“For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt an almost visceral love and
admiration for Enrico Caruso,” writes Alagna. He honours his legendary
predecessor with a selection of repertoire drawn from Caruso’s own
recording career, which stretched from 1902 to 1920. Alagna’s aim was to
celebrate Caruso, while retaining his own vocal identity: “I respected
the Caruso ‘style’ when making this recording, just as one would respect
a composer’s style.”
Accompanied by the ORCHESTRE NATIONAL D’ÎLE-DE-FRANCE and joined for two numbers by soprano ALEKSANDRA KURZAK and for one by bass RAFAŁ SIWEK, Roberto Alagna worked with his longstanding accomplice, conductor, pianist and arranger YVAN CASSAR.
Together, they committed to find a way into Caruso’s world, as
accurately as possible. Theyrecorded not only in the original languages
and keys that Caruso used in his recordings but also tried to match his
tempos, his variations, his breaths… They even did everything to
recreate the original orchestrations, for instance by including heavier
brass, in order to reproduce the atmosphere of the early recordings.
The music chosen is a journey back in time through Caruso’s eclectic
repertoire. It showcases his personality, blended with Alagna’s own
favorites, “so the programme reflects me too,” Alagna explains. The
album opens with Lucio Dalla’s “Caruso” – a modern song– then turns the
clock back to finish with the earliest records. The selection offers
many surprises and stretches from Handel and Pergolesi to verismo composers
including Cilea and Leoncavallo, contemporaries of Caruso who wrote
music for him. Puccini is represented by “Vecchia zimarra”, the bass
Colline’s aria from La bohème which – as legend has it – Caruso once sang on stage standing in for an ailing colleague in perfect subterfuge.
“Caruso is part of my life, part of my roots even,” writes Alagna.
“My great-grandparents knew him in New York. I feel as if I’d known
him”. This recording has brought the two tenors closer still: “I was so
immersed in the sound of Caruso that I started hearing his voice instead
of mine inside my head during the sessions.”
Enrico Caruso was born in 1873. Almost a century later, in 1963, it
was Roberto Alagna’s turn to come into the world. “His voice has been
with me ever since,” Alagna adds. “The singers of the past have left us
their legacy. I hope this recording will help younger generations to
discover or rediscover Caruso’s unique artistry. That way his flame will
burn forever.”