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At the Théâtre des Champs-Elysée, Roberto Alagna greets Enrico Caruso

2020-02-06T05:13:10.142Z


The Franco-Sicilian tenor pays tribute to the first modern star of lyric art.


Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) was the first international star in the opera world. Before him, the singers were generally limited to a universe, a country, a musical inspiration. Contemporary with the arrival of the phonograph, Enrico Caruso was also the pioneer. By the nearly 500 records he recorded in 1902 for the firm RCA, his voice has toured the world and, even today, we can get an idea of ​​who is the founding father of modern tenors.

A century apart, there are many common points between the two singers

Admittedly, the technique has evolved and it takes an attentive ear (and a touch of imagination) to guess the extent of the timbre behind the sputum of time; but there is in Caruso a sincerity, a power and a style which belong only to him. It is no coincidence that Roberto Alagna chose to pay tribute to him with a disc recently released by Sony Classical: Caruso 1873 , and which he gave in recital at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

Read also: The crazy challenge of Roberto Alagna: singing Carmen in front of 55,000 people at the Stade de France

A century apart, there are many common points between the two singers. Both come from modest backgrounds and started by "pushing the song" before being spotted then launched like meteors in the world of lyric singing. Both have a relationship to music made of generosity and excellence. Both have always had at heart to interpret the great Italian and French roles of their range, without ever abandoning this popular repertoire which was that of their childhood: the Neapolitan songs for Caruso, the Sicilian melodies for Alagna.

A clever and gourmet panel

We will stop there the parallel, because the great ancestor hardly spared his health (he smoked, multiplied the nodules) and died at 48 years of a sepsis, while Alagna is already almost his eldest of ten years and is like a charm. The Franco-Sicilian tenor even shows a rather astounding vocal valor, if we consider the intensity of his career and the juvenile character that his timbre has always known how to preserve.

Read also: Roberto Alagna, popular tenor

In this tribute to Enrico Caruso, Alagna joined his old accomplice Yvan Cassar to draw up a clever and greedy panel of the great roles of the ancestor. Puccini is obviously in majesty, with extracts from La Bohème (Caruso himself created certain operas by the dear Giacomo), but we also dawdle on the side of Pergolesis, Handel, Mascagni or Tchaikovsky. Then it is these popular melodies of Gomes, Cottrau or Nutile, that made the honey of Caruso and his admirers, and that Alagna sings with a disconcerting naturalness.

Only one regret: that Alagna and Cassar did not dare to unearth one of the musts of the cockade music recorded by Enrico Caruso: The Regiment of Sambre and Meuse . For the rest, this recital is nothing but gluttony.

»Homage to Caruso, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, 15, av. Montaigne (8th ). Phone: 01.49.52.50.50. Dates: Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. seats: from 5 to 165 €.

Source: lefigaro

All life articles on 2020-02-06

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