This is an enormous undertaking, even for “the hardest working man in opera”. Yet, here it is, all the Verdi tenor arias in one four-CD collection. Of course, this begs the inevitable question: Would you really want all 77(!) of these arias sung by the same performer? Well, if there’s one thing that Domingo is, he’s consistent. His positive qualities–the bright timbre, the burnished lower tones, and his finely honed musical and dramatic instincts–are present throughout. However, so are his shortcomings–the famously thin top (his high Cs in “Di quella pira” and “O mio rimorso” sound like a mosquito buzzing), his clipped phrasing and stingy fermatas (most notably in “Questa o quella”), and his occasionally un-Italianate vowels.
The set spans almost his entire commercially recorded career and comprises a variety of labels, from his early appearances on RCA to his present DG efforts. In a project of such broad scope, there were bound to be a few gaps, even given Domingo’s prolific operatic recordings. Thus, the set contains quite a few newly recorded items, with orchestral accompaniments provided by Valery Gergiev and the Maryinsky Theater Orchestra (who are magnificent throughout) for I masnadieri, La forza del destino, Attila, Un giorno di Regno, Jerusalem, Il cosaro, Falstaff, Aroldo, Ernani, and Les vêpres siciliennes. Myung-Whun Chung and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia take over for Oberto and La battaglia di Legnano (I due Foscari is divided between both conductors). Among the best of these new items are “Si so lento” from I due Foscari, “Sotto il sol” from Ardolo, “O dolore” from Attila, “Qual sangue sparsi” from La forza, and “D’Ernani i fidi chiedono” from Ernani. Domingo’s Manrico, Stiffelio, MacDuff, and Rodolfo (Luisa Miller) are among the standouts of the older selections.
For the most part, DG made judicious selections from Domingo’s vast recorded repertoire, but some of the choices are debatable. I suppose the producers felt the French version of Don Carlos to be more authentic, but Domingo was in better voice for EMI’s Italian version under Giulini. Also, if you’re going to license RCA’s Il trovatore, why not also that label’s Otello, which sports a vocally stronger performance than the recent DG version?
Of course, for singing connoisseurs, this set never could be a satisfactory substitute for the truly great renditions of many of these arias. I’m thinking of (to stay with stereo) Bergonzi’s magnificent performance in Un ballo, Vickers and Del Monaco in Otello, Vickers and Björling in Aida, Björling’s “Ingemisco”, Pavarotti’s “Questa o’ Quella”, Di Stefano’s “De miei bollenti spiriti”, and Corelli’s “Di quella pira”. Then there are the great tenors of the golden age–Gigli, Lauri-Volpi, Martinelli, Tamagno, Caruso, O’Sullivan, and too many others to mention here. These are the kinds of voices that hypnotize you with their beauty, making you unable to stop the CD until it’s over. I’ve rarely felt that same mesmerizing force with Domingo, but he does provide overall solid and engaging singing, and he brings each of his roles to life with vivid characterizations. (And that’s saying a lot considering the dreary state of today’s tenordom, with the blind leading the deaf.) Plus, the fact is, none of the illustrious singers listed above ever recorded all the Verdi tenor arias, and for a collector to come up with a similar compilation including all the greats would require an enormous investment in time (not to mention money).
So at present, Domingo’s set is the best way to get all the Verdi tenor arias in modern sound, and in one neat box, which includes four cool slipcases and two booklets–one of texts and the other a hardcover (with color photos) detailing Domingo’s storied career, with a much shorter discussion of Verdi’s (it’s clear who takes priority here). The overall sound flatters the singer, especially the original DG items, which allow sufficient space around the voice for it to acquire some bloom. There are exceptions: Sony’s cavernous “Ingemisco” (from Bernstein’s Requiem), EMI’s boxy “Giovanna d’Arco”, and a transfer for RCA’s Trovatore that’s inferior to that company’s latest reissue. But Domingo fans and students of Verdi won’t let those minor annoyances stop them from procuring and enjoying this handsomely packaged collection. Truly, a major accomplishment.
