
Among those in my recent batch the one
under consideration introduced me to
a new thrilling Italian soprano, having
recorded every conceivable aria for
her voice, even such rarities as Manon’s
little song during the entertainment
in the second act of Manon Lescaut
and Butterfly’s lamentation in the second
act. The disc is a soprano equivalent
to José Cura’s recital from the
1990s where he picked everything for
his vocal pitch but Amarilli Nizza is
one better insofar as she has excerpts
from all the 12 Puccini operas. Cura
couldn’t possibly sing anything from
Suor Angelica – an opera with
only female roles.
Milan born Amarilli
Nizza isn’t exactly new. She won the
Mattia Battistini Competition in 1993
and made her operatic debut the same
year in Madama Butterfly and
she has appeared at a number of opera
houses, primarily in Italy, but also
in Tokyo, Berlin and Vienna, where she
sang Tosca in 2007. Nor is this her
first recording. The discography on
her homepage is long and varied, mainly
DVDs including the complete Il trittico.
Puccini roles are frequent on her agenda,
she sang her first Fidelia in Edgar
earlier this year and on 29 November
(the date of Puccini’s death) at Teatro
Regio di Torino she is going to sing
it again opposite José Cura.
In 2009 she will add Liù in Turandot
(at the Arena di Verona) and also Minnie
in La fanciulla del West.
Her voice is vibrant,
sometimes excessively so, and she has
impressive power, the voice production
can be slightly uneven and sometimes
at climaxes she has a tendency to glare.
But she is also capable of divine pianissimos,
shown to great effect in the aria from
Edgar, and she has dramatic insight.
The recital at large is a bit uneven
and initially I had a theory that she
is better in arias from operas she has
in her stage repertoire, but it isn’t
consistently that way. Her Manon Lescaut,
a role she seems to have added quite
recently, is certainly deeply felt with
an inward In quelle trine morbide
and a jolly glittering L’ora o Tirsi.
I can’t find that she has yet sung
Mimi in La bohème and
Mi chiamano Mimi is marred by
a disturbing vibrato but is otherwise
a fine reading, while Donde lieta
usci is superb in every respect.
Musetta’s waltz on the other hand is
rather shaky but she makes a fine crescendo-
diminuendo on the final note. Her Tosca
has feeling but is rather lachrymose;
her Butterfly is variable but Con
onor muore is definitely one of
the best things on the disc. Minnie’s
aria from La fanciulla del West
is OK without being special and Magda’s
aria from La rondine has a somewhat
hesitant start but then she excels in
cobweb thin pianissimo singing.
The arias from the
three one-acters constituting Il
trittico were recorded live during
one evening as part of complete performances
of all three operas and shows her as
a fine Giorgetta – with tenor Rubens
Pellizzari as a good lyrical Luigi –
in Il tabarro, a deeply felt
Suor Angelica and a rather unsteady
Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with
some exaggerated accents. But I suppose
this was recorded towards the end of
a long evening.
The excerpts from Turandot
reveal that visitors to next year’s
Arena di Verona can look forward to
some real treats, hearing her Liù
– Tu che di gel sei cinta comparable
to her Donde lieta usci and
Con onor muore. She is also quite
impressive in the icy princess’s In
questa reggia but she shouldn’t
be singing that role too often. And
she probably won’t – the aria is, I
suppose, included to give as full a
picture as possible of Puccini’s soprano
writing.
The orchestral playing
is worthy of the situations and the
recording is OK. Playing time is certainly
generous and at her best Amarilli Nizza
is worthy to be mentioned among the
leading sopranos of the day. And even
though she is a bit uneven she is constantly
thrilling to hear.
Göran Forsling
Amarilli Nizza (soprano) 
