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by: Salvatore Licitra, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Carlo Rizzi

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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: Rating: - The Disappointment Like so many others I was drawn to listen to this CD after reading about the "Pavarotti debacle" at the Met. After hearing this "Debut" I can only express my deepest "Disappointment." True, Licitra has a basically dark, not unattractive tone and a sense of authentic Italian "slancio." What he lacks is a proper sense of line, comfortable control of dynamics, and - above all! - elegance. It is all too tight, coarse, and crude. Compare Licitra's "La parterna mano" to Bergonzi's and note the latter's superior line. Björling's "Donna non vidi mai" displays the elegance Lictra lacks. Even the uneven and wayward Di Stefano has more bounce and joy than Lictra does in "Di tu se fidele" not to mention real heart-felt pianissimi in "E lucevan le stelle." By the time I came to Lictra's ham-fisted approach to "Celeste Aïda" I was ready to stop this disc and reach for the Björling recital on Naxos where half the price delivers twice the voice and three times the musicianship. Rating: - a welcome voice! Folks, those of you who don't like Licitra's singing, consider what's going on in the recording world with Watsons, Bocellis, Amantes, et al "bringing opera to the masses". Licitra's powerful, highly emotional delivery is really like a breath of fresh air. He possesses a solid technique, good insight of the characters, and a big, robust voice. Those of you looking for a lyric tenor would probably be disappointed, but those who enjoy dramatic tenor voice would definitely enjoy it. In fact, I am certain that those who give this album less than 4 stars are the same people who were outraged at Jose Cura's debut CD of Puccini arias a few years ago. They've even called him a baritone, obviously having no idea of how a high baritone should sound. Stepping in for a great Luciano Pavarotti at the time when the audience wanted no substitute was a brave and gutsy thing to do. What helped, in my opinion, was how much the voice of Licitra differs from the voice of Pavarotti. To this day, Pavarotti's sound is bright and silvery, gorgeous high register, suited perfectly for high-flying lyric parts, such as Bellini, Donizetti, or early Verdi operas. In stark difference to the "King of High C's", Licitra's voice with its dark timbre and masculine sound is more "heroic" so to speak, perfect for the roles of Manrico or Cavaradossi. (Btw, unlike in Muti's La Scala recording of "Il Trovatore", you WILL find a high C in "Di quella pira" on this CD). He brings a great emotional depth to "Addio fiorito asil" and "O Inferno!", thereby making Pinkerton and Gabriel real and believable figures. If hard-pressed to draw comparisons, I would compare this newcomer to the great Caruso. There's a great deal of similarities in their dark, baritonal, but unmistakably Italian sounds, bursting with flavour and thirst for life. Rating: - The future? Listening to Salvatore Licitra's rather pretentiously (and portentiously) titled recital disc I thought, "If this is the future, we're in big trouble!" I couldn't agree more with the previous review that stated that this is not the ideal voice for Puccini. The sound is tight, unattractive, lacking in delicacy. And even when a light touch is not required, strangely undramatic. (If you can't make the climax of "Nessun Dorma" exciting, why bother?) Perhaps there's a reason Licitra lost all those vocal competitions (as stated in the liner notes.) He fares much better in the Verdi selections. The "Di quella pira" is particularly excellent, masculine and dynamic. There is a robustness, a force to Licitra's singing that, while overwhelming Puccini, is a far more successful fit with Verdi. So this is half a good album as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps, with Alagna around to handle Puccini and the French repertory and a more-seasoned Licitra to handle the Verdi, the future won't look so bleak after all.

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