What to do with tenor Fabio Armiliato? Several years ago I heard him live at the Met and thought he was on the way to becoming a major singer, and the voice itself still is somewhat impressive, a bit of forcing and nasal projection aside; but he sings everything at the same volume and tires the ear–at least on this recital.
Billed as a tribute to Giuseppe Verdi, it’s a nice production–it includes a chorus for the Ernani and Macbeth scenes, and it’s very good to hear the little-performed Inno delle Nazioni, for tenor and chorus. (The only other recording of it I know of is more than a half century old, with Toscanini conducting Jan Peerce.)
Armiliato sings with passion throughout the disc, and if he doesn’t exactly differentiate between characters, well, what tenor does? His tone can be impressive, but he lacks the élan to bring off the Ballo aria and he’s not quite the spinto required for the Forza aria. That is why it is all the more peculiar that his Otello excerpts should be the most successful outings on the disc. His focused tone handles the notes and temperament well, and outside of the opera house, the voice’s size doesn’t really matter. This CD isn’t bad, but Armiliato is not the answer to our tenorial prayers, either.
