Roberto Alagna is just wonderful as Rodolfo in this production of Puccini's "La Bohême", opposite Leontina Vaduva as Mimi. Conductor : James Conlon / Stage director : Jonathan Miller Recorded in December 1995 - Paris, Opera Bastille
I am a fairly young guy but I think that Alagna is one of the best tenors ever heard! At La Scala, when he left the stage, he was not sang well, but in his best years had a voice in the world's most beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful! Has always the same color, the same stamp! Acute large and beautiful! An accurate passaggio, larynx always in position! A voice so beautiful that it moved! Great Alagna!
He's an opera singer. He's entitled to his tantrums. You could say he's carying on a tradition that dates back to the days of Cafarelli and others. I think he sang this beautifully. For all you Pav fans, alagna was once hailed as the next Pavarotti. Btw, his walking out after being booed at La Scala wasn't a tantrum. In his interview, he reveals that he was absolutely mortified and felt like "the floor opened up beneath me." He couldn't sleep for days.
Continuing from prev comment: Alagna's interview about the incident can be found on youtube. It's all in Italian, however, so if you don't speak it, you'll be up a creek if you don't have a translator. The jist is that he thought the audience didn't want him and he was respecting their feedback. He also mentions that he lost considerable sleep and suffered enormous mortification as a result of it. People need to let that lie. His singing is wonderful.
Okay, "Happy Actor" , by my count, Alagna has appeared as the lead tenor in (at least) 25 operas since he won the Pavoratti contest in '89, somehow he has managed to function even though you guys still keep writing him off - he just got great reviews for his "Trovatore" at Covent Garden in London & will do a "Carmen" there in October & in NYC in January at the Met. Maybe the voice is not the same, but he is still Alagna.
I cannot watch this aria without tears welling up. Alagna may not be the greatest tenor today, but he is IMO the greatest acting tenor, and he infuses this piece with all the passion it demands.
Thank you sincerely for sharing this. This quintessential love story is a profoundly moving experience. If it does not bring tears to your eyes, you have no heart. If it does not make your spirit soar, you have no soul.
And, by the way, best high C I've ever heard. Of course a high C, or any high note for that matter, is hardly the most important thing to comment on, but I just wanted to share this, it's really the most magnificent high C I've ever heard.
This video is fantastic! I never heard Alagna sound so magnificent............absolutely beautiful performance! incredibly glorious voice. I know what others have said, but, Listen to this!!!!!!!!!!!! and there is a recording where it's very close to this! by him.........How I'd love to have been there! Elizabeth, Salinas, CA
WOW! Wonderful! That's Alagna as I would always like to hear him. Beautiful timbre. I expected a more explosive high C but still, the colour is superb!
Grande Alagna! Es una lastima que su elección en el repertorio no ha sido el mas acertado y ha influido en su emision vocal. AUnque aqui estaba aun su voz sana, creo que el Rodolfo podria haber esperado un poco mas. Sus Nemorinos y Romeos son memorables. PAvarotti en una entrevista dice que cuando le escuchó por primera vez notó que a Alagna le gustaba cantar cosas mas grandes de las que debía, y se lo dijo. No hizo caso.
The lovely Mimi is played by Leontina Vaduva. This is wonderful music and warms the soul...and he is marvelous as Rodolfo in La Boheme. Thank you for posting it.
Well he is fantastic, but also see the mexican army like Villazon or specially David Lomeli singing this, the winner of Operalia is singing this also with Domingo at Los Angeles Opera this year. Alagna is great but this guy too and is a little more humble
MUY BIÉN ALAGNA, se escucha buena voz y con potencia, en resumen, hermoso. En otra interpretación comenté que estaba mal y recibí insultos, pero sí estaba mal; ahora no, es hermosa y gran interpretación.
He has such a beautiful sound here...open and natural. I've heard him lately and the voice sounds very dark and pushed, most unfortunate. I think he is following the same path that Di Stefano did, in singing roles that are inappropriate for his voice. Oh well, at least we of clips like these...
Dejense de estupideces Roberto Alagna es un gran tenor, que no sea como Luciano, es otra cosa, pero canto perfectamente esta aria, y no necesita de ningun calderon ni ocho cuartos.
Superb wonderful performance his acting is amongst the best I have ever seen his voice is wonderful made me a sad yet happy person ...........kandyman ....
Alagna est de très loin le meilleur ténor actuel, seul Marcello Alvarez sur quelques interprétations se hissent au niveau.... Les autres sont trop inconstants pour le moment. Celles et ceux qui n'aiment pas Alagna sont les mêmes qui n'aiment pas Domingo......et ce sont donc les mêmes qui se trompent!
@Loganberrymusic You're quite correct, it's a biological impossibility to sing anything above the passagio (around E-F-F# - all tenors are different) without head voice. Anyone claiming to sing entirely from the chest or saying that it is possible is wrong.
i'm with you on that one... i used to be so so on him. But his early stuff is actually quite good. His voice has just really declined in recent years, yet continues to sing roles not suited for him, i.e. Aida at La Scala... but thanks to youtube, we can enjoy some of his better performances like this one...
That's ridiculous. Alagna may be a little forced, but his technique is otherwise extremely good. Villazon's technique is quite bad in comparison. As proof, he is now having voice problems and has cancelled everything for about four months, including "L'Elisir" at the Royal Opera, which I'm going to see. If you like Villazon's voice better than Alagna's, that's your cup of tea. However, he's NOT a better singer.
@viv3147 I think you mean head voice, which is not the same thing as falsetto. Chest voice and falsetto do not mix - that would be like trying to whisper and yell simultaneously. Also, I don't think it's possible for a man to sing a full voiced high C without using some head voice.
Actually, Puccini was part of the Verismo style of opera. Portamentos or "scooping" as you call it is actually stylistic for this piece. It was done tastefully and more so, beautifully. Do some research before you start ruining TRUE opera lovers reputations.
Il manque de modestie ?! Qu'est-ce qui vous faire proférer pareille ineptie ???? Pavarotti était loin d'être modeste, revoyez donc vos classiques cher Monsieur.
Actually no, even yelling a high C still has "head" voice in it. It's actually physically impossible to phonate that high without using the cricoid cartilages to stretch the vocal folds, and the chest will no longer be the predominant resonance at that range.
Un maravilloso tenor, lástima de su carácter. Matiz que comparte con su esposa, otra maravillosa soprano. Lo siento, no estoy de acuerdo con OSCPINA, este aria no necesita de ningún calderón ni de mantener ninguna nota sostenida. Se requiere sutileza en su término y así lo hace.
If you put it on mute and watch him sing, you would think he is a bass. This is why his sound is so dark and covered (even on E flat). He does a great job with this aria, but would sound better with some brightness in his upper middle register.
Yes, that did sound a bit constricted or something. Rest was all very good, although it was SLOW. Still, that could well be the MDs doing, not his. The C was good, and there IS more to the aira than that one note.....
Why is he shoiting? This should be a tender moment not "Di Quella Pira". The high C does not make up for a crude performance. This aria needs the touch abd artistry of Caruso/Gigli/Bjoerling or Pavarotti.
@JohnnyBlowstar There actually is a version of this song performed by Alagna available on iTunes. Though it's not quite as mesmerizing as this performance, it's actually pretty close.
