Ruggero LEONCAVALLO
(1857-1919)
La bohème (1897) – Musette! O
gioia della mia dimora … Testa adorataa
[3’33]. Pagliacci (1907) – Recitar!
… Vesti la giubbaa [4’12].
Gaetano DONIZETTI
(1797-1848)
L’elisir d’amorea (1832)
– Una furtia lagrimaa [4’59].
Jules MASSENET
(1842-1912)
Manon (1884) – Le suis seul! … Ah! Fuyez
douce imagea [4’56]. Le Cid
(1885) – Ah! Tout est bien fini! … O
souverain, ô juge, ô Pèrea
[5’10].
Francesco CILEA
(1866-1950)
L’arlesiana (1897) – E la solita storiaa
[4’49].
Friedrich von
FLOTOW (1812-1883)
Martha (1847) – M’apparia
[3’48].
Giacomo PUCCINI
(1858-1924)
La fanciulla del West (1910) – Ch’ella
mi creda liberoa [2’30].
La bohème (1896) – Che gelida
maninac [4’43].
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813-1901)
Rigoletto (1851) – La donna è
mobilea [2’26]. Aida (1871)
– Se quel guerrier io fossi … Celeste
Aidab. [4’30].
Giacomo MEYERBEER
(1791-1864)
L’africana (1865) – Mi batte il cor
… O Paradiso … Deh! Ch’io ritornia
[7’44].
Charles GOUNOD
(1818-1893)
Faust (1859) – Quel trouble inconnu
.. Salut! Demeure chaste et pured
[5’40].
Jacques Fromental
HALÉVY (1799-1862)
La Juive (1835) – Rachel, quand du Seigneure
[6’09].
Pietro MASCAGNI
(1863-1945)
Cavalleria rusticana (1890) – Brindisi:
Intanto, amici, qua … Viva il vino spumeggianted
[3’02].
Domingo compilations
have been guaranteed earners for record
companies for a long time now. This
RCA Classic Library re-release has previously
been available on RCA Victor 9026613562.
It shows Domingo on home ground, under
the guise of presenting a tribute to
Caruso. All the Domingo trade-marks
are there. The instantly recognisable
golden voice and the peerless legato
are present in abundance. But Domingo
was always an intelligent interpreter
too, not just surface glitter or seduction,
and much of this comes across, even
in small excerpts such as these.
The actual selection
is well chosen. Leoncavallo comes in
the form of his (the other) La bohème.
This is magnificent, vintage Domingo.
‘Una furtuiva lagrima’,
(Donizetti) however is pure Domingo
in the other, wrong sense. Pure Domingo
and not too much Donizetti ... it is
all to narcissistic. No doubting the
fact that Domingo enjoyed singing this
hugely (and actually it is very difficult
not to enjoy hearing it), but the basic
and important caveat remains. In the
end, no matter what the felicities and
niceties of Domingo’s singing, it all
sounds like him, with very little of
Domingo the chameleon.
Nevertheless there
is no doubting his affinity with Puccini
(in the heart-rending cry from the gallows
in La fanciulla del West or in
the famous ‘Che gelida manina’ from
La La bohème).
Maybe the highpoint
is the Cilea (‘Lamento di Frederico’),
with its luxurious orchestral introduction,
like a cushion of sound over which Domingo
can spin his golden sound. And all credit
to RCA for not foisting ‘Celeste Aida’
on us too soon (it is track eleven).
There is much to charm
here, of that there is no doubt. Some
elements may detract (a spot-lit solo
violin in the Gounod, for example),
but if a good dollop of Domingo in music
he evidently loves is what you’re after,
you won’t go far wrong with this. A
tenner (which is what it seems to be
priced around) does seem a bit on the
steep side, though.
Colin Clarke
Plácido Domingo (tenor); abLondon
Symphony Orchestra/aNello Santi, bErich
Leinsdorf; cLondon Philharmonic Orchestra/Georg
Solti; dNew Philharmonia Orchestra/Nello
Santi; eRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra/Edward
Downes. 
