Peruvian
tenor Juan Diego Flórez has quickly established himself as
the leading bel canto tenor of his generation. He specialised
at first in Rossini but wrought wonders in the rest of the
bel canto repertoire, also venturing into light Verdi. With
his melting pianissimos, his ringing top notes and an uncommonly
surefooted taste it was only a matter of time before his
company decided to launch him into the popular market. And
here it his, his first disc with light stuff. Predictable
material, one could think, but to a large extent it isn’t.
Of course there are some eternal favourites: Granada for
instance, Ponce’s lovely Estrellita and Lecuona’s
hit Siboney, but much of the rest is fairly unknown,
at least in the northern part of Europe. Not everything is
perhaps really memorable, but this is also very much a matter
of taste and acquaintance. Anyway all the songs are obviously
close to the singer’s heart and well suited to his voice.
The
majority of the songs are accompanied by the Fort Worth Symphony
Orchestra. Most of the arrangements are by Angel Peña which
sometimes feel a bit overblown in relation to the music.
Generally speaking they are neither better nor worse than
the arrangements we have heard behind singers like Gigli,
Schipa, Di Stefano, Lanza, Domingo, Carreras or Pavarotti
in similar repertoire. But the producer, or Flórez himself
or whoever made the decisions, has also opted for some small
combo backgrounds. In a couple of cases just an acoustic
guitar is employed, skilfully played by David Gálvez. In
one of these pieces, Fina estampa (track 10), Flórez
also plays bongos and for several songs he also provides
the arrangements. All of this contributes to making the disc
possibly more varied than most similar offerings. I greatly
enjoyed the Mariachi band on track 2 with its characteristic
trumpet sound and Padilla’s Princesita with bandoneon,
piano and string quintet.
But
it is for the singing one wants this disc and in that respect
it is a pleasure from beginning to end. I have already accounted
for some of his characteristics and I must stress again his
unerring feeling for taste. He never forces his tone beyond
its natural limits and he never holds on unduly to those
thrilling final notes. He phrases so naturally, like a well-schooled
actor who gives the impression of just speaking naturally
from his heart while in reality making a deeply penetrating
impersonation. His soft singing is always finely judged and
very often even magical, as for example in the scaling down
in Princesita, where the concluding ¡Bésame, bésame! (Kiss
me, kiss me!) is an intimate whisper, and likewise in the
chamber version of Estrellita. He certainly masters
his instrument to perfection.
It
may be of some interest to make a couple of random comparisons
just to prove his excellence, and this randomness turned
out to be from the top-drawer. Granada, bawled by
many a ‘can belto’ tenor, is light and elegant and the ebb
and flow of the phrasing makes it unusually alive. Mario
Lanza’s reading is legendary and glorious, but by comparison
he is beefy and unsubtle, singing at a constant forte. Florez,
with a voice that is one or two numbers smaller, has the
same heroic ring as Lanza and the contrast to his softer
singing only makes the fortes more telling and thrilling.
Carlos Gardel’s El dia que me quieras, written the
same year that he was killed in a plane crash, was also recorded
by Domingo 25 years ago as part of a collection of tangos.
In this case the situation is more even: Domingo is more
muscular but his honeyed caressing of the phrases is even
more alluring than that of Florez, who finds a little more
light and shade in this piece, which has to be counted as
one of Gardel’s best.
A
few of these songs were also recorded by José Carreras (for
Ensayo but distributed widely by Philips): honest, full-throated
singing, no doubt. I have often played that record, but compared
to Flórez he feels one-dimensional, even though he can also
float his tone softly at times.
I
feel no need to go into detailed analyses of all the songs
here; the general impression is what I have already tried
to explain – sensible, sensitive, intelligent singing, technically
impeccable, extremely beautiful – and not a trace of the
bad behaviour that mars so many competitors: sobs, gulps,
histrionics, attempts to break the sound-barrier, you name
it.
This
is a complete singer and we can only be grateful that we
have him around. He should be savoured by anyone in the least
interested in good singing. Whether the songs themselves
are first-rate or third-rate – as John Steane maintains in The
Gramophone – is of little importance. Singing of this
calibre can refine even the slightest of material – and this
is not all that slight. Moreover there are some eternal gems.
Start your listening séance – for that is what it probably
will turn out to be – with Estrellita (track 9). I
bet that you will be hooked.
The
sound is excellent, even though I very soon forgot to notice
since the singing was so captivating. Andrew Farach-Colton
contributes liner notes that really give information – not
readily available elsewhere – and the song-texts are all
there – with translations by Susannah Howe. Satisfaction
is complete!
Göran Forsling
BUY NOW
Crotchet ArkivMusic
(USA sales only)
Juan Diego
Flórez (tenor), Daniel Binelli (bandoneon) (4,
7, 8), David Gálvez (guitar) (2, 3, 9, 10, 14), Shields-Collins
Bray (piano) (7, 9), Juan Diego Flórez (bongos (10), Mariachi
de Oro with Swang Lin, Eugene Cherkasov, Xiao-Hua Sheng (violin)
(2), Michael Shih, Adriana Voirin De Costa (violin) (7, 9),
Laura Bruton (viola) (7, 9), Karen Basrak (cello) (7, 9),
William Clay (bass) (7, 9), Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra/Miguel
Harth-Bedoya (1, 3-6, 8, 11-13, 15) 
