Dall Ameri Caruso

Enrico Caruso - The Complete Electrical Re-Creations (1993) {2CD Set, Pearl GEMM CDS 9030}
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© 1993 Pearl | GEMM CDS 9030
Classical / Opera / Historical

This is an interesting and often enjoyable re-recording set of which possibly the most convincing example is the Inspirez-moi from Gounod's La Reine de Saba originally recorded in 1916. The process of replacing the acoustically recorded accompaniments with electrically recorded ones to provide a more "modern" sound must have been a labour of great painstaking; the generally good results are tributes to the care and perseverance of musicians and engineers alike. It is most fascinating to compare these recordings from 1927 through 1939 with the digitally recorded ones of the past few years. Perhaps surprisingly, the later recordings are not always the most convincing when there are duplications.

Superstar tenor, Roberto Alagna, returns with his sensational new album Caruso. Caruso 1873 is Alagna’s tribute to the Neapolitan singer who Alagna considers to be the greatest tenor of all time. Alagna honours his legendary predecessor with a selection of repertoire drawn from Caruso’s own recording career, which stretched from 1902 to 1920. Alagna is accompanied by the critically acclaimed Orchestre National D’ile-de-France, singers Aleksandra Kurzak and Rafal Siwek and conductor, pianist and arranger, yvan Cassar. The music chosen is a journey back in time through Caruso’s eclectic repertoire. It showcases his personality and is blended with Alagna’s own favourites. The album 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 (1873—1921) was an Italian operatic tenor. Caruso was one of the first major singing talents to be commercially recorded.

Viva Caruso is easily one of tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano's most ambitious and enjoyable recordings. Much like Terence Blanchard's Jazz in Film or Uri Caine's Urlicht/Primal Light, Viva Caruso finds the reedman adapting orchestral melodies and harmonies to a jazz format. Inspired after reading a biography about Italian tenor and opera legend Enrico Caruso, Lovano spent most of 2000 through 2001 researching Caruso's music and developing this project. There is a progressive, third stream appeal to Viva Caruso, with the various instruments laying down intricate counter-melodies and liquid, pulsating rhythms. For example, "Vesto La Giubba" from Pagliacci is slowed down here into a kind of folk-jazz meditation, not unlike something Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio might do. Likewise, "Campane a Sera" features a pretty flute introduction to a very mid-'50s, Stan Kenton-style arrangement, and Gerald Wilson could very easily have scored "Soltano a Te" with its characteristically West Coast, neo-phonic horn sounds.