Track Listing

1. Se il cor guerriero
2. O del mio dolce ardor
3. Dignare o Domine
4. Orribile lo scempio
5. Selve amiche
6. Che farò senza Euridice?
7. Frondi levere a belle - Ombra mai fù
8. Sorge infausta
9. Chi sprezzando
10. Gia il sole dal Gange

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #303734 in Music
• Released on: 1998-02-10
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

A wonderful change of pace for our Siberian nightingale
'Mr. Hvorostovsky, you've done it again!' This time the superlative young baritone of our time takes the old chestnuts so familiar to voice students and treats them with the love and respect they deserve. Hvorostovsky's wonderful tone, breath control and attention to phrasing should make him a model for the people who usually sing these songs. Fine interpretations indeed.

a resplendent recording
My favorite living singer, Hvorostovsky's baritone is like dark honey and in this recording of mostly 18th century arias he shines. There is an expressive purity to his voice that will fill your soul with peace and harmony. The final track, Stradella's "Pieta, Signore" is sublime, and it's worth having this CD in your collection if only for this one piece.

Not the finest
These are wonderful old arias, but it is too bad that Hvorostovsky cannot alter his style convincingly enough to carry them off. His Italian diction is somewhat sloppy at times - dropping the end of words. Listen to first time he sings "languisce il cor" in "Caro mio ben", and you will hear "languisce il co" Also, his aspirated breaths interfere with the music quite often. He begins the first aria "Vittoria mio core" not with a note but with a grunt.

These failings do not affect the entire recording - the first Gluck aria, O del mio dolce ardor is beautifully and tenderly sung. That is what makes it a pity - it is uneven.